One of My Favorite Healthy Fats and Races!

I have never done more than one race in a single week, until now. Last Thursday I attended the first of six 5k races in the Jersey Shore Running Club Summer Series, and the Saturday after that I ran the George Sheehan Classic 5 mile race. Summer Series was really fun. About 100 people came out. I finished a few seconds under 25 minutes, which was not a PR or anything, but I did come in first in my (minimally represented) age group. I'm looking forward to the next race tomorrow, even though it's supposed to be 94 degrees out. The Sheehan Classic is one of my favorite races. It's right in my town, so I don't even need to worry about leaving early or parking or anything. I had a bit of an upset stomach that morning, but I was able to get over it in time to race, and ran a PR! I finished in 42:31, which I was thrilled about since this course is pretty hilly compared to the course I ran my previous best time on. I don't have any more big races scheduled for a few weeks, so it will be nice to use the weekends to get some longer runs in.

In case you were wondering if I feel guilty eating fat, well, I can assure you that I do not. Fat gets such a bad name, when in reality, it's a really important part of everyone's diet. Of course, some fats are better than others, and coconut is one of my go-to healthy fats. I find that coconut is great in both sweet and savory dishes. Last night, I used coconut milk to make a hearty curry dish. This is a great meal to make on a weeknight when time is an issue. My favorite part of this meal was the delicious snow peas that I picked up at the farmer's market this past weekend. They were so crunchy and sweet, so much more delicious than what you get at the grocery store. I served the curry over brown rice, which soaked up the coconut milk. Yum. This makes about 4 servings, and the leftovers are great. In fact, Mark took them to work for dinner tonight.

Tofu and Veggie Curry over Rice
-1 cup brown rice
-2 tbsp canola oil
-1 lb. package extra firm tofu, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
-4 red skinned potatoes, diced
-1 red bell pepper, diced
-1 cup snow peas, ends trimmed
-2 tbsp curry paste (I used green, but you could use red)
-1 15 oz. can coconut milk (don't buy light!)

-Get going on preparing the rice first, whether on the stove or in the microwave.
-Heat a nonstick pan over medium high heat. Add the canola oil, then add the tofu. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until golden, then flip and cook another side until golden. Remove the tofu and drain on a paper towel.
-Add the potatoes, peppers, and peas to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring often.
-Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute. Then add the curry paste, and stir to incorporate.
-Add the coconut milk to the pan. Bring everything to a simmer, then cover. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the tofu and toss to coat with the curry sauce.
-Serve the curry over the cooked brown rice immediately, or refrigerate for a few days.

Taking a Little Help for a Quick Dinner

Before I get into last night's tasty dinner, let me quickly recap my race this past Saturday, the Pre-Father's Day 5k. It was another really nice morning for a race; fairly cool and a little overcast. I was planning on running the race with just my dad, but at the last minute, my husband Mark decided to run too. My not-so-secret goal is to one day have my whole family participate in a race, whether doing the run or the walk that often happens concurrently. Anyway, the course was nice and flat with lots of shade, but regardless of that, I still felt pretty rough the whole time. I guess it was because I was running at a fast pace for me. I finished in 23:16, a new PR! Mark and my dad both finished in under 27 minutes for their first ever 5k, which is better than I can say about my first race. I have heard rumors that the course is about .1 miles short, but I really don't know. I guess I will get a gauge of that when I run my next 5k. Another bonus about this race was the abundance of raffle prizes that were given away. There must have been at least 30 gift cards. Now I never win anything, but somehow I won a gift card to Spellbinders, a local surf shop. Mark and my dad won too, a Dunkin Donuts gift card and a free oil change. Speaking of running, the Jersey Shore Running Club Summer Series begins tomorrow. It's a series of six 5k races on Thursday evenings throughout June and July. The cost is minimal, and it will be a great way to meet club members, since I finally went ahead and joined JSRC. And last but not least, I am running the George Sheehan Classic 5 mile race on Saturday. I have a bone to pick with this hilly course since I ran it so slow last year.

