Corn & White Bean Chowder

Today the temperature dropped and with the cold front came strong, gusty winds. When my commutes get chilly, I find myself needing soup for dinner when I get home! Before Christmas it was pea soup (Peas, onions, spices, blend. Couldn't be easier!) but today I decided that I just had to have corn chowder. I chose to add white beans to thicken the soup instead of potatoes because white beans are a good source of complete protein. These thick pureed vegetable soups are a little heartier than your traditional vegetable soup, and they feel more satisfying while still providing a rainbow of micronutrients. Best of all, they couldn't be any quicker or easier. Just microwave some frozen vegetables & puree!

Soups are just so hard to make look pretty...

Corn & White Bean Chowder

1 can white beans
1 cube vegetable bullion
1 large onion
3c water
2.5c sweet corn
1T garlic
spices to taste (I used garlic, onion, paprika, & black pepper. Basil would also be nice)
Optional: 1-2T cornstarch for thickening

1. Chop onion.
2. Microwave onion and frozen corn until warm (~5 minutes).
3. Meanwhile, drain & wash beans.
4. Add all ingredients to large food processor or blender. Blend until smooth.

Enjoy with some crusty bread and a salad for a good dinner!

Carrot Dogs

Everyone knows that store bought vegetarian "hot dogs" are disgusting. And this is coming from a girl who growing up thought that Boca burgers were awesome! After becoming a vegetarian, I learned that home made black bean burgers far exceed the store bought stuff, but basically just ignored the rubbery, tasteless store bought hot dogs when it came time for a summer barbecue. Some time ago, I heard that carrots could be marinated and turned into vegetarian hot dogs. At first, I ignored the concept, since typically the hot dog provides protein and carrots don't provide all that much. However, recently I found myself craving a hot dog and the carrot dog came to mind. In this new frame of mind, I thought, why not? I love carrots and I can always pair a carrot dog with a side that carries protein (like this potato salad with chickpeas) to enjoy a balanced, delicious summer-style meal. The carrot dog verdict? Delicious and surprisingly satisfying! If you think about it, beyond the general saltiness, hot dogs aren't really all that flavorful, so typically the ketchup, onions, and mustard carry the taste anyways. So give this easy carrot dog a try. It's like the cauli-rice for carb lovers!

Why is the grocery store always out of whole wheat hot dog buns?

Carrot Dogs

1 large carrot cut to a hot dog-sized piece
1T Vegemite (or beef-like bullion)
2T soy sauce
1T liquid smoke
3 cloves garlic
1 onion diced
1T black pepper
1T paprika
sea salt to taste
Enough water to cover the carrot in your microwave safe dish
buns or bread for serving

Cut ends of the carrot off to size to your bun. Add pieces and carrots to microwave-safe dish. Cover with water and microwave until your carrots are tender. This will be 5-8 minutes depending on the strength of your microwave. Remove from marinade, place in bun, top with your favorite hot dog toppings and prepare to be amazed!

Friday Flatbread Pizza

Friday night is pizza night! The tradition seems to go back in my family to the days when Catholics weren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays and the vegetarian choices were limited. For me, Friday night pizza brings back memories of eating dinner in front of the TV with my family watching TGIF. My parents were sticklers for family dinners at the table, so watching TV while eating dinner was a real treat. Those were the days! While we do have a number of good pizza joints around us (Pittsburgh is a college town, after all!) I prefer to make my own pizzas. More goodness, less waiting, and no mark up or delivery fees! While my husband likes his pizza the traditional way (thick crust & lots of cheese), these days I have been very into my flatbread pizzas, which I make with a thin crust and top with Italian-y hummus plus whatever vegetables we have in the fridge. Tomatoes are a must, but onions, red peppers, spinach, artichoke, mushrooms, and olives all make regular and tasty appearances. With my preference for a thin crust a quick and easy baking powder crust works just fine for me, but my husband prefers a fluffy yeast crust. I include the recipes for both below, so pick your poison! If you're patient or have foresight and a bread maker, go with the yeast crust but otherwise the easy baking powder recipe will do just fine. This week, branch out to try a vegan pizza... you won't regret it! (If the idea of hummus a pizza sauce is just a bit too much for you to wrap your head around, there's always my Pesto Pizza too.)

Breadmaker Pizza Crust (2 crusts)

1 1/2c warm water

1/2T salt

1T olive oil

3 3/4c flour

2t rapid rise yeast

2T sugar

Place ingredients in the breadmaker in that order. Create a "volcano hole" in the top of the flour pile and fill it with the yeast followed by the sugar to be sure that the yeast doesn't touch the salt or water too early. Run the dough cycle (~1.5hrs). Once completed roll out the dough.

Simple Thin Crust (1 crust)

2/3c whole wheat flour
dash salt (optional)
1t baking powder
1/4c warm water

Combine dry ingredients, then add warm water and olive oil. When the dough just starts to stick together, roll it out into your crust.

Tomato-basil hummus

1 can chickpeas

Juice of one can of tomatoes (retain the tomatoes for your topping)

1/4c nutritional yeast

garlic, basil, oregano (to taste)

Food process all ingredients until smooth.

Put it together: Spoon and spread tomato-basil hummus onto crust. Top with tomatoes, onions, peppers, spinach-- any vegetables that you have in your fridge! Sprinkle with additional nutritional yeast and Italian spices. Bake for 10 minutes at 400F, or until the edges of the crust start to brown. Enjoy!

Cheesy Mushroom Soup

While thinking about making food for the Superbowl this year, I became obsessed with the idea of vegan nacho cheese made from carrots. Sadly, this could not come to fruition because I didn't have potatoes on the day of the game. Fortunately, a couple days after the game, my husband came through with some potatoes for me so I gave it a go. And Oh. My. Goodness! It's not nacho cheese, but it is really, really good. Rather than dipping, I found myself going at the dip with a spoon. In a moment of genius (as I was trying to restrain myself between bites), I realized that I had mushrooms in the fridge. The one and only food I miss as a vegetarian is a delicious beef burger topped with with mushrooms and swiss cheese. (Yes... red meat and cheese, definitely the healthiest omnivore food, I know!) This taste is hard to recreate, but I knew that by pairing this delicious cheesy liquid with mushrooms, I had a chance. I sautéed up the mushrooms with some onions, garlic, and black pepper and mixed it in with my cheese sauce. So freaking good! Only one bowl made it to a bowl on my first trial of the recipe... I'll be making this creamy, cheesy, mushroomy goodness again soon!

Not a looker, but man this soup is good!

