Christmas & Almond Espresso Chip Cookies (GF!)

Merry Christmas! In this year of exciting firsts, this was yet another. 2015 was the first Christmas that I was not at home to spend it with my family in Allentown. In fact, Christmas went so not according to plan this year, I'm not even sure what to make of it. Through the type of disluck that comes from two people in the first year of very demanding jobs, my husband had the week before Christmas off of work, and I had to give one of the last finals at CMU. Thus, I was working through Christmas eve, while my husband has to return to work at 5am on 12/27. It was not the end of the world though-- we decided that I would fly to Connecticut-- meeting up with my brother & sister in law on a connecting flight-- on Christmas morning to have Christmas dinner with his family and then help Aidan with the drive back to Pittsburgh the following day so that he would be rested for work the next day.

Lobby of my building decorated for Christmas!

This plan began smoothly. Grades were good for my organic chemistry class and I managed to finagle some really steep discounts from vendors on the last few big pieces of equipment my lab still needed. Aidan got to Connecticut safely and Christmas eve was lovely-- it started with a really great warm & sunny ride. I'm discovering the riding is absolutely incredible around Pittsburgh-- so much climbing! I think my only complaint is that most of the climbs are only 5 minutes, so the terrain will help train my 5 minute power, which is already comparatively my best. After running a few errands (last minute gifts for my nieces!) and attending an early Christmas eve mass, I went over to a friends house for Christmas eve dinner. This was awesome because he has kids who were excited for the big day and watching a Santa tracker, among other reasons. I also barely had time to think about missing my family's traditional Christmas eve feast of the seven fishes!

Christmas morning was when things started to unravel. The day opened with coffee and a bunny sleeping outside my bedroom door, so that was a plus. However, I quickly brought it down with a lack-luster trainer session. Between the abbreviated warm-up and my head already worrying about making my flights on time, I lacked focus and was all over the place like I have't been in some time. Each training session is an opportunity, and that was definitely an opportunity missed. Sigh. I guess I'm allowed to mess up sometimes and it's been a good 6 months since the last time I disappointed myself so I guess I'm doing ok. As long as I do better next time...

The trainer wasn't so abysmal so was still in a great mood as I arrived at the airport. However, when I went to check in, I discovered that my flight was cancelled, and I wasn't scheduled to get into Hartford until 5pm. I actually could have rolled with this pretty well, but I was appalled that I hadn't gotten any notice from Delta before arriving at the airport! I was apparently supposed to spend the whole day sitting in the airport, and potentially take the risk of getting stuck in whatever city my flight was connecting through. I panicked that I was going to ruin my in-law's Christmas! After spending a good couple hours negotiating with the airline representatives about earlier flights and hemming and hawing with my husband and family about what the right thing to do was, I decided to ask for a refund and went home. I was very disappointed and lonely, but fortunately my husband was able to keep my spirits just high enough to avoid a meltdown in the cab.

After a lengthy nap, I spent the day watching Christmas movies, snuggling my bunny, and Facetiming/ Skyping with my family and Aidan alternately. In the end, I know that I am lucky to have a nice house and lovely bunny to come home to, and so many loved ones concerned enough about my unlucky travel day to spend the time talking with me. Plus, I have this job that I like and a fast bike and good roads to ride so what more could I ask for? :)

Biscuit demonstrates proper lounging technique. He got a bed for Christmas this year, and I've shamelessly taken dozens of pictures of him snoozing in it!

Anyways. Recipe time! I developed these gluten free cookies for my best friend because well, everyone has to give cookies to friends at Christmas! Inspired by espresso chips that I found recently, I decided to keep these cookies on the healthy side with oats and almond butter, since I knew that her sisters would be sure to have her covered with unhealthy Christmas treats! I taste-testing, I learned that saw the these espresso chips have plenty of caffeine, (I didn't sleep one night...) so there should be enough to classify these as a performance enhancer. It only takes 5mg/kg according to a recent study! These cookies are perfect out of the oven or the next day... they are crispy on the outside, but stay soft and chewy inside. Just how I like them!

Almond Espresso Chip Cookies

1c quick cook rolled oats, ground to oat flour

1T baking powder

1c brown sugar

dash cinnamon 

1/2c unsweetened almond milk

1/2c almond butter

1c espresso chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Food process oats to make oat flour.
3. Add dry ingredients to mixing bowl and stir to combine.
4. Cut in almond butter.
5. Stir in almond milk, then add espresso chips.
6. Bake 13 minutes, or until the edges just start to brown.