On to the food! Now normally, I am not one to buy pre-made stuff. In fact, the only things typically in my freezer are frozen fruits, out of season frozen veggies, coconut milk ice cream, and ice packs. But, on my last shopping trip to Whole Foods, the prepared raviolis caught my eye. There were multiple varieties, all of which sounded tasty, and each box had 2 servings, which was perfect. Best of all, there were no funky ingredients that I couldn't pronounce. I settled on a package of broccoli rabe mozzarella raviolis. They were a tad pricey, but certainly not prohibitively, and I figured they would come in handy on a night where I was short on ideas but still wanted a filling meal. Last night turned out to be that night. While the pasta water came to a boil and the raviolis cooked, I put together a quick, rustic marinara sauce. Just some olive oil, onion, garlic, red pepper flake, and canned crushed tomatoes brought to a boil and simmered for a few minutes. I added seasoning and some of the oregano that is growing like crazy in my garden for extra fresh flavor. I also threw together a salad of romaine, carrot, and radish with a simple shallot vinaigrette. When the raviolis were done, I divided them between two plates and topped them generously with the marinara sauce. The verdict? Good and convenient. Not the best ravioli I've ever had, but for being frozen, they were pretty tasty. I wish there was more pronounced broccoli rabe flavor; perhaps the sauce was a little too much for it to come through. Would I buy these raviolis again? Probably. I'd like to try another flavor. Like I said, these are good in a pinch, and you can get creative with sauces to top them. Marinara, something red pepper based, maybe a creamy garlic sauce. I wouldn't call myself a frozen food convert, but it is nice to know there are products out there that I can feel good about keeping around for convenience's sake.

Spring Lake 5 and Stir Fry

In my last post I talked about my most recent race, The Spring Lake 5. I am happy to report that I set a new PR! It was a perfect day for racing, despite the heat that had plagued us during the week or so leading up to it. It was overcast, a little sprinkly, and not hot at all. This race was huge; about 7,500 people finished it. This also provided me with a good lesson learned - I am faster than I give myself credit for, and I should not start THAT far back in the pack. I got pretty stuck during the first mile due to crowds, and ended up running it in 9:20. Luckily the pack started to spread out, and I was able to pick up the pace for the rest of the race. I finished in 42:55, which was 492nd out of 3512 women racers. I am psyched! I felt really good and strong the whole time, and was really happy to come in under 43 minutes. Now onto the next race. This Saturday I am running the Pre-Father's Day 5k with my Dad. I am excited that we get to do the race together, even though I intend to beat him handily! Ha. I set a new 5k PR back in April, so we will see what I can do this time around.

Last night, after a hard workout at the track (400m repeats, ouch), I made a huge pan of stir fry. I eat stir fry a lot, probably once a week, since it is so versatile and never gets old to me. You can find my base recipe for the stir fry sauce here. I used tofu as my protein and for vegetables I used onion, red bell pepper, shiitake mushrooms, and boy choy stems and leaves. The boy choy was so delicious. It almost takes on a little sweetness as it cooks, and it's nice to have two totally different textural elements (crunchy stems, wilted leaves) in one vegetable. For my sauce, I left out the ginger and garlic that the base recipe calls for and instead added some fermented black bean garlic paste. YUM. This stuff is super flavorful and gave the sauce a whole new spin. I served all this over brown rice. If you still haven't experimented with stir fry, now is the time! With all the tasty spring and early summer vegetables we have available now, you will have all kinds of creative options to make it yours.

A Salad and Another Race

Summer is definitely knocking on the door here! Today it topped out in the low nineties, although it felt hotter in the sun. On days like these, I typically want a salad (surprise, surprise!). Tonight, I made my salad a hearty meal by adding half a roasted sweet potato and about half a can of pan-fried chickpeas. For the potatoes, I simply cubed them, tossed them in a couple teaspoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted them for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. For the chickpeas, I heated about a teaspoon of olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet, then added the chickpeas and cooked them for about 5 minutes, until they were popping. I topped this colorful creation with some freshly made Tomato Tahini Dressing, care of Gena at Choosing Raw. She has lots of great salad dressing ideas on her blog, so check it out. Anyway, this dressing called for one ingredient that isn't usually in my pantry (but should be): nutritional yeast. So, yesterday I bit the bullet and bought some from the bulk bin at my local Whole Foods. I was happy to find out that besides adding good flavor and a creamy texture to food, it is also a really good source of B vitamins and is a complete protein. Bonus. The only thing I changed in the dressing recipe was the nama shoyu; I subbed in soy sauce and it was no problem. This dressing added a lot of body to the salad without being heavy. The flavor was tomato-y, with a hint of tahini, but a little mild. Next time I might throw a clove or two of garlic in. But overall, it was a nice change of pace from the vinaigrettes I usually make. I have plenty leftover, and I think it would also serve well as a sandwich spread.

This Saturday I have my first race since the half marathon - The Spring Lake 5. This is a 5 mile race on a nice, flat course. It really serves as the kickoff to the summer racing season. This is one of the largest 5 mile races in the country, and is run by almost ten thousand people each year. It's also notoriously hard to get an entry into this race, but thanks to a very early morning wake up I managed to secure a bib. My Achilles is feeling pretty decent these days, thanks to Kinesio tape and heel lifts. I'm just happy to be healthy enough to be running! Ideally, I'd like to beat my 5 mile PR, which is 47:05. We'll see how it goes!

