I am finally back in the land of kitchens and culinary, back from a transformative journey brimming with ideas, direction and passion. Passion which is directed not just towards my running, but my passion for cooking. I am more motivated than ever to share my recipes, nutritional know how and culinary skills. It makes me giddy to think about getting into the kitchen and into writing all the things that I have brewing in my head. All in good time though. As I settle back into life, I have the opportunity to get back into the kitchen and create, create, create. The recipes below just happened into my head when I was wondering around in the grocery store this morning. They turned out fantastic, simple and nutritional.
I am back on top of things and looking towards planning a future where my website is even more of a tool that runners and athletes can meet their nutritional needs, cook and eat amazing gourmet food and find out all sorts of culinary and nutritional information. Also, I am keen to continue to try and work on a cookbook and have that published in the next year or two. That is a task that comes with no small undertaking and I am so ready to take on the challenge. In the meantime if you want to grab all of my recipes from this year and last, head over to the Tastebook badge in the left hand column and buy a Fast Foodie Cookbook. I have one book for last and one for this. This years is currently being updated to be complete, but the cool thing about tastebook is that you can buy pages and add them to your book. Check it out.
As the summer comes to a close, drink and eat up all you can of all the bounty of summer, both literally and figuratively!
Beautiful summer meