From the Kitchen & the Bar

Spaghetti squash, prepped and ready to bake

While I'm sidelined with my stress fracture I have committed to a couple of different endeavors. First is a 42 day challenge during my layoff to work on core/strength and the second is to work on my chef skills. Hopefully, this will help keep me in some sort of shape so that when April rolls around I won't be a total slug. My revised race schedule has me bypassing the Bentonville Half (but I will volunteer) and the Ouachita Trail 50 while I recover. So my next race will be the Joplin Memorial Half and then the Hobbs 50. I should end up having 6 full weeks of training for Joplin and 8 for Hobbs. And what a brutal time, emotionally, to be out with an injury given the great weather and weekends full of race opportunities. I digress...

The chef part of the equation involves two approaches. First, at least once a week I will attempt to prepare a meal featuring an ingredient that is new to us. Or at least an ingredient prepared in a way that we have never tried before. This is what I told the family: tell me something you want to try that you have never had before or something you tried but didn't like and I will find another way to make it. Simple, right? The other thing this will allow is a chance to try some recipes out for the Inca Runners Training Camp (Grand Teton) in August where I will be the resident cook. 

It really does shred up like pasta

So the first week found me staring at a spaghetti squash. And I decided to simply bake it and make like it was a big plate of pasta. I have never worked with this before. The recipe was easy. Cut it in half, season it, bake it and then shred it with a fork. Top it with a sauce and Presto! I even included Philip in on this one. He got a chance to shred up one half of the squash. I rounded the meal out with some grilled chicken, green beans, a salad and some fruit bowls. Carolyn chose to skip the sauce and topped hers with yeast flakes, salt and pepper. I tried that too but added a little Udo's Oil on top and it was good. There was quite a bit left as one good sized squash proved too much food for the four of us. Carolyn seasoned the leftovers with salt and pepper and used it the next morning in an omelet. 

Mini me in full chef mode

The next episode had me making a creamy carrot soup. I had eaten some once at a restaurant and it was the best bowl of soup I have ever tasted. Again, easy t make if a little labor intensive. In a dutch oven I sauteed some onions in butter, added some stock, a sliced potato and the carrots with some seasoning. Cook away until tender. Then it is into the processor, puree, and back into the pot with some heavy cream and a few more spices until re-heated. I didn't want this one too sweet but more savory. It turned out somewhere in between but not enough of either. The good thing is that way each person can season it as desired. Carolyn threw some Sriracha sauce on hers and poured it over her rice. Sassy. 

Carrot soup, stage 1

Finally I had a go at making sweet potato casserole (Ruth's Chris style). Yes, I have had this before as my mom makes a mean version, bit I had never made it myself. Previously I have made sweet potatoes for my family that didn't go over so well. We have tried them plain (bad idea) and I made some enchiladas with them once (not much better). Pretty straightforward really, bake the taturs till tender, puree them, add some mojo (butter, salt, sugar, vanilla and such), into the baking dish, sprinkle with goodness (for that sweet pecan crust) and then bake it until toasty. This one was a big hit with everyone, except my wife. Apparently she hates sweet potatoes. You would think after 20 years together I would have known this fact. I knew about the green peas but not this. Oh well, the kids and I enjoyed it. 

I enjoy the challenge of working with new ingredients and learning more about how different things cook, how to season and trying to find new ways to be more efficient in the kitchen. This week I'm at a bit of a loss. Any suggestions on something to try out? What's your favorite non-traditional dish or ingredient?

I can't get out of a conversation on food without including some beverage options can I? Here are a couple of recent selections and my thoughts...

Point Cascade Pale Ale out of Wisconsin. Nothing fancy here, just a good, drinkable beer with a little citrus and grassy taste, mild sweetness. Nice orange patina. Pretty smooth and an inexpensive option. 

Undercover Investigation Shut Down Ale from Lagunitas. Big hop aroma, nice head, rich copper color. Can taste the hops and alcohol, some bitterness and some sweetness, complex taste, creamy feel. 