Cheesy Mushroom Soup

6 large carrots
4 potatoes
2 onions
Garlic, paprika, and salt to taste
2 cubes vegetable bullion
1/4c apple cider vinegar
1/2c nutritional yeast
2 packages (8oz) mushrooms
2 more onions
more garlic & black pepper to taste

1. Peel & cube potatoes. Slice carrots and onions.
2. In a large microwave safe bowl,  add 6c water, carrots, potatoes, and onions. Microwave on high until vegetables are tender. (~10 minutes depending on microwave)
3. Meanwhile, wash and slice mushrooms and additional onions.
4. In a large soup pot, sautee mushrooms and onions with garlic & black pepper, until tender. I use water to prevent sticking.
5. When your microwave bowl is done, transfer the water and vegetables to food processor/ blender. (Do it in batches or use an immersion blender.) Add bullion, garlic, paprika, and salt. Process until smooth.
6. Add contents of blender to your mushrooms and onions in the soup pot. Stir in apple cider vinegar and nutritional yeast.
7. Add water to thin (if you desire) and enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving! (2015 Edition)

Since I last wrote, big changes have happened in my life. I got married, moved from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania, started my dream job as a tenure track chemistry professor at Carnegie Mellon, upgraded to a Cat 1 road cyclist... I feel like the list goes on and on.  I have so much to be thankful for. My loving family and friends, a caring, sweet husband, my dream job, many fast bikes, a nice (rental) house in a good neighborhood, a wickedly smart and athletic rabbit, who might just be a psycho-killer if he was a human... However, with so many changes I feel like I'm still finding my footing in this new life. I don't know how and what to prioritize and if I didn't love everything so much, I would feel very overwhelmed. I don't yet know how to be the best wife I can be (although recently I learned that it does not involve keeping a spotless house. We are much happier when I accept that the house will be messy.) This Thanksgiving, my husband is working night shift. Thus, I decided not to travel so that I could be with him as he spent his first holiday outside of New England without his family. I feel like a huge disappointment to my own family, but since I'm married now, I have to put Aidan first and think about how I can best support him. And I think being here for him and getting caught up on sleep, chores, and work is the best way to do just that.

We aren't totally missing out though. Last weekend, our best friend came into town, since her parents live down the street from us, so we celebrated Thanksgiving with a delicious dinner with her family then. I am so thankful to have my best friend and really, her whole family in our lives. They are the type of people who know what you need and give it to you before you even ask or realize yourself that you need it. Thanks :) She truly gives meaning to the quote "friends are the family you get to pick out." To the dinner, I brought a Veggie Turkey and apple sweet potato burgers, as the vegetarian entree (recipe below). I was really proud of my veggie turkey, especially because I found it on Pinterest last year and actually remembered for a whole year that I wanted to make it and did! I must say, it is a fantastic contribution for a vegetarian to bring to a Thanksgiving dinner.

The most adorable veggie turkey.

But on the big day, what's a girl who loves to cook but doesn't have a Thanksgiving dinner planned to do? I have a ton a work and laundry, but I decided to indulge myself by making a few more elaborate recipes that I have been dying to make for some time. For the husband, I made cranberry-maple glazed salmon and apple crisp to take to his work potluck. I followed those up with a chestnut stuffing (to make use of some french and sourdough bread that had gone stale) and a sweet potato lentil shepherds pie. There's still many hours left in the day, so I might make a few more things, but I decided to take a moment to reflect and do one more thing that I gratuitously enjoy... sharing recipes with you!


Apple Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

1c oatmeal, ground to oat flour

1T cornstarch

1 large or two small onions

2 cans chickpeas

1 large apple diced

1 large sweet potato, cubed

garlic, ginger, cinnamon, salt & pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Roast sweet potato cubes on parchment paper for 30 minutes or until just starting to soften.

3. Make oat flour by food processing oats. Add the cornstarch. Add spices.

4. Dice onions and add them to the food processor. 

5. Wash & drain chickpeas. Add 1/2 of them to the food processor. Pulse to make a course paste. Transfer to a large bowl.

6. When the sweet potatoes are done, add them to the food processor. Add remaining chickpeas and apple chunks and process coarse lay. Add to bowl.

7. Mix mixture in bowl with hands (like working clay) Taste to see if you need to add any additional spices.

8. Shape into patties (this should make 10). Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350F. Flip burgers at 25 minutes to evenly brown.

9. Serve with cranberry sauce (or honey mustard). Enjoy!

Vegetarian Chestnut Stuffing

1 lb chestnuts
~1 loaf stale bread (I use whole wheat bread ends, a stale Italian loaf, and stale sourdough rolls to use)
1 small onion, diced
1 16oz package mushrooms, chopped
2 stalks celery
2c vegetable broth
Black pepper, garlic, parsley to taste

1. Preheat over to 350F.
2. Cut an "x" into the top of each chestnut. Roast in over at 350 for 40 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, chisel (ok, or cut if your bread isn't like rocks) bread into chunks. Dice onion, celery, mushrooms. Place in 9x 13 pan.
4. Once your chestnuts are done and cooled, harvest as much chestnut meat as you can. Add to pan.
5. Add spices and pour broth over stuffing mixture. If using fresh bread, use less
5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, or until bread is desired crispiness and mushrooms & onions are tender.

I. love. bread. Yum! Carbs are speed!

Sweet Potato Lentil Shepherd's Pie

2 large sweet potatoes
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1c dried lentils, cooked
1 package (16 oz) mushrooms
1c unsweetened original almond milk
basil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper, parsley to taste

1. Preheat over to 350F (Hint: these are all at 350 by design, so if you wanted to make a Thanksgiving feast, you could do them all at once!)
2. Wash lentils, then cook in ample water. You can flavor the water with bullion or vegemite for more flavor.
3. Poke holes with a fork in the sweet potatoes. Microwave for 10 minutes, or until soft.
4. Saute 3/4 diced onion and mushrooms in a large pan, using water to prevent from sticking. Add spices.
5. In a small food processor, food process 1/4 onion, 3 cloves garlic and parsley.
6. Once lentils are done, drain. Add to mushrooms and onions and sauté for another 5 to 10 minutes.
7. When sweet potatoes are soft and no longer scorching hot, cut open, and scoop the flesh out into a small bowl. Add almond milk with spices from the blender and mash with a potato masher.
8. Add lentils to a cassarole dish. Spoon on a top layer of sweet potato mash. Bake for 20 minutes until the top just starts to brown.


Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! More vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes can be found in my 2013 Thanksgiving week post. Enjoy and be thankful!

Vegan "Easy Mac"

Wish that you could find  comforting dish to make on a weeknight that is as easy as Easy Mac, but without all the processed ingredients? Look no further! This vegan version of "easy mac" packs a nutritional punch with a serving of veggies and is ready in less than 10 minutes. The secret ingredient in our creamy, cheesy sauce is pre-cooked frozen squash to which we of course add nutritional yeast. This makes for an easy mac that's packed with vitamins A, C, and B, as well as fiber from the squash, and complete protein from the nutritional yeast. Yum! Serve it over some whole wheat pasta, add a salad, and you have yourself a meal in no time.

The secret ingredient!

Vegan "Easy Mac"

12oz package frozen cooked squash
1/2c nutritional yeast
garlic, salt, black pepper to taste
onion powder (optional)
1/2 box whole wheat pasta (You could also use farro, or any other type of quick cooking pasta or grain)

1. Bring water for the pasta to a boil
2. Microwave frozen squash.
3. Add pasta to boiling water and cool according to the directions.
4. Once squash is warmed through, stir in nutritional yeast and spices to taste.
5. Drain pasta and add sauce. Enjoy!

Pesto Pizza

Growing up in my house, Friday night was pizza night! I think this stemmed from the days before the second Vatican counsel, when all Catholics couldn't eat meat every Friday: cheese pizza was one of the easiest pescetarian foods to come by when my Dad was growing up in Western Pennsylvania. These days I don't always eat pizza on Friday nights, but I do get indignant when free food around campus involves pizza for lunch on Friday. This is one of my many quirks that makes my parents refer to me as "Sheldon Cooper," although Sheldon's pizza night is Thursday.