Changes, a Race Recap, and a Salad

I am writing while sitting down and resting a pair of tired, but recovering legs, thanks to Sunday's Long Branch Half Marathon! But we'll get to that in a minute. First, this may come as a surprise to some, but I am changing my eating habits once again. After a lot of thought and rather stressful consideration, I am not going to call myself vegan any longer. Lately I have been finding the label to be very restrictive, and I've been uncomfortable with it. I'm sure I could ramble on about my reasoning for paragraph after paragraph, but I will save it, and just say that I feel that this decision is the best thing for me personally right now. Going forward, I don't plan on hitting up a burger joint 5 nights a week, don't worry. I will thoughtfully consider any animal based products I put in my body, and make my decisions in a fluid, day-to-day way rather than by a strict set of rules (which works great for some people, I'm just finding it doesn't for me). My house, however, will most likely remain vegan (at this point I can't think of any meat or dairy products I need to have at home) and I will of course continue to focus on eating a healthy diet, so rest assured that many of the recipes I post will be vegan-friendly (and of course, delicious). I hope you all, regardless of your dietary choices, will continue to follow Runs on (Mostly) Plants.


On to the half marathon! My mom and I arrived to the start and finish area hour well ahead of the start time, at which point the weather was still reasonable. By the time the race started at 9am, it was HOT. The lovely ocean breeze faded as we headed inland on the loop course right around mile 3 and it didn't make an appearance again until almost mile 12. In between it was hot and humid, but everything else about the race was great. Through every street there was great crowd support. People with signs, bells, hoses and sprinklers, and even some with homemade water stops and snacks were out. There were even a few bands playing along the course! Before I hit a few road blocks in my training, I was shooting to finish in under 2 hours. But after my fall on my knee and some Achilles tendon trouble just a week and a half before the race, I eased up on that and decided to just enjoy the race and see what happens. I'm happy to say I finished in 2 hours 6 minutes 18 seconds (from the unofficial results posted today), and ended up in the top fifth of both my gender and age group. Not bad at all considering the unseasonably hot weather and a couple setbacks during training. And most importantly, I had a really good time doing the race. My friend John (who did the marathon) and his parents hosted a party after the race, and it was nice to kick back with friends old and new and a few beers and snacks. Overall, this was a great race! Mom was awesome taking pictures and cheering me on, a number of my friends completed the race, and everything was really organized, from pre-race packet pick up to the post-race massage. I hope to be back next year.
Last night I was craving a salad for dinner, but a salad with a bit of substance. A few months ago I made this Avocado Wasabi Salad from VeganYumYum. It was amazingly delicious. It's a bit of a process to put this whole thing together, so for a fast meal I decided to just make the chickpea part of the recipe and work it into a simple salad. The chickpeas are super easy to do, all you need are canned chickpeas, soy sauce, and wasabi in some form. The recipe called for powder, but I used paste and it worked great. Anyway, I made these chickpeas and tossed them with some mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, scallions, and a orange sesame dressing that I whipped up (this is obviously my favorite dressing of the moment, I can't get enough of it). Easy, quick, and light, but still substantial.

Veganomicon Mania

I hope everyone has had an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. I was definitely happy to have some good stuff going on and good food to eat after this past Thursday. When I was out for a run, just half a mile from my house, I tripped on I don't know what and fell flat on the ground. I managed to get a pretty nasty series of cuts on my knee and my hand. So needless to say, thanks to the bruising/stiffness/healing cuts, my half marathon training has been kind of disrupted. The good news is, the bulk of my training is done, and I got myself on the bike, elliptical, and treadmill this morning at the gym. I think I will be back in action early next week, and I don't think this little setback will have much negative effect on the half marathon in 2 weeks.

On to the food! Since my mom got me a copy of Veganomicon, I have been busy picking out which dishes to make first. This weekend, I made two. My parents hosted visitors from out of state yesterday, my dad's best friend from college and his wife. My mom made a chicken stew for dinner, so I brought along a dish to eat and share - BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls. This was a simple recipe that was easy to put together and that looked really pretty on the plate. They also tasted great! Everyone who tried them enjoyed them. I can tell I will be making the BBQ sauce recipe many times this summer, so yummy. Another great thing about this recipe is that I got to eat it twice. There were a couple rolls and a bit of sauce leftover, so I repurposed them tonight for dinner. I cooked up a serving of brown rice, and added the filling from the leftover rolls (the collard leaves had gotten a little slimy so I tossed them) to a skillet with the extra sauce. The filling was chopped collards, mushrooms, black-eyed peas, and BBQ sauce. Once heated through, I served it with the rice for a delicious meal the second time around.
I tried another recipe from the book today, the Carrot Pineapple Sunshine Muffins. I figured these would make a great snack for Mark and I to take along to work this week. The muffins are chock full of delicious ingredients - pineapple, raisins, orange zest, carrots. It smelled like a tropical paradise in my kitchen while these baked. These came out wonderfully. They are nice and moist, thanks to soy yogurt and the fruit in the recipe, and they are fluffy like a classic muffin. I can't wait to enjoy these at work this week, it will certainly be a bright spot in the day! I think I will store them in the refrigerator though, even though they are so tasty fresh. I don't want them to get soggy. Any advice on storing muffins?
Anyway, have a great week everyone! Hopefully I will have a few new recipes for you this week.