That's all for now. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

I've been making "bike cookies" for a while (a recipe that shamefully, I've still not shared in over 2 years of blogging), but this fall I decided that I wanted to take it up another notch. I challenged myself to come up with a substitute for my afternoon Cliff bar snack that didn't include a big dose of sugar. Remember last winter when I was inspired by Engine 2 and posted about my adventures in sugar-free baking? Yeah... minus the scones, it didn't go so well... So, I wasn't holding my breath for these. But I thought they might be ok since my grandma does use applesauce in her oatmeal cookies. Of course, she adds it along with butter and sugar, rather than instead... but hey! I thought these were worth a shot. The result is the best homemade bars ever! Three cookies approximates the nutrition of a Cliff bar on awesome: 200 calories, 3g fat, 39g carbs, and 9g protein. (Or for those of you who aren't starving at all times and would only want to eat one... that's 65 calories, 1g fat, 13g carbs, and 3g protein.) Yum!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

2c rolled oats

1 scoop protein powder (Whole Foods now has a fantastic vegan protein called "fit protein" I used the Vanilla-Cinnamon flavor for these)

1T baking powder

1 ton cinnamon (ok, maybe an exaggeration, but maybe not. You've seen me cook...)

1c raisins

1.5c unsweeted applesauce

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix oats, protein powder, baking powder and cinnamon. Add raisins, then applesauce. Shape into balls and press flat onto a baking sheet. It should make ~15 2 inch cookies. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges just start to turn brown. Take on your next ride, or enjoy as an afternoon snack!

Drinks and gels and bars, oh my!

Well, it is a cold, grey day here in New England. And I am coming down from the adrenaline high that two days of tough racing will produce. I'm now left with exhaustion, which in combination with the unforgiving sky makes everything seem lost. I'm deeply missing rowing and have had dreams the last two nights worrying about lab and crashing after seeing a friend crash first hand on Sunday and having a few other friends already have bad accidents this year. I know this will pass once the sun comes out and my fiancé returns from his travels, but right now I feel like I'm being sucked back into my ugly abyss of despair... Yikes! These lows are bound to happen... you can only ride adrenaline so long!

Back to the topic of the day... drinks, gels, and bars that I think are particularly worthwhile. For most of my sports life, I avoided all of these things. Which I could get away with in swimming, and almost even in rowing, but definitely not as a cyclist. I hate drinking Gatorade and Powerade during sport. It's so sticky and sweet... blah! I can almost feel the bees swarming around me as my hands and equipment get coated with the stickiness that inevitably runs down the sides of the bottle. No thanks! I tried diluting it and also tried the low sugar versions back in the day: Zero and G2, but to me those just tasted like chemicals. Exactly what you want to be putting into your body when your furnace is burning it's hottest, right??? Anyways, over time I've done my research and experimented with various products. Below are the drinks, gels, and bars that I currently prefer and why I like them. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but just some suggestions as to what I think works!

Drinks

Best for Before: UCAN Tropical Orange
Powered by "SuperStarch," a slow burning carbohydrate with long lasting blood-sugar stabilizing effects this is a new comer to the market. This particular flavor is sweetened with monk fruit extract, which I find far superior to stevia or xylitol, which many other companies use as "natural" sweeteners. I haven't tried this during exercise yet: it's expensive and it's recommended that you consume the entire serving at once, which just is NOT going to happen for me during a race, since it's all I can do to convince myself to drink a bottle over a couple of hours. This was recommended to me by a pro-triathlene friend and I love it for before racing! I threw in some protein powder with it and didn't have a problem getting my nervous pre-race stomach to accept it, unlike solid food. The only downside is that it costs $70 (when you include shipping) for a 32-serving tub. Ouch!

Best for During: Hammer Heed, Unflavored
Hammer did it. They made a sports drink that tastes like... nothing! I strongly prefer the taste of pure water to sports drinks during strenuous exercise and the unflavored version tastes like water and delivers calories and electrolytes.  Win-win! I'm not thrilled about the xylitol or stevia, but I can't taste them so I try to ignore them.

