Random Running Thoughts

As I'm knee deep in marathon training, I've had a lot of miscellaneous thoughts about running, which I'll attempt to organize here.

Love me some Carbs

Just running alone is a great calorie burn, which even at a more modest rate allows me that eency bit of freedom to splurge on some of my favorite (but calorie laden) foods a little more often.  Now level that up to marathon training and you are literally encouraged to eat carbs!  yay! pasta! yay! bread.  Whole wheat is best of course, but still pretty sure that's an awesome perk. 

Running is Cheaper than Therapy

At the gym on the treadmill, I often listen to the iPod, just to keep from becoming too bored while staring at the wall.  Mostly though, I enjoy looking at the scenery and saying hi to other runners as I "glide" along sans soundtrack.  In both cases though, I often find myself lost in thought reminiscing about the day, my job, relationships, and yes, even running itself.  I prize having this thought time to process things and I truly think that running has helped me stay mentally healthy as well as physically. 

$$$$

As the date approaches, the cost of running this marathon is going up as well.  The cost of the race itself, the fuel belt, the new shoes, shot blocks, sports drinks, running clothes... not to mention the gym membership.   I thought running was a cheap sport?  YIKES! I'd argue it's still cheaper than a fancy yoga gym membership and that I managed to many of those items at reduced prices (i.e. shoes - clearanced, fuel belt - with a groupon), but this is not so price friendly as I would have originally believed. 

I'm a turtle. 

I still get pretty excited if I can sub 12 minute miles on shorter runs (3-5 miles), and for my longer runs (8+) - I'm nowhere close.  I'd like to get faster, and I will eventually I suppose.  However, I also worry about injury, over-heating, dehydration and the like.  In regards to the marathon, I just want to finish before the slow bus comes to sweep me up.  Which might sound pathetic to some, but whatever - honestly boo to them.  

 Free Advice

Ever since I started this marathon thing, I've gotten a pretty good chunk of free advice.  That is, when people aren't just rolling their eyes.  Anyway, everyone and their mother it seems has some sort of tidbit about how I can train better or worse... or whatever.  I'll say that a lot of times it's useful and I don't mind sharing about running, but sometimes I find it plain overwhelming.  At this point I'm quite certain that I've a million mistakes and depending on who I ask, depends on what mistakes I've made.  If I ever get that PhD in statistics I am going to scrobed the internet until I reach a consensus on all things marathon training... how does that sound?  Or maybe I should just find some reliable scientific research... anyone got anything? 

Ok... and the rambling is done, hopefully I haven't let my thoughts run away on me! (har-har)

Meatless Sometimes

A while back I was browsing at a favorite bookstore of mine called Common Good Books, which specializes in featuring local authors and "books with a cause." The Compassionate Carnivore is a book that caught my eye.  I read and enjoyed it, and quite frankly am long overdue to write about it.  


Unlike my cats, I actually call myself an omnivore (not a carnivore), but this does mean that I do eat meat.  In the book the author says that she uses the carnivore term to be more pointed.  Truth is, eating meat raises a lot of concerns on multiple levels (ethical, health and environmental just to start).  Many of those issues I have strong feelings about and as someone who desires to having their feelings and actions align (some might call this a desire for integrity)... I feel it's an issue that should not be left alone and this book does a great job facilitating that conversation.  The author says we need to pull our heads out of the ground.   


Being raised as an pretty average American diet eating meat was never a "decision" I questioned growing up.  It was just "normal" and delicious.  I understood it was a dead animal, but I didn't give much thought to how it got to my plate.  I probably continued largely in this mode until a few years ago when I saw Food Inc., and I began to understand the woes of factory farming.


If you are not on board with the opposition to factory farming, allow me to hum a few bars on that tune.  First of all, let's understand the practice.  Factory Farming is what happens when animals are raised for meat production on a large scale manner.  Animals are often confined, fed inappropriate diets and "live" short, disease ridden, terrible lives.  If animal welfare alone doesn't inspire you, then consider the negative environmental impact.  The toxins that are leeched into the ground and air are unsustainable when animals are housed that densely.  Besides all that, the "cheap meat" factory farms produces unfairly compete with local family farms who treat animals more humanely.


Food Inc. was a great movie for raising awareness and I'm glad it exists, but I feel that it leaves the "what to do now" part a little short.  What I often hear is that the only response to factory farming is sustaining a vegan diet and forgetting about the meat and dairy industry all together.  While I truly support those who come to choose this lifestyle, I see it as a tall order, so much so that it might turn many off before they even start.  Also, I don't agree that this is the only way to oppose factory farming and I want people to have many ways to get on board with this fight.    