Cupcakes, Tea, and a Gift

What an eventful weekend! I have lots of fun and delicious things to share with you all on this lazy Sunday evening. Earlier this past week, my good friend Greg told me about a new vegan bakery a few towns away from me. Needless to say, I got right to work figuring out the details on this place. Turns out it's called Papa Ganache (you can find them on Facebook here), and I took a trip there yesterday. Their treats are all vegan, mostly organic, and they have gluten-free items too. The goodies include cupcakes (regular and mini sized!), cookies, cinnamon buns, muffins, and breads. They have coffee and tea, too. The storefront is small but very cute, with a little seating area that looks out through huge windows to the nearby bay. I decided to get a few different items to try, mostly because everything looked so good I was having a hard time with decisions. For me, I brought home a mini strawberries n' cream cupcake, a mini chocolate peanut butter cupcake, and a regular size "Mostess", a twist on the classic cream filled Hostess cake (how cute is the play on the white curlicue icing?). I apologize for eating the mini chocolate peanut butter cupcake prior to the photo, I was so excited I just kind of inhaled it in the parking lot. I also got a chocolate chip cookie for Mark. Let me just say, all of the cupcakes were ridiculously good. Like, really, really delicious. It is a good thing this place is a bit of a ride from my house or I'd be in trouble. I had a nibble of Mark's cookie, and that was very tasty too. The texture was a bit of a surprise, kind of crispy on the outside and chewy inside, but overall it was very good. I give this place a big A+. Delicious treats, cute little storefront, friendly people working. I'll be back!

Another place I visited on Saturday was a new tea house in town. It's called NovelTeas. My mom had seen the place a few weeks ago and suggested we check it out. Upon walking in, it was like you were transported. Beautifully decorated, plenty of cozy seating, and a gorgeous backyard garden with more seating greeted us. Off to the side was the register and a wall of loose leaf teas available for purchase. Since we didn't have a lot of time, I just picked up some lemon herbal loose tea to bring home, but I can assure you I will be back to laze about for a few hours with some tea and a book. What a wonderful find in town!
Finally, my wonderful mom got a me gift today! She picked up a copy of Veganomicon for me. I was so excited; I've wanted this cookbook for a long time! I've used it at friends' houses and heard many a person rave about it, so I am really glad to finally have my own copy. I can't wait to get cooking!That's it for my busy weekend. The half marathon is 3 weeks from today! I'm getting really deep into my training, and I'm starting to get excited. Almost there.

Race Recap and a Delicious Dessert

Hi all! First off, I hope everyone had a happy Easter/Passover/spring weekend. I had a busy and fun weekend for sure. Saturday morning was my first race of the spring season, the Sgt. Pat's 5k in Long Branch. This is a great race that is run in remembrance of a Long Branch police officer that was killed in the line of duty. It also supports a scholarship fund and a non-profit that assists those with mental illness, both in Sgt. Pat King's name. It's nice to know your entry fee is going to such good causes. Anyway, it was a little foggy and chilly in the morning, but by 11:00am when the race started it had warmed up a little bit. It was a big field, over 600 people in total, and the race went out and back on the promenade along the beach. I'm happy to report that I set a new PR! I ran the 3.1 miles in 24 minutes and 26 seconds, good enough for 3rd place in my age group. I felt good the whole way through and was really pleasantly surprised at my time; I'm really psyched on acheiving a sub-8 minute mile pace. It was definitely a confidence booster for the half marathon, now less than 4 weeks away. Here's me (#338) just before the final turn around.
For a little Easter and post-run treat, I made a batch of Lemon Bars. The folks at No Meat Athlete posted the recipe, care of Veganomicon. This is a cookbook I really need to get myself next time I get a Borders coupon in my email. Anyway, these came out awesome. I love lemony desserts, and sadly, vegan lemon curd or custard is pretty much non-existant. Using a few alternative ingredients (agar flakes, arrowroot), these came together perfectly. A must try dessert recipe in my opinion, especially for lemon lovers!

Foam Rollers and Colorful Food

Happy Monday! Again, it is raining here. I'm really glad I managed to get in a 9 mile run on Sunday right before the rain (which will continue until Wednesday) started. On that note, today I ordered a foam roller. I had noticed a tiny twinge in my knee, and I think it might be a tight IT band. I have heard some bad stories about IT band trouble, so to nip this in the bud I ordered the foam roller. It works like a massage for your muscles and tendons, loosening tight spots and relaxing them. From what I hear, foam rolling hurts a bit, but in a good way, and the feeling in your muscles when you're done is supposed to be great. I also did a little research and found some stretches and strengthening exercises to do. So, here's to hoping nothing problematic is at hand. I have a 5k this Saturday and the half marathon in just over a month!

