mmmm sammies

Before you get to the food, let me just say: Happy Halloween!! 

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I have a thing about sammies (or, to use the lay term, “sandwiches”). I hate making them at home because they’re always disappointing, but I am almost always craving one. Why is it that Thundercloud makes a better turkey sandwich than I do? And as far as gyros and pitas go, I stink.

Over the weekend I was watching an embarrassing amount of Comedy Central and there were several commercials for a nasty-looking Taco Bell flatbread sandwich thing. And I knew I wanted one. But not from Taco Bell, obviously. I do not wish that intestinal pain on anyone.

But I endeavored to make a delicious sandwich for myself, inspired by the flatbread and inspired by the fish in my freezer that needed eating. I started by cutting Bobby Flay’s Flatbread recipe in half and baking that up. It tasted great, but it was kind of dense. I think my yeast didn’t develop enough.

Then, I thawed the fish and channeled my inner Mediterranean (non-existant) and came up with a super delicious, healthful marinade to bake the fish in and threw together some other ingredients to put on the sandwich.

The result was a super messy yet super yummy sammie that I will be recreating soon!

Tilapia Flatbread Sandwich (serves 2)
2 pieces flatbread (store-bought or homemade)
2 filets tilapia, thawed
2 T tomato sauce
1 T olive oil
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp oregano
2-3 T plain yogurt
1/4 small onion, grated (use a microplane!)
salt & pepper
In a baking dish, season fish with olive oil, salt, pepper, mustard seed, and oregano. Cover fish filets on both sides with spices and spread tomato sauce on top. Bake at 375* for 10 minutes and allow to cool slightly. While fish is cooling, mix together yogurt and grated onion and spread on flatbread. Top the sandwich with any veggies you want (I used some leftover steamed asparagus — awesome). Place fish on top of spread and any veggies and fold the bread over. Enjoy!

gettin’ ripped

To change subjects entirely, I would like to redirect your attention to my muscles.

In addition to training for a half marathon (read my story here and consider donating here!), I am currently enrolled in a good old fashioned PE class through the institution where I am studying for my Master’s degree. This has been an amazing class and I can feel my body changing every day. I have definitely gained muscle in my arms, back, and legs, and my abs are getting stronger each day.

We start every day with a brief overview of the workout and then we are led in an intense warm up, followed by our workout. If you are interested in doing a more structured weight training program, here’s what I do twice a week in class and once a week on my own:

Warm up:
15 crunches
30 penguins
15 leg lifts
10 zulus <— my own personal hell
25 flutter kicks
15 reverse crunches
30 bicycles
10 bird dogs (per side)
10 standard fire hydrants (per side)
5 forward loop fire hydrants (per side)
5 reverse loop fire hydrants (per side)
10 Superman pushups <— I can’t actually do the pushup component
10 push up plus
20 mountain climbers
10 donkey kicks
10 sky divers
10 back divers
30 second side plank (per side)
die in a pool of sweat

Weight training (sets x reps):
1 x 10 bench press warm up, 45 lbs (just the bar)
3 x 5 bench press target, 60 lbs
1 x 10 bench press warm down, 45 lbs

1 x 10 squats warm up, 45 lbs (just the bar)
3 x 5 squats target, 70 lbs
1 x 10 squats warm down, 45 lbs

3 x 10 bicep curl with dumbbell,  12.5 lbs
2 x 10 (per side) dumbbell row, 15 lbs
3 x 10 French press, 15 lbs <— do this for fierce arms
3 x 10 tricep pull down, 15 lbs
3 x 10 overhead press (with bar or dumbbells), 35 lbs

3 x 10 leg press, 150 lbs
3 x 10 calf raises (toes pointing in, toes pointing out, neutral stance)

**If you don’t know what some of these are, a quick Google search will get you images of them all!

Before starting any weight training, remember that I am not a professional, I am not your doctor (so talk to your own!), and that you shouldn’t try for the weights I am lifting if you are not capable of lifting them! For bench press and squats, you will need a spotter to help you (so modify and do traditional squats with hand weights if you don’t have a rack or lie on a bench and use dumbbells for bench press).