A couple of fruity choices from Samuel Smith, Organic Cherry and Raspberry. I almost always find fruit beers to be very smooth and quite drinkable. These do not disappoint. The Cherry has a nice tartness to it. The Raspberry maybe had some chocolate tones to it? Couldn't quite figure this one out. Not bad by any means, different for sure. My preference was the Cherry with the twang it offered. 

Inca Runners Camp

A while back on my Twitter account I alluded to the possibility of an epic opportunity falling into my lap. It now appears as though things have fallen into place enough that I can make an official announcement. I have been tapped to be the resident cook, or chef (if you will), for the inaugural Inca Runners Training Camp. My friend and running buddy, Hugo Mendez, is the man in charge of marketing and PR for Inca Runners. Out of the blue he inquired about my interest in creating meals for the runners, at the camp... in the Grand Tetons... and I jumped at the chance. Who wouldn't? For starters, Krissy Moehl and Luke Nelson will be in attendance. Krissy is a two time winner of the UTMB and the youngest female to complete the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning which includes Western States 100, Leadville 100, Vermont 100 and the Wasatch 100. Luke is the reigning U.S. Ski Mountaineering Champion and placed 2nd at Wasatch 100 last year. This dynamic duo will acting as elite coaches at the camp. Not cool enough for you? How about UltrAspire President Bryce Thatcher as a keynote speaker? You know, the guy that founded Ultimate Direction and was the lead designer at Nathan. And he also holds a 25 year old record for the fastest ascent/descent of Grand Teton.

I must admit that I was more than a bit surprised when Hugo popped the question. I've never really thought of myself as a chef or even a kitchen wizard for that matter. I do, however, much like many runners, enjoy good food. Back when I was a kid I often hung out with my mom in the kitchen. Heck, I even recall watching Julia Childs and the Frugal Gourmet on PBS when those were the only cooking shows on TV. As much as I like food I am not fond of spending excessive amounts of time (or effort for that matter) preparing food. So I'm always keen on simple stuff that is fresh and tasty. I'm also a fan of healthy foods, especially following a minor medical scare of my own several years ago. After eating fast food crap for several months (this was during my last stint attempting to climb the corporate ladder) I packed on about 15 lbs, felt like crap and ended up with an ulcer and an inflamed liver. I vowed to never be that guy again. Since then I have made attempts to educate myself to be better at fueling not only myself but my family as well. In the process I am dabbled being vegetarian. While not 100% on that plan I seldom eat red meat and have eliminated most dairy from my diet. I do support buying local (love farmers markets) and supporting local growers. I sell free range, organic eggs fresh from our little farm. And I embrace eating whole foods as much as possible. Anyhow, from time to time I post on FB what I made for dinner and on occasion Hugo and have have discussed food while out on runs. Apparently he liked what he saw and heard. I'm flattered. When he did ask about the camp he also suggested that I post about stuff I make here on the Running Farmer blog. That's a good idea. Maybe once a week or so I will offer up something I created. Hopefully, most will be pretty good. I'm sure some will be not so good as I'm not afraid to try new things. Sometimes it works out and other times not so much. 

This one worked pretty damn good. One night last week the kids wanted pizza. Frozen pizzas are really crap for the most part and it's so easy to make at home I thought why not. The only problem was that it was getting late so there wasn't time to make dough from scratch. I checked the pantry and found some lavash bread. Lavash has it's roots in the Middle East and is made from just 3 ingredients: flour, water and salt. Think flat bread but very flexible, much like a tortilla. What I found in the pantry was a new bag of Joseph's brand lavash made with whole wheat flour, oat bran and flax seeds. Perfect for a thin crust pizza (my preference). A quick look in the fridge revealed a couple of marinara sauces to pick from, turkey pepperoni (the kids love it), some mushrooms, a green pepper, onion and plenty of cheese. For the kids I made a stuffed crust pizza by lining half of the lavash with pepper jack cheese before folding it over on itself. Then I added the turkey pepperoni and some shredded Italian cheese. For the adults, we got sliced veggies (pepper, onion, mushroom and garlic). Super easy to make and cooked up quick. Less than 30 minutes to prep, make and bake both pizzas. 

