Sun 7 Feb 2010

NYRR Gridiron 4-mile race

Posted by RunnersKitchen under daily recap, long runs, race recaps, running, yoga
[22] Comments

Brr, it’s been a chilly weekend here in the big apple. I just finished running the NYRR Gridiron 4-miler and am feelin’ good! This was the first time I raced hard since I was injured over a year ago and it was a big confidence booster. But more on that later…

Yesterday was a day full of good eats and rest. After 8.5 hours of sleep on Friday night, I woke up ready for a quickie breakfast and a yoga class. I didn’t have any coffee beans on hand, so I tried the new Starbucks VIA instant coffee. I was a little skeptical, but it was actually decent! I don’t think I’d have this every day, but it’s a good option if you’re traveling. Along with my coffee I had a banana and Brown Cow maple flavored yogurt. Mmm, whole milk yogurt is so delicious.

Starbucks Via

And then I met some of my lady friends for a 10am class at yoga to the people. Obviously, I did not take a photo in class, but the studio looks like this:

Yoga to the People

Even though my gym offers yoga classes, I still prefer the yttp studio. FYI – even if you don’t live in Northern California or NYC, you can try out a yttp podcast!

After getting our yoga on, we headed to Atlas Cafe in the East Village. This little restaurant had an amazing array of menu options – I was a little overwhelmed! I ended up getting the smoked salmon and avocado sandwich on multi-grain bread. I don’t usually eat fish, but I was feeling like I could use a little omega-3’s in my life. The sandwich was delicious and fairly inexpensive by Manhattan standards.

Smoked salmon from Atlas Cafe

Afterwards, we headed over to Momofuku milk bar for some COOKIES! I was tempted by the crack pie (toasted oat crust with gooey butter filling), but decided to go with the compost cookie (pretzel, potato chips, coffee, oats, butterscotch, and chocolate chips).

Momofuku Milk Bar

Oh lord. This was one of the BEST cookies I’ve ever had. Next time I’m buying two. Thanks to my friend Ani for the great recommendation :-)

Compost Cookie

I had dinner plans with my friend Joe at a little restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. My pre-race dinner was a little unconventional, but it hit the spot. I ordered the warm spinach salad: fresh spinach leaves, sauteed onions and mushrooms, LOTS of croutons and a balsamic vinegar reduction. I also had a whole grain roll and butter with my salad – gotta get in those carbohydrates :-)

Spinach Salad

I had planned on being social after dinner, but the cold and wind convinced me to stay home and hibernate under the covers. Oh winter.

I finished up the night with half a pint some mint chocolate chip goat milk ice cream, netflix, and an early bedtime :-)

Goat milk ice cream

Waking up early to go running is never easy, but when it’s 17 degrees it’s particularly difficult…

Ah well, I just have to remind myself that I run and race for FUN! When I look at racing as something I get to do, rather than something I have to do, my mindset is a lot more positive :-)

I had the usual pre-race breakfast around 7:30am – coffee, banana with peanut butter, and 1/2 clif bar. Andddd I finally broke out my hand warmers. These things are lifesavers if you have poor circulation (like moi) and they’re only 99 cents!

Banana

Handwarmers

Alma and I warmed up for about 30 minutes (ran from our apartment to the starting line) and after a quick bathroom break, it was race time! I’ve run some races as “workouts”, but today’s 4-miler was the first time I raced hard in awhile. I was shooting for 7:00 pace and finished a little under, so I’m pretty happy. Miles 1 and 3 were slower than I would have liked (maybe because of the hills), but other than that things went as expected. Also, I was really excited to meet a blog reader at the finish line. Hi Jacqui!

  • Mile 1 – 7:11
  • Mile 2 – 6:57
  • Mile 3 – 7:10
  • Mile 4 – 6:40
  • Total: 4 miles in 27:57 (6:59 pace)

Thumbs up!

After the race I was feeling really good (probably a sign I should have gone faster!), so I added on some miles to make today a “long run day”. My cool down was about 50 minutes long bringing me to about 13 miles for the day. Only 6 weeks till the NYC 1/2 marathon!

After a long hot shower I refueled with some pumpkin-apple-chocolate chip oatmeal. I’m already hungry again – off to go eat some more!

Pumpkin oatmeal

Even though it’s February (and f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g in the Northeast!), it’s never too cold for a smoothie! Matt and I posted our favorite recipes on True/Slant – check it out :-)

What’s your favorite smoothie combination?

