I woke up on Saturday feeling mostly better from my migraine. I started off with coffee, a very ripe banana, Fage 2% greek yogurt, and a heaping spoonful of PB2. I ended up packing the kiwi and taking it to-go.
After I digested my breakfast, I headed downtown to 125th street. From there, I ran to Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island (~4 miles?) where the Track Club National Championships were being held . I ran for about 35 minutes and oh boy, it was tough! This was the longest run (no stopping to stretch or for traffic lights, etc) that I’ve completed since the Boston Marathon and my lungs were definitely protesting. The weather was also sunnier and hotter than it’s been, so by the time I finished I was a tired lady.
I arrived just in time to watch Alma’s 3K steeplechase debut. She earned the Central Park Track Club 3 points for her 6th place finish. Woo-hoo!
After the spectating the race and a 10 minute cool-down run with Alma, I refueled with 2 bottles of water and a White Chocolate Macademia Clif Bar. Love this flavor!
After a long wait for the bus off Randall’s Island, I ended up in Columbus Circle. I needed to do a little grocery shopping and treated myself to a Strawberry Whirl Jamba Juice. I usually try to stay away from juices and smoothies as they can have wayyy too much sugar and mystery ingredients, but I think in this case, the JJ smoothie was an OK choice. I chose a small Strawberry Whirl – made with 100% fruit and nothing else. My drink contained: strawberries, banana, and strawberry-apple juice. This smoothie provided almost 4 servings of fruit! It was cold and refreshing – perfect for rehydrating after a sweaty run 
Despite my smoothie snack, I was STARVING by the time I got back to my apartment. I felt like a bottomless pit! I guess my body isn’t used to running and my metabolism just went into overdrive. I attacked a container of hummus with some WASA crackers.
For dinner, I had something special planned! I received a coupon for Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar the other day, so I used it to buy the roasted garlic variety. I had to go to 5 stores to find this stuff! (Well actually, 2 out of 5 stores had the vinegar in stock, but Garden on Eden does not accept coupons, bah!) Anyway, a handy recipe booklet came along with my coupon and I decided to make Bison meatloaf with tangy tomato sauce and skillet potatoes. I chose to make Bison because it is grass fed, low in saturated fat, and very lean. All good things!
Bison Meatloaf (adapted from Nakano seasoned rice vinegar recipe booklet) – Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground buffalo/bison
- 1 egg
- generous 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1 crumbled WASA cracker
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 1/4 cup Nakano Season Rice Vinegar (garlic flavor)
- 1 Tbs brown sugar
- S & P to taste
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, combine tomato products, brown sugar, and vinegar
- Mix together buffalo meat, 1/2 cup tomato mixture, egg, crumbled cracker, onion, S & P
- Shape meat into a loaf shape in a 8″ x 8″ pan
- Bake for 45 minutes at 300 degrees
- While meatloaf is cooking, bring tomato mixture to a low boil and allow to thicken for 15 minutes
- 10 minutes before the meatloaf is done, spread 1/3 cup tomato sauce on top.
- After meatloaf is done cooking, allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes, and then transfer to a serving platter. Serve extra tomato sauce on the side.
Skillet Potatoes (adapted from Nakano seasoned rice vinegar recipe booklet) – Serves 4
Ingredients
- 5 small baking potatoes, peeled and cubed into 1/2 ” pieces
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 Tbs butter
- 3 Tbs Nakano Seasoned Rice Vinegar (garlic variety)
- 3 Tbs water
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- S & P to taste
Directions
- Combine the peeled and cubed potatoes, the peeled and diced onion, minced garlic, and cumin in a large bowl
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add the potato mixture
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, and scraping brown bits off the bottom of pan
- Add vinegar and water and cook for another 6-8 minutes or until all liquid is gone
- Add S & P to taste and serve!
I’m not a huge meat and potatoes kind of girl, but this dinner was actually really great (I’m so modest…hehe). All of the ingredients in the meatloaf combined to make it incredibly moist and flavorful. The potoatoes were good too – the cumin really added a nice kick. Nate and I licked our plates clean and then used the leftovers to make meatloaf sandwiches on Sunday!
Check out this study that suggests vinegar may be a natural fat-fighter.
After dinner on Saturday night, Nate and I headed to Brooklyn to meet some friends at a dive bar. A friend of ours plays in a band called Thriller Bark and we wanted to check them out. I had a can of PBR….
This is my favorite photo from the evening (Hi Mitch!) -
I also enjoyed a  small cupcake on the long subway ride home. I devoured it before I took a photo, but I did snap a pic of Nate’s cupcake (he had the larger aka “man-size”  version). The cupcakes were basic vanilla with a little bit of filling in the middle. We surmised that the icing may have been cream-cheese based…
Sunday involved a 25 minute run (!!), leftover meatloaf sandwiches (yum), and 2.5 hours of Johnny Depp (starring as depression-era bank robber John Dillinger in Public Enemies). Twas a weekend full of fun and relaxation, now let’s hope I can get back on the productivity wagon!