Onto the food. Tonight I made the recipe I posted in my first real post in this blog; Roasted Tomato Soup. I also toasted up a whole wheat dinner roll, sliced, with garlic and oregano on top. Of course, I made a salad to go alongside dinner with romaine, cucumber, carrot, dried cranberries, and pine nuts, with a walnut vinaigrette. For dessert I recreated one of my favorite smoothies from the local health food store. I blended up apple juice, ripe banana, maca, spirulina, and frozen blueberries. Great deep color on this one thanks to the berries and spirulina! I also treated myself to one of the cookies I made yesterday. I'm still making my way through Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, and have yet to make a bad recipe. Last night I made the almond pignoli nut cookies. These are divine. I am a HUGE almond fan; regular almonds, almond extract, almond paste. Needless to say, I love this recipe. It's a challenge to not eat more than one of two of these at a time!
I'm happy to say I actually planned a bunch of meals and snacks before I grocery shopped yesterday. Expect some new recipes this week!

Meals, a Quick Review, and a Smoothie

What a busy week, and weekend for that matter! I apologize for the lack of updates, but between busy nights at the gym, Mark's birthday on Friday, and lots of work on our house this weekend, I just haven't had the time. I have been cooking though. A few things I made this week are stir fry with bell pepper, broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, and edamame, pasta with artichokes, arugula, and white beans, and black bean tostadas (I'll have to post this recipe one of these days). I have some tasty meals in mind for this coming week so I'll be sure to have at least one new recipe for you all soon!

Earlier this month I posted about my new Nathan water bottle for running. Yesterday, on a positively gorgeous 65 degree morning, I got a chance to give it a test drive on a 6.5 mile run. Overall, this is a really good water bottle. First and foremost, it holds more than enough liquid (about 20 ounces) for really long runs. The sport top is easy to use, even while running. The fit around my hand was snug and comfortable, and the sweat wicking strap worked well. My only complaint was that the inside of my hand (around the bottle) got pretty sweaty. Over the course of the run I had to remove the bottle twice to wipe the sweat off my hand so the bottle wouldn't slide (sorry for the gross details). However, to be fair, I'm not sure how any water bottle would really deal with this issue. Overall, the bottle was comfortable, didn't negatively affect my running at all, and I was really happy to be able to have a swig of water every couple of miles.

I will leave you with a quick recipe tonight. After a strength training workout or a long run, it's really important to get a hit of protein and carbs to help your muscles recover. This smoothie hits the spot with just 3 ingredients. Feel free to add other supplements that you like to include in your diet. Flax oil or maca powder are my additions of choice.

Chocolate Banana Protein Smoothie
-1 cup vanilla almond milk
-1 serving chocolate flavored protein powder (any kind will do; rice, soy, hemp, etc.)
-1 frozen banana

-Add the ingredients to a blender and blend on high until well combined and smooth. Add any supplements you like and blend to combine. Serve right away.

Vegan Muscles!

Hi all! Mid-Atlantic folks, did it rain enough for you these past few days? Being stuck inside is never the best, but I got lots of quality running and working out in at the gym. I also had the time to check out a website that my husband showed me recently. Think you can't be strong and muscular on a vegan diet? Think again, and check out Mike Mahler. He's a sports conditioning trainer, a kettlebell expert, and a vegan. His website is full of useful (and often, free) information about working out and kettlebells, and also vegan nutrition. He freely admits that he eats mostly for fuel and not for flavor, but after reading through his basic food combinations, I thought up all kinds of tasty and healthy ways to make these base foods delicious! The homemade protein bar and smoothie recipes will also be really valuable to me, and they look so easy to make. I'll be sure to post the results of these experiments as I try them.

Mike's website also talks about his supplements of choice, and the one that kept popping up everywhere was Sunwarrior Protein. My friend Lauren uses this stuff in all her smoothies and loves it, so I figured now that I have multiple positive reviews I should order it. I went with the chocolate flavor, and I'm looking forward to trying it! Finally, visiting Mike's website really motivated me to work harder on my strength training days. I am a runner first and foremost, but the advantages of full body fitness and strength can't be ignored. Luckily my husband Mark is always there to push me farther than I think I can go, and I often surprise myself. If you feel like you're low on motivation, check out the website! There's no way you can read through it and not be inspired.

On a separate note, dinner tonight is going to be a stir fry. I'll use the base sauce from my earlier post, but tonight I am going to use broccoli, shiitake mushrooms, edamame, and red bell pepper. I'm also going to serve it over brown rice. Just one more variation on a dish that you can really get creative with!