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Fri 5 Feb 2010

Running: How to get motivated

Posted by RunnersKitchen under running
[15] Comments

I’ve said it many times before – I love running, but sometimes getting out the door or on the treadmill is a big struggle. No matter what time of day you run, there are potential roadblocks: the snooze button, long meetings, a hungry stomach, etc. Yesterday afternoon I was dreading an evening workout with my running club. Practice starts at 7pm, so it’s dark and cold by that time. I’m starting to get hungry. I’m zonked out from a long day in the office. I can think of endless excuses not to go, but I KNOW that I always feel better when I run, so I’ve come up with a few tips and tricks.

1) Not going is NOT an option. Everytime that little voice inside my head starts complaining that it’s too dark or too cold or I’m too tired, I envision a STOP sign. I don’t allow myself to think about other options (i.e. going home and watching TV). It’s kind of like tough love – “you’re going running, so stop whining!”

2) The buddy system. One of the best things about running with other people is the accountability facotr. I make it a point of promising my running friends that I’ll be at our weekly Thursday practice (or will meet them for an early a.m. run). I want to be seen as reliable, so keeping my word usually motivates me to get out the door.

3) Reward yourself. If I have to get up for an early morning race, I’ll sometimes promise myself a trip to Starbucks afterward. Or if it’s an evening workout I have to get through, I’ll think about the sweatpants, hot tea, and Gossip Girl episodes I can indulge in afterwards.

4) Make compromises. Sometimes I’m not feeling 100% and it’s hard to tell whether it’s physical fatigue or just the mental blahs. In these instances, I’ll plan on just doing half the workout (or a shorter run). However, more often than not, I end up feeling good enough to finish the whole thing!

After employing some of these tips, I motivated myself enough to go to practice last night. And like I expected, I’m so glad I went! Although the intensity of the pace wasn’t super tough, the volume of miles left me feeling wiped out by the end.

The workout consisted of:

  • 1.5 mile warm-up
  • 5K at half-marathon pace in the Harlem Hills in 23:09 (~7:28 pace)
  • .8 mile recovery
  • Another 5K around the reservoir (actual distance 3.14) in 23:37 (~7:31 pace)
  • 1 mile cool-down
  • Total: 9.5 miles

    We were supposed to run the 1st 5K at half-marathon pace and the 2nd 5K a little faster. My second 5K actually ended up being a little slower, BUT I did negative split it – running 12:07 (7:43 pace) for the first loop of the reservoir and 11:30 (7:19 pace) for the second loop.

Pheww. By the time I got home it was 9pm and I needed some to re-fuel ASAP. I’ve been dealing with a bit of a queasy stomach this week, so I focused on bland, yet energy-dense foods.

Peanut butter granola

I brewed a cup of tea to warm me up and then mixed 2 Tbs peanut butter into 8oz. of plain greek yogurt and added sliced banana and a serving of Nature’s Path peanut butter granola. This meal may not have been very voluminous, but it packed in nearly 700 calories and plenty of fiber, calcium, potassium, and B vitamins.

Super Bowl Sunday is almost upon us! What’s your favorite (healthy?) game-day dish?

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Thu 4 Feb 2010

Try it, you’ll like it!

Posted by RunnersKitchen under baking, recipes, running
[9] Comments

 Some runs (like last weekend’s 14-miler) are awesome and others….not so much. Last night I headed out the door for a post-work run and felt crappy for most of the 4.5 miles.  Maybe it was my frustrating day at work, maybe I was just tired.  I guess I can’t really be sure,  but at least the bad runs help you appreciate the good ones even more. I got 8+ hours of sleep last night, so here’s hoping today is a better day!

When I returned from my run, I crafted a giant salad. There’s nothing like fresh veggies and whole foods to chase away the winter blahs.

I chopped up some organic hearts of romaine, added leftover roasted beets, great northern beans, dried cherries, chopped walnuts, a big scoop of cottage cheese, and lots of hot sauce. Sounds weird, I know. But it was delicious! I love the combo of cottage cheese and hot sauce – the creamy and fiery flavors compliment each other perfectly.

salad

And then I put on my baking apron! I’ve been itching to try the black bean brownie recipe created by Christine (NoMeatAthlete’s resident baker), but I used what I had on hand and made some modifications.