Do you have a weight training program? Or do you just do a few standard exercises after finishing up your cardio?

a soup I actually like

It isn’t a secret that I don’t really care for soup. I have very few recipes for soup and its very rare that I order it at a restaurant. It’s a texture thing. Aside from heavy chowders and chilis, I really only like thick, puree type soups like tomato.

Well I had been staring at a big butternut squash that I bought and was quite unsure about what to do with it since I’ve had a lot of roasted squash these days. I had a flashback to the days when I lived with Mona and Jeff, the parents of my two best friends, Harris and Jeremy — Mona used to make a butternut squash soup that was really yummy!

I had no idea what went in hers but decided to follow my instinct and just make a simple puree soup with minimal ingredients (my new favorite concept) and lots of pure, vegetable flavor.

My only complaint about this whole venture? The mess! I had to blend the soup in my blender in 3 different batches because the blender wasn’t big enough and it just caused a huge mess. But, this mess was well worth it because the soup was great! I packed it up and took a small batch over to my friend’s house for girl’s night of low cal cooking, wine, and Sex and the City!

Butternut Squash Soup (serves 8)
1-1 lb. butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped into large chunks
1/2 medium white onion, roughly chopped
1 large, sweet apple (I used Pink Lady), peeled and roughly chopped
6 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
pepper
Prepare the squash, onion, and apple. In a stock pot, combine all of the produce and cover with 6 cups of stock. Cover and bring to a rolling boil. When the liquid is boiling, reduce the heat slightly for a more gentle boil. Allow the produce to boil for about 20 minutes. When you press on the squash with a spoon or spatula, it should be tender and easily break. When the squash is tender, remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Use an immersion blender or a standard blender and blend the soup, adding pepper to taste at this point — if using a standard blender do it in batches and put a dish towel over the lid because it will still be HOT! Combine the batches of blended, pureed soup and eat up!

something smells fishy

I love fish. I grew up in an area known as “Tidewater” in Virginia, so as you can probably guess there was a lot of seafood. My mother is not particularly fond of the stuff, but I can’t get enough fish! The only problem is the smell. I never cook fish in my apartment simply because of the smell!

But I braved the scent when I was inspired to make a Thai fish dish. I believe this dish is traditionally made with salmon, but I’m a graduate student and it saved me serious money to swap tilapia for salmon! But I think the tilapia was perfect since it flakes so nicely. It made a great texture and really absorbed the flavors.

This dish requires very few ingredients, which I am very into these days. If you haven’t noticed, lately I’ve been making dishes with very minimal ingredients and I’m loving the simplicity of flavors!

If you don’t normally cook with these ingredients, coconut milk and sriracha sauce can easily be found in the Asian section of your grocery store. I bought a small bottle of sriracha since I don’t use it at home a lot!

Red Curry Fish (serves 2-3)
2-3 filets of tilapia or other white fish, depending on size
1 cup light coconut milk
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pinch salt & pepper
1-2 T sriracha sauce (spicy — add to taste!)
1 cup frozen sugar snap peas
In a mixing bowl, combine coconut milk, salt, pepper, garlic, and sriracha sauce. Marinate the fish (defrost it if it was frozen!) for 10-15 minutes in the coconut milk mixture. Heat up a large skillet (cast iron if you have it!) to medium-high heat. Pour in the coconut milk mixture and the sugar snap peas. Watch carefully and turn the heat down to medium when the liquid starts to bubble. Stir gently; the fish will start to turn white and flake off as you stir but you don’t want to break it too much (6-7 minutes). Once all of the fish has gone from translucent to white and the sauce has thickened a little, cut the heat off and let it sit for another minute to thicken. Serve hot with some rice and enjoy!

a hearty fall pasta

A few weeks ago, I discovered that a local farmer is selling his preservative-free, fresh chicken sausage! There are several flavors available, but I opted for the (spicy) Italian sausage variety. After eating one of the links with some peppers and onions, I decided to throw the rest into a pasta salad.

I also had some of my favorite fall produce lying around… butternut squash and asparagus! I roasted the squash with some olive oil and just steamed the asparagus.

