cold quinoa and grilled vegetable chopped salad

staying away from gluten and wheat hasn't been that hard... and beth has been helping a lot making some killer food. i have been sticking with a lot of the sweet potatoes (I prefer the "oranger ones) and quinoa. most people don't know difference between yams and sweet potatos... this article clears things up. either way... or whatever you call them they are awesome and a great source of CHO.


ok... so the recipe. this week beth made me a killer dinner. we had grilled yellow tail, a pickled cucumber and red onion salad, and cold quinoa and grilled vegetable chopped salad. great food. no wheat or gluten.

here's the recipe for the cold quinoa and grilled vegetable chopped salad from beth:

4 servings quinoa (cook according to box)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 small red onion
3 zucchini
olive oile
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

put veggies on grill and grill a few (4?) minutes on each side. if you don't have a grill, you can roast them at 400 degrees for probably about 25 minutes.
mix veggies and quinoa. drizzle several tablespoons good balsamic vinegar (if you have balsamic syrup this works really well, its like a thick balsamic), and a little bit of olive oil. add lots of salt and pepper. put in refrigerator and chill at least 2 hours. YUM!

cold soup for hot people

when i head back east to see the folks, i also intevitably revert to acting like a child. sometimes, i like to prove that i really am all growns up, (despite the fact that i am still in school and just 2 years shy of 30) so i cook up a good dinner. but i must admit, its not always just an act of kindness- sometimes i like to take the reins since my momma tends to have a paula deen type of heavy hand in the butter.

it is freaking hot in pennsylvania, so what better on a hot day, than a cold soup! and gazpacho is like crack for antioxidant lovers. its full of tomatoes, which in-and-of-themselves have a lot of lycopene. When tomatoes are made into juice or sauce the lycopene-o-meter goes way way up! Lycopene is a potent antioxidant that loves free radicals. So for endurance athletes, who probably have more of those floating around looking for some cells to damage, when lycopene is in the body, it hooks up with the free radicals and sweeps them off their feet ("hey baby, wanna bind?") before they kill and damage cells. i kind of see it like a sugar daddy (antioxidant) who distracts a little floosy/gold digger/home wrecker (free radical) before she has a chance to be a home wrecker and swoop on your crib (nice happy cell) and steal your man.

nothing really has been proven proven linking antioxidants and superior exercise performance (but there is a lot of soft supportive literature out there), but they do help fight disease and aging...and the jury is out on whether you can overdo your antioxidants (some say that you can have so many that the free radicals can't do their job and destroy crappy useless tissue...who knows...)

i'm certainly no expert, i just know that i love gazpacho! its a cold blended vegetable soup. if it were served in a glass, people would call it a smoothie. like if i poured my smoothie into a bowl it would be "chilled summer berry soup"..anywho...

gazpacho
4 tomatoes (peeled and de-seeded- see*below)
2 cups V-8 (or tomato juice)
2 slices whole grain crusty bread
2 tablespoons good olive oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar or sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
2 peeled and seeded cucumbers-chopped
1 red bell pepper-chopped
1 yellow bell pepper-chopped
1 red onion-chopped
1 celery stalk-chopped
3 cloves garlic- minced
1/2 jalapeno- diced
1 handful flat leaf parsley-chopped
1 handful cilantro-chopped
kosher salt

*boil a pot of water. cut an X in the skin of each tomato. submerge tomatoes in boililng water for 20 seconds. remove immediately and dunk in ice water or place under the faucet. peel off skin easily....then core them and squeeze out the seeds as best you can

first, combine the olive oil, vinegar and tomato juice or V8 & crusty bread in one bowl. i used a really seedy grainy bread, but you can use whatever.

in another bowl, chop all the vegetables and mix 'em up. then combine both bowls together and blend until smooth-ish. i use an amazing hand blender (get one-it will change your life), but all you crazy protein shake boys can just use a reuglar old blender if that's what you got. then chill the soup for at least two hours (better overnight- my bowl today was better than yesterday).
you can save some of the chopped veggies or herbs for garnish if you like. avocado and a tortilla chip also makes a nice topper (and that's true for pretty much anything :) )..

i made this last night (along with crab cakes and corn on the cob..HOLY DELICIOUS!!!!)...and it was a big hit with everyone. i changed the recipe from a lot of others that i found in that i used less bread (and made it whole grain) and less olive oil...i also added sweetness from a yellow pepper (most recipes call for green) and good quality oil, it tasted PERFECT. i liked using V8 too...that's what we had on hand...

make it! yum.

we don't eat fish tacos every night....

yes. we probably eat grilled fish tacos or salads w. lean protein most nights of the week...but sometimes we venture out....a little...

the other night i made chili and strawberry spinach salads (random combo, i know)

for chili:

1 pound lean ground beef ( or turkey) today i used 97% lean beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 large bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic , crushed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon cocoa (confession- i make this chili all the time at my house. so i have cocoa powder on hand. james did not have any and i am lazy. so i threw two dark chocolate hershey kisses in the pot. not kidding. its the same thing, right? the chocolate is the secret ingredient so i couldn't leave it out.)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper sauce
1 can (32 oz) whole tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 oz) beans, undrained. (kidney, black, whatever. i used black today)

Cook and stir ground beef, onion and garlic in 3 quart saucepan until
beef is brown: drain. Stir in remaining ingredients except beans:
break up tomatoes. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer,
stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

Stir in beans. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. simmer uncovered, stirring
mixture occasionally, until of desired consistency. ( about 20
minutes.) then top it with whatever you like.

for the salad:
spinach
sliced strawberries
thinly sliced red onion
slivered toasted almonds
sprinkles of crumbled blue cheese

dressing:
i just mixed 50% balsamic vinegar with 50% light blue cheese dressing . i call it balsamic blue cheese dressing. yeah, real creative....

oh, and i sprinkle on fiber one "croutons".....gross, huh? i LOVE fiber one. but i am also crazy. james orders his without the fiber bomb

james loves chili....or does he?

muffins for those who dont want muffin tops

i've been on a muffin rampage. bakin' up a storm over here in san diego. today i made these after my trainer session and run. i ran in the house like a crazy person and started mixing stuff up super fast. You would have thought it was T1 or something the way i was iron-cheffing because i wanted to get outside by the pool (75 and sunny!) to do some studying (gotta love grad school). James' roomate's gf was like, "are you going to use a recipe?". i told her no, because i vaguely know some sort of basic muffiny base (flour+sweetener+egg+applesauce+baking soda) and i just put in fruits, nuts, vegetables and spices that i like to flavor it up. sometimes this means that my concoctions suck, but i usually like them even when other people don't (hey, i like all the ingredients on their own, they must be good mixed up!). MORE FOR ME! and healthy tastes great, right?
today i made what i call:

CARROT CAKE PUMPKIN PIE MUFFINS
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup splenda (or your sweetener of choice- good ole cane, agave nectar, brown rice syrup, HFCS if you want to slowly kill yourself)
1 cup shredded carrots
1 can canned pumpkin (NOT p. pie mix)
1/2 cup egg whites (or you can whole egg it up, make it the omega fortified kind)
1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or just more cinnamon and some nutmeg)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder

heat oven to 350 degrees. mix dry ingredients. mix in wet ingredients. actually, i just mix it all up at the same time but this is how they typically tell you to do it. spoon into muffin pans (like a 1/3 cup mix in each) and bake away. i think mine took 40 minutes, but it may take less. James' oven is wack (who says wack? sorry). just bake them until an inserted knife is dry-ish.
i made half the recipe as shown above, and in the other half of the mix, i threw in a cup of wheat bran and a 1/3 cup of blueberries and a little extra egg white to make some fiber bomb muffins..the blueberries and the egg were to balance the extra dry fiber (just balance out the wet/dry stuff when you bake and it should be good to go)

i think they came out pretty good. kind of like chewy pumpkin pie carrot cake which is what i was going for (see recipe name). they don't get too cake-y, they are more sponge-y and that's because if you look at the recipe, for every muffin, at least 3/4 of it is straight up fruits and veggies and nuts. just a little flour and egg glue to hold it all together.

