Kicking and (ice)screaming

This evening, after a good faith effort at some studying, I tried to go to BodyPump, my new workout class of choice. (Zumba will always be first in my heart, of course, but it’s nice to switch things up now and then.) Unfortunately, I did not read the schedule correctly and ended up at a kickboxing class. This was too bad, because I lack the coordination necessary for such things. I know you wouldn’t think this is possible, but I definitely punched myself in the jaw. Twice. After suffering that kind of indignity, a girl needs some ice cream.

As soon as I got home I pulled out the ingredients above, and made sure the bowl for my mom’s ice cream maker was chilling in the freezer. (I think the ice cream maker was roughly $40, and I would say it has been an excellent investment.) I hulled and roughly chopped the strawberries, and then pureed them for just a few seconds in the Magic Bullet.

Then, I whisked together all of the ingredients and put them in the fridge to chill for about an hour.

Once the mixture was good and cold, I turned on the ice cream maker, poured it in, and let it spin for about 12 minutes.

I’m calling this “ice cream,” but it’s actually dairy-free–I’ve noticed lately that I feel better when I don’t eat much milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. It’s definitely not as rich-tasting as your typical ice cream, but it’s really refreshing and the coconut milk makes it taste like you’re on some kind of island getaway. And, it’s really pretty! So, let’s list the ingredients, shall we?

Vegan Strawberry-Coconut Ice Cream (makes about a quart)

• 1 13.5 oz. can of coconut milk
• 1 c. almond milk
• 1/2 c. agave nectar
• about 1 c. pureed strawberries

Whisk together all of the ingredients and chill for an hour or two. Pour into a running ice cream maker, and let it run until frozen enough to slow down the machine. (Mine took about 10-12 minutes.)

The fanned-out strawberry on top is fancy, no? I learned that little trick during a very short-lived job at a cafe. (Customer service, much like kick-boxing, was not really my forte. But I was good at garnishes.)

That’s all for today–have a good weekend, friends!

Dam to Dam + Pleasantville Pig Out

Today was one for the ages, folks. I am exhausted. But before I collapse, a recap:

My alarm went off at 4:25 this morning (which really made me mad, because I was having a dream in which I inexplicably knew how to tap dance flawlessly). My dad drove my mom and I downtown so we could board a bus to the Saylorville Dam, the starting point for the Dam to Dam 20K. I did not have a great feeling about this race from the start, because I thought our numbers were kind of ominous:

Those were not great years in American history, you know? But anyway, we both finished…nobody fainted, threw up, tripped over their own feet, etc. I did not finish with any great speed, but, unlike the last time I ran this race, I did cross the finish line before they ran out of participant medals! Progress. When we came home, I immediately collapsed on the floor, until my mom made me get up and shower. Because there was more to do!

After I drank my weight in Gatorade, we made our way to Pleasantville, IA, for the Pleasantville Pig Out Cook-off, dressed in our official barbecue team t-shirts.

I named the team–it is an homage to my parents’ short-lived 1970s musical venture, the Tall Dog Band. They were all the rage in rural west-central Iowa, as I understand it, but eventually decided to focus on their less glamorous but more fulfilling jobs as educators. (Also–regarding the Homer Simpson quote–I would be your friend if you brought me a salad, just so you know. I happen to love salad.)

Things were hopping at the Tall Dog BBQ tent when we arrived, and we were immediately called into action to help serve samples to the masses. Today’s offerings: smoked pork loin with a maple chipotle glaze, smoked chicken thighs with a prosciutto, shallot, and mushroom stuffing, and gator fritters. (My dad ordered alligator meat online for the occasion. This guy plays to win.)

It was so much fun…..I love feeding people. And clearly, I come by that naturally. I had a great time hanging out with my whole family….including (CELEBRITY SIGHTING!) my Grandpa Elmer and my Grandma Neva, who made the trip all the way from Jefferson, my hometown.

Once we ran out of samples and judging was finished, my mom and I ducked into Smokey Row, an adorable coffee shop on the town square, for a veggie sandwich. I also ate a cookie the size of my face, because, you know, I’m an endurance athlete and I needed to replenish my carbs. Then I wandered around the festival a bit–it was fantastic! Classic car show, hot-dog eating contest, bags tournament, an appearance by the Iowa State Fair Queen–it was everything a small-town festival should be.

Once votes were tabulated, we gathered for the results in front of the Pleasantville Grocery. Everyone was on pins and needles. (Well, OK, not everyone.)

They announced second-prize winners in each of the four categories (beef, poultry, pork, and miscellaneous) first. No Tall Dog Barbecue. Then, they announced first prize winners in each category. Again, no Tall Dog Barbecue! Finally…..they announced the overall judges’ choice award, and IT WAS US! The grand prize was a whole processed hog. This prize, in and of itself, did not particularly excite me, given my vegetarianism, but let’s be honest, folks–I like winning things. And after a day of working hard and slinging samples in the heat, I think my dad and brother deserved some accolades 🙂 Here they are before judging (with their serious BBQ faces on) and after the big win:

Many thanks to the judges for volunteering their time and to Brandon Bingham, festival organizer extraordinnaire! It was a great event.

Have a lovely Sunday, friends! I need to learn some laws 😦

Spring training

Isn’t spring glorious?  I love it even when the weather doesn’t quite live up to what I think spring ought to be.  The extra daylight (and the ability to go outside without first finding my mittens) makes me want to do all kinds of things I feel too lazy to do in the winter.

A couple of recent things I felt like doing recently with my new overabundance of springtime energy: signing up for a race and making some pasta salad.

I signed up for the Dam to Dam 20K in Des Moines the first weekend in June.  I’ve done both the 20K and the 5K at the same event once before.  I was signed up last summer, but it was pouring rain when I got up at 4:30 to board the shuttle and I promptly went back to bed.  At 12.4 miles, this race will be a bit shorter than a half marathon, which I survived last October, so I should be able to handle it.  In an effort to up my speed a little, I’m going to follow an actual training plan this time.  (My training plan for the half was something like “Run as far as you can as often as you can, and hope for the best.”)  Here it is:

3/21	Athlete’s Workout class	3 m run	Rest	30 min cross	2 m run or cross	3 m run + strength	4 m run
3/28	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	2 m run or cross	3.5 m run + strength	3.5 m run	40 min cross	5 m run
4/4	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	2 m run or cross	3.5 m run + strength	3.5 m run	Trial Run 5K	5 m run
4/11	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	2 m run or cross	4 m run + strength	4 m run	40 min cross	6 m run
4/18	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	2 m run or cross	4 m run + strength	4 m run	Rest	6 m run
4/25	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	4.5 m run + strength	4.5 m run	50 min cross	7 m run
5/2	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	4.5 m run + strength	4.5 m run	50 min cross	8 m run
5/9	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	5 m run	Rest	7 m run
5/16	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	5 m run	60 min cross	9 m run
5/23	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	5 m run + strength	5 m run	60 min cross	10 m run
5/30	Stretch & Strengthen	Rest	3 m run or cross	2 m run	4 m run	Rest	Dam to Dam

I adapted this from Hal Higdon’s website—it’s the “novice” plan for a half marathon.  The plan on the site is 12 weeks, but I’ve only got 11 before the race.  I reserve the right to switch things around, but I’m going to try to cover the mileage as much as possible and post a few updates along the way.  (That way, when I want to turn off my alarm and blow off some miles, I can picture sad, disappointed blog readers.)

Also (public service announcement!), as you can see, I’ll be doing a 5K during week 3 of the plan—that’s Saturday, April 9, to be exact.  If you live in or near Iowa City, you should sign up right here for the Iowa Student Bar Association Trial Run 5K (search event: ISBA Trial).  It’s at 9 a.m. at the University of Iowa’s Ashton Cross Country Course, and proceeds will go to Iowa Legal Aid. Great cause, fresh air…and you’ll probably beat at least one person, because I’ll be there!

A (wannabe) runner’s got to have some fuel, so now let’s talk pasta salad. Here’s a springtime rendition you can throw together in the time it takes to bring water to a boil and cook some pasta.  I used this pasta:

It’s not bad, and the ingredients are happy and healthy (brown rice flour, spinach powder, and beet powder), but I think next time I would use monochromatic pasta for a more aesthetically pleasing finished product.  I also used a couple of new (to me) ingredients: fennel and Nayonaise (egg-free mayonnaise-y tasting dressing).

Spring Training Pasta Salad

• 12 oz. pasta of your choice, cooked according to package instructions
• 1 c. peas (I used frozen, defrosted)
• 1 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

Dressing:

• 1/2 c. Nayonaise
• Zest of 1 lemon and 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 c. loosely packed basil leaves
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp salt

Boil water and cook the pasta according to the package instructions.  Meanwhile, combine the dressing ingredients in a blender.  Taste and adjust seasoning to suit your fancy.  When the pasta is done, drain it and rinse it with cold water.  Then combine the pasta, veggies, and dressing in a large mixing bowl.

Have a good weekend!  Oh, and if you’re here thanks to Angela’s latest recipe link post….thanks for stopping by

Leftovers and Plyometrics…

They don’t mix.  By that I mean that you should not eat leftovers of several sublime and butter-centric Thanksgiving dishes for lunch and then later attempt to complete a workout DVD entitled INSANITY: Pure Cardio.

That said, if you’re looking for a way to undo some Thanksgiving damage, or just happen to be interested in picking up some really good workout DVDs, I would definitely recommend the Insanity program, which I got used on Amazon for much less than they sell it for on the terrifying infomercial.  I don’t do the workouts 6 days a week, as suggested on the lovely motivational wall calendar that came with my DVDs, but I do try to do one of them once or twice each week.  It’s “high intensity interval training,” and it HURTS. SO. GOOD.  There are four workouts that are about 40 minutes each, and then four longer, more difficult workouts that I have never tried because I think they might kill me.  Something to aspire to, I guess.  Below, my lovely friend Christina and I prepare to “Insanitize” in my apartment.

In the background, you can just make out the face of Shaun T, Insanity instructor and world-class hottie.  In most of the videos he takes off his shirt about halfway through the workout, and I have to say…it really gives you the will to carry on.

In food-related news, it was a wildly successful Thanksgiving back in DSM!  I chopped, I stirred, I sauteed, I ate SO MANY SWEET POTATOES, and I did not study for upcoming exams.  (There will be pleeeeenty of time for that later, after I come out of my sweet-potato coma.)  The company was great as always, and the food was excellent.  It is a true honor to sous-chef for Mr. and Mrs. Tom and Kathy Lane.

Then, I slept for a very, very long time.  I don’t understand this whole “Black Friday” thing, and would really only get myself out of bed at 3 a.m. if someone was selling deeply-discounted completed law school finals.  Although I did buy this plate at an antique stand in the afternoon (because it was cheap and it speaks the truth)…

….I generally think Black Friday should be for laziness and creativity in the realm of leftovers.  Here are a couple of ideas for your cranberries and leftover dressing:

Cranberry Salsa

My Aunt Rhena brought this to the Thanksgiving dinner and we promptly made her copy down the recipe.  It’s really unique and fresh-tasting–serve with crackers and cream cheese.  Note: it’s definitely spicy, and will get even spicier the longer it sits, so you may want to start small on the jalepenos and add more later if you want.

• 1 12 oz. package fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 3/4 c. green onions, chopped
• 2-3 jalepenos, with seeds (or without, if you want less heat), chopped

Dressing:

• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

I had some of the salsa on Friday night on top of salad greens, and it was a welcome departure from all the mushy comfort food I housed the day before.  Next up, stuffing remix!

This was the hastily-improvised vegetarian dressing my mom and I made: wheat bread cubes, walnuts, dried cranberries, sauteed onion and celery, and vegetable stock:

The very next day, it made another appearance in the form of what we’ll call “Thanksgiving Frittata.”  This will serve 2.  First, preheat your oven to 400 and throw the leftover dressing (this was about a cup, I would say) into a frying pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Using an electric mixer or a whisk, mix up 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, about 1/4 cup cottage cheese, and about 1/4 cup parmesan cheese.  Season with a little bit of salt and pepper.  Then, after the dressing has been in the pan for just a couple of minutes, pour the egg mixture over it.

Leave it on the stovetop just until the edges start to set up, and then put the pan into the oven for about 7 minutes.  When the eggs are set, sprinkle with something green (because everything looks better with a sprinkle of green), slice, and serve.

That’s it–I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Success! Seared tuna! Sweet potatoes!

I’m sorry, I sometimes use too many exclamation points.  It’s probably some lingering endorphins from FINISHING THE HALF MARATHON WOOOO!

I honestly enjoyed the race a lot!  It went by much faster than I thought it would, I never passed out or tripped over my own feet or threw up or anything–so I consider it a first-timer success for sure.  Also–hearty congratulations to my magnificent mom who breezed right through all 13.1.  She’s the best!  I thought the race was very well-organized and really appreciated all the people who volunteered along the course.  I would definitely do another one someday…so I’ll have to start looking around at what races are out there.

