Breakfast fit for an Ultrarunner

I decided to try a quasi-recipe that I read about in "Born to Run." For breakfast the day of the big ultra-marathon (100 miles in scorching heat and over deadly terrain) this Mexican woman made all the runners a special kind of pancake. It included corn meal, goat's milk, overripe bananas, and boiled rice mixed into the batter. I used Trader Joe's whole grain pancake mix, three overripe bananas, boiled rice, half and half (this was last minute so I had to make due with what I had) and skipped the corn meal all together.

They were delicious - but filling!

Trying New Things

Last week I tried a few new things...

I bought Green Drink (real creative name, huh?) from Trader Joe's.
It's basically just a quick way to get some extra vitamins and minerals.

You can kind of see the consistency in this photo - I usually have to gulp it down all at once, it's pretty grainy. It might just be a placebo affect, but I feel great afterward. I have one serving after AM workouts now.

I also made my first cold green bean salad. I sauteed a little olive oil, garlic, yellow squash, and red peppers while slightly boiling the green beans. Then I threw it all together and added some cucumbers, chick peas, and basil and chilled it in the fridge. Delicious.

And one thing that wasn't really new, but new for me to eat in America anyway....

Lychee Nuts - The girls and I had our fill when we lived in Thailand. Got 8 for $1.25 at Produce Junction!

More things I forgot to blog about: My Smart Sister and Mother's Day

My sister graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, College of Business Administration on May 1st. That in itself is something to be proud of. But, as usual, Barrett went above and beyond to graduate with the highest GPA in her major and to win the Most Outstanding Finance Major award! I am very proud sister. She is currently studying at UVA for her Masters in Accounting, and starts work at Earnst and Young in the Philly office in September. I am thrilled she will be so close. Now if we can just get our brother to stop going to crazy far places like Canada.

Here's a picture of the family (minus Tom) standing with Barrett's Finance flag.

A few weeks later was Mother's Day. Remember the post about food a while back? I tried the zucchini boats! They turned out great, although I realized I don't follow recipes, I look at a picture and then recreate it the way I think they made it. It still works everytime.

We had club sandwiches, grilled asparagus and zucchini boats.

And, of course, mimosas!

I love food...

I came across some really great, free rolls last weekend, so on Monday I decided we needed to have cheese steaks. They were delicious. I sauteed some onions and green peppers and we opted out of the cheese this time since we have to put bathing suits on every weekend.

(Amazing how that will help you make healthier eating choices!)

If you know me at all, you know I always need a veggie to go with whatever I'm eating. But I couldn't get excited about the normal choices: spinach, broccoli, green beans... so I had the inspired idea to make a tomato summer salad! Heirloom tomatoes, artichokes, cucumbers and fresh basil dressed with a tiny bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was amazing - and I ended up eating it for lunch the following two days.

A Beautifully Delicious Site

I love food.

This site makes me love it even more.

Essentially, it displays photos of various recipes that food bloggers post. Most of the time I don't even click through, I just drool over the photos.

Some of my favorites that I will eventually make:

Zucchini Boats

Green Bean Salad

Coconut Cupcakes with Pinapple Filling

(Uses coconut oil instead of butter!)

Herb-infused Asparagus Baked in Parchment


Who's hungry?

Running and food go well together... when running comes first.

After an 8 miler, we like to eat. I made chicken asada, steamed spinach, tomatoes, garlic and whole wheat rotini, and edamame. Followed by strawberries for dessert. I am trying to get better at taking food pictures...