last week. i made pretty much the same muffins but instead of pumpkin, carrot & raisin, i substituted 1 1/2 cups (or 3 whole) bananas...banana walnut goodness.

last night for dinner james made grilled swordfish steaks with avacado corn salsa fresca. and kitchen sink 2-pound salads as usual (last night they had sprouts, spinach, tomatoes, pickles, artichoke hearts, broccoli, carrots, red onion (which rachel ray thinks should be renamed purple onion and she tells you in EVERY show), red and yellow bell peppers, sugar snap peas, mushrooms and i think that's it). with some awesome miso dressing that we love. oh, and i put fiber one "croutons" on my salad. yes, i am a weirdo with fiber. can't get enough. maybe i am writing this so that james will post a picture from dinner and review all the wine he drank this week. wine is like rocket fuel for james. oh, and post about our favorite new breakfast-y find from trader joes too! please! i'll be nice and make you muffins...oh, wait...

POKEZ, pumpkin, & pancakes

in "other athletes that love food news"....
it looks like GZ over in boulder, co is getting down with some wok action...he's fast on the road AND in the kitchen! (maybe i'd be fast if i had kids to work as my little sous chef minions too! :) ...hmmm....james is little, he can pass as a kid, i need to put him to work.... actually not true since he probably cooks as much as me or we team cook which is most nights. anyway, back to the plan...

POKEZ

we usually go to el caribe tacos n juice at least once a weekend for fish tacos and salads...that place definitely deserves its own post in the next week or so....james would definitely classify it as epic.

but left all to my lonesome with j out of town, and far from el caribe, being downtown in my hood (james lives up in north county).....i had to pull out an old favorite for a good post 50-miler mexican meal since i finally wanted to eat after being sick...
POKEZ! POKEZ (pronounced poh-keeez and there is an accent over the E which i can't figure how to make with blogger) is kick ass mexican food made the right way in a little place downtown that looks like a dump...
i think some veg-o person owns it because there is no lard in the beans and everything on the menu can be ordered vegetarian, vegan, whole wheat, tofu, spinach, whatever.....
I went with a mahi mahi grilled fish taco and beans...here is about a third of what they gave me (had to save some for later..meaning like 30 mintues later)...



and waiting around while they cook up my food is not so bad. pokez is hipster heaven and there is plenty of ink and piercings to admire on the wait staff. i probably looked pretty cool in my sweet cycling getup. i especially like the skateboard/jukebox wall...


PUMPKIN
when james is not around, i also have a tendency to make odd dessert-ish foods in single servings. james is not so into dessert- he doesn't even like pie or cake. well, i am obsessed with pumpkin pie and love the easy things you can do with canned pumpkin. i also am down with the health benefits of pumpkin:
"Pumpkins are packed with beta carotene, an antioxidant with properties that can help improve immune function and reduce the risk for chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. A cup of cooked pumpkin has only 50 calories and nearly three grams of fiber, making it the perfect healthful addition to your meal"(from http://www.healthcastle.com)

so, i like to make mini pumpkin "pies" in little rammikens (love that word)
i use:
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg white
sweetener (your pick-splenda, brown sugar, i like SF maple)
sprinkles of cinnamon
sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice (you can buy this and its a mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, etc)
sprinkle of rolled oats
i mix this all up (save the oats) in the rammiken with my mini whisk, sprinkle on the oats and then microwave for 2 minutes...that's it. delicious, desserty and essentially you're eating vitamin packed vegatables + protein (egg white) for dessert....
looks kind of gross, huh? but is swear it is TFG (totally f-ing good).
i also like to put the same spices and 1/3 cup of the pumpkin into my usual oatmeal....pumpkin pie for breakfast, what's better?