After finishing the race I baked some cookies for an upcoming meeting of hungry future lawyers and spent a lot of time being lazy on the couch.  It was glorious.  Then, my dad made a bunch of delicious food….including….

I don’t eat fish/seafood in general very often, but I looooove almost-raw tuna.  To make these drool-worthy little appetizers pictured above, cut a few tortillas into wedges and fry them until crispy in a shallow layer of peanut oil.  Remove them from the oil and put them on some paper towels to drain.  Brush the tuna with sesame oil, press it into sesame seeds, and sear it in a very hot pan.  Not for too long, please!  Overcooked tuna just bums me out no end.  Then stir a small amount of wasabi powder into some mayo (add it in gradually until you get the taste you want), cut up a few scallions so it looks snazzy, and assemble as shown above.

*Hey Dad, feel free to clarify/add to those instructions in the comment section.  Thank you for your continued readership 🙂

The morning after racing and eating tuna, I was sore.  So. Very. Sore.  I may have made an executive decision to skip class that morning and stay in Des Moines and go for a very slow walk at one of my favorite fall-stroll locations.

That’s the Woodland Cemetery–not creepy and/or morbid, as you might think…just peaceful and full of big, beautiful trees with turning leaves.  I love wandering around in there and looking at the names on the tombstones.  It was good to stretch the legs and get some fresh air before heading back to Iowa City.

Nothing too exciting happened in the apartment kitchen this week, but I did come home from class starving one day and decide to conjure something up using these random ingredients I had in my fridge:

We have here a bunch of kale, an acorn squash, a pear, a parsnip, and a sweet potato.  I really need to learn to grocery shop with more purpose.  Sometimes I’m in the produce aisle and things just speak to me and I end up with weird collections like this.  But I was determined to make a dish!  A blog-worthy dish!  So I put on my apron (my serious-cooking apron, not my hostess apron, mind you) and got down to business.

First, I sawed the acorn squash in half, scooped out the seeds, and put both halves flesh-side-up in a baking dish with a bit of water in the bottom.  I poured on a bit of olive oil, hit it with some salt and pepper, covered with foil, and put it in a 350 degree oven until fork-tender.  (Mine took about 30 minutes, but as I’ve said before my oven is a little nuts.)  Then I peeled and sliced the sweet potato and parsnip onto a baking sheet, gave them the olive-oil-salt-pepper treatment as well, and put them in to roast along with the squash.

Those took about 20 minutes.  Once I had the oven situation under control, I started 1/2 c. of quinoa boiling in 1 c. of water and chopped and sauteed the kale in some olive oil with 2 cloves of minced garlic.  This was my first time using kale and I don’t think I cooked it long enough.  But I liked it in the finished dish and I think I could get into using it with a little more practice.  Kale tips are welcome, if any of you readers happen to be experts.

And thus the stage was set for layering all these healthy, harvest-y ingredients in my prettiest pie pan.

I buttered the pie pan (no use having things stick, now is there?) and started with a layer of all the roasted acorn squash.  Then I layered on half of the quinoa.  At the last minute I decided to stir one beaten egg into the quinoa to make this more of a mushy, casserole-type situation.  I don’t know if it made much difference, but if you happen to try something like this and want to add the egg just remember to let the quinoa cool off before you go stirring it in, or you’ll scramble it.

Next, the sauteed kale and the rest of the quinoa.

Then, the roasted sweet potato and parsnip, mixed with the diced pear, and topped with a dusting of cinnamon and a handful of pumpkin seeds (which I have FINALLY used up, so I promise to stop putting them in everything I post on here.)

Finally, I poured a few tablespoons of homemade vinaigrette (recipe in this post) over the whole thing and baked it at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Definitely Thanksgiving material!  Here’s the recap of everything I used:

• 1 acorn squash, roasted and scooped out of the skin
• 1/2 c. quinoa, boiled in 1 c. water until the water is all absorbed
• 1 small bunch of kale, sauteed with 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 sweet potato and 1 parsnip, both peeled, diced, and roasted
• 1 diced pear
• a few tablespoons of honey-balsamic vinaigrette
• optional toppings: cinnamon and pumpkin seeds

That’s all for now, folks.  Happy Halloween!