Okay everyone,
You've heard me brag about my spinach pie (originally my Mother's recipe which to her dismay I altered a LOT) and it's time you all were able to experience the truth that COMFORT FOOD CAN ALSO BE GREAT FOR YOU!
Before I give you the list of ingredients and directions, it's important that all you Type-A-by-the-book-instruction people understand that, that's NOT how this recipe works. Like my training and life in general, this dish is thrown together in the most wreckless, passionate, yet loving way to get EXACTLY what we want out of our lives and food. I will give you the basics, but YOU will make it your own. As in a fit life, I can't give everyone the one-size-fits-all plan. Nor with food for that matter so have fun with this and make it taste good to you so you will eat it all the time.
INGREDIENTS (every single one is good for you!)
-4 bags frozen spinach (for about 2 pies or one big one) thawed and drained
-Enough chopped or minced garlic to smell like it for a year
-Same with chopped onions
-Palm size serving of a super hot pepper like habanero or serrano chopped very small. Green chile would be -excellent, too!
-About one cup of Garbanzo flour. Yes, Garbanzo! It's gluten free and high in protein! Super food!
-About 2 cups of plain soy or almond milk
-About 1 cup of low sodium chicken or veggie stock
-Tons of fresh ground pepper
-Palm size serving of goat or feta cheese (optional for lactose intolerant folks. You can do a soy crumbled cheese, too)
-1 or 2 packages of turkey bacon chopped into small squares (optional as well for vegetarians. For an alternative protein source add a cup of lentils already made. You can also do a soy meat of some sort if you like).
-4 eggs for one pie, 8 eggs for 2 pies
-just enough olive oil to sautee hard ingredients
BASIC DIRECTIONS....AGAIN, MAKE IT YOUR OWN!
In a large pan with olive oil, sautee garlic onions peppers long enough to brown the garlic.
Make sure the heat is pretty high and add turkey bacon. Sautee til edges become a bit crisp
Lower heat and add spinach
Sautee til it's hot all the way through then add cheese
Continue stirring
In a seperate bowl, mix the garbanzo flour, eggs, soy milk, stock, pepper, and any other seasoning desired.
The consistency should be like really thin pancake batter with no lumps
Add liquids or flour as needed to get the right consistency
In 1 or 2 greased baking dishes, add spinach mixture. It should be 1 to 1.5 inches deep
Pour wet mixture all over spinach mixture
The wet mixture is what holds pie together so stick a fork through it all over to ensure it seeps to bottom.
Put in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 30 to 40 min depending on your oven. For a little extra texture on the top, broil for 5 min at the end.
....wait for it....
Let it sit for 5 to 10 min
Cut into squares
Enjoy!
Super nutritious, super good for you, super satisfying.
I've always wanted to, but never have, added dried cranberries. Do that for a great flavor contrast then bring some to the gym for me.
Love you all!
Nancy
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
New Chickpea and Tuna recipe from Felicia Gassen!
I absolutely LOVE harassing Felicia for cooking tips and her response to "What are you making for dinner tonight?" My beautiful client is not only a mad woman in the gym, but with a knife and camera as well. Just look at this recipe complimented by her amazing photography! Thanks Felicia!
Recipe: Chickpea and Tuna Salad
This is a quick and easy lunch or anytime recipe with items I keep in my pantry.Ingredients
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 small chili pepper, finely diced, seeds removed (optional)
1 clove garlic; finely chopped
2 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pinch salt
1 pinch black pepper
1 5 oz can tuna packed in olive oil, oil reserved*
2 medium tomatoes; chopped or 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes halved
Directions
In a medium sized bowl, combine the chickpeas, onion, garlic, and parsley. Add the lemon juice, half the reserved oil from the tuna, salt and pepper and toss to combine.Flake the tuna into large chunks and add it to the salad along with the tomatoes. Toss gently to blend.
This salad is great stuffed into a whole wheat pita pocket or on top of salad greens. You can serve it chilled or at room temperature.
*if you prefer to save calories with tuna packed in spring water, you may used a tablespoon of olive oil instead of oil from tuna.
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
PMS in athletic women. Help me!
There has to be a cure for PMS. Forget Midol and madcow exercising. I mean a real end to the monthly derailing of my life I call my period. Let's organize a 5k in an effort to raise research money for the brutal 'cycle' of hazardous feminine changes. I'm positive that a majority of the female population would participate. Not to mention their innocent male counterparts of whom I'm sure are anxious to be rid of being hated for no real reason outside of the calendar. (Please don't think I'm belittling REAL diseases worthy of serious research. Cancer patients would kill to only have PMS to worry about, I'm well aware).
All women have very different hormonal changes and deal with them in all sorts of interesting ways. Truth of the matter is, discussion of such a topic for some is almost taboo and highly personal. Being that those two boundaries are two of my favorite lines to toe while getting to know the people who invite me into their lives for training, I find PMS to be absolutely fascinating. Speaking from a performance perspective, I've found hormonal changes to be one of the biggest challeges in my endurance training. I'd like to know the experiences and remedies of my fellow ladies of hard work. What happens to you? How do you deal? How do we own the road one day, then just tying our run shoes the next warrants wanting to sleep for about a week? Indeed there is a beautiful purpose and function around our cycles for which I'm very grateful. But for women that race triathlons or endure tough workouts, I must ask if you find yourself saying 'thank you' to nature when you're asked to be at peak performance during a period that makes just getting out of bed the single toughest athletic endeavor ever pursued.