Stuff in the Mail and Quinoa

I don't know about everyone else, but I love getting stuff in the mail. A letter, a card, even something I ordered myself and I know is coming. Today, my new water bottle came! After my last round of half marathon training, I did a lot of reading and quickly realized that it is a really bad idea to run for 10 or 12 miles, in the summer, with no fluid intake. I'm obviously a moron for ever thinking that this was a wise idea. Anyway, I do not intend to make that mistake again. I was not psyched on the idea of water drops, since I would be paranoid of someone taking my water or messing with it, and the idea of wearing a fuel belt just did not seem appealing. So I went ahead and bought a handheld water bottle - the Nathan Quickdraw Plus. I had heard good things about Nathan products and the price was right, so I'm really hoping this works out. I'm sure it will take a bit of getting used to, but it will be invaluable on long runs, especially in the heat. The little zipper compartment will be great for a gel or Shot Bloks, too.
On a similar note, I got my first outdoor run in many weeks in today! The weather has been gorgeous these past few days, and I hadn't gotten outside too much. I knew I would be kicking myself if I didn't get out today, so I'm really glad I did. Come on springtime/daylight savings time!

In the interest of time tonight, I whipped up a quick salad. Quinoa is a superstar grain, packing loads of protein, folate, and important minerals like manganese and magnesium. I simply cooked the quinoa and tossed it with veggies that were languishing in my refrigerator and a homemade vinaigrette. This is another one of those salads where creativity is encouraged; almost any veggie will do!

Quick Quinoa Salad
-1 cup dry quinoa, cooked
-1 bell pepper, small diced
-1/4 onion, small diced
-half a cucumber, seeded and small diced
-1 large carrot, peeled and small diced
-3 tbsp parsley, chopped
-half a medium tomato, chopped
-1/2 tsp garlic powder
-1/2 tsp dried basil
-salt and pepper
-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
-4 tbsp olive oil

-Combine the veggies in a large bowl. Add the cooked quinoa, after it has cooled for 10 minutes or so.
-In a blender, combine the tomato, spices, vinegar, and oil. Blend until smooth.
-Add the vinaigrette to the quinoa and veggies, and toss to coat completely. Serve immediately, or store in the refrigerator for a few days.

Black Bean Soup and a Training Update

Everyone knows that beans are an athlete's best friend. Packed with protein, fiber, antioxidants, and iron, beans cover a lot of nutritional bases and make a great recovery food. Black beans are at the top of my favorite bean list, and I use them a lot. Tonight I made a simple soup that's quick to whip up and is super flavorful. I also had corn tortillas that needed to be used, so I sliced them up, fried them quickly in canola oil, and used them as dippers for the soup. Avocado slices or sliced scallions would also make tasty garnishes.

Simple Black Bean Soup
-olive oil
-half a large onion, diced
-half a red bell pepper, diced
-half a green bell pepper, diced
-1 jalapeno pepper, minced
-4 garlic cloves, minced
-1 tbsp chili powder
-2 tbsp cumin
-1 tsp oregano
-1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice
-1 25 oz. can black beans, with liquid
-2 cups vegetable stock
-salt and pepper
-1/3 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
-juice of 1 lime

-Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and peppers and cook for 5-7 minutes, until the veggies start to get tender.
-Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, then add the chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook for another 2-3 minutes until fragrant.
-Add the tomatoes with their juice, the beans with their liquid, and the vegetable stock to the pot. Season the soup with salt and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, covered.
-Add the cilantro and lime juice and cook for another 5 minutes. Serve, garnished with cilantro leaves and tortilla strips.
Now for a quick training update. As you know, I am running the Long Branch Half Marathon on May 2nd. On Monday this week, I got an email; it was the first of ten emails (one for each week until the race) covering race details and updates. That really put those 10 weeks in perspective! I'm happy to say the first 2 weeks of training have gone really well. I've already started bumping up my paces since my body is used to this again, and the weekend long runs really start ramping up now. I still have a long way to go, but I know it's going to go fast. I don't think I will do any races in March, but I'm planning on doing three in April. It will be good for a change of pace in my workouts and for getting back into the racing mentality. I'll keep you posted!

Race Update!

I just wanted to share a quick note with you all. I've officially signed up for the Long Branch Half Marathon! It is taking place on Sunday, May 2nd, and the course loops through Long Branch, Monmouth Beach, and Oceanport (my hometown). I am really excited for this race because it promises to be a totally different experience than my first half marathon last October. First of all, this is a really big race; it is held in conjunction with the New Jersey Marathon. Last year's half marathon had over 4,600 finishers. There is a huge expo that goes on all weekend, a great post race party, and a technical shirt and swag bag for all participants. Needless to say, I am really excited, and of course a little bit nervous. My tentative goal is to break 2 hours; I ran my first half marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 5 seconds. So, wish me luck! My 12 week training starts today (with a tempo run, oof)!