My plan for the camp is to keep things simple, fresh and as local as possible. I sound like Gordon Ramsey, right? So what do you think? Do you have any menu suggestions for the running camp? Let me know and make sure to check out the Inca Runners link for details on the camp. And as always you can follow me on Twitter @RedDirtRunner.

Fuel for Running

One of the things I wanted to add to this blog are some reference sources for running related topics. Over the last year I have found quite a few I think are worth sharing. And I have found as someone that is going on my third marathon in a year (and working towards my second ultra in the same time period) I field questions frequently from "newbie" runners. What better source is there for credible and practical information about running than other runners? At some point I will try to figure out how to post these by topic down the side of the blog. With that said, here are some of my favorite sites I keep bookmarked.

All runners need good fuel to burn. I know, there are those that can seemingly eat anything and run great but for the vast majority of us that doesn't work so well. I like to think that I have always been a savvy eater. But when I ramped up my running routine I became quite familiar with the BONK. Something was missing. Good fuel. My one stop shop for all things nutrition related is No Meat Athlete. One of the things I appreciate about NMA is Matt's willingness to try new things and provide open and honest feedback about how well it works (or doesn't) for him. Matt is a guy that more or less ran his first marathon on a whim, bonked hard, and then was bitten by the endurance bug. He has experimented with being vegetarian, vegan, paleo, raw foodie and the list goes on. Clear explanations are given about how the food we eat fuels the body and he does his homework. Great recipes from his sister, an excellent baker and the best smoothie formula ever.

Here is a book that changed the way I look at food, The China Study.

Another good one full of fantastic recipes and food facts, The Passionate Vegetarian.

Now you might be thinking that I am some whacked out, tree hugging, pathchouli wearing liberal. Not entirely true. I am not a Nazi about my diet. On a day to day basis I simply try to make smart choices for me. I still love my ice cream on occasion, can devour a pizza, a plate of bacon and crave tater tots. Yes, I ate a hot dog at a baseball game this summer with my kids. An occasional step off the path is OK. I am more concerned with the big picture. What I am is a guy that went from a fairly typical diet to one based much more on whole foods and saw my running performance step up and my recovery time decrease. It's that simple. If I eat right I can run longer and faster and more often. One thing I have done is a 30 day vegetarian plan before big races. No meat at all, limited dairy (some yogurt and cheese), I still eat eggs (fresh from my free range chickens), lots of fruit, salads and whole grains. If possible I eat it raw. I have no issues with protein intake or energy levels and I get to drop a few pounds. This way during the taper there are no concerns about putting on excess weight. I no longer use dairy milk (I use soy, hemp or almond). I seldom eat meat, especially the red variety. I quit using commercial sports drinks last summer (I now use nuun and Nathan tablets or simply Succeed S! Caps and water). I bypass processed foods if possible. And no fast food soda, cola, or carbonated beverages. Except beer, which is a great source of choline, a nutrient needed for endurance performance. If I can buy it local I will. Fortunately, I live in a place where there are countless backyard gardens and small farms and a couple of quality farmer's markets. In the last couple of days I have enjoyed local Concord grapes (insane flavor), mixed greens for salad so tasty no dressing is needed, bulgur wheat bread and these great cheese curds. My simple rule is this, if there is an ingredient that I wouldn't eat by itself, all alone sitting there on a plate, why eat it mixed in with something else? Examples being corn syrup solids, fractionated palm oil and agar. I look at ingredient lists and avoid stuff I can't pronounce, hydrogenated things,  anything high fructose and artificial sweetners. Grandma never made anything with those. I'm pretty sure I don't need them either.