In truth, eating pizza on Friday nights is logical and practical. Pizza makes an excellent, substantial dinner before a race or a long ride and there are plentiful leftovers for after the ride (or the rest of the weekend). Best of all though, pizza is easy! If you order take out, it's ready by the time you drive to the pizza joint. While it's easy enough to make your own, I find the mixing bowl required to make the crust can be prohibitive on a Friday night. Like everyone else, I'm often really tired and hungry on Friday nights so my favorite time-saver is a freezer pizza from Trader Joe's. A freezer pizza gives me 10 minutes to do my daily core workout while it cooks, but doesn't delay gratification and dinner beyond that!

Recently, I found Trader Joe's pre-made pizza crusts and decided that at $2.49 for two pizzas, it was worth a shot. I chose to top it with a basil pesto sauce, scallions, and tomatoes, which is my favorite variety of cheese-less pizza. Most pizzas that omit cheese leave me wanting, but this creamy, basil-y pizza is everything you want in a pizza. Give it a shot the next time you are looking for a quick dairy-free pizza option!

Get it while it's hot... this pizza goes fast!

Pesto Pizza

1 Pre-made Pizza Crust (I like Trader Joe's)
    Alternatively, to make this gluten free, feel free to use polenta as the crust, like in my Polenta Pizza.
1 large bunch basil
2/3c nutritional yeast
3T olive oil
garlic
salt (optional)
splash balsamic vinegar
water (to thin as necessary)
1 large or several small tomatoes, sliced
5 scallions or 1/2 onion, sliced

1. Preheat oven according to crust package directions.
2. In a food processor, combine basil leaves, nutritional yeast, olive oil, garlic, salt, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Food process into a pesto paste, adding 1T water at a time as necessary to thin. Taste your pesto to make sure you have enough garlic!
3. Slice tomatoes and scallions.
4. Top pizza crust with pesto. Add tomato and scallion slices.
5. Bake for 12 minutes (or as the package directs.) Let cool and enjoy!

Simple Zoodles with Tomatoes

Hello! There's been lots going on here with both research and summer racing season in full, zealous swing. But I'll leave that out for today to focus on... zoodles! My paleo friends have been talking about zucchini noodles for some time, but somehow I managed to overlook the trend. Until last week, when it hit me like a ton of bricks... I had been missing out! So I hastened over to Amazon and found this very simple, handheld spiral slicer for only $13.99. With so little to lose, I figured it was worth a shot: I would get a few good meals out if I didn't like it and could always upgrade if I found that I loved it. I was away most of the weekend, so when I came back on Monday and found my spiralizer waiting for me, I knew I had to try making zoodles immediately.

The spiralizer at work...

The concept of zoodles and a spirializer are very simple. You simply thinly slice zucchini into long strips and then treat it like you would pasta. You can eat your zoodles raw or lightly cooked, either way is delicious. Additionally, you have a choice of peeling the zucchini before spiraling or just leaving the skin on. As you can see, I chose to leave the skin on and I was really happy with that choice. One big bonus of zoodles over pasta, is that zucchini is really absorbent so it takes on the flavors of your seasoning very well. Additionally, one large zucchini will give you 4g good quality protein and 4g fiber, as well as a whopping dose of vitamins A, C, K, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, and potassium. Whoa! For our first zoodle experience, I chose to keep it simple and just sauté some tomatoes and onions with garlic, olive oil, and nutritional yeast to serve over the top. This turned out to be a delicious, simple summer meal that I'm hoping to make again soon!

Simple Zoodles with Tomatoes

2 large zucchini
1/2 pint fresh tomatoes
1/4 onion
1/3c nutritional yeast
2T olive oil
garlic and sea salt to taste

1. Spiralize zucchini/ summer squash using a spiralizer or julienne peeler. 1 large zucchini (or 1.5 medium zucchinis per adult is a good serving suggestion.) If using a hand held spiral spicer like mine for the first time, be careful! When your zucchini stub gets lower than the top of the "cone" you are at risk for nicking your fingers, which I did.
2. Slice tomatoes and dice onions.
3. Add onions to skillet with olive oil, garlic, and salt. Sauté until they turn translucent, adding water as necessary so that they don't burn (it'll boil off).
4. Add tomatoes and sauté for a couple minutes. Add nutritional yeast, which should turn into a light, creamy sauce as it combines with the juice from the tomatoes.
5. Add zoodles and sauté for a minute longer. Turn off heat and serve. Enjoy!

Alvocado-Lemon-Dill Potato Salad

Hi guys! Sorry I've been so bad at posting this month. I have a confession to make: I've been working on writing a review paper, and I actually missed my first deadline ever. I was supposed to have my part done almost two weeks ago, but alas! I am still putting the finishing touches on it. So that's why I haven't had the chance to write much here. Lots has been going on, even though June has been a light month for bike racing. I also will be moving from Cambridge to Somerville over the next month, so watch out! The madness continues. Really though, despite the added stresses my summer has gotten off to a great start.

Last weekend, my fiancé and I went to Vermont for his grandma's funeral and memorial service. This was my fiancé's mom's mom and I never had a chance to meet her. From the memories and pictures shared at the service, it was clear that she was a wonderful, loving woman who had a big impact on the family and it made me feel even more honored that my fiancé has chosen me as a partner, knowing that she was a standard to which I was held. The service, while lovely, was a bit awkward for me, because well, it was held exactly four years (to the day) after I had learned that my best friend passed away. So I was in a vulnerable state: the minute Aidan started crying it took every ounce of my willpower to prevent myself from sobbing. I managed to hold myself almost together, but I will confess I was very relieved to leave the church and put my sunglasses on.

Anyways, while we were in beautiful Vermont, I made my fiancé take a side trip with me for a short hike to see Ft. Dummer. The park was beautiful and it was nice to finally be out in the woods, however, only once reaching the lookout point did we learn that Ft. Dummer had been flooded when a dam was built in 1908. What a bummer! The view was still pretty though.

Somewhere under that water, lies the remains of Fort Dummer...

After the funeral, we took a day to go visit my fiancé's parent's and while there, I had a chance to look through the new Oh She Glows Cookbook. You should definitely check out the cookbook too, so many delicious recipes! While flipping through though, a recipe for potato salad using avocado rather than mayonnaise caught my eye. In Pennsylvania, potato salad is a delicious affair, and my favorite recipes are light on the mayo and heavy on the bacon and bacon fat (seriously, google "Pennsylvania Dutch Potato Salad" and you'll see!) As such, I've found potato salad lack-luster since becoming a vegetarian. However, a potato salad filled with crave-able avocado definitely sounded like something I could get behind! I changed the recipe from the book, adding celery for more crunch and chickpeas for more protein. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Alvocado-Lemon-Dill Potato Salad

Sauce:
1 ripe alvocado
5 scallions
juice of two lemons
1 bunch dill
freshly cracked black pepper
~1/4c water

Salad:
2lb red potatoes
1 bunch asparagus
4 stalks celery
3 scallions
2 cans chickpeas, drained and thoroughly washed.
salt and black pepper to taste
(optional: olive oil)

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Dice potatoes to 1/2" cubes, slice asparagus, celery, and scallions.
3. Add potatoes to roasting pan, adding a touch of olive oil, if you desire, and plenty of salt and black pepper. Roast for 30-40 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, combine all sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and the desired consistency. (Pro tip: Microwaving lemons before juicing helps you get more juice out!)
5. For the last 10 minutes of the potato roasting, add in the asparagus.
6. Add celery, scallions, and chickpeas to a bowl. Add sauce, and once the potatoes and asparagus are done roasting.