Bean Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder (use a good quality brand such as Ghiradelli)
  • 2 tsp instant coffee powder
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • 2 Tbs chocolate chips
  • 1/2 can white beans (or any kind that you have on hand), rinsed and filled with new water
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup water

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 8″ x 8″ baking pan
  • Whisk together all of the dry ingredients
  • Puree the beans and the water they are canned in
  • Add pureed beans, vanilla, and additional water to dry mixture
  • Mix thoroughly and then pour into baking pan
  • Bake for 22-25 minutes, rotating pan half-way through cooking time
  • Keep an eye on the brownies – you don’t want the edges to overcook!
  • Allow brownies to cool completely and then cut into 9 squares

Vegan Brownies

These brownies are incredibly moist and the serving size is BIG! I hate it when a “serving” of something is puny. These big, fudgy, moist brownies will satisfy your chocolate craving while providing a good dose of fiber and protein.

I know that using pureed beans instead of butter, eggs, or oil is a little unconventional, but I promise these are yummy. When Alma found out that the brownies were made with beans she was skeptical, but after taste-testing she was very impressed. Try this recipe, you’ll like it!

vegan white bean brownie

Nutritional stats per serving (based on 9 servings): 215 calories, 5.5 grams of fat, 5.5 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber.

Do you ever bake with “unconventional” ingredients?

Before you go – check out my latest True/Slant article: Lose weight, gain speed?

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Tue 2 Feb 2010

Roasted Beets and Goat Cheese

Posted by RunnersKitchen under daily recap, running
[13] Comments

My plans for an early morning spin class were nixed when I woke up feeling less than stellar. More sleep and a coffee date with my girl, Frida were what I opted for instead.

Frida coffee mug

I had some leftover pumpkin from the muffins I baked this weekend, so I turned it in to overnight oatmeal. I combined rolled oats, canned pumpkin, greek yogurt, chopped walnuts, and dried cherries the night before and then added a splash of milk and some cinnamon this morning.

overnight pumpkin oats

Followed up by a piece of flax bread topped with peanut butter and raspberry jam.

toast

Last night whilst doing my laundry, I roasted some beets. I love beets – they’re sweet like candy!

Roasted Beets

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  • Wash, peel, and cube 4 beets
  • Toss the beets with 1 Tbs canola oil and 1 Tbs rice vinegar
  • Cover with foil and roast for 20 minutes on a baking sheet
  • After 20 minutes, remove foil, and roast for an additional 15 minutes (or until tender)
  • Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!

For lunch I tossed together chopped romaine, roasted beets, goat cheese, walnuts, dried cherries, and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

beets and goat cheese

beets and goat cheese

The folks at popchips sent me a box of samples the other day (loved the way it was packaged!) and my stash is nearly gone. These chips aren’t fried or baked, but rather “popped” and I think they have a tremendous amount of flavor and crunch for a relatively healthy product. I saved one of my favorite flavors for last – salt & pepper!

popchips

pop chips

Psst…I’ll tell you a secret – popchips didn’t really need to send me free samples, I buy these all the time because they’re SO good!

My afternoon snack was compliments of Chobani greek yogurt (yay, samples!). Last week I received a Chobani lunch bag packed with some of my favorite flavors. I added some toppings (coconut, granola, and crumbled oreo) to the plain variety.

chobani!

Yogurt

And thennnnnn the afternoon never seemed to end. As much as I love running, sometimes my motivation disappears. Around 4:30pm I started to feel very blah and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the gym. I thought maybe a little sugar would help, so I went downstairs and bought a Twix bar. Yes, even healthy food bloggers crave candy! :-) Energy bars and candy bars are essentially the same thing, so I wasn’t too worried about having the twix bar before my run.

twix

I wanted to run intervals this evening, but since I don’t have access to an indoor track, I performed the workout on the treadmill. Not ideal, but it got the job done!

1.5 mile warm-up
2 x 400m @ 5k pace (400m recovery after each interval)
2 x 400m @ 3K pace (400m recovery after each interval)
2 x 400m @ mile pace (400m recovery after each interval)
1.5 mile cool-down

No problems with my hips or back (yay!), but dang those 400’s at mile pace felt FAST. I finished up the last one in ~5:33/mile pace and I was just praying I didn’t fly off the back of the treadmill. Can’t wait till my running club starts working out on the outdoor track again….

