Mangia with Meg

My (now GF) adventures in cooking, baking…and maybe training too!

I realized something kind of embarrassing last week. I had never run a stand alone 10K.

I’ve run every other distance, including five marathons, one of which was at the end of an Ironman triathlon. So a 10K should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong! A 10K is that weird distance where you’re not quite sprinting, but are pretty close to anaerobic threshold the whole time. At least with a marathon, participation counts for something. Time matters for a 10K! Run fast or bust, people!

I had what I thought was an unrealistic race goal of breaking 45 minutes. My more attainable race goal was to beat Doug’s mile per minute pace for his 5K. Doug has not gone for a single run since Reach the Beach. In September. But yes, this was still going to be close. (Darn him and his natural running ability, I have to WORK for mine.)

I had a 10K on my half marathon training plan for Saturday, May 5th. The closest Saturday 10K I could find was the Total Image 5K/10K in Manchester, NH. Since I wanted to save Sunday for my long run, I decided to take the 60 mile trip. Especially when my friend, Emily, who lives in Nashua, agreed to run the race with me! I registered Doug for the 5K, because I’m adorable like that. He’s a good sport.

It was a nice little race and the weather turned out to be perfect for running. Packet pickup, the race start/finish and parking were very close together, which is an aspect of these small races I love. The whole race was based out of Jillian’s in Manchester. It was nice to have some indoor restrooms! My only complaint involves the starting logistics. The 5K started a few hundred feet in front of the 10K, and the loudspeaker must have been up at the 5K start, because no one in the 10K wave heard the gun. We were all standing around when the 5K racers took off, wondering if we should be going, too. When we all realized that we should be running, I started my watch and took off. The delay was only 3 seconds, calculated from the discrepancy between the time I clocked on my watch to my official race time. It felt much longer!

The more annoying part was having to weave through the 5K racers. Seriously, whose idea was this? It was an obstacle course for the first half mile!

In order to break 45 minutes, I knew I would have to average 7:15 miles. I took it out pretty hard, but it felt so great I just ran with it (pun intended). Having no idea when the 5K and 10K courses would separate, I decided I wanted to catch up to Doug! After the first mile, we had to climb a switchback ramp up to a footbridge. This provided a vantage point so I could scan the crowd ahead and find him! He wasn’t too far ahead, and given the distance between us when we started, I figured I was gaining on him. I ALMOST caught him when the 5K race turned off to the left! Shucks! I yelled out a “go Dougie”, which didn’t get his attention, though he later claimed he heard me.

I felt awesome, clocking in my first two miles in just over 14 minutes. I thought I might be pushing a little too hard, and that I might need to slow down, but I was just having too much fun! The leader passed by me on his way back a few hundred yards later. Once we closed in on the three mile marker, I knew the turnout must be coming up! We turned a corner and I was expecting a turnaround…and instead was greeted with a pretty serious hill. Oh, hi there, I wasn’t expecting you! I took it easy up the hill, let myself recover for a few steps at the top and then tried to regain my time on the way down. This was my slowest mile, but it didn’t bamboozle me too much, since I was still on track for my goal(s). The rest of the run felt great! I could see two women ahead of me, so I decided to try and pass at least one of them. She let me by pretty easily, though I could hear her close behind me for a half mile or so. I never caught the other woman, who turned out to be the leader! I missed overall first by thirty seconds. But I will settle for overall 2nd and 1st in my age group. Doug was waiting for me at the finish, and then Emily finished immediately after I did.

Oh, and I broke 45 minutes! Woop woop! And while I didn’t technically beat my boyfriend in a road race, since we ran two separate races, this was the first time EVER that I ran a road race faster than him. I will take it, all of it!

After the race was over, we hung out and had some delicious gluten free cider on the Jillian’s patio, where we learned that all three of us placed! Excellent! The sun had come out, so it was a really beautiful day. On our way back to Boston, we stopped at Flatbread Pizza Company in Bedford! We drove right by, so we kind of had to stop.

I don’t think Doug wanted his photo taken. Either that, or he reeeally needs reading glasses. But this photo does show off Flatbread’s menu quite nicely!

You see this? All of Flatbread’s pizzas can be made gluten free. It took some restraint to save half for later! This baby has pulled pork AND pineapple! Gluten free pizza isn’t hard to find in the Brookline/Newton area, but you’re limited with toppings. Not here!