Serving choices: as an entree, as a side, or on an arugula salad!

Thai Green Curry

Up there with channa saag on my list of favorite exotic dishes is Thai green curry. I'm very likely to order this at a Thai restaurant and I also am likely to have several containers of the pre-made, store-bought spice mixture sitting around my apartment. The light, sweet flavors of ginger and basil sing together in my mouth! Previously, I've never tried to make it on my own because up high on the ingredients list, along with the ginger and basil, is lemon grass. I've never seen lemon grass in the grocery store, but this week while standing in line at the farmers market, I noticed a big stalk of lemon grass on sale for 25¢. Eureka! I added it to my cart and decided that I was going to give making own green curry a go. Turns out, the spice mixture used to make Thai green curry is much more forgiving than the spice mixtures I've been playing with to make authentic Indian food. I chose to use it to stir fry bok choy, bean sprouts, and eggplant. Bok choy is packed with vitamins A and C and offers health benefits like those of other cruiciferous vegetables. Bean sprouts are also rich in vitamins and minerals and offer a complementary protein source to the bok choy. The eggplant, while nutritious in its own right, was mostly added as sponge for the green curry sauce! I served it all over wild rice, but you can feel free to experiment once you give the green curry a try with the easy recipe below!

Thai Green Curry

1 bunch basil
2 large blades of lemon grass
1 small bunch cilantro (~6-10 stems)
1/3 onion
1 very large chunk fresh ginger (about 6 thumb-sized pieces)
3 cloves or (1T minced) garlic
2-3T sirracha (to taste)
2-3T brown sugar (to taste)
dash cumin and corriander
2c coconut milk (I used the carton-type from TJs. It's less rich than the canned and worked well!)

Add all ingredients to the food processor. Food process until smooth. Pour into a pan, pull out any unprocessed, tough strands of lemon grass, and bring to a summer.

Once the sauce was simmering, I added a stir fry of:
3 bunches bok choy, sliced (a cruciferous vegetable!)
1 bag bean sprouts
2 small eggplants, diced
which I allowed to simmer in the sauce until all the vegetables were tender. Then I served it over wild rice. However, you can use the sauce for any number of stir fried vegetables and then serve them over a bed of any type of rice or noodle. Hope you enjoy it!

Killington Stage Race (fueled by Apple-Sausage Pasta)

This weekend was a crazy one: I won the Killington Stage Race W3/4 RR, ITT,  QOM, and GC. Winning the GC (general classification, for all you non-cyclists) was one of my big goals for this season so I am thrilled! The weather for the weekend was good, in the 60s and mostly sunny, except for a few scattered showers. It was a world of difference from the pouring rain and snow we experienced last year! Also, we had a big group to travel with consisting of MIT, Pedal Power, and GLV cyclists, which made hanging out between races and dinner time very fun. The race was 3 days, and today I'm giving you a little recap of each stage, as well as a dinner recipe we used!


Day 1, Circuit Race: The circuit was two loops around a fairly flat 18 mile loop that was meant to favor sprinters. This was one of the weirdest and sketchiest races ever. It was like people were racing with fire ants in their pants. People were either soft pedaling or attacking on the downhill flats, but short, unconvincing attacks. Lots of shrieking and near crashes, so when a big crash happened AFTER the finish line, it wasn't all that surprising. I was planning to attack on the "hill" on the back side of the course to get away, however, I forgot how shallow it was. On the first lap, I was on the front going up the last bit of the "hill" towards the QOM, since on a real hill/QOM that's the best place to be. But this circuit's QOMs were really more of a sprint, so I got sprinted around then decided that the QOMs were not worth it. So then I spent significant time hating the circuit course for being the worst and sitting in. In the second half of the second lap, my teammate and I had planned that if I didn't get away, I'd lead her out for the sprint. So with about 5 miles to go, I got on the front and started drilling the pace to string things out. I was hoping to set her up to go at 1k to go. Unfortunately, things got antsy with all the McSketchersons racing and she went at just under 2k to go. It was a darn shame we botched that, because she ended up getting 1st or 2nd in all the intermediate sprints and I would have loved to see her in the Leader's jersey on the first day!

Day 2, Road Race: The RR was a hilly 61 mile route with a major climb at mile 25, and also up the last 5 miles. The first 25 miles (before the climb) were slower than I would willingly choose to go on a group ride. Seriously, my average HR was 125bpm for those miles. People were messing around, but fortunately the crash had given people a wake-up call and no one was being sketchy like yesterday. I got on the front on the short "hill" 3 or so miles in to set myself up to be at the front for the right turn into a steep descent with what they told us would be questionable pavement. That worked beautifully.
At around mile 20 someone asked me why I wasn't doing any work and I said, well on this stage everyone waits for the hill. She said "oh, you're going to pull us all up it?" In my mind, I laughed really hard and said "Oh honey" to her but that's when I decided that I could win it solo of the front if I had to. At the sprint line, one mile to the climb, I started moving up the pack, so I hit the sharp right turn (I've been practicing!) well about 4 wheels back. People were pretty bunched so I didn't have a clear shot right away, but as it started to loosen up, I had positioned myself pretty much right by the yellow line, so I started to inch my way up. Finally (you know, 2 minutes later. But it felt like an eternity), only 1 girl was kinda in my way and she had room to inch right for me. So I said "On your left." (I was once crashed into my someone on a hill when I was attacking on her left and she took the opportunity to paperboy, so I'd rather announce and not risk it.) She yielded and I attacked hard. Not these pansy 3/4 attacks I had seen the day before, but like I have to do to jump on a wheel when a P12 woman attacks on a hill. I hadn't picked quite the right gear, so it wouldn't have worked in a P12 field but it did the trick. I pushed for 30 seconds or so and looked back. I had a gap. Excellent. I kept climbing hard but not too hard, there was still plenty of time. In my ideal race plan two or so people came with me, and I figured I had a minute or two to wait to see if someone was strong enough to use. A minute or two later, I heard the heavy breathing behind me, so I knew I had picked some people back up. I looked back and about 8 girls were back on my wheel. This would not do. Someone tried to psyche someone else out by making a comment about how hard they were breathing. It sounded like the girl who thought I was going to pull her up the mountain, so that annoyed me. I waited 10 seconds and then attacked again, harder than before and continued to floor it for a minute or two until I couldn't hear the breathing anymore. I looked back and only one girl was on my wheel. Perfect! Now I just had to make sure that we opened a sizable gap.

I hammered and let her ride my wheel until the QOM, when she went around me to take the points. Now, the girl who came with me is a junior and I knew getting away with me was a good and surprising result for her. I also knew that she's even more tentative on descents than I am, so if I wanted us to stay away from the pack through the descents over the next 20 miles, it was up to me to drill the pace going down. So as I came around, I told her that last year the race was won by 2 people who got away and worked together, so as along as we both committed, we'd get 1-2. Then we executed the most beautiful 2-person effort that I've ever seen. I made sure to get on the front for the descents and looking at Strava files, I descended just about as fast as any of the women. I was so bold I even dropped her by a bit on the dirt descent. I tried to make her work a bit more than me and I ate about a million gels (translated: 7 gels for 60 miles!) to make sure that I'd have my kick on the final climb when I needed it. (Side note: at this point I was telling myself that if I couldn't win this race, I should quit racing bikes.)