Once I got home, I whipped up a super fast dinner salad: romaine lettuce, mushroom veggie burger, cheddar cheese, dried cherries, and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

salad

For dessert I melted some chocolate chips on a piece of whole wheat toast and topped it with mashed banana. Served alongside herbal tea to warm me up.

toast and tea

Have you heard about Michael Pollen’s new book Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual? What are your personal “rules” for healthy eating? Do you limit red meat? Avoid HFCS? Buy organic?

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Mon 1 Feb 2010

Pumpkin Muffins and Homemade Pizza

Posted by RunnersKitchen under long runs, recipes, restaurants, running
[13] Comments

Happy February! Here’s hoping that the worst of the winter weather is behind us…

I had houseful of boys (friends from college) staying with me this weekend, so I baked a batch of pumpkin muffins on Saturday morning. The muffins served as the perfect pre-run fuel!

pumpkin muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • tsp cinnamon
  • dash of ginger and nutmeg
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
  • 3/4 cup whey that was leftover from my strained yogurt (you could use milk instead)

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 400 F and lightly grease a muffin tin
  • Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl
  • In a medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients
  • Using a spatula, add the wet ingredients to the dry until combined – but don’t overmix!
  • Fill the muffin tins about 2/3 full and bake for about 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean.
  • Cool for about 5 minutes and then remove from the pan and enjoy warm with butter. Yum.

After a chilly, but pleasant 5-miler in Central Park, I was able to try someplace that’s been on my to-go list for ages: Community Food & Juice (thanks for the great suggestion Ada! We need to meet up soon!) This hip uptown restaurant is affiliated with the reknowned Clinton Street Baking Company. While it’s not a vegetarian restaurant, there are plenty of seasonal veggie options and the meats are organic, free-range, and grass-fed.

community food & juice

I was impressed by my homemade veggie bean burger that came atop a brioche bun and was accompanied by tomato jam, avocado spread, and mixed greens.

Community Food and Juice

Saturday continued to be a day of good eats – for dinner I purchased a ball of organic whole wheat pizza dough for $1.69 and turned it into homemade pizza! After stretching the dough to fit an inverted baking sheet, I topped the pie with sauteed garlic and broccoli rabe, goat cheese, and sundried tomato chicken sausage. I baked the pizza for about 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees. The crust came out crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Buying the dough from Whole Foods saved me about 2 hours worth of work and it was quite economical. I’ve made my own pizza dough before and to be honest, I couldn’t really notice a difference! The whole wheat dough, naturally low in fat goat cheese, antioxidant rich broccoli rabe, and high protein chicken sausage made this a power packed dinner. Perfect for runners!

Broccoli rabe, goat cheese, and chicken sausage pizza

Sunday was designated long run day and since I knew it was probably going to be cold outside, I procrastinated for as long as possible. About an 1.5 hours before I planned on heading out the door I chowed down quite a few servings of Nature’s Path peanut butter granola. I was a little bit worried about how this would sit in my stomach, but it ended up working out great. I felt awesome during my 14 mile long run! Maybe this granola is magic running fuel?

nature's path peanut butter granola

The sun was shining and eventhough it was only about 25 degrees, it didn’t feel all that bad. I ran my first 6 or so miles with Alma, mostly on the bridle path, and finished up the remaining 8 miles solo. My legs felt good enough that I threw in a few quick “pick-ups” around mile 11. The only annoying thing was that I started to get really thirsty around mile 12 – can’t wait till they turn the water fountains back on in Central Park! I ran for 2 hours and while I’m not positive about the distance, I’m going to call it 14 miles. Best part of the run (and weekend)?? No back or hip pain, woo! Maybe this physical therapy stuff is working….

What was the best part of your weekend?

Free Ways for New Yorkers to Get Healthy in February:

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Fri 29 Jan 2010

Cold. Dark. Run. Fast.

Posted by RunnersKitchen under running
[19] Comments

With all the recipes I’ve been posting lately, I bet you’re wondering if I’m actually doing any running. Well, the answer is yes! I had my second physical therapy session yesterday and while I’m a bit overwhelmed with all of the strengthening exercises I need to do everyday, my back is feeling much better.