PANKCAKES
xterra athlete emkruse sent this killer pancake recipe where you can get your oats and dairy at the same time...

Oat Pancakes:
Old-fashioned oats - 1 part
Low-fat cottage cheese - 1 part
Egg whites - 1 part
Sweetener - optional

He says, "Pop all of this in a strong blender and mix it up until it's smooth. Then you just cook it up like a pancake.You can get the ingredients in more or less the same size package at the store so it's real easy to measure. FYI, I like to add 8 packets of Splenda to a blender full just to sweeten it up a bit. This is a great new breakfast option in our house, thanks to our friends Jason and Sherrie. You can add blueberries or better, you can even make banana pancakes and pretend like it's the weekend."

so, emkruse, we're on it....on valentine's day, while james was on the trainer, i cooked us up a delicious brekkie thanks to you! i made egg-white omelettes and blueberry pancakes. i followed emkruse's recipe but subsituted fage total 0% greek yogurt (13 grams of protein in 6oz!) for the cottage cheese because that's what we had on hand.
these got a big thumbs up from both me and james and the blueberries were a nice addition...and damn it we ate it so fast we forgot to take a picture!


that's about it...James just bought a bunch of food-related books from amazon, so expect some future book reviews (or clif notes if you're lazy) and i did make him some (like 100) awesome granola bars for valentine's day...there were four flavors: "ride" (xtra delicious and carby), "recover" (extra protein, more carbs), "fiber bomb" (serious fiber here), and "everything balls"....but the pictures are on his camera. maybe i'll post the recipe but make him post the review....

later! keep eating....

discoveries...by beth

this morning i discovered a couple of things. first, i found out that i can wear bib shorts on the trainer without anything else on top without even being completely indecent...all the necessary parts are covered! i wouldn't sport this look in a group sesh, but in private watching the Today show---fo sho!....yet another advantage to small boobies. (sorry dad if you are reading this...)

i also discovered how to motivate myself for a 35 minute run right off the trainer....as soon as you're off the trainer, throw some oats and mix-ins into a rice cooker (1 part oats to two parts water)- today i spiced mine up with 1/2 a diced fuji apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sprinkled a couple chopped pistachios. turn that rice cooker on and run....when you come home, you will have PERFECTLY cooked oatmeal and think about it during the entire run...

can you hear it? it's saying.....eat me, i'm delicious!

PB & J

this blog is going to be about food (and the occasional drink) that helps us go our fastest.
when james and i met (in august 2007), one of the first things we realized that we both love to cook delicious food that is mega-healthy and nutrient packed. every week is pretty much a fruit and vegetable party with some whole grains and lots of lean protein mixed in. we both have our vices....james can destroy a bag of kettle chips, bottle of jack, or a canister of nuts like none other, and i am working on separating myself from a golden spoon frozen yogurt addiction and letting go of the splenda...

but other than that, we eat lean, green, clean, and with plenty of caffeine...

right now, we're in a fish phase, (up to 5 nights a week-and james has been swimming fast...correlation?) and we're always in a salad phase...most nights, the dinner staple is a HUGE salad with about a dozen fresh ingredients, some lean protein and a homemade dressing.

this blog is about any of the random eatings, cookings, and drinkings we may do. from reviews of whichever pinot noir was on sale at the grocery store, to weekly soup and granola recipes (sunday is soup day), to post-race eats, to my favorite organic produce stand, to product favorites (like fage, almond breeze, clif z bars and PB2).....

no matter what we write about, it's all mostly an excuse to post pretty pictures of killer food.....(except when james uses the freaking tupperware...we may have to do a poll on that. i'm anti glad ware unless we are going to work, and james is decidedly pro....i guess he likes to keep it real and i like to front)...

okay, enough with the words...this is the kind of stuff we're talking about....

pumpkinx-flax-cranberry-pistachio granola

chicken chili

the guac

greek yogurt with figs, berries, and mangoes

salad...."the chron"

so what's PB & J?
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