Best to Sustain: Hammer Perpetuem
Electrolytes, protein, natural carbohydrates, and amino acids. This product delivers everything you would want during an endurance race, although I've recently read that the verdict is still out on the necessity of protein. I've tried the Orange-Vanilla and found it mild, palatable, and not too sweet. I'll probably also try the Unflavored. Strawberry is kind of weird and the Caffe-Latte isn't really refreshing. I'll confess: I don't find this product to be perfect. It uses soy protein, which my stomach can be finicky about. I use a fairly dilute bottle and haven't had any problems as of yet, but I'm still on a look-out for a product that delivers everything else that Perpetuem offers with a non-soy protein.

Best for Recovery: Vega Recovery Accelerator, Tropical
This stuff is gold. It tastes awesome, and provides everything you need to recover quickly. I started using it late last summer and immediately I noticed that my recovery time between workouts and races significantly improved. Bonus points for it's complete, plant-based protein but points off for the use of stevia. It's normally $40 for a tub that'll last me 4-6 weeks, but it's on sale for $30 through the end of April at Whole Foods. Go buy some, it's worth every penny! (And it will probably start earning back it's keep for you, if you tend to do races with cash prizes!)

Best All-Natural Solution: 1:1:1 Cherry Juice: Coconut Water: Water
Most of 2013, I went with this option but ultimately found the Heed products delivered more calories and were easier to stomach during races. I still prefer this for winter training and LSD rides. Coconut water offers natural electrolytes and cherry juice has been shown reduce muscle damage during exercise. Plus, it's not too sweet and you can easily find it at Trader Joe's or your local grocery store!

Gels

Best "Natural:" Honey Stinger Gold
Honey with electrolytes, plain and simple. No odd ingredients or unnatural sugars and I find it to be super-palatable and the perfect viscosity. Also, the packets are super easy to open, even with numb hands. (Found this out this weekend while racing at Quabbin!) The only downside is that this has a really high glycemic index. This can be a bonus: if you eat one about a minute before your final sprint or when you try to make a break, it'll hit you fast. But it also causes a sugar crash, so if you only eat these to power a 3-4 hour race, you will feel a little queazy afterwards and never want to touch sugar ever again. This weekend, I found that drinking UCAN before the race and mixing this gel up with others helped mitigate the crash.

Best with Protein: Accel Gel 2nd Surge
Filled with natural sugars (agave, brown rice syrup, cane sugar), electrolytes, and whey protein I find this to be easy to deal with during a race and it also doesn't cause quite the crash that the honey does, since it's coupled with slower-burning protein. Props to Pacific Health Labs for not using soy protein, but lots of people have trouble with whey protein, so hopefully in the next iteration they will up the ante and find an even better alternative. (Pea protein, please?) The only downside is the low viscosity: it is quite runny in the summer heat.

Best with Caffeine: Hammer Gel, Espresso
Powered by maltodextrin and supplemented with natural sweeteners, amino acids, and electrolytes this gel would take higher marks all around if not for it's viscosity. I find it to be really too thick except for all but the hottest of summer days. It's not yet been warm enough this year for me to actually be able to get all of the gel out of a packet. Packets are also frustratingly hard to open, thanks to the cute hammer shape they put on the top.

Bars

I haven't found a bar that I can eat during a race, my stomach just won't have it. I can safely say though, that I've pretty much tried every bar under the sun. Cliff and Luna bars taste great, and offer protein and are fortified with nutrients, but unfortunately also pack in a ton of sugar and use soy protein. Many athletes eat a ton of these, since they are convenient and offer a good balance of macronutrients. However, I attribute these bars to my over-exposure to soy, which caused my intolerance. Should I have eaten less of them? Sure. But I don't think I approached these bars any differently than most athletes. My personal preference currently are the Lara Cherry Pie Bars. All natural ingredients, no processed sugars, no soy protein, and all the performance benefits of cherries.  Cherry Cashew Pure Bars are also great for the same reasons, and have even more protein than the Lara bars. Both are gluten free, as are all the products I use for racing!

What works for you and why do you like it? Feel free to share your favorites in the comments below!

Beet Fries

By now anyone who's been reading somewhat regularly knows the benefits of beets. Beets (specifically, the nitrates in beet juice) have been shown to legally and significantly improve your athletic performance. These days, everyone's talking about it and if you haven't read up on it yet, you literally spend the rest of the week trying to read it all. Beets might just be my biggest discovery since I started drinking coffee before racing! I've found the weeks that I take the time to put beets on my evening salad, my performance on the bike is almost always better.