When we approached the final climb neither of us really wanted to be on the front going into the turn, but after a moment's hesitation I decided I'd take it. We had worked so well together for 25 miles, no need to mess that up now. I knew I was punchier than her and the final climb is steep enough that I'd have no trouble attacking from the front. So we started the shallow part climbing steadily together with about 2 minutes on the field. Finally, the first switchback appeared and the road started to go up so I put in yet another real attack. A minute later, I looked back and saw that I had put a sizable gap on her. Only 25 minutes left in the race and as long as I didn't bonk or crash and kept it at threshold, I knew that the race was mine. I went hard, but within my comfort zone. I felt like I could have done better with someone pushing me. But it was a good hard effort and enough to win the day by three and a half minutes!

Finally got a coveted winner's photo from velocity results.com!

Day 3, Time Trial: The TT was 11 miles, steadily uphill at about 1%. This was a decent effort, and enough to beat the 2nd place woman by almost 3 minutes, but really it wasn't my best. The wind was quite gusty in the morning: it seemed as though the morning race times were almost as slow as last year's. It's hard to compare, but I can say with certainty that I did better than last year. I have also been messing with my TT set-up and I finally felt like it was feeling good, so that was a bonus. The race started strong, but after I passed 5 people I started to wonder if I had it in the bag. And there was a flat spot in the middle where the winds suddenly made conditions faster so I didn't feel like I was slowing down. And then the next person to pass was way off... basically I spaced out for like a mile and then looked down and saw that my heart rate was at 166bpm. (It should be at 180bpm for a good TT!) Oh no! Time to get going again! I kicked it back into gear for the finish but that lack of focus cost me a good chunk of time, I'm sure.
As a side note: My teammate who I lead out for the sprint ended up 6th on the TT with no aero gear whatsoever. If she'd have even just had an aero helmet, she'd have been 2nd as she was only 30 seconds back. Man, she was hauling!

Also, as an FYI, after this wonderful weekend I asked for my upgrade to Cat 2. However, they denied it because I only have only earned 24 points since my Cat 4 upgrade. So if you are a Cat 3 woman upset about my sandbagging, please send complaints directly to USA cycling! Fortunately, if I get at least 3 points at my next race, I will have over 40 points in the last 12 months, which is a mandatory upgrade.

Anyways, I was asked by some people what I used to fuel myself. During the RR, I had a bottle of Hammer Heed, a bottle of Hammer Perpetum, 4 Accel Gels and 3 Honey Stingers. I was determined not to bonk this year and as such, managed to do the final climb 9 minutes faster this year than I did it last year! Saturday night, we ate Veggie Lasagna (and salad topped with beets) and Sunday night we had Apple-Sausage Pasta. The recipe for Apple-Sausage Pasta is shared below. I hope you enjoy it!

The vegan version, without smoked gouda cheese

Apple-Sausage Pasta

1 bag whole wheat rigatoni pasta
1 package vegetarian sausage, sliced (we used Tofurky brand)
4 apples, cubed
1/2 block smoked gouda cheese, cubed (omit to make it vegan)
1 bunch basil
4 cloves garlic
1/2 onion

1. Bring pot of water to a boil and prepare according to the directions on the package.
2. Meanwhile, chop (or food process) basil, garlic, and onion.
3. Saute basil, garlic, and onion with sausage.
4. After a few minutes, add the apple cubes and continue to cook until the sausage is browned and the apples are soft.
5. Just before removing it from the heat, add the cheese cubes. Stir for 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
6. Serve apples and sausage over pasta. Enjoy!

My favorite podium picture from the weekend. QOM with the mountains!

BBQ Cauliflower & Bear Mtn RR

This past weekend I drove out to New York for the Bear Mountain Road Race. There was a women's cat 3 race, which I was thinking I'd do for some upgrade points, but my coach encouraged me to do the women's elite race, which was nearly twice as long and of course promised better competition. Except for the fact that I'd like some upgrade points so that I can upgrade to cat 2, I usually would be happy to race with the P12 women on a hilly race, as one of my favorite things about racing is the way that your competition can really draw the best out of you. However, this race looked like it was going to be extremely technical. Basically the only description posted in the race guide was:
"Caution: two miles into the race, there is a fast descent into a 180 degree turn into the main climb."
Great, I figured. So I was going to be dropped on the descent and miss the break in the climb.

I was really, really nervous and I have a history of not doing well on neutral rollouts downhill. Basically, I was 50-50 for actually making it to the start of the race with the field from a neutral rollout down a hill. I am never a great descender, but I'm much better once I get climb in my legs to get my jitters out. Well, let's just say I'm now 2:1 on getting dropped on neutral rollouts. I missed the 180 turn because no one was signaling, there were no signs, and I got too tight and nervous to be able to make the turn in time. What a way to start the race! Fortunately, they let me chase back on, but there went Big Match #1 while everyone else was settling in, comfortably neutral.

Cursing my coach and hating the race course, I settled in to the pack, but timidly: I was still intimidated by all of these P12 women. I moved towards the front and was on the front for the small descent on the back side, but allowed myself to be bullied backwards by the time we got to the Big Descent again. Fortunately, I put on my big girl pants, got into the drops, and tried to execute my very best descending technique. I even passed a girl or two and hit the 180 degree turn at the very back of the pack. Relieved, I shifted to start the climb, but my bike did not respond. Rather than thinking, I frantically flicked the gears and... dropped my chain. Cursing, I got off to put it back on. I'm sure at this point, the motoref was thinking: "Who is this Pedal Power joker??!" Someone in the pack picked up the pace and by the time I got back on my bike, I could already see girls falling off the back of the pack on the climb way up the road. Desperate, I chased as hard as I could. Apparently, it was quite hard, as it seems that that climb, from the dropping of my chain to the top, might be the Strava QOM of the day. There went Big Match #2, but somehow I was still with the thinning pack.

Lap 3 was rather uneventful, as we had dropped all the people who were getting in my way on the descent. I really need to learn to descend more confidently! During lap 4, there was big excitement, as the girl who ended up winning with a solo break attacked on the hill. I jumped on her wheel and went with her, but when I looked back, I saw I was the only one. Instead of thinking "Oh boy, this girl has 3 strong teammates to block back there for her, this is the break!" I thought "Oh boy, my legs are spent from my stupid technical difficulties using up Big Match #1 and #2. There's no way this will hold, I'll just ease up and slink back to the pack." Well, that was the winning break and I made the erroneous choice to miss it. Oh well. Live and learn. And hopefully gain experience and confidence on the way! There were 17 girls still around in the pack at the end of the 4th lap and I had learned that somehow, even with all my stupid cat 3 level technical skills, I was one of the better climbers. So after the last Big Descent, I felt a burst of confidence (I survived the fast descent into a 180 degree turn 5 times! And I didn't have to do it again!) so rode up to the front of the pack. I didn't think I had an attack in me (should have more confidence in myself) so I just hammered away on the front, driving the pace and hoping that some of those girls would fall off. When we got to the top, I looked around to see that there were 10 girls left. Excellent, my climb had gotten rid of almost half of them! At this point, I was content to finish with the pack, as I barely have the balls to contest a flat sprint in a W3/4 race and here the finishing sprint was on a legit downhill. (In an ECCC race in 2010, I was involved in a serious crash in the sprint finish when I was front and center. A girl clipped my bars and I ended up taking down half the field and breaking my shoulder. Other girls were really hurt too. It's going to take me a lot of years to get over that.) In the end, I ended up 9th of 36 in the elite women's field. Not bad! Although later, I found out that the winners got teddy bears and I am about as motivated by teddy bears as a 4 year old girl should be. Missing out on upgrade points and a teddy bear made me really sad that I didn't do the W3 race!

Ok, enough racing. On to the food! We have to stay energy neutral, after all. Today's recipe is a bit long. It's not hard, but there are a few distinct dishes, which is different than most of my "one pot wonders." This is definitely something that you can make if you're trying to impress someone! This inspiration for this recipe came from my visit to Northstar House in Ithaca. I decided to go with a dish with beets in it, in preparation for the race the next day, but their BBQ Cauliflower really stood out to me, and once I saw how great it looked (my cousin's husband ordered it), I knew I had to try to make it. According to the description the dish is "Slow braised cauliflower, tossed in house BBQ sauce. Served over polenta with kale & mushrooms." Today's recipe is basically just that, with the addition of some pinto beans with the kale and nutritional yeast in the polenta. Basically, while cauliflower makes a stunning main dish and is a complete protein, it's protein content isn't that high so I added in more complete protein sources to the side dish to make sure that this was a nutritionally balanced powerhouse. I also took some time to create my own BBQ sauce, which is smoky, sweet, and spicy-- all without any processed sugars! It takes a tiny bit of time to throw everything into the blender or food processor, but you'll be so pleased with the result that you'll never go back. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

BBQ Sauce

2 (15oz) cans diced, fire roasted tomatoes
1 (4oz) can tomato paste
1/2c molasses
3T maple syrup
3T liquid smoke
3T sirracha

Food process until a smooth texture is reached. It'll be a bit lumpier than store bought, but it's so good! This will be more than enough for this recipe plus extra for future burgers, ect

BBQ Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower
BBQ sauce (recipe above)

Preheat oven to 400F. Cut a head of cauliflower into 6ths. Dip each piece into a deep bowl of the BBQ sauce, taking care that the sauce gets into the nooks and cranies. Bake for 30- 40 minutes, until cauliflower is tender, but BBQ sauce isn't burned.

Polenta

2c polenta (yellow corn grits)

6c water

1/4c nutritional yeast

optional: 1/2c shredded cheese

1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced

salt and black pepper to taste

On the stove, bring the water to a boil. Add all other ingredients and continue to heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat once all of the water is absorbed and the polenta is tender.

Sautéed Kale and Mushrooms

1 bag kale or 2 large bunches, washed and shredded

1 box (8oz) shiitake mushrooms, sliced (other mushrooms would work too)

1 can pinto beans (or any other white bean)

1/4 sweet yellow onion, diced

Additional BBQ sauce

Add all ingredients to a frying pan and sauté until the kale is wilted and mushrooms/ onions are tender. Top with extra BBQ sauce so that the leaves can absorb the smoky flavor.

Serve cauliflower steaks with the kale and mushrooms served over the polenta on the side. Top with additional BBQ sauce if you'd like. Enjoy!

Veggie Lasagna and Adventures in Ithaca

Happy Wednesday! This past weekend I visited my good friend in Ithaca again. The weather was still a bit cool and dreary there, but we had a blast anyways, making delicious channa saag and pancakes. We also took advantage of the rainy Saturday afternoon to watch Frozen, which I had partially seen with the MIT cycling team while in California, but this was the first time I was not distracted by a fiancé on the phone. (Instead he was sitting on the couch next to me.) Seeing it only strengthened my recent nostalgia for the Disney movies of the 90s. We also made a ton of popcorn using a classic popcorn popper and man, that was good! Much better than the stovetop. Saturday evening, we all went out to dinner with my cousins at Northstar House, which served delicious local food with many vegetarian options. I had a carrot & beet flatbread, but the dish that most impressed me was the BBQ Cauliflower, which I'll be attempting to recreate later this week. Before leaving on Sunday, I raced in the Hollenbeck's RR in nearby Virgil NY. I use the term "raced" loosely, as I was the only W123 racer signed up. So I got to race with the men's 3/4 field, which was quite the experience. The winds were brutal so I did my best to find someone's wheel to suck and stay low, both things that I need practice at anyways! I also got a loud and clear reminder to be more assertive in my pack positioning, as it was my positioning and not my climbing abilities that ultimately led me to be dropped. Oops. The course was just perfect for me though: several significant but not-too-long climbs, rolling, non-technical descents and a steep uphill finish. Afterwards, I was greeted by wonderful refreshments from Ithaca Bakery and Gimme Coffee and a cool-down bike ride with my friend on her new bike.

View from the finish line of Hollenbeck's RR. A nice little climb up for a stunning view of NYS!

But enough about what I've been up to! It's been a while, but I'm bringing you an Energy Neutral original: grain free lasagna. I made my traditional lasagna few weeks ago and was reminded of how much I like a good veggie lasagna. I traditionally make it with mushrooms, spinach, eggplant, and a heavily herbed ricotta. And this recipe is still made that way! However, I have yet to find a decent gluten free lasagna noodle, so this time, I replaced the noodle layers with kale and swiss chard so that I could share! As a result, this recipe packs even more of a nutritional punch. We've talked about the nutritional benefits of kale previously, but what about swiss chard? Like kale, swiss chard is a cruciferous vegetable and offers the anti-cancer antioxidants that you've come to know and love. Swiss chard also offers large doses of vitamins K, C, and A as well as calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium. I also find the flavor to be a bit more mild than kale or collard greens, but the leaves are still large and satisfying, making this a good substitute for lasagna noodles! To add back some of the carbohydrates I took away by using greens instead of pasta, I created a cheesy herbed hummus to use instead of my traditional herbed ricotta. However, if you aren't worried about your dinner being low-carb feel free to use my traditional herbed ricotta! Herbed tofu ricotta is also an option and delicious! If you just want to make a delicious basic veggie or vegan lasagna, use the ricotta and the noodles, that recipe is below as well. I hope you enjoy it!

Veggie Lasagna

1 bunch swiss chard (full-sized leaves, not chopped)

1 bunch kale (full-sized leaves, not chopped)

OR 1 box no-cook lasagna noodles

1 large eggplant, sliced

1 box baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1 package frozen spinach (Optional and recommended only with the noodles. You can only fit so much in a pan and the kale/ swiss chard takes care of your green needs!)

20 oz of your favorite spaghetti sauce (we use TJ's organic or basil)

1 recipe cheesey herbed hummus or ricotta (below)

1c shredded mozzarella or vegan cheese shreds (TJ's makes a good vegan option) for topping

Cheesey Herbed Hummus

1 large bunch basil

1 small bunch parsley

2T dried oregano (or fresh if you can find it! I never can)

6 cloves garlic

1/4 onion

2 cans white beans, washed and drained

2c nutritional yeast

Food process herbs, then add white beans and nutritional yeast. Food process until desired consistency is reached.

Traditional Herbed Ricotta or Tofu Ricotta

Substitute white beans & nutritional yeast for 3c ricotta or one package extra firm tofu (trust me, the tofu works!).