The restaurant also grows their own vegetables outside. I don’t think they can grow a significant percentage of their produce, since the restaurant is located in an office park, but it’s a nice effort. I love Flatbread’s because they support local farmers and because of the gluten free pizza. Doug loves Flatbread’s for the fresh, locally brewed beer selection on draft. We both win!

What a great day!

Fruit is just so wonderful and naturally sweet, so I really like using it to make healthy desserts. I have such a sweet tooth, but regular desserts can be such a killer! This recipe can easily be made to fit your SCD/paleo/core/whatever diet, since a variety of sweeteners can be used. Just skip the refined white crap, this recipe doesn’t need it

Ingredients:

Filling:
- Fruit! I used a mix of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. Any fruit would be equally delicious, I want to try it with peaches this summer! I used several cups – two little cartons each of blueberries and blackberries and a larger container of strawberries, diced.
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 2/3 cup of sweetener. Again, I used a lot of fruit, you probably don’t need this much if you’re using less berries/fruit. I used a combination of maple syrup (the real stuff, no Aunt Jemima here), agave nectar and honey.
- 1 package of gelatin (optional)

Crust:
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts
- 1.5 cups almond flour
- 3 tablespoons of honey (in addition to whatever honey you use for the 2/3 cup sweetener)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil

I was planning to do just blueberries. Or blackberries, but not a mix. But then I got to the store and saw these.

They were too pretty to pass up.

Toss half of your fruit with the lemon juice and 2/3 cup sweetener. Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for around 10 minutes.

Off heat, stir in the rest of the berries and the gelatin. Again, the gelatin is optional, I just thought this was going to be super runny, so I stirred the gelatin in last minute. You could also cook all of the fruit if you like a very gooey crisp. If you’re using a watery fruit, like apples or peaches, you should absolutely cook all of your fruit ahead of time so you don’t end up with fruit crisp soup at the end. I just wanted some texture to my filling, so I only cooked half of the fruit. Dealer’s choice!

Transfer the whole thing to a baking dish, preferably one as pretty as mine.

Love, love, love Bennington Potters!

Anyway, time to make your topping. Just toss all of your ingredients in a food processor…

…hit pulse a few times…

…and you’re done! Just spread the topping evenly over the fruit in the baking pan and cook at 325 for 15 minutes.

Please enjoy it warm with some vanilla frozen yogurt. You won’t be sorry.

I was so excited for mine I didn’t even take a photo of it straight from the oven. Silly me! This is my crisp, less servings for four. After I took this picture, I took a spoon and went after the liquidy stuff left at the bottom of the pan. See it? Irresistible.

I made a homemade yogurt in my ice cream maker, which was the perfect accompaniment. My sister, Elizabeth, inspired me to actually use my ice cream maker, which so far has been hanging out in our back stairwell. That is no place for a kitchen appliance! I found out that non-fat plain Greek yogurt makes an excellent base for healthy frozen yogurt! I don’t know about you, but I think healthy dessert is the best, no guilty feelings here!! (Even if it means you eat twice as much dessert.)

A rainy New England Sunday had me thinking about the slow cooker during my end-of-weekend grocery shopping. What is it about dreary weather and the slow cooker?? Last week we ate beef and chicken, so this week it was time for some pork. These are the three meats I always have in my freezer.

I really love pork chops in the slow cooker. Pork chops are so lean that they really benefit from long, low cooking in a flavorful sauce. Yum.

Ingredients:
3 – 6 pork chops (mine were pretty thick, so I only made three, but usually I make at least four, and this recipe made plenty of sauce for up to 6 chops)
1 jar of plum preserves
2 medium onions, chopped
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup ketchup
Salt and pepper to taste

You’ll need to brown your chops before leaving them in the slow cooker. Luckily, I have an awesome slow cooker that does these things for me. But it would be easy enough to do this on the stove. Just heat some oil in a saucepan over medium heat, pat the chops dry with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper and cook for a few minutes on each side. Because it was early in the morning and I needed to leave for work, I sauteed my onions on the stove while my pork chops were browning in the slow cooker.

First, heat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Let your onions cook around ten minutes.

Then add a jar of plum preserves.