Today I swam in mud. Which was the same pool in which I always swim. The same in which I normally feel great. The same in which I hate to exit because I find swimming restorative and rejuventing. But not today. Today the mud water sucked my usual streamline body about 3 feet below the surface and denied my limbs the ability to adhere to any kind of economical rhythm. Just floundering. My bloated frame half swam and half sank across the pool in twice the amount of usual time with triple the effort.
The night before I slept 8 hours like I was dead. I normally function impeccably off 5 or 6, but this 8 felt only like a catnap after having been up for days and marathon running nonstop. All the sleep in the world complimented by a caffeine cocktail wouldn't have kept me from drowning in the energy suckhole. Waking up tired and looking ahead to a 10 hour work day then chasing a 4 year old with some sort of workout in there can make even the best motivationalists surrender to shut-eye with no hesitation.
And to add the final toppings to the PMS pizza powerful enough to make me, well....nap because I'm too tired to continue griping about it; is the buffet of terrible food I crave. Give me salt or give me death. Now sugar becuase I'm tired. Pick your absolute favorite food vice then multiply a normal serving of it by 12. That's what I need to feel even remotely close to satiating the endless hunger. How am I supposed to stay at race weight feeling perpetually as though I've never had any food in my life?
So why am I spending all this precious typing time just, well, bitching? I promise I of all people feel so blessed to be a woman and thank my body in all it's behaviors daily. I just want some answers. I know I'm not alone. I know other women ask much of their lives/athleticism performance wise and I want to know how you keep from drowning every month. Please give me some solid feedback outside taking a day off or ingesting enough caffeine to make an elephant tap dance. Becuase that won't work in my life.
Thank you for listening and for your honest feedback on the topic that quietly slips in each month and just LOVES to throw a wrench in a woman's performance world. Here's to our beautiful womanly bodies and all we do to keep them moving at top speed (I'm raising my brownies and nachos to cheers)!
All women have very different hormonal changes and deal with them in all sorts of interesting ways. Truth of the matter is, discussion of such a topic for some is almost taboo and highly personal. Being that those two boundaries are two of my favorite lines to toe while getting to know the people who invite me into their lives for training, I find PMS to be absolutely fascinating. Speaking from a performance perspective, I've found hormonal changes to be one of the biggest challeges in my endurance training. I'd like to know the experiences and remedies of my fellow ladies of hard work. What happens to you? How do you deal? How do we own the road one day, then just tying our run shoes the next warrants wanting to sleep for about a week? Indeed there is a beautiful purpose and function around our cycles for which I'm very grateful. But for women that race triathlons or endure tough workouts, I must ask if you find yourself saying 'thank you' to nature when you're asked to be at peak performance during a period that makes just getting out of bed the single toughest athletic endeavor ever pursued.
Today I swam in mud. Which was the same pool in which I always swim. The same in which I normally feel great. The same in which I hate to exit because I find swimming restorative and rejuventing. But not today. Today the mud water sucked my usual streamline body about 3 feet below the surface and denied my limbs the ability to adhere to any kind of economical rhythm. Just floundering. My bloated frame half swam and half sank across the pool in twice the amount of usual time with triple the effort.
The night before I slept 8 hours like I was dead. I normally function impeccably off 5 or 6, but this 8 felt only like a catnap after having been up for days and marathon running nonstop. All the sleep in the world complimented by a caffeine cocktail wouldn't have kept me from drowning in the energy suckhole. Waking up tired and looking ahead to a 10 hour work day then chasing a 4 year old with some sort of workout in there can make even the best motivationalists surrender to shut-eye with no hesitation.
And to add the final toppings to the PMS pizza powerful enough to make me, well....nap because I'm too tired to continue griping about it; is the buffet of terrible food I crave. Give me salt or give me death. Now sugar becuase I'm tired. Pick your absolute favorite food vice then multiply a normal serving of it by 12. That's what I need to feel even remotely close to satiating the endless hunger. How am I supposed to stay at race weight feeling perpetually as though I've never had any food in my life?
So why am I spending all this precious typing time just, well, bitching? I promise I of all people feel so blessed to be a woman and thank my body in all it's behaviors daily. I just want some answers. I know I'm not alone. I know other women ask much of their lives/athleticism performance wise and I want to know how you keep from drowning every month. Please give me some solid feedback outside taking a day off or ingesting enough caffeine to make an elephant tap dance. Becuase that won't work in my life.
Thank you for listening and for your honest feedback on the topic that quietly slips in each month and just LOVES to throw a wrench in a woman's performance world. Here's to our beautiful womanly bodies and all we do to keep them moving at top speed (I'm raising my brownies and nachos to cheers)!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Boys day at the spa
Wow. What a rough day at home. Mickey is giving Luke a quick boy pedi. Where's mine?
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
World Championship Triathlon uniform
These are the shorts Im wearing for World Championships!! I must have done something right in this wacky life. Thank you so much, everyone, for making this possible. It is YOU that keeps me going!
Sunday, October 2, 2011
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