The assembly process

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Cover the bottom of a  9x13 pan with a thin layer of tomato sauce

3. Add a layer of kale and swiss chard (or lasagna noodles.)

4. Add a layer of the herbed "cheese" of your choice, then some mushrooms and eggplant (and spinach, if you're using noodles). Top the layer with a layer of spaghetti sauce.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to fill up the pan. If you're adding the veggies right, it'll only be 2 or 3 layers...

6. Once the pan is heaping, add a final layer of kale/ swiss chard (or noodles) and then top with tomato sauce and a sprinkling of the shredded cheese of your choice. 

7. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 45 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then slice, serve, and enjoy!

Bikes and Subarus, hurray!

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Growing up, I loved veggie burgers. My favorite were Boca burgers, but in hindsight, I'm not sure why... they kind of have a funky taste and are probably the least tasty of all the veggie burgers that I've tried! None the less, I've always liked protein-rich veggie patties as a substitute for a run-of-the-mill beef burger. (Except for when it comes to pairing them with mushrooms & swiss cheese... I am still on a quest to solve this problem and will share the solution when I do!) Until 2012, I had no idea how one would go about making a veggie burger and was relegated to options from Morning Star, Boca, and Trader Joe's. However, one time when visiting my fiancé's family I was served the most delicious black bean burger and my future mother-in-law generously share the recipe! Since I was shown the light (and bought a food processor), last summer I went on on a veggie burger-creating spree, trying all kinds of combinations of beans, veggies, spices, and fillers. Sometimes I just add what I have on hand, but this recipe is one that I've honed and perfected and has been given the title of "the best burger I've ever made" by my fiancé.

While I've made many different veggie burgers, I have yet to share any of my veggie burger recipes on this blog. This is because I truly believe that a good veggie burger is best enjoyed outside in the warm sunshine. This past weekend called for sunny days and temperatures near 60F. While "grilling weather" was not quite realized, I was feeling overzealous and hopeful about the approach of summer and made both black bean and sweet potato-chickpea burgers (my other favorite) this past weekend. The two biggest tricks I've found are to add cornstarch to help the burgers stick together and to add mushrooms, which lend a meaty texture. Other than that, it's just about sticking roughly to a formulaic base (I really like the formula suggested by No Meat Athlete) and adding your favorite veggies and spices! I always make up a large batch of veggie burgers as the extras will keep perfectly in the freezer for weeks. I hope you enjoy these as much as we do! Keep your fingers crossed for the coming of spring and "grilling weather."

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

1c + 1/2c rolled oats (quick cook or regular)
1T cornstarch
1/2 small sweet onion
5 cloves garlic
1T liquid smoke
2T sirracha
5oz baby bella mushrooms (1/2 package)
2c dry black beans, cooked to yield 5c cooked black beans (or 2 cans)
1c sweet yellow corn, cooked

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Add 1c rolled and cornstarch to food processor. Food process into a fine powder. I prefer quick cook rolled oats, since the regular can make the outsides of the burger a bit tough.
3. Add onion and garlic, then mushrooms. Food process to combine.
4. Add liquid smoke, sirracha, remaining 1/2c rolled oats, and 4c black beans. Food process to a coarse mixture.
5. Stir or mash in remaining 1c black beans and corn. I don't food process this last part as leaving some black beans and the corn whole adds good texture.
6. Form into patties and place on baking sheet. This should yield 8 good sized patties.
7. Bake for 40' at 350F, flipping halfway through to cook evenly.
8. Top with your favorite burger toppings and enjoy!

Why Vegetarian?

So today I decided that I would address the elephant in the room... why I chose to eat a vegetarian diet. I really frequently get the questions like Does it hurt your athletic performance? and Don't you miss meat? I've been interested in vegetarianism since I was a child, but with two parents working, I was told that it was not an option. This was reasonable, since I grew up in Pennsylvania and meat was almost always central to our supper. It would have created a ton of work for my poor mother! As I got older, I offered to cook for myself, but my parents were hesitant to trust me in the kitchen. I was too "creative" and "expansive." So I grew up liking vegetarian food when I could get it, but I didn't have my first committed vegetarian experience until college. I gave up meat for lent in 2004 and liked it, but it didn't stick. It wasn't until I moved to Cambridge where the vegetarian options are plentiful that creeping vegetarianism started to catch up with me. Trader Joe's was just around the corner and their soy nuggets became a staple for lunches on my grad student salary. (To be clear, these are not especially healthy but they are soooooooo good!)

I started to eat less meat because there were so many other options as I learned about "plant-based" nutrition. The idea of a plant based meal really appealed to me because I've always loved my veggies! However, the real tipping point came when my fiancé suggested that we watch Forks Over Knives. I remember that we had planned to make bacon-wrapped flounder that evening (sounds amazing, right?!!) but once the documentary was over, I informed him that we would instead be making black bean tacos. The documentary Forks Over Knives is based on The China Study, which finds that increased consumption of animal based products (this includes eggs and dairy, but not fish) can be tied to an increased incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and many types of cancer to name a few. The documentary also mentioned the reduced environmental impact of a plant-based diet, which is huge. Further studies show that eating a plant-based diet is actually more beneficial for the environment than driving a Prius! Plus, there's still the part of me that wanted to become vegetarian at 8 because of my small furry friends.

To answer the question about athletic performance, further research into plant-based nutrition showed that there are a ton of elite endurance athletes who credit veganism for their success. Perhaps the most notable among these are Brendan Brasier and Scott Jurlek. To investigate, I bought Brendan's book "Thrive," but while it was clear he carefully thought out his decisions, the book was not backed by enough hard science for my liking. Also, his recipes were pretty high in fat and low in carbs, which is the opposite of everything I want to eat in my life. (Although as I've been thinking about this more, there probably is something behind that. More exploration of those ideas to come!) Despite this, I decided to try a totally vegan diet for a month. It was great! I really loved the creative food options I was trying and my performance on the bike started to pick up. Then, shortly after reincorporating cheese and eggs, I got really lethargic and sick and finally learned that I had iron deficiency anemia. To be clear, I had been exhibiting these symptoms every few months for a few years, but the label of "vegetarian" caused my doctor to finally run the test. I definitely do not think vegetarianism was the cause for my anemia, in fact I credit it as part of the solution.

Not wanting to accept the dogma that eating red red meat would cure my anemia, I did my research. I learned about heme versus non-heme based iron and that many shellfish were in fact higher in iron than red meat by several times and had many beneficial nutrients. Shellfish have the vitamin B12 that is not available in vegan sources and are also a potent source of omega-3 fatty acids that are not available in plants. Fish are also not tied to many of the terrible diseases that land based animal products are tied to in the China Study. Thus I made the decision that I would incorporate fish into my diet occasionally when I feel depleted. Now, I am convinced that a totally plant based diet is the best option for a lot of people. However, right now I'm pretty sure it's not for me. I'm also pretty convinced that there are fewer notable female vegan athletes because of women's increased need for iron.

So did switching to vegetarianism improve my athletic performance? The facts are: I had an awesome cycling season in 2013 and my workouts this winter suggest that an even better season is on it's way! In addition to great performances, I also managed to avoid a new overuse injuries for the first time since 2009. However, the pinnacle of my athletic performance was definitely in 2009 when I made the US Rowing national team and was an omnivore. So in the end, I think time will tell! I definitely don't think vegetarianism hurts athletic performance, as long as you pay attention to all of your essential amino acids, as well as your iron and vitamin B levels.