I thought I would have a hard time finding plum preserves, but my first stop was Whole Foods, which had this Bonne Maman brand. I’ve learned that my neighborhood Star Market is not so awesome with less traditional jelly/jam/preserve flavors.

Mix it up and bring to a simmer.

Mix your mustard, lemon juice, zest and ketchup in a bowl.

Add some salt and pepper and then add to the onion mixture. Once your pork chops are browned, just transfer everything into the slow cooker. My pork chops looked like this when I left for work…

…and this when I got home from work!

Magic! I turned my slow cooker to the warm setting until Doug got home from work, which is usually several hours after me.

Seriously, slow cooked pork chops just shred from the touch of a fork. So good.

I served my plum pork chops with wild rice and fiddleheads. I always take pictures of Doug’s plate, since it’s usually more full than mine

I was walking into Whole Foods during my usual weekend grocery shopping and was greeted with a strange looking veggie special of the week. Fiddleheads! The sign had a little blurb about how they’re a mild tasting green, similar to asparagus. Since asparagus was going to be one of our vegetables of the week, I thought I would switch it up by making fiddleheads instead.

I had to do some research when I got home. What ARE fiddleheads?? Sounds more like a G-rated curse word, like shucks or drat, than a vegetable.  Apparently, fiddleheads are fern fronds that are available for harvest for only a few weeks in the spring. They have antioxidant properties, are high in omegas 3 & 6, iron, fiber and potassium. They are the main ingredient of a delicious sounding Indonesian dish, but for now I just wanted to serve them as a simple side dish.

After some reading, I learned that fiddleheads, while simple to cook, are a little finicky. You have to cook them with a few particular steps in order to remove any potential toxins while maintaining their nice flavor and color. The preferred method seems to be blanching first, then sautéing. 

Wash them really well with very cold water.

Aren’t they cute?

Then cut off the brown ends. Can you see the brown end in this fuzzy photo?

Then bring water to a boil in a small saucepan with some salt.Add the fiddleheads and let cook for 10 minutes.

Dump the fiddleheads back in the colander and immediately run very cold water over them.

Not looking too different, just a little less green.

Then heat some neutral flavored oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Olive would taste good, but might overpower the delicate fiddlehead flavor. I used grape-seed oil.

After 4ish minutes of cooking, feel free to season them a little. I used salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and then squeezed a quarter of a lemon over the pan.

Cook for another minute and transfer to a plate!

I was anxious to try one. The flavor was surprisingly good! I say surprisingly because there are very few vegetables I genuinely enjoy. Most of the time I like them OK enough to eat, and usually do because we all need our veggies, but never enough to reach for seconds. These were really good! Like had me reaching for more before I could get the rest of dinner on the plate. Wow!

They are pretty expensive and are only available a few weeks a year. I was thinking of buying some more and storing them in the freezer, but apparently they lose flavor quickly. I guess this will just be something else to look forward to come spring time each year!

Today is the day that being the youngest of three girls became the desirable birth order position…I am the only one of my sisters still in my twenties! Ha!

I mean, happy 30th birthday, Meredith! Looooooove you!

I got to spend a lot of time out in Acton this weekend celebrating with my family. But first, I had to make a cake! Of course, when I say “had to” I really mean “volunteered willingly” – I love making cake!

I had never  made a gluten free carrot cake before, but it went pretty well. I used this recipe before I went gluten free. I was a little worried about whether or not it would hold together, but it did pretty well!

Cake ingredients:
4 eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups better batter, or some other gluten free flour, or all-purpose flour if you’re non GF
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3 cups grated carrots (use big side of the grater)
3/4 cup chopped, toasted pecans
1 8 oz can crushed drained pineapple
1/2 cup applesauce (unsweetened…always, always buy unsweetened applesauce, apples have enough sugar)

Frosting ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese, softened (a celebration is no time to worry about calories, friends)
2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened
4 – 6 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

I started by grating my carrots.

This was too many. I cut up the extra carrots and put them in Ziploc baggies to dip in hummus at work. Yum, hummus.

Wring out the grated carrots in paper towels so your cake batter isn’t all watery.

Just like a washcloth!

Now, mix in your eggs, oil, sugars and vanilla. Use either a hand-held or standing mixer.

Since I’m in love with my standing mixer, I take every opportunity to use it.