Treadmills and Chocolate Peanut Butter Pillows

Sorry for the hiatus, all! The past week and weekend has been pretty busy. On Friday after I got out of work, Mark and I headed over to Retro Fitness. We've been thinking about getting gym memberships for a while now; we used to use the gym all the time when we were in college, and it was a great thing for both of us. I've been missing it a lot lately, especially in terms of the treadmill, but also in terms of strength training. So, we checked out the website, and when we saw there was no enrollment fee through January we decided to get over there and see the place. We were pleasantly surprised. It's big, new, clean, bright, and friendly. It has every machine and free weight we could want. And a major perk is the ability to go to any Retro Fitness location; we live 5 miles away from two different facilities, so we can go to either one. Needless to say, we signed up on the spot. It's a really good deal at only $20 a month, and I'm looking forward to my complimentary fitness evaluation on Thursday. Mark had his today and he had a really good experience. I'm hoping to use the gym in order to get my strength up, as well as build a really solid mileage base to go into the spring with. If all goes well, I'd really like to run the NJ Half Marathon in May.

To offset all the gym talk, let's talk about cookies. As you all know, my new favorite cookbook is Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. With the recipe I tried out on Sunday night, I am now three for three. I made the Chocolate Peanut Butter Pillows. The doughs are really easy to put together, but boy, is it time consuming to assemble these cookies. Luckily, I had a lot of time, and in the end, the time was well spent. These cookies are the best I've made yet. I love how it looks like you have a plain chocolate cookie, but then you bite in and find a peanut butter surprise. These cookies remind me of a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. I reiterate, if you don't own this cookbook, get it! Three for three doesn't lie! I'm going to try to be good and give it a couple weeks until I try another cookie recipe, but don't worry, I will be sure to fill you in when I do make it.

Slow Food Central NJ Farmer's Market and NJAHPERD 2 Mile Winter Warm Up Run, Reviewed!

It has been a busy and eventful weekend, in a very good way. You might remember my earlier post about the Winter Farmer's Market sponsored by Slow Food Central NJ. Well, I took the ride out to Princeton on Saturday to check it out. What an awesome event! Everyone was really friendly, the vendors were plentiful, and there was even a live band. I picked up a few tasty goodies:I got cremini mushrooms from a farm in Pennsylvania, which I turned into a tasty soup for dinner tonight. I also got a half peck of cameo apples for juicing, salads, oatmeal, and snacking. I got a tin of spiced black tea that I couldn't turn down after I had a sample of it. Finally, I got lunch and dessert. Lunch was a kale salad from a local health food store, and dessert was a delicious carrot cake cupcake. It was maybe the most moist, texturally pleasing vegan cupcake I've ever had, so awesome! All in all, I'm really glad I took the ride to check this market out, and it seemed well attended. I hope it was a success for the sponsor.

As for today, I had the comeback race I decided to do last month, the NJAHPERD 2 Mile Winter Warm Up Fun Run. I was feeling pretty "eh" about it going in, since my training has felt just okay. Keep in mind, this training is pretty low key at this point, nothing more than 2 runs a week or so. But the good news is, I exceeded my expectations. I finished the race in 16:33, putting me at a pace of 8:16/mile, and in 21st place out of 66 runners. Much better than any of my training runs! My dad and my sister's friend Dave did the race too, so that was fun. Dad came in 27th and Dave came in 8th! Here's me doing my trademark "I'm super tired so I'm letting my head list to the side" at the end of the race:All in all, a good race for all of us. I'm still deciding on what race to do next; I'll be sure to post it here.

As for tonight, I'm just relaxing! I'm sipping some of that tasty black tea I bought at the market yesterday, and I just took a batch of banana walnut muffins out of the oven. I am set!

Asian Feast and Race Prep

Last night Mark and two of our good friends, Jimbo and Greg, made a veritable feast for dinner. Jimbo came by and we went up to the local Asian market to get supplies. We picked up lots of fresh produce and a bunch of other items we needed to make dinner, and I got a few basics that I was low on in my pantry. Then we came back and started cooking. We made a delicious vegetarian version of a Thai soup called tom yum. We put in tofu, shiitaki mushrooms, peppers, onions, napa cabbage, and extra lemongrass, and we topped it with fresh cilantro. This was super spicy, but so delicious you just wanted to keep on eating. We also had a stir fry. We used Chinese broccoli, long beans, peppers, onions, and baby corns, and cooked it in a sauce made with soy sauce, sriracha, sesame oil, and fermented black bean paste. We served it over thin rice noodles. This meal was awesome, satisfying, and yielded enough leftovers for everyone.

