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Salmon burger, whole wheat couscous, and roasted veggies.  This is such an easy and delicious dinner – and you could easily sub out chicken, meat, tofu, other fish for the salmon burger.

Roasted Veggies: Choose from peppers, squash, zucchini, red onion, cherry tomatoes… I’ve done red/orange/yellow peppers & large chunks of onion together… and I’ve also dumped a box of cherry heirloom tomatoes (from TJ’s) and cut up squash into 1/2 moon disks together another night.

SEASONING:  salt, pepper, nature’s seasoning (yea, it’s sorta cheating), drizzle lemon olive oil.  The secret here is the lemon olive oil, I think.  I would recommend having some on hand. But, if you don’t, use regular Olive oil and squeeze a fresh lemon over!  So, pre-heat to about 400 oven and plan to have them in there for about 50 minutes or so… shake it up every 15 minutes.

Salmon burger – Just got it at Whole Foods.. it was actually pretty inexpensive, compared to going out, ordering in, or some of the other fish… the directions for cooking were on the package, but I just sprayed some Olive Oil on a pan and cooked on Med-High for 4 – 5 min on each side…

CousCous – SIMPLE! Trader Joes has some great whole wheat couscous an the directions here are also simple and on the box.

GARNISH: Shaved Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy – healthy & delicious dinner!

Tonight I decided to finally try out something I’ve been considering for a while – using a mandolin to slice zucchini into pasta-like strips and adding it to bulk up regular pasta.  Final result:  AMAZING (although bad black berry pic).

Everything in this meal was fresh from our CSA/farmers market, including the actual pasta.  It took about 5 minutes to put together (literally).

Ingredients:

spinach pasta

2 zucchini’s, sliced into long pasta-like strips

1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved

garlic

fresh basil

olive oil, salt pepper, parm to taste

I brought a pot to a boil, added the fresh spinach pasta.  After 2 minutes, added the zucchini.  Waited one more minute, drained in a colander.  Put empty pot back over heat, add olive oil, garlic, tomatoes.  Sautéd until garlic was fragrent, about 2 minutes.  Then added pasta back to pot, tossed together, added lots and lots of pepper and some parm.

I really hope Kris likes it as much as I do, because this is totally going to be a staple in our house, especially in while zucchini’s are in abundance.

It’s that time of year again – marathon training for the fall.  This year I’m running the Richmond marathon on November 13 with my friend LB, and I’ve managed to recruit about 10 people to do the half.  I love the city of Richmond and always look for an excuse to go back – even if it is a 26.2 mile excuse.

Last year I ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 4:26.  My only goal was to finish, ideally in sub 4:30.  This year I’m hoping to shave a full 26 minutes off my time and break 4 hrs.  Considering the precarious state of my hips, this is going to require a lot of dedication, careful planning, and some luck.

Some lessons learned from last year, that I’m applying to my training this time around:

Strength training- as in, do it.  At least 2x a week.  Yoga does not replace squats, abs, and free weights, but can supplement.

Cross training - I am only going to run 4x a week in the hopes of preventing injury.  I am going to include a day of spinning/biking as my 5th day of cardio.  Also, running 5x week is unrealistic a lot of times with my travel calendar.

Tempo runs & strides- One run a week will be a tempo run. I will also start doing strides at least once a week.

Hills - I will NOT exclusively run around Rock Creek Park and Haines Point this year. By the end of training last year, the thought of the Haines Point loop made me want to break out in tears of boredom, but I loved it because it was pancake flat.  I need to suck it up and run more hills, because the second half of Richmond is hilly.  Also, LB is training in San Fran so it is only fair I do some too.

Calorie Counting- Yes, that is right.  Normally marathon training and calorie counting do NOT go hand in hand.  However, I GAINED weight last year during training. To provide a little color, I distinctly remember one Sunday night where I ate so much gnocchi I couldn’t move off the couch, and even Kris was horrified by my portion size.  But I felt like DESERVED IT, all 2,000 calories.  I am not going to calorie count every day, just on the day of/day after my long run to make sure I’m not eating too much.

Protein – I need more of it.  This will help with the hunger issues post-long runs.  Good bye semi-veganism, I have already welcomed back cottage cheese and greek yogurt with open arms.

If I’m honest with myself, I know that while training last year wasn’t EASY, it also wasn’t really that hard.  I was tired, sure, but after a while it isn’t hard just to run for hours.  Your body gets into a groove, and it doesn’t necessarily make you that much more fit.   I know that I’m no where close to being the most in-shape I could be. While I can run, I get sore when I do pretty much anything else.  My goal this time around is to not only become a faster runner, but also become more fit in general.

Posts to follow will be an update on my training & nutrition.  Less than 16 weeks to go!

So far, the best part of this summer is two-fold:  Our weekly CSA delivery, and the Saturday morning farmers market 15 yards from our new house that sells eggs, bread, cheese and homemade granola alongside its cucumbers.

Tonight, Kris won “luckiest husband in the world” award (and he didn’t even know he’d entered) when I made us fried green tomatoes and corn with roasted garlic & cilantro for dinner.

The corn recipe came right out of this month’s Food & Wine magazine.  The actual recipe called for grilled but I put in the oven.  Fresh roasted garlic (a whole head) mixed with tons of chopped cilantro, salt and pepper.  Smother all over a few ears of corn, cover in foil and roast for 425 for 25 minutes.

Fried green tomatoes – pretty simple.  One large green tomato, sliced.  Dredge in flour, then eggs & milk, then cornmeal and fry in a skillet until golden brown.  I like to season every part of the batter mixture in salt, pepper and cayenne for a kick.  No dipping sauce, just served them with a salad with tomatoes, cucs, and fresh goat cheese.

Dinner Saturday night – sugar snap peas, new potatoes, and salad.

Sugar peas – sauteed with fresh shallots, salt and pepper

Potatoes- roasted in the oven with pepper and rosemary salt I’d bought in San Fran 2 years ago.

Salad – tomatoes, cucs, fresh goat cheese

Thurs night, whole wheat pasta with garlic scape pesto, tomatoes, and parm.  This evening was eye opening as I read later that night that parm from Italy is NOT vegetarian and is made with cow stomachs.  Gross.

Garlic scapes are new to me this year – they are the greens from the garlic bulbs, and only available in the beginning of the summer.  I put a bunch in the food processor with basil, sunflower seeds and parm.  Makes for a pesto with a kick.

On this week’s agenda:  Tomorrow night, another CSA pick up so not sure what dinner tomorrow will be.  Wednesday, day-trip to Milwaukee.  Thursday night, Meg’s gets into town super late, and then this weekend even more friends will be here (including my brother!) because Kris and I are having a party at our house this weekend to celebrate our wedding!

Well, Summer is officially here in DC.  This week has been SO HOT.  Today it literally felt like over 100 degrees.  It is so hot, that on a few occasions this week, I have turned off the AC and allowed my living room to become an impromptu hot yoga studio.  Really loving the free podcasts from Dave Farmar.

Tonight, however, I wanted to run.  And because I hate the gym, I chose to go outside .  In the 4 miles I ran, mostly down some major streets in DC just after rush hour, I saw only one other runner.  And quite a few people who looked at me like I was completely insane.

My run wasn’t too shabby… sometimes I think when you remove all the pressure, you can surprise yourself.  I went into the run thinking I would walk up all the hills, and instead I plugged along feeling pretty quick.  When I got home, I drank 2 huge glasses of water, and then did my Jane Fonda leg lifts and Suzanne Sommers thigh master exercises.

Wait… what did I just say?

Yep, Ive returned to 1980’s strength routines.  Monday morning I met with a new physical therapist about my hip problems.  He listened to my running history, started laughing at me when I told him I did no strength training, and then whipped out his camera once I started doing strength tests to show me how pitiful my one-legged squats were.  Then he gave me a “D” in core strength and stability.   The exercises he gave me to correct my imbalances are remedial.  The most challenging part of the routine includes leg lifts against the wall with 1-lb ankle weights.  And, I’m no longer allowed to do sit-ups unsupervised (not joking –  planks only).  But, after 4 days, I’m sore.  I think he is on to something.