I also really love this stuff. It’s my favorite gluten free flour and is available at A New Leaf, my favorite gluten free grocery store located in Needham, MA. They have EVERYTHING!

Mix together your flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon in a bowl. Mix it together and sift into your egg mixture.

Then fold the flour into your batter.

When most of the dry ingredients are incorporated, beat in carrots, applesauce, pecans and pineapple.

You can do this sheet cake style or birthday cake style. Butter either two cake rounds, 8 or 9 inch, or one 9×13 inch pan. Either way, cook at 350 degrees for 40 – 50 minutes. Since this was for a birthday cake, I cooked my cake in two 9 inch rounds, and they took around 40 minutes to cook through. Once out of the oven, let the cake cool down in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

I really need to buy another wire rack so I can stop playing hot potato with my cake rounds while squeezing them onto the same rack. This is a risky game with gluten free baked goods, since they crumble easily.

Once they’re COMPLETELY cool, you can frost them or wrap them in plastic wrap, which is what I did, since we weren’t eating the cake for a few days. I had a conference that Saturday, so I was busy, busy, busy last week!

But to make the frosting, just beat together the cream cheese and butter in a standing mixer. Add the sugar, starting with four cups. This was sweet enough for me, but feel free to continue adding sugar until it appeals to your taste buds. I just like the cream cheese to really be the star, so I go easy with the other stuff. Beat in the vanilla, and you’re good to go!

I was frosting this baby on warp speed, since I was doing this in the birthday girl’s house and didn’t want to get caught, so I didn’t snap any photos. Just make sure to smear some frosting on the platter first, so the bottom layer won’t slide around.

I did get this photo, after the candles were blown out!

Caiden was upset he didn’t get any cake.

So his dad let him play a feet dancin’ game on the dining room table.

Caiden wasn’t feeling well, at least that’s the suspicion, because he would actually sit still for a few seconds. He usually is a man on the move! So I took the opportunity of him sitting still in my lap and played around with my camera phone for a little bit after getting him into his PJ’s! I’m wearing a tank top because we just finished bath time, which required taking off all extra clothing. I’m surprised I’m not totally drenched.

I split up the cake so everyone could take a few pieces home. Now it’s a battle of willpower, with my few extra pieces right there in the fridge!!

I always say that I am going to include some training/local races/restaurant reviews on my blog. So I guess I should start, especially now that I have done the following:

1. Started blogging again
2. Starting racing again (!!!!!)

2011 was not a great year from an athletic/medical perspective. Over the course of the year, I was benched for a total of FOUR MONTHS! Benched. Like, no exercise at all. There there were a few more months where my activity was just restricted, and because all of this was sprinkled over the course of the year, I was in pretty bad physical shape the rest of the year and race season 2011 just didn’t really happen (at least not successfully).

2011 was pretty great in other respects, for example I started a wonderful new job, took a real vacation with Doug and finished my master’s degree. So 2011 was not all bad

I starting working out again in February and actually started training again in March. I was excited to start racing again with a clean bill of health. I started small, with a local 5k the Saturday of Patriot’s Day Weekend. The marathon usually gets me all fired up for running, though this year’s heat made me pretty excited I was a spectator and NOT a participant.

I am thoroughly impressed with anyone who finished the Boston Marathon 2012, regardless of how long it took you, as Monday’s weather was miserable for a marathon. 

iChase the Cure is a little race sponsored by the Boston University Student Alumni Association. It’s an out and back along the Charles River, with the start and finish by the BU sailing pavilion. It’s also on a Saturday! I love Saturday races! The weather was perfect. All in all, it was the perfect kickoff race for 2012.

And it had a pretty nice backdrop.

Oh, Boston, I love you.

We got there pretty early, so we hung out on the esplanade and I did a little warm up.

It was a small field and I positioned myself in the middle of a pack, which turned out to be a bad idea. Note to self, these tiny races aren’t the most competitive and I can start a little more toward the front of the group. I spent the first half mile just dodging other racers, plus the other runners/walkers/cyclists that were not participating in the race, rather just enjoying the beautiful Saturday along the river. Doug caught me on the way back!

My stomach was throwing a tantrum, so I was pretty happy to finish. But despite a cranky tummy, I really enjoyed this race. Funny – a 5K feels like a pretty short race for a distance person! It’s over before you know it! Doug got all fired up for running as well, which is good news for me since I registered him for my next road race on May 5 in Manchester. I do that sometimes.

Then we decided to walk around the Back Bay and get something to eat. Is it me, or are there a lack of Back Bay restaurant spots that aren’t part of a chain (hi, Back Bay Restaurant Group) or super uppity and overpriced like Stephanie’s on Newbury? So we walked around for awhile, checked out the marathon gear at Niketown and eventually came across a new(ish) restaurant with a chocolate theme. WHAAAT? It turns out Max Brenner has a whole chain, but we didn’t know this and thought it would be fun to check out. Plus, they have a nice patio right on Boylston Street. The wait wasn’t too bad, so we got a drink at the bar while we waited. And I saw this. A chocolate bar. Chocolate on draft. I was drooling.

All entrees come with a chocolate lick, which is just a little side dish of chocolate. Running a 5K does not allow for total indulgence so I just sampled it before passing it over to Doug to finish. I happily returned to my eggs and fruit. The rest of the meal was good, nothing daydream worthy, and the fruit could have definitely been fresher, but it was satisfying. We finished our day date with another drink at the Publick House, playing with Doug’s radio control plane at the park with all of the neighborhood kiddos and then watching a movie at home.

Whenever I find a recipe that involves chipotle flavoring, I must make it. I put it in my pasta salad, turkey burgers, salad dressing…everything that might/could/should benefit from the spicy delight of chipotle. I found this recipe somewhere on the blogosphere and HAD TO MAKE IT!

This would taste good on anything. I had some chicken drumsticks in the freezer that I wanted to use, but then drumsticks alone don’t yield very much meat, so I included thighs as well. The bone in, skin on chicken thighs are most flavorful.

Here is the marinade recipe:
1 can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3/4 cup of tequila
1/2 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Just puree all of the ingredients together! I used my food processor. Any sort of blender would work well. I knew I would have extra, so I just put the sauce right into a  food storage container.

You can really cook it however you would like. I tossed my drumsticks and thighs in the sauce and transferred to the slow cooker. (I had a lot of sauce leftover – you don’t need more than a coating of sauce on the chicken if you’re cooking drumsticks and thighs, a lot of liquid/fat will cook out of them.) I cooked my chicken for 6 hours on low before finishing it under the broiler. The slow cooker is great for flavor, but can make the skin pretty soggy! If you also are finishing this under the broiler, place a wire rack in a roasting pan and, using tongs, transfer the chicken from the slow cooker to the wire rack, brush with some of the remaining marinade and place in the oven with the broiler on high. Watch it carefully, and after a few minutes when the tops of the chicken pieces start to brown, take it out of the oven, flip each chicken piece, brush again with more remaining marinade and put it back in the oven. Once this side is browned, you’re good to go!

I don’t have a photo of my drumsticks and thighs, but I ended up making some more! This chicken was a delightful addition to my salad of chopped spinach, smoked gouda, red onion, red peppers, cucumber, diced avocado and my lime vinaigrette, so I made another batch. I was out of drumsticks and thighs, so I used some boneless, skinless chicken breasts I had in the freezer. I still made it in the slow cooker.

I made this second batch of chicken in the evening, so I turned the slow cooker on high. As soon as the chicken was tender enough to shred, I went after it with two forks. I had to add a little more sauce, which finished my batch. If I hadn’t made this second batch of chicken, the sauce would have gone in the freezer.

A well balanced meal!

I love peanut butter. I eat peanut butter in some form most days of the week. It takes some serious restraint to control my peanut butter intake, which is necessary as it’s extremely high in calories! A little peanut butter is a good complement to a fruity snack like a banana, since it packs some serious protein, but I don’t let myself eat as much as I would like. I also am a snacking enthusiast. (A grad school friend, Tricia, nicknamed me MacSnack, which I thought was funny and appropriate. If you’re reading, Tricia – hi!! Boston misses you!!)

I follow various health & fitness people/companies on Facebook and Twitter and come across many good recipe ideas. One I found recently is to mix peanut butter with Greek yogurt! Amazing! I had to try it out. It dilutes the calories a bit, and since Greek yogurt is another snacking agent with high nutritional value, it makes for a healthy and filling snack.