The Compassion Carnivore does a great job of outlining other options.  You can limit the kinds of meat you eat to just those that are not factory farmed (such as elk).  You can purchase directly from the farmer (so you know how the meat came to be), which I would like to get into, but it takes time that I've yet to spend. 


The key thing that stuck out to me was this.  Factory Farms exist because of our high demand for "cheap meat".   I put the term "cheap meat" in quotes because the externalities created by this meat make it anything but.  We demand cheap meat because of how much we consume so much.  In the 1950's we consumed 138 pounds of meat per person per year, in the 1970's that number rose to 177 lbs, and in 2005 was at 200 lbs (Friend 44).  To me, that is a shocking trend, that contributes greatly to our factory farm problem.  Do we really need to be consuming that much meat?  (answer is no)


So, my tiny little part will be to take at-least one day a week where I prepare and eat a meatless dinner (Sort of like meatless monday).  I love fillet Mignon, hamburgers and so on... but I certainly don't need that all the time.  I can easily choose to skip it sometimes. 


I hope that this will also be yet another opportunity to be more creative in the kitchen and try new things, and yes, I'll be sure to keep you posted as interesting recipes come along.   

Crazy Corn Competition

Story: I met Lauren 8 unbelievable years ago, when she was randomly assigned as my freshmen year roommate.  At the time, I thought we couldn't be more different, but somehow we managed to stay friends all this time.  Turns out - we do have a few things in common too, for instance we both like (love?) to cook.  So when Lauren decided to do a "casual" Cooking Competition with "corn" as the special ingredient for her birthday - I WAS ALL IN!  and by the way there is no casual in competition for me. 

First of all, the setting was picture perfect:

 

And all the standard party guests were there:  

Salsa

Beer (This was home brewed - don't let the GC label confuse you)

Brats

This was a standout dish created by Chef Rachel - Fiesta Dip Tartlets

Before I quickly gobbled it up - My #1 Vote went here

Pasta Salad by Chef K

Corn Chip Dip by Chef Christina- delicious!

Chef Lauren with her Hearty but Summery - Sweet Corn and Burrata over Fettucini

 To ensure victory, I made two dishes: 

Vegan Veggie Soup

Which, as it turns out, works well as a Chip Dip too

"Not your Mama's" Creamy Corn by Chef Erin which is me: Ruby Leigh

 You might laugh, but a lot of positive commentary was given on the title for this last one.

Also, there was corn Ice Cream, which I thought was super creative and interesting.  Unfortunately, I forgot to snag a photo. 

To determine the "winner", guest were encouraged to vote for their favorite dishes.  My #1 went to Fiesta Dip Tartlets and #2 Corn Ice Cream (how creative!).

Drum-roll please....

Much to my delight, I took third for the Vegan Veggie Soup!  In second place, was Chef Christina with here Corn Dip, and in the undeniable first place was Chef Rachel with the Fiesta Dip Tartlets... eye catching and delish... only wished there were more.

The winner's circle!

 Our prize: a signature painted spoon to commemorate the occasion.  Perfect!

5 Steps to Meal Planning Sans Madness

I like to create long range plans and develop strategic systems, and this is how I manage to keep my life together.  However, a micro-manager I am not.  For this reason, and perhaps others "meal-planning" has been uninviting to me.  I also get daunted with the extensive worksheets I often seen associated with this task.

So here are my "official" 5 step plan to meal planning when you have ADD.

Step 1:  Enlist a partner.  Luckily for me, the boyfriend volunteered and well actually sort of initiated this whole thing to begin with (yea, he seems pretty great so far).  Anyway, if you don't have one of those bf things handy, and your serious about meal planning - then find a friend to swap recipes with and keep you accountable.

Step 2:  Pick a day of the week to plan (and stick to it).  We choose Sundays.

Step 3: Sit down on that day and generate meals for each day of the week.  We only plan the dinners, but then make sure to cook meals that provide us with leftovers for future take-to-work lunches.  We write these meals on a piece of paper (actually it's a "large" post-it note) that goes on the fridge.  It's easy and it works great.  We try to come up with meals based on the food on hand, but sometimes additional purchases are necessary.      

Our very fancy meal plan

Step 4: If necessary, create a shopping list based on meal plan.  Usually I only have to grab a few additional things.  Also on my shopping list are basics like eggs for breakfast, coffee creamer (oh yes!), and basic breakfast and lunch items.  I also pay attention to coupons for sales on produce, or discounts on items I like to have stocked.  I try my best to incorporate sale items into weekly meals. 

Step 5: Enjoy your meals. 

See - easy!

One more thing, this was perhaps easier for me because I already had a few systems in place to make it happen.  A stockpile of basic ingredients - frozen meat, frozen veggies, pasta, beans and more.  Familiarity with a lot of basic (but usually delicious) recipes that easily be modified to accommodate current ingredients (hopefully - I can talk more about this later).  However, it's key to note that those systems were just the framework and  I've observed that taking the time to make a conscious meal list each week has a)reduced wasted groceries b)reduced ill-planned fast food runs and oddly enough c)increased a balanced diet.  All of which can be cost-saving, the last of these being of the long range nature. 

Yes, I'm actually doing this.

I been keeping a bit of secret from the social media world and actually the larger contingency of my IRL friends as well, so it's time to come clean.  I signed up for a marathon.  (Yes, the running kind, yeah the whole thing)  Sometimes people travel for that "first marathon experience" but I choose the local one here in the twin cities, in which the finish line is less than a few miles from my house.

I signed up for it initially when I was still in the glow of runner's high, injury free and drunk on my own self-worth.  Not a bad place to be at all, but post injury, I've been struggling to reconnect with the original enthusiasm.  At one point, I was ready to throw in the towel completely, but a chance meeting of someone else who was also in the TC marathon changed my mind and I decided I owed it to myself to at least make it to the starting line (and hopefully the finish line as well).

That being said, there are all sorts of reactions to sharing such news as "I'm running a marathon" or what I really mean is "I'm going to attempt to run a marathon".  Sometimes people feel the need to bestow praise, "That's awesome, good for you!", which is nice, but all I've really done so far is spend $100 in hopes of a goal.  Some people feel the need to question my motives "Are you sure you want to do this?", or my sanity "Have you talked to a doctor about this?".  Some people make a point to remind me of what's involved "Do you know how long you have to run?"  The answers are, Yes, I'm sure, Yes, the doctor says it's ok, and yes, I'm very aware, 26.2 miles.

Dealing with reactions is one thing, but perhaps a more crucial thing is dealing with the training.  There are about as many marathon training programs as there are people who run marathons.  All of them focus on different things, cross training, long runs, fast-short-runs, fartleks, hill training, and the list goes on.  Even with that, choosing the program is still the easy part and sticking to program far more difficult. 

So - the whole thing feels entirely surreal to me on many levels, but I'm actually doing this.  I've created a training program which I have followed very closely although not to the letter.  I can maintain a pace that is sufficient to be "declared a finisher", but slower than I would have hoped for.  On one level, I wish this was the glossy, victory speech that everyone loves to hear... but this is me, a human with a goal.  True passion mixed with authentic self-doubt.  There's beauty in that, even if it isn't the kind of beauty that gets tied up in a package with a bow.

Copy Cat: Thai Chicken Salad

The Copy Cat series will be an ongoing series in which I attempt to re-create mine and others favorite restaurant foods.  There are always exceptions, but generally food cooked at home is more affordable than food ordered out - and often times more healthy.  Learning to create the foods we crave can save dollars and sometimes calories!

So not only did I rip off this salad recipe from Panera Bread, I also ripped off the idea to do this salad recipe from Jen (a PriorFatGirl).  Hopefully, it's understood that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

A couple fridays ago I was getting together with my friend Jacalyn to hang out.  We were planning on eating dinner, but hadn't decided where yet, when she suggested we cook something ourselves.   Of course, I said "that'd be great" and suggest we try making the "Thai Chicken Salad" I had just read about on Jen's (aPFG) blog.  

Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of salad and maintain the "you don't make friends with salad" line of thinking.  I guess I see it as a side dish as opposed to a satisfying meal.  However, the "Thai Chicken Salad" @ Panera Bread has caused me to rethink that a bit.  