The funny thing about beets is that just two years ago, I had no idea what to do with them. I had a farm share, and apparently beets are very easy to grow in Massachusetts because I ended up with a ton of them. In the end, I tried to make beet chips, which was an utter failure without a dehydrator or frier. Making beet chips just does not work in the oven! Since then, I've mostly stuck to eating the steamed baby beets from Trader Joe's. However, last week I noticed that the farmers market had some raw beets on sale for a good price, so I picked a few up. After eating them raw in a salad, I was struck by how carrot-like they were in the raw state and while pondering it, realized that beets are a root vegetable (duh) just like carrots... and potatoes. So I started wondering... could I make beet fries? The answer of course, is yes! Read on to find out how...

Wait, what? It's a picture of my adorable bunny and not beet fries?!

Beet Fries

2 large beets
sea salt to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Peel your beets, just like you would a potato, using a vegetable peeler. Take care as to what you're wearing as beet juice stains!
3. Slice the beet into fry-sized strips. I found that for the best  beet fries, I need to cut them a little thinner than I would potato fries. (Less than 1/4" thick)
4. Put raw beet slices in a bowl and add some salt. Stir to coat.
5. Spread beets out on a greased baking sheet.
6. Bake for 1 hour. Be patient! These will take much longer than potato or sweet potato fries but are worth it!

I hope you enjoy them! We ate them plain, but usually a good dipping sauce really increases my enjoyment of a fry-eating experience. This honey mustard sauce would go well!

Oh, here are the beet fries. Not very photogenic, but disappearing quickly!

Beautiful Beet Borscht

Another one from guest blogger, Sam

For most of my adolescent years, there were very few plant-foods I didn’t like – though beets were front and center.  I think my childhood was marred with gelatinized purple slime from a can.  My first CSA in Massachusetts forced tons of beets into my fridge. With so many beets in my CSA, I was looking for ways to readily put them to culinary use.  Fortunately, I stumbled upon an Eastern European staple, borscht – thus propelling my love for beets.  Nowadays, I rarely make the soup the same way twice, though I’ve migrated from my original brothy-style to a hearty stewier version.

Stef has already promoted the stunning athletic benefits of beets. While throwing back a shot of beet juice might be your best bet as an ergogenic aid, loading with beet borscht leading up to a race is a sure-fire way to cost-effectively maximize the performance benefits.  Again, the benefits of cabbage can be found on yesterday’s recipe, and this soup is bolstered with some beans, making this dish a wannabe Laudible Legume.

The mixture is vibrantly colored! Beware, your hands might be stained accordingly.

I like to cook the beets in with the rest of the veggies in order to maximize the nutritional benefits.  They can also be baked first, and then added to the soup as it stews.  Separately cooked and mashed potatoes make for a great thickener, though they can also be stewed along with everything else and allowed to fall apart as the soup cooks. I personally love the anise-y perk of fennel seeds, though they can be omitted for less adventurous eaters.  While this recipe is vegan, vegetarian versions include a garnish of yogurt, sour cream or crème fraiche, and meat-eater versions can include beef, pork, or bacon.

Borscht

1.5 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp fennel seed, chopped fine
1 white onion, chopped
pinch salt
3 small beets, chopped
2 medium russet potatoes, chopped
1-1.5 c water
1 qt vegetable stock (or other broth or water)
1 lb red cabbage, chopped (about half a medium head)
3 medium carrots, chopped
15 oz can chopped tomatoes
15 oz can Northern beans (or other bean)
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbs red wine vinegar
1 t salt, to taste depending on added salt to the canned goods
Cracked black pepper to taste

1) Heat the oil in a large stock pot over medium heat.  Added the garlic and fennel seeds to the heated oil, and sauté quickly to flavor the oil.  Add the onion, salt and beets, and sweat on low-medium or medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent charring.

2) In a separate pot, add the potatoes and water.  Simmer the potatoes for 10-20 minutes, long enough that they can be mashed in the cooking water.

3) Add to the stock pot the vegetable stock, cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, beans.  Simmer the mixture for 30-40 minutes

4) Add the mashed potatoes, salt, pepper, lemon juice and vinegar.  Stir to combine, and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, until the beets are the desired tenderness. Salt and pepper as desired.

5) Serve hot or cold, and garnish with your favorite version of cultured milk if you wish. Before long, you will be primed for maximal oxygen utilization.

The beets and onions will sweat in their own juices to bring out incredible sweetness. Keep stirring to prevent the beets from charring if they are too tough.