Fun fact about that vegetable steamer basket: that is the very same steamer basket I used to pretend was a UFO during bath time as a small child. I was way too cool to handle back in the early 90′s.

After heating the sauce and (pre-cooked) sausage, I tossed it all together for a super hearty, healthy pasta! I ate the leftovers for days and it was still as delicious each time!

Rigatoni with Sausage and Squash (serves 4-6)
3 links Italian chicken sausage (3/4 lb.)
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into small chunks
1-2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
20 spears asparagus, cut into thirds
3/4 lb. (dried) rigatoni pasta
1 1/2-2 cups pasta sauce (your favorite variety)
Peel and cut the butternut squash. Place on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper, tossing to make sure every piece is covered. Roast for 35-40 minutes in an oven heated to 400*, stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and put into a large mixing bowl. While the squash is roasting, cut the asparagus and steam it so it retains just a touch of crispness (5-6 minutes). Put the asparagus into the same mixing bowl in which you put the squash. If sausage is uncooked, boil until cooked through. Slice sausage links into bite-sized rounds and put in bowl with asparagus and roasted squash. Cook and drain the pasta, tossing it in with the vegetables and sausage while still hot. Heat up your favorite pasta sauce and pour over the mixture in the bowl, mixing thoroughly. Serve immediately or cool and reheat when ready to serve!

my fall favorites

I suppose it is “fall” now, being that we have had weather consistently in the high 80′s for the past week.

And fall makes me think of comforting foods, prepared lovingly by my family. I was looking through some old pictures and was reminded of these foods.

So here are my 3 favorite fall foods… plus bagels because I just love them so much.

First up: My Aunt Nell’s Classic Apple Pie

Next, we have Hot Virginia Dip. Oh how I long for it…

Now for my Mama’s (Famous) Mac n Cheese (and my most popular recipe ever!)…

And now for the bagels… Oh the bagels!

Feed some friends this weekend! Happy cooking!

race recap: Uptown Classic 5k

Wow it has been quite a while since I wrote a race recap! In fact, my last race was in May 2010!

Yesterday I woke up bright and early and headed out to a popular local race here in Austin, the Uptown Classic. Typically this has been a 10k race on a flat and fast course but this year they added a 5k to the event. Not feeling quite ready to tackle a 10k yet (but soon!) I wrangled my friend Mary and another Asha Strides of Hope teammate and dear friend, Vaishno, to run it with me!

While the rest of the country is experiencing a phenomenon known as “fall”, Austin has yet to see this. Well, perhaps we are seeing fall as our average temperature is now 93* as opposed to 105*. The morning started out a bit chilly, but by the 2nd mile I was getting quite warm!

The race was great. It was small, despite its popularity, and it allowed me a chance to explore a part of Austin I’m not familiar with (The Domain). In my half marathon training we’re running intervals with walking breaks but I told myself not to walk if I could help it and I only walked twice: through a water station and for about 30 seconds towards the end until I saw the finish line! I was quite proud of myself for not stopping, despite being pretty out of shape.

About halfway through, a quadruple amputee ran past me on prosthetic legs. I started to cry. I cried not because this man was faster than me, but because he was that awesome. He was a military veteran and everyone whispered about him to their running partner as he ran through the crowd. And I just cried. He, unbeknownst to him, became my hero in that moment and I pushed through the urge to walk and finished the race as strong as I could.

As I crossed the finish line, I saw some Team Asha teammates cheering me on (thanks!) and in a complete daze almost didn’t recognize Mary who was standing at the end of the finish line cheering me on!

I grabbed some water and walked up to the finish line to cheer on other friends and we all headed over to the post-race expo for results and so much free stuff! As we were looking for our results, they started to announce age group prizes in the 5k. Imagine my surprise when we suddenly heard my name being called out. 

I actually said, “Wait, did they just say my name? What do I do?” and some stranger who heard us talking said “Go up and get your prize, silly!”

I ended up getting a respectable 3rd place in my age group (20-24) and Mary actually got 1st place in her age group (25-29) and 3rd overall for the females in the 5k! Granted it was a small race, but I’m still proud! All my friends did so well!

Thanks to everyone for supporting me — y’all are amazing!