Post-exercise, I whipped up a quick and yummy dinner, courtesy of my farmers market down the street:

Sugar snap peas  in garlic, with salt and pepper

Baked kale chips (cut kale into bit sized pieces in tsp of oil oil, tsp of salt at 300 degree oven for 20 min)

Pesto tortellini from TJ’s, in some olive oil, pepper and parm

I think I’ll spend the rest of the night reading, and hopefully getting to sleep early since I have to wake up at 5am for a day-trip to Minneapolis.  Sales meeting on a Friday = bummer.  Sales meeting with a company that has a good chance of buying from you with 4 business days left in the first half = necessary.

Kris will likely spend his evening like this:

Occasionally, he may shout at me to get him a beer, or some chips.  Sorry, ladies.  He’s off the market.

A farmers market just opened about a 10 minute walk from me on Sundays and I am soooo excited about it.  I love the Ferry Building Farmers Market, but it’s about an hours walk and so nearly an all Saturday activity.

Inspiration: Freshly made crushed red pepper pappardelle pasta & Broccoli Raab, Red/Yellow/Orange Cherry Tomatoes

Insert amazing picture here — shoot!!! The pic using my new droid is too large of a file.

Other Ingredients:

Shallot, Garlic, Red Pepper flakes

Lemon

White Wine

Olive Oil/butter

Chicken Sausage (Sweet Chicken Italian Sausage from TJ’s) – or Veggie – i’d recommend, Portobella mushroom, eggplant, or red/yellow pepper

Recipe: (I adapted the start from Jenna’s Spicy Garlic Shrimp with Egg Noodles – which I love)

1) Bring Pot of water to a boil w/ a little salt (or use veggie/chicke broth), while heating, prep Broccoli Raab – Take Leaves off of stems – set aside, cut stems into 1 1/2 inch slices.  Get a bowl of water and ice. Blanch Broccoli stems then leaves – set aside.

2) Tomatoes – Heat oven to 400 – put tomatoes on pan w/ a little spray olive oil, S & P – and leave for about 10 minutes.

2) Heat a little Olive oil in a pan, take sausage out of its casing (using two fingers like you would get the last bit out of a toothpaste tube) into a pan.

3) In a cast iron or regular non-stick skillet, heat the oil and butter together. When hot, add the shallot and sauté for 2 minutes or until soft.

3. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté for 30 seconds.

4. Add the broccoli raab, wine, and lemon juice and cook for 2 minutes, stir in a little Parmesan cheese.

5. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, to taste, and then add the hot noodles, sausage. Serve with Roasted Cherry tomatoes & Shaved Parmesan cheese on top.

Yum. It was a hit!

by Danielle

Warning: no pictures

In a month, quite a lot can happen.

One can go see a Red Sox game in Balitmore, watch a World Cup game for the first time, attend a gay pride parade, and run a 10k.  One can experience yogi breakthroughs, including full bind, and crow for the whole pose (on multiple occasions).  One can get a CSA delivery of garlic scrapes, radishes, snow peas, and too much lettuce, and not have a clue what to cook.

I did all these things in the last four weeks.  I also got a new last name.

Three weeks ago exactly, on May 23, Kris and I got married in a beautiful beach-side ceremony on Maui, with 5 guests.  It was perfect in every way you could imagine.  Our honeymoon was in Kauai, which is basically heaven.  Across 10 days, we surfed, swam, hiked, biked, snorkeled, sailed, zip lined, and kayaked.  I ate fish for the first time in years.  I drank wine every night.  I had a drink nearly every afternoon.  I actually ran most mornings.  Despite my 70 SPF, I tanned from all the time in the sun, and the convertibles we rented on both islands.   I didnt think about work once.

And I got a new last name.

When you get married just before your 30th birthday, you and your name have seen a lot together.  I graduated high school and college with it.  Together, we ran about 4000 miles, including 2 marathons.  We lived in Ireland, and visited France, Spain, Italy and England.  We drank a lot of wine.  We found yoga, and became a vegetarian.  We died our hair blonde, briefly, pierced our nose and our belly button, and got tattoos.  One of which we’re currently spending $3000 in laser treatments to remove.