I was feeling so good, that I decided to attempt a road workout with my running club. The Central Park Track Club meets every Thursday evening around 7pm to run road workouts. I like that the late start allows us working gals enough time to get to practice, but I’m always STARVING once I finish the run and return home (~9pm). Yesterday I decided to try something a little different. In lieu of my afternoon snack, I decided to have a small dinner before practice. Dinner #1 was eaten around 4pm:

I hit up the Whole Foods salad bar and filled a small container with romaine lettuce, heritage bean salad, bit of Morrocan turkey salad, a piece of lemon tempeh, and a piece of sweet and sour tofu.

Salad

I also had a slice of protein packed cheesecake. This tasted delicious and it was reasonably healthy, but it did NOT sit well during the workout. Note to self: stick to quick-digesting carbs before fast runs. Usually I have a stomach of steel when it comes to easy runs, but whenever I pick up the pace I have to be very careful. I try to stay away from yogurt, (too much) peanut butter, and eggs pre-race. All are a bit too protein heavy for hard efforts. However, these foods are great after racing or running fast since your muscles need protein for recovery.

cheesecake

Despite falling temperatures and some serious wind, the workout went pretty well!

3.25 mile warm-up (ran from my apartment, probably a little too quickly because I was running late!)
1.5 miles in 10:17 (6:51 pace)
.5 mile recovery
1 mile in approx. 6:48 – wasn’t sure where the mile marker was, so this is probably a little off.
.25 mile recovery
.8 mile in 5:20 (6:40 pace)
2 mile cool-down

Total: 9.25 miles

The faster intervals felt tough, but I had a good group to run with (BIG turnout last night!) and even led a few of the reps. Unfortunately I didn’t know where the mile repeat ended, so I think I made my group run a little long. whoops.

Back felt mostly good, left hip yelped a little bit during the .8 mile segment, but felt fine on the cooldown.

I was f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g by the time I got home and my stomach was not feeling great (oh cheesecake…), so I sipped on some hot  ginger tea.

tea

Eventually, I was ready for dinner #2: plain oikos greek yogurt, chopped apple, Tbs peanut butter, and Nature’s Path peanut butter granola (the best kind ever!).

Oikos

Last night I returned home to find a special delivery: Eat With Me t-shirts! My friend Matt has a great food blog that features mouth-watering photos and a special series on Italian food and wine. Take a look at his site and maybe you can score a shirt of your own – I hear there’s a give-a-way in the works!

Eat With Me

Love the back of the shirt!

Ask Me To Dinner

Check out my latest True/Slant article – Who stole my Boston marathon spot??

How do you motivate yourself to go running when it’s cold and dark?

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Wed 27 Jan 2010

Protein Packed Cheesecake

Posted by RunnersKitchen under baking, recipes
[15] Comments

As part of Foodbuzz’s Tastemaker Program, I received a coupon for a free dozen of eggs. Eggland’s Best is my “go-to” brand because the eggs have four times more Vitamin D and over three times more Omega-3 compared to ordinary eggs. And the 6 grams of protein (per egg) and B-vitamins help me recover more quickly from tough runs. The other night I created a low fat, protein packed cheesecake and while the dessert was chilling, I even snuck in a nighttime run!

Eggland's is the Best

The main component in this dish is strained yogurt – the end result is very similar to greek yogurt!

I lined a colander with 6 flattened out coffee filters and then I placed the colander inside a large mixing bowl. Next I spooned the yogurt into the colander and let it drain overnight in the fridge.

strained yogurt

My 32 oz ($2.99) container of Whole Foods brand plain non-fat yogurt yielded about 2 cups of strained yogurt. Plus a cup of whey – I’m saving this to use in cooking/baking because it’s packed with nutrients.

Strained yogurt

Protein Packed Cheesecake

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup butter (4 Tbs), melted
  • 1 cup whole-wheat graham cracker crumbs
  • 2 cups of strained non-fat yogurt (from a 32 oz. tub)
  • 2 8-oz containers of non-fat cream cheese
  • 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites, lightly beaten (Eggland’s Best brand)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 Tbs flour
  • 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and place a pan of water on the bottom shelf of the oven (this will provide a humid baking environment for the cheesecake)
  • Mix together the butter and the graham cracker crumbs, press mixture firmly into the bottom of an 9-inch springform cake pan, refrigerate while you prepare the filling
  • Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar
  • Gently fold in the eggs, yogurt, flour, and vanilla
  • Pour the filling into the springform cake pan and bake the cheesecake on the top shelf of the oven for about 50-60 minutes. Don’t open the door until the 50 minutes are up!
  • Turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool in the oven with the door ajar for about 30 minutes.
  • Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Add chocolate chips or raspberry jam as garnish!