Anyways, to address the question Do I miss meat? Mostly no; to be honest, I really prefer soy to chicken. However, I still get my usual biannual craving for a burger with mushrooms and swiss cheese. Even when I was eating meat, this was a fairly infrequent craving that was easily satiated by going to Friendly's and getting that burger. Now I try to tell myself that it's really the mushrooms and cheese that I want. This is a blatant lie, and it resulted in a few weeks last summer where I was making portabello mushrooms almost every day. I tried to eat my mushrooms on a veggie burger, but that just did not cut it, but I did find that balsamic marinated portabello mushrooms will do the trick. I can't wait to start making this again once the weather turns warmer!

Ice Cream for Dinner!

We've all had those days. You know, where the day has been so stressful that you don't feel like making anything and all you're in the mood to eat is ice cream. Ok in all honesty... sometimes even when it's not "one of those days" I find that all I want for dinner is ice cream! I'll confess that I occasionally do eat ice cream for dinner (sorry Mom!) and actually when I was rowing on the national team, the US lightweights would go out for frozen yogurt for dinner together. Of course not always, but Twist in Princeton NJ was our dive!

Well, this is the last week leading up to XPot 4.0, the collegiate cycling race weekend which I organize. Anyone who has planned a big event knows that even with the best planning, this week is crunch time. On top of that I have a lot of work to do in lab and am dealing with trying to get a particularly frustrating instrument fixed. (Thank goodness I'm not an analytical or physical chemist! I don't have the patience for fixing instruments.) After a nuts day, I came home last night and didn't feel like making anything for dinner. I wanted chocolate, but since I gave up sugar for lent, that wasn't an option. I have however, been making a fantastic mango-bluberry-vanilla sorbet in my Ninja blender so I decided I'd try to pack a little more nutrition into that. Well, with 2 servings of fruit, a serving of vegetables, and 15g of protein I'd say that this sweet, cold, creamy bowl of goodness delivers in the nutrition department! I'd say this "ice cream" may actually be better than many other dinner options. I hope you enjoy it!

Ice Cream for Dinner!

3/4c frozen cubed mango
1/2c frozen blueberries
1/2c frozen spinach (or 1.5c fresh)
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I use this because it provides a complete complement of amino acids)
~1/2c vanilla almond milk

1. Add frozen ingredients and protein powder to your high speed blender. Process until your mixture resembles a fine powder. I stir every 20 seconds or so to make sure nothing is getting stuck at the top or bottom.
Note: Unfortunately, a food processor or regular blender will not do! Best to wait and try this with a Ninja or the like. If you want to try it in a regular blender or food processor, I'd omit the spinach as it will stay too stringy to be enjoyable
2. Add 1/2c almond milk and continue to process until mixture starts to flow with a viscosity like freshly churned sorbet. Add a bit more water or almond milk until you get the texture right.
3. Enjoy! This recipe yields one generous dinner-sized bowl.
Note 2: Since I've given up sugar for lent, this seems plenty sweet to me. The mango is quite sweet and really carries it. However, after 21 long days without sugar my tastebuds may be desensitized. Feel free to add some brown sugar if you feel like it would benefit from it.
Note 3: I bet this would also be delicious if you added in a few T cocoa powder. Chocolate sorbet for dinner!

Meet Biscuit, the new furry addition to my family!

Smoky Collard Wraps

The Whole Foods paper bags in Cambridge now claim that "Collard greens are the new kale" and they may very well be right! I picked up a bunch of collard greens at the on-campus market last week, having finished the last of the halupki that I had frozen and being intrigued by the large, dark green leaves. Collard greens may have the greatest cholesterol lowering ability of all of the cruciferous vegetables and they pack the same cancer-fighting punch that you've come to know & love from the cruciferous family. They are strongly anti-inflammatory, with high doses of phytonutrients (antioxidants), vitamin K, and omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, collard greens pack a monster dose of vitamins A, B, C, K and calcium, iron, and magnesium. I bet you didn't know all of that about this super food! This recipe serves them up stuffed with wild rice, lentils, sunflower seeds, and carrots for a savory and nutritionally dense hand-held meal.

Speaking of super foods, one of the girls who I rowed with on the national team and at Riverside writes a (very good) blog and this week she covered 8 Power Foods for Athletes. Esther is an Olympic gold medalist and has made the national team more times than I can count, so I'd say she knows a thing or two! Head over to her site to check it out!

Smoky Collard Wraps

1c brown rice
1/2c wild rice
1c dried green lentils
1/2c raw sunflower seeds
3c baby carrots or 6 large carrots, shredded
1/2 onion
6 cloves garlic
smoked paprika
liquid smoke
sirracha
salt (optional)
1 large bunch collard greens

1. Prepare rices and lentils as directed on the package in boiling water
2. Bring an additional large pot of water to a boil. This will be for blanching the collard greens.
3. In a food processor, shred carrots, then add the garlic, then the onions. Transfer this to a large pot for sautéing and add spices to taste. Add sunflower seeds and cook until carrots are tender.
4. Separate out large, untorn collard leaves. Cut off the stem and blanch in boiling water until the stalks are tender (~8 minutes). You can do 4-5 leaves at a time. Dry with a paper towel once removing from the boiling water.
5. In a large bowl, combine rices, lentils, and carrot mixture. Add additional spices to taste.
6. Place ~1/3c filling in the center of the collard green and wrap up like a present! As the wraps cool, they will further conform to their folder shape.
7. Enjoy immediately or save as leftovers. I can guarantee that these won't last for long!

Fiesta-slaw

I imagine that this actually won't be a terribly popular post. But who cares! This is my blog and I want to write about my new find/ creation/ revelation. My readers who choose not to read this are missing out! Anyways, I mentioned last week when I used thai peanut sauce on a red cabbage salad that I have been very into non-traditional salads lately. This week, it's another version on the same theme. Using these hardier greens lets me prepare a salad on Sunday and take some for lunch on Thursday, when I'll still be able to enjoy the crispiness. Traditional salads get soggy when you try to prepare them the night before! Anyways, I've been strapped for time lately so I chose the easy out this week: bags of pre-shredded green cabbage and carrots from Trader Joe's. Green cabbage doesn't have quite the antioxidant profile of red cabbage, but it's still chock full of fiber as well as vitamins C, K, and B. Green cabbage is also more mild, so spiced it up with chili pepper, cilantro, and lime and pared it with the fiesta flavors of corn, green pepper, and scallions. To top it off, I prepared a simple, spicy black bean mole sauce as a dressing, which enhances the flavor as well as the protein content. I hope you give this recipe a try!

Fiesta-slaw

For the salad...
1 package shredded green cabbage
3c matchstick carrots
1c sweet frozen corn (or two small ears of fresh corn)
1 large green pepper, cubed
3 scallions, cut into thin slices
1 bunch cilantro, diced
juice of 1/2 lime

For the mole sauce...
1 can black beans, washed and drained
1c water
sirracha sauce (~3T or to taste)

In the food processor, combine the ingredients for the mole sauce. Food process until smooth. In a large bowl, combine all vegetables and cilantro. Toss to mix. Top with lime juice and mole sauce and stir to mix. Serve alone as a side, or over wild rice with black beans as a complete meal. Enjoy!