As you know, my comeback race is less than a week away. In preparation, I ran twice over this long weekend. I also signed up with a pretty awesome website, Daily Mile. This site allows you to track your training and races by letting you map your route and enter your time. It provides your pace, and gives you a space to say a few words about your workout. I think this will be a really good tool to use throughout the year, both for historical tracking and for staying motivated. I also like to think that in a year's time, I will be able to look back and see my all my effort totaled up.

Today was grocery day, so expect to see some tasty recipes posted this coming week!

Running, does it cancel out cookies?

I really hope so.

I finally got back out on the road for a run this past weekend. Mark was nice enough to go with me and help get my lazy butt out the door. It was COLD. I think it was around 28 degrees or so, but it was sunny and not really windy. I just layered up and got moving quick. I wanted to not wear my watch, because I've been known to get neurotic about that sort of thing, but I wore it anyway. I didn't peek until we were done, though. We ran a little two mile loop in 20 minutes, which felt very slow, but it was good to ease back into it and not push it. The next day the inside of my quads hurt, and my obliques were a little sore, but other than that I was fine. My plan is to run this Friday when I get out of work a little early and then again at some point over the weekend. Then the Sunday after that is the NJAHPERD 2 Mile Winter Warm Up Fun Run. I'm hoping I have a respectable showing; not a PR performance I'm sure, but hopefully something to make me feel like I'm on my way back.

To switch gears just a bit, I received an awesome birthday present from my sister-in-law: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar!After a quick flip-through, it appears that virtually every recipe is awesome. Needless to say, I made some cookies tonight. I made a batch of Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles. If you've ever had Aztec hot chocolate, you'll understand the flavor profile of these cookies. I can't believe how spicy these came out! The initial flavor is chocolate and cinnamon, but then you get this cayenne kick at the end. YUM. And the best compliment came from Mark: "You wouldn't know these are vegan." Always a good thing to hear when it comes to baked goods! Nothing like a big glass of vanilla hemp milk and a cookie for dessert.

Dinner, Dessert, and Fitness

While Thanksgiving was great and full of tasty food, I have to say I'm pretty happy to be back to the regular routine. It's nice to come home from work and unwind by cooking a good weeknight meal. Good doesn't mean it takes loads of work and prep to make, though. Last night I made this recipe from the New York Times, with a few tweaks.
Nothing better than roasted sweet potatoes, in my opinion, and this is one of the best ways I've found to showcase them.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Beans and Chili Lime Dressing
-3 large sweet potatoes, cut into bite sized cubes
-1 red onion, diced
-3 tbsp olive oil
-1 red bell pepper, diced
-2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
-1 bunch cilantro, chopped
-2/3 cup olive oil
-2 garlic cloves
-juice of 2 limes
-2 jalapenos, chopped
-salt and pepper

-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
-Toss the sweet potatoes and onion with 3 tbsp olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large baking pan. Roast for 30 minutes, until fork tender.
-In the meantime, combine the beans, bell pepper, and cilantro in a bowl.

-In your blender, combine the 2/3 cup olive oil, garlic, lime juice, jalapenos, and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.
-When the sweet potatoes and onions are done in the oven, add them to the bean mixture. Toss everything with the dressing, and serve warm.


I served this with some Near East Spanish rice, always a staple in my pantry. This salad was super flavorful, and filling too. And just looking at the colors, you know you're getting a big dose of vitamins here.

Now, I love to eat healthy, but I also have a nearly insatiable sweet tooth. I don't fight it though, I just eat dessert that I love in small quantities. This way I can enjoy something sweet and delicious most nights without the guilt.
My friend Lauren recommended this to me a few weeks ago, and I am so happy I finally took her suggestion! Luna and Larry's Coconut Bliss just might be my new dessert obsession. I got the Mint Galactica flavor, and it is so tasty and rich. Just a few spoonfuls is enough to satisfy even my crazy sweet tooth. Check out the company website if you have time, there is lots of really interesting information there about coconuts and nutrition.

Finally, I wanted to talk about fitness. Considering I planned this blog to not only cover healthy vegan food, but also things like running, hiking, and general fitness, I figured I was long overdue to address these things. This past year I really picked up my running. At my high point, I was running about 25 miles a week. Over the course of the summer, I ran a handful of 5 mile and 5k races, and I concluded my running season in October with my first half marathon (run in a nor'easter no less). Since then, I've been on a bit of a break. The week after the half marathon I went on a 9 mile trail run, and came home with a very sore foot. Since then, I've been running about once a week, but always having some serious pain afterwards. So, I've decided to take a bit of real time off. Not run for a couple of weeks. I decided to post about this today because I picked out my comeback race. It's a 2 miler in the dead of winter on the boardwalk. I can only hope it isn't 3 degrees out. I'm not sure where my fitness level will be by then, considering my time off and the fact that I only really run one or two days a week when it isn't daylight savings time. So, we'll see! I'm just excited to heal and get back to running and racing.