Picture 004

cheesecake

Nutritional stats per serving (cheesecake yields about 10 slices): 230 calories, 10.5 grams of protein, and 5.5  grams of fat.

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Tue 26 Jan 2010

Olive Oil Granola Recipe

Posted by RunnersKitchen under baking, recipes
[12] Comments

One of my favorite recipes of all time is olive oil granola. I was inspired by a New York Times recipe over the summer and made my first batch in August. The combination of savory olive oil, sweet agave nectar, chewy dried fruit, crisp oats, and salt is amazing.  Seriously, you must try this recipe!

Olive oil granola

I can’t believe it’s taken me nearly 6 months to make this yummy combo again. My creation differs quite a bit from both the original NY Times recipe and the granola I made in August, but I think the 2010 version is the best yet!

Granola ingredients

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 2 cups walnut pieces (I also added in some leftover almonds and pecans)
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup agave nectar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • 3/4 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped dried regular or Turkish apricots

    •  

    Directions:

  • Mix all ingredients except apricots and raisins in a large bowl
  • Pour oat mixture onto a large greased baking sheet (I used a silicon baking mat)
  • Bake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees, stirring every 10 minutes (my oven is super hot, so the granola was done after only 30 minutes!) 
  • After granola is done baking, pour into a large bowl and add apricots and raisins (don’t add while baking – the fruit will get too dried out!)
  • Enjoy plain or with yogurt. Yum!

    • Olive oil granola

    News you can use:

    Tomorrow (Wednesday) Jamba Juice is selling it’s steel cut oatmeal for only $1!

    On Friday, February 5th you can snag a free KIND bar sample from any starbucks.

    Do you care about childhood nutrition, the environment, and food affordability? Sign the NYC food charter and pledge to promote healthy and sustainable eating!

    What’s your favorite granola variety?

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    Mon 25 Jan 2010

    Never again pear clafoutis

    Posted by RunnersKitchen under baking, recipes
    [13] Comments

    Dear Susan Herrmann Loomis,

    I love your book On Rue Tatin, but your pear and honey clafoutis recipe made me want to tear my hair out!

    If you’re wondering “what the heck is a clafoutis?”, you’re not alone. I had never made or eaten one before this weekend! According to Wikipedia:

    a Clafoutis, sometimes in Anglophone countries spelled clafouti, is a baked French dessert that is typically made by baking fresh fruit (traditionally cherries) and a batter, halfway between a Yorkshire pudding/pancake batter and a custard, in a baking dish.

    By Sunday afternoon I had an edible version, but let’s review what went wrong:

    1) Don’t bring your computer into the kitchen and g-chat while you’re baking. You will probably do things like add 3 x the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. Once I realized my mistake I spent a good 5 minutes removing the extra sugar from the mixing bowl with a tiny teaspoon.

    2) If the recipe calls for an 11-inch tart pan, a 10-inch spring form pan might give you problems. 5 minutes after popping clafoutis #1 into the oven I noticed a horrid burning smell. “Don’t worry,” I tell my roommate, “it’s probably just some excess flour on the outside of the pan that’s browning”. No. My spring form pan leaked and a big blob of batter was burning on the oven floor. Hello, smoke alarm. I tucked some foil around the pan to stop up the leak and continued to let it bake.

    burnt clafouti batter

    3) After I pulled clafoutis #1 out of the oven, I attempted to make the caramel sauce. I made it 3 times before I got it right. Note: The measurements on the website recipe are NOT correct. I hunted around for some other caramel sauce recipes and deduced that you need 1 Tbs sugar (not 2!) and 2 tsp water for the sauce to form. Also, don’t taste-test hot caramel with a metal spoon. You’ve been warned.

    4) When I woke up on Sunday morning and lifted the foil to admire my clafoutis I noticed a pool of liquid in the middle of the pan. I cut a small slice and discovered that the center was completely undercooked. $#@%!! Luckily I didn’t have too much time to freak out, I had a half-marathon to run.