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Thanks, Sam! Come back soon! 

Recovery Tips from the Pros

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, but for some reason, I procrastinated the actual writing part. To be honest, I was searching patent literature rather than writing this... I think probably it's because my expertise in the matter of recovery stems from a magical period of my life that thinking about sometimes still feels a little like salt in a fresh wound. For those of you who don't know, I spent most of the summer of 2009 at the Caspersen Olympic Training Site in Princeton, training and making the senior national rowing team. I represented the USA in the women's lightweight quad and won a bronze medal at the World Championships. This was all right after I passed my qualifying exams to become a PhD candidate at MIT. I was truly living the dream. A few months later, I got badly injured and was never able to return to that level of competition. It still hurts.

Anyways, when you are at the training center, it is absolutely critical that you are at your best every day, for every practice, and that you never show any weakness. If you're not at your best, someone else will be and that someone else will take your place on the team. From my time "living the dream", I learned that you have to take your recovery just as seriously as your training, and I learned a ton of tricks to make sure that my legs felt fresh every day! This isn't a super scientific post, it's what I think (from experience) are the most effective means to make sure that you're at your best for your next training session or race.

Contrast Showers: I used these half-heartedly during the world championships since no tub was available, but really fell in love with them this year. Now they are my favorite recovery trick for the summer time. Basically, it's what it sounds like: You alternate between 1 minute of hot water (as hot as you can stand it) and 1 minute of cold water (as cold as you can stand it). I do this for the duration of my shower, so that it's very efficient multi-tasking. The idea here is that during the cold bouts, your blood (which is full of the waste compounds from your hard workout) rushes out of your limbs and to your core, to support life. Fresh blood travels back to the limbs during the warm bouts. (This is better for summer or indoor workouts, as it helps bring your core temperature down. Once the temperature dropped below 60F, I got too cold for this to be effective.)

Compression Socks: They sell a lot of fancy, expensive compression socks and tights for recovery, and this is because they definitely help! Compression socks are my favorite trick for recovering during the colder months, or for keeping your legs fresh while driving to a race. I've tried more expensive versions, but my favorites are these $5 socks that you can get at your local drug store. Basically, the idea here is that you're compressing your lower legs to prevent the blood (with waste products from your workout) from pooling and to help your legs recirculate the blood.

Legs up the Wall: This literally drains the blood out of your legs, which takes the built up toxins with it so that when you stand up, fresh blood rushes in. I stay like this for 30 minutes, but some of my friends can get the effect in less time.

Ice Baths: We all know that icing an injury helps bring down inflammation, right? The idea here is the same, with the added benefit that all of your blood will rush out of your legs and into your core for survival. Thus it will be replaced by fresh blood once you warm up. Professional athletes use extreme versions of cryotherapy but we can get a similar effect by filling our bathtubs with cold water, adding 2 bags of ice, and sitting there for 20 minutes. Make sure to put on a warm fleece or jacket and hat while your sitting in the tub to prevent actual hypothermia. If your body temperature still hasn't returned to normal an hour after you get out of the tub, you may want to take a warm shower to get things flowing again. I always have to do this because I get really cold!

Sleep: This seems obvious, but it needs to be said. Everyone's needs are different, but you'll perform better if you're getting 8 hours of sleep. Or more if you're trying to recover from a really tough race or training session! I took a nap every afternoon while I was at the training center, and still take naps every day of multi-day races. 

Proper Nutrition: There is a "magic window" in the hour after you work out, where your body utilizes the food you give it to actively rebuild the damage that you've inflicted. After that time, the calories are used less effectively. During your magic hour, it's best to consume both carbohydrates and protein, preferably in a 2.5 to 1 ratio. There are also many papers that suggest that cherry juice can help with the recovery process.

Anyways, those are the tricks that I think help the most. Lately, I've been making smoothies right when I get back from my rides, to jump start my recovery with a tasty elixir containing carbohydrates and protein in a 2.5 to 1 ratio. I keep it simple and I think the antioxidants in the blueberries help!

Super-Simple Recovery Smoothie

1c frozen blueberries 

1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder (should be ~12g protein. I like using a mixture of hemp/ pea/ rice protein, but I'm still working on figuring out my preferred brand)

1c almond milk (or coconut milk for the medium chain triglycerides)

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add additional milk or water if you like a thinner smoothie. Enjoy and recover well!