I recently discovered the Peanut Butter Company (via Twitter) and their various peanut butter flavors. I HAD to get some. I bought almost all of the specialty flavors, most of which I have yet to sample. Bad things would happen if I had more than one open jar of peanut butter in my house, so I made the choice to try the cinnamon raisin flavor first. It is one of the best things in the world and definitely one of my best online food purchases. I can’t wait to slather some all over a gluten free English muffin or bagel before a race or long run.

I should go ahead and buy another dozen jars right now.

I thought this would make a good option for my yogurt peanut butter dip. Oh man, was I right.

A match made in heaven!

The peanut butter does go a long way. I think my final ratio was 2 parts yogurt to 1 part peanut butter. I started with a tiny bit, since I didn’t want to waste the peanut butter if I didn’t like it. But then it was amazing, so I kept making more and more.

Swirl it all around

Then I cut up a few granny smith apples to bring as work snacks the rest of the week!

Enjoying my snack at my desk!

Can you see that little dark spot? That’s a raisin. Do yourself a favor and order some goods from the Peanut Butter Company now! I’ve seen some peanut butters from this company in Whole Foods, but not the cinnamon raisin flavor.

I love a good stir fry. They’re quick and flavorful – my kind of week night recipe! I like my stir fry very spicy. OK, fine, I like all food very spicy. Sometimes I don’t realize how spicy I like my food until I see my runny nosed, watery eyed boyfriend reaching for a tissue. Oops. (He claims he likes it, and I’m inclined to believe him, though it could be wishful thinking that’s he’s not just being polite – like when he says he doesn’t mind watching the television program Smash with me.)

If you don’t like spicy food, you can cut back on the sriracha or remove some of the ribs and seeds from the jalapeno. But please don’t tell me if you do this. Keep it to yourself.

I had some flank steak in the freezer, some rice noodles hanging out in the cupboard and a very busy week on my hands. Stir fry it is!

Ingredients:
Sesame oil, for cooking
Flank steak, 1 – 2 pounds, sliced thinly against the grain
1 cup of low sodium soy or gluten free tamari sauce
1/3 cup cooking sherry
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sriracha sauce (available in the Asian aisle of the supermarket)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 yellow onion, sliced
2 red bell peppers, sliced
1 jalapeno, diced
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Combine the soy/tamari sauce, sherry, sugar, cornstarch, ginger and sriracha.

Mmmm, sriracha.

Marinate the steak in half of the sauce for, oh, an  hour? However long you have…I was waiting for Doug to get home from work, so I had some time to kill. Set aside the rest of the sauce to add later.

The key to a nice stir fry is to cook everything separately, since most items need to be cooked for different lengths of time. So heat up some sesame oil in a saucepan over medium heat. You can use a different oil if you would like, but I highly suggest you find some sesame oil. (You’re welcome.)

Add your onions and cook for a few minutes, separating the onion rings so all the layers can cook and brown nicely.

Transfer your onions to a plate and then cook your peppers! I like my peppers crisp, so I probably cooked for 60 seconds or less. They’ll cook a little more at the end, so go easy on these guys so they don’t get all soggy and sad. A crisp pepper is a happy pepper.

Transfer the peppers to the plate with the onions. Add more oil if you need it, then add the beef (including it’s marinade). Squeeze some lime juice in there if you’re feeling zesty!

Move the beef around every thirty seconds or so until it’s cooked evenly. Add the other half of the reserved sauce, the peppers and onions. Let it cook for just a minute or two before serving.

I served it with rice noodles, but it would be equally delicious over rice. Truth be told, I eat it just plain, since I like to avoid the empty calories and carbohydrates. But Doug is a good eater and I need something else to serve or else he would eat all of the meat by himself! So I made these.

Don’t you just love this little gluten free symbol found on Trader Joe products?

You can mix the noodles in with the stir fry or just spoon it over the noodles, which is what I did.

This is what Doug does when I ask if he had enough to eat and the answer is yes. If you can’t tell, he is sticking his stomach out. I know, he is charming. And slender, despite this effort.

Good thing he doesn’t read this (or any) blog or else I wouldn’t be able to get away with posting embarrassing photos like these. At least I don’t think he reads my blog. This is probably a good way to find out.

This was a great, easy, flavorful meal with ingredients I usually have at home. When I make a dish like this, I have a hard time not enjoying the leftovers, but I don’t like to have red meat twice in a row! Shucks!

Despite the title of this post, these sandwiches can (and should) be made any time of year. I promise I’m not just saying that because it took me several months to post these photos.

This is an awesome carbo loading sandwich for all of you endurance runners. I realized this a few years ago, before our gluten free days, when Meredith and I enjoyed Thanksgiving sandwiches at Jetties the day before the Marine Corps Marathon. Genuis! It’s full of carbohydrates between the bread and the stuffing. Too many for the average day! Too bad that 5K I ran last Saturday only burned like 300 calories and definitely didn’t require any diet preparation.

Anyway, the Nobadeer, as Jetties calls their Thanksgiving sandwich, is available year-round and is absolutely the best sandwich I have ever had. No, I am not exaggerating. Usually I have no problem maintaining a gluten free diet, since it makes me feel so much better. But it was a little sad to think about never having another Nobadeer ever again…so I decided to make one myself! The easiest way to do this would be to buy a precooked turkey breast, but I wanted my own turkey, a whole one!

So I made a turkey. (But keep in mind this was around Thanksgiving, so it seemed appropriate. I don’t think I would make a whole turkey just for the sandwich. But you never know.)

First step, I brined my turkey overnight. I prefer brining over basting. For a brine, the rule is 1/2 cup of salt for every gallon of water. Just dissolve the salt in the water in a large pot, stick the turkey in the pot and then the whole thing goes in the fridge. (Oh, you might want to clean out your fridge, first.) The next day, rinse off the bird, pat dry with paper towels, and place breast side down on a punctured foil-lined v-rack in a large roasting pan. Tuck the drumsticks into the tail and then cover with butter! The standard way of doing this is to melt the butter and then brush the melted butter over the whole bird. However, I prefer just mashing up some room temperature butter over my hands and then giving the turkey a rub-down. And then washing my hands thoroughly. I’m convinced this is a more even distribution of butter, plus I don’t have a working microwave and I usually don’t feel like melting butter on the stove.

For an 12 – 18 pound bird, roast at 45 degrees at 400 and then flip the bird. Be careful, it’s going to be hot! Continue to cook until the breast registers at 165 degrees and the thickest part of the thigh registers 175. This could take anywhere from 50 minutes – 2 hours, depending on the size of your turkey. That red popper thing is usually accurate! Let the turkey rest for 30 minutes before carving.

So pretty.

Now…the chutney. This stuff gets better with time as you let the flavor marry. It’s super easy. It also freezes well.

Ingredients:
3 oranges, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ginger (powdered, not fresh)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 cups cranberries (they are usually available with the frozen berries if you’re making this in the cranberry off-season)
1 cup chopped apples (no need to peel them)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Honey to taste

Just toss this all in a big saucepan over medium heat and let simmer until most of the cranberries are popped. Add however much honey you need to cut the tart cranberry flavor, but it doesn’t need too much. But I also like that tart cranberry flavor.

Now, the stuffing. I’ve made this for several Thanksgivings, and even the gluten eaters can’t tell it’s gluten free. Yay! I used Trader Joe’s gluten free French rolls the first time I made this recipe, so I’ve been using them ever since.

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 medium ribs celery, chopped fine
2 medium onions , minced
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
3 tablespoons minced fresh sage leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
3 tablespoons minced fresh thyme leaves or 2 teaspoons dried
1 tablespoon minced fresh marjoram leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
3 pounds cubed bread – again, I used Trader Joe French rolls
5 cups low-sodium, gluten free chicken broth
4 large eggs , beaten lightly
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the celery and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, sage, thyme, and marjoram and cook a minute longer. Transfer to a very large mixing bowl. Combine the bread, broth, eggs, salt, and pepper and add the mixture to the vegetables and toss gently mix. Transfer the whole thing to a buttered baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until golden, about 30 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Now…the assembly. I used Rudi’s original gluten free sandwich bread, and it was pretty darn good. It’s my favorite sandwich bread that I have tried so far (though I have to admit I don’t usually eat/buy GF bread). As with all other gluten free breads, it’s significantly better toasted. Just stack it all together and you’ve got a first class gluten free sandwich! Man, do I love a sandwich!

Nom nom nom...

Hmm…this is inspiring me to start a countdown until my next carbo-load, I mean distance race