    5) After my run, I went to the grocery story to buy more eggs and pears and started on attempt #2. Fortunately, the second round went more smoothly. My modifications:

    • 9-inch pie plate as the baking vessel (vs. 11-inch tart pan/10-inch spring form pan)
    • agave nectar in place of honey
    • lowered the oven temperature to 375 F
    • covered the clafoutis with aluminum foil after 15 minutes to prevent the top from over-browning
    • added a dusting of powdered sugar in lieu of the caramel sauce

    Before baking:

    Clafoutis prep

    After baking:

    Pear Clafoutis

    Pear Clafoutis

    pear clafoutis

    The verdict? This was actually a pretty delicious (and healthy!) dessert. I would certainly eat it again as long as someone else makes it for me.

    Question: Have you ever had any baking/cooking mishaps?

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    Sun 24 Jan 2010

    Manhattan half-marathon (and a potluck!)

    Posted by RunnersKitchen under daily recap, long runs, race recaps, running
    [18] Comments

    The day did not get off to a very auspicious start. The pear clafoutis I baked last night needed to be thrown out (more on that later…), my stomach was not feeling awesome, and Alma and I were running late for the 8am start time of the Manhattan half-marathon. Ugh. Despite my cranky mood, I managed to put together a decent pre-run breakfast: coffee, coconut water (electrolytes!), a banana, and peanut butter.

    Breakfast

    After waiting in veryyy long port-a-potty lines, Alma and I made our way to the starting line. Since I’ve been having some back pain, I decided to run today’s 13.1 miles as a “marathon-pace long run” rather than an all out race. The first mile started off nice and easy ~9:05 per mile pace and then we picked it up until we were running between 8:10-8:20 pace. Around mile 10, I realized we could probably finish under 1:50 if we pushed a bit, so we dropped our pace to 7:55, 7:45, and 7:35 for the last 3 miles. Alma and I finished the 13.1 in 1:48:37 (~8:17 pace). Today’s effort definitely wasn’t “easy”, but the pace allowed for conversation and I never felt too out of breath. My long-term goal is to PR (i.e. run under 3:38:41) in the NYC marathon in November, so it was nice to know that without much training I could run 1/2 that distance at goal pace! Here’s hoping the next 10 months are injury free…

    After factoring warm-up and cool-down, today’s mileage was 15. Longest long run since November! And 12 hours later, I’m feelin’ pretty good :-)

    Loved the shirts for today’s race – a nice change from the usual white cotton:

    Manhattan

    After our cool down (and chugging some gatorade), my fingers were freezing and I was in need of something hot. A latte from Starbucks never tasted so good!

    Once I got home, I popped a french toast bagel in the toaster and enjoyed it with a little bit of butter. Real butter is definitely the way to go, margarine sketches me out.

    Starbucks

    After showering and some other things on my to-do list, I snacked on a luna protein bar. The peanut butter chocolate flavor was alright, but not nearly as good as the cookie dough flavor that I tried after my indoor triathlon.

    luna protein

    By mid-afternoon it was time to head to a potluck with some other NYC bloggers. Chelsea was such a gracious host and the spread of food was just what I needed post-run.

    Bloggers

    I started off with some delicious kombucha:

    Kombucha

    And then I snapped photos of all the delicious dishes before digging in! Leslie made a fennel and butternut squash dish.

    Fennel

    Jamie brought a yummy Mediterranean-themed cous cous dish. Hummus was the perfect addition!

    Cous cous

    hummus

    And Chelsea brought out a lovely egg white, turkey sausage, and cheddar cheese casserole from the Cooking Light website.

    Brunch casserole

    I filled up my plate and devoured every bite. REFUEL.

    Potluck

    And then a slice of pear clafouti (luckily it turned out much better the second time around).

    pear clafoutis

    And finally a peanut butter cookie made with stevia and PB&Co’s Bee’s Knees peanut butter.

    peanut butter cookie

    With lots of good food and conversation, the afternoon flew by – thanks for organizing Chelsea!

    I spent the rest of the evening catching up on life and around 8pm I got hungry for meal #4. I did a lot of cooking and baking this weekend, so I wanted something simple. I combined chopped pear with greek yogurt, peanut butter, raspberry jam, life cereal, and some homemade olive oil granola (stay tuned for the recipe!).

    yogurt mess

    Matt and I were busy this weekend – we compiled a list of the 10 races to run before you die. Check it out and let us know if you agree/disagree!

    Question: What’s your favorite addition to yogurt? Obviously, mine is peanut butter!

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