Here's the shopping list: 

Thai Chili Sauce  (packet I had at home)
Romaine ( $2.99 for 1 bag)
Chow mein noodles ($1.39)
Chicken ($2.67)
Red Pepper ($0.40)
Edamame ($4.00)
Spicy Peanut Dressing ($4.00)
Peanuts (in stock)
Vinegar (in stock)

The Spicy peanut dressing and edamame carry the heavier price tag on this salad, but I can assure you they were worth it.  I will also add that I'm lucky to have a local grocery store (Cub) that has a great ethnic foods section, so I'm never lacking when wanting to create recipes with more exotic flavors.

To make: 

Mix Chili Dressing - Mix one part thai chili sauce to two parts vinegar.  Whisk until even.  Drizzle chili dressing over rommaine leaves.  Add cooked edamame beans (without shells).  Add diced red pepper.  Toss together.  Lay on plate, and top with chow mein noodles, grilled chicken, peanuts, and spicy peanut dressing.

Jacalyn, who was incredibly helpful with this creation

A salad you can make friends with!

Ok, while this was a salad, it was seriously HUGE!  Not to mention hearty and delicious.  It was a very satisfying meal.   It could have been a little large in terms of portion size, but it was very well rounded and balanced healthwise.    

My back of the envelope math says that this serving was about $3.50, which I consider a little high for an at home meal, but still half of what you would pay at Panera.  

Freezer Meater Marinade

I think having a freezer is one of best purchases I have made.  Especially since it only cost me $160, and it came with "$160 worth of coupons" which was the special (a very long while back) at my local cub foods.  For the record, many of those coupons were actually very useful as well, making the freezer purchase an even better deal.  The key benefit of having an additional freezer is being able to store additional frozen foods, such that you can stock up when there's a deal and living off the storage when there is not.  Freezers extend the "life" of your indefinitely, but not necessarily the flavor.  In other words it won't hurt you to eat it, but it could lack the zip and flavor it once had.  In fact freezing meat, for whatever duration, is a flavor "killer" and it customarily avoided in high-profile restaurants.  In season 7 of Top Chef, Chef Spike was eliminated from the competition for his using frozen scallops in the challenge.

So with freezing meat, especially for longer durations, comes a lack of flavor.   Recently, I had "found" some steak in the freezer that was in there longer than um.... it should have been .... more than a few months.  Obviously, wasting meat is far from frugal and bit unethical in my mind too.  Not wanting to scratch it, but knowing the flavor could significantly less savory - I went for my best option.  Using a marinade.

Marinades can be used on basically any kind of meat although the tougher more gamy meats are where they can be most useful.  In this case, "over frozen" steak.  Marinades may sound complicated and threatening... but really are nothing special, and can basically be made from any number of ingredients.  You can also buy them in a jar, but that's not any fun.  

Here's my basic formula for creating a marinade.

1) Oil (1/2 cup or less)
Oil (any) creates a vehicle for your flavors and tenderizers allowing it to really gel (it literally emulsifies) with the meat.  I tend to use olive oil most often, because it's right there in the cooking cabinet, but bear in mind olive oil has strong flavors, so sometimes a more neutrally flavored oil like vegetable is better, especially in the case of more delicate meats (think chicken or fish).  

2) Tenderizer (1/2 cup or less)
There are so many tenderizers.  Vinegar, citrus juices, tomato juices, soda, any kind of alcohol.  Basically anything highly acidic to bring the "zip" back in.  I commonly use vinegar, but largely because it's just so easy to store and very cheap. Be careful with it because it one of the more powerful tenderizers and a little will go a long ways. 
 
3) Sauces (1 Tbs to 1/4 cup each)
You know them already, but soy, bbq, ketchup, dijon, mustard, honey, ranch, tobasco... the list goes on and on.  Don't go over board, one to three sauces in the mix.  Depending on how much sauce you add... you may want to back off on the oil.

4) Seasonings (1tsp of each)
ANY and ALL 
 
Whisk all these ingredients together and poor over meat.  Store in sealed container for 1 to 24 hours. 

So this is what I slammed together for my "over frozen" steak.

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2-3 tsp a "kabob grill" mixed seasoning I had in the cupboard. 
cumin - always cumin
seasoning salt

So the "recipe" is pretty hodge podge and basically accounts for me using up some unknown seasoning I had in the cupboard.  I don't really share it because I truly hope that you copy it verbatim, but because it was good, it took very little effort on my part and it saved a pound of meat (at least a $5 value).

Final product

I hope this takes the mystery out of marinade and encourages you to experiment with your own (if you aren't already), but here are some ideas to get you started: 

Guinness Marinade
Jerk Chicken (this is a complex, but very rewarding recipe)