6  and a half years ago, me and my name moved to DC, got a job at a company I’d never heard of before, and moved into a studio apartment in Glover Park.  4 years ago, I met a boy from Indiana.  A year and a half ago, we moved in together.  3 weeks ago we got married.  And now, my Irish last name has been replaced with a German one.

I know that nothing about ME has changed, now that I’m Danielle Steigerwald instead of Danielle McCarthy.  But I felt like the old “me” needed a little tribute, and so I am taking advantage of this blog post to say to my old name, congratulations.  We did a good job.

Megan and I both hope that regular blogging will recommence ASAP.

by Megan

I was lucky enough to get back to DC for Laura’s bachelorette party.  I find these things sooo much fun because I actually get to spend time with the bride to be vs. 2 minutes at the actual wedding. This was such a blast.  The theme was Lady Gaga (Laura’s favorite) meets Alice in Wonderland. Note all the red and black. Laura and I went to highschool together and played lacrosse and field hockey.

Below is me and Renee – who I have now known for 10 years – since freshman year of college. We roomed next to one another.

Below – my post college roomates: Laura, Alex (great craigslist find)

Off to Current Sushi in DuPont

Yum, – they actually messed up our order and we got an entire order from another table of fancy sushi and roles.

Then we went out to a bar and dancing ensued.

The next morning we headed to the famed DC drag queen brunch at Perry’s. What fun. I’d suggest leaving before the ‘finale’ unless you are very very liberal. I thought I was and then found myself shocked.

For $23, great 2 1/2 hours of entertainment and all you can eat brunch.

So, I am way behind, and since DC, I’ve been to Denver – which Dani pictured from our meet up. Then home for a hot second, then Vegas for work/fun and won over $100 at craps, blackjack and roulette. I got back on Tuesday night, cleaned the house, and have been hosting Wed – Sunday. Crazy. Wonderful.

By Danielle

My appetite has been a bit off lately (not really that hungry for some reason), and I could NOT figure out what I wanted to eat for lunch today.  I actually left the office for the first time in weeks (I normally bring my own or go to our cafeteria) but nothing appealed to me.. not Cosi, Chop’t, Brown Bag… nothing.  I ended up back in our cafeteria and boy am I glad because they had the best salad bar ever today (fuzzy blackberry pic:)

That would be spinach, avocado, chickpeas, broccoli, roasted tomatoes, feta, cucumber, and lentil salad.  Ummmm… so freakin good.

Ok, back to work…

by Danielle

My April tour of the mid-west and western Canada ended in Denver, where I traveled more than 10 hrs in total for a 2 hr meeting.  Luckily, Megan was also there so we made the most of it by going to a yoga class at our favorite on-the-road studio (Core Power Yoga), and then out to dinner at her fave place in the city.  She will have to get back to everyone with the name because I forget.

Because I fell off the vegan bandwagon hard in Nashville, we ordered a pretty typical meal for the 2 of us:  bruchetta, a beet/goat cheese salad, and a pizza with arugula.  YUM.  Megs also enjoyed a glass of red wine, but I had to drive about an hour north after dinner to Loveland, CO, so I had to abstain from what was a delicious list of vino.

The next day, I got on my 13th flight of the month of April.  And yes, it was unlucky, in that we sat on the tarmac for almost 3 hours and I didn’t get home until after 10pm.   However, it WAS lucky in that the mechanical problem that caused the delay was discovered before we were in the air, and thus we didn’t die.

I’ll leave you with a few permanent take-aways from my vegan experiment:

Coconut milk ice cream… WAY better than the real thing

Almond milk in my cereal… a little better than the real thing

Soy milk in my coffee… equal to the real thing

Greek yogurt, goat cheese… not interested in giving up again

Only time will tell, but I have a feeling that I will decrease my dairy intake by about 50% after this month long try.

Ok… I’m off to catch up on the hours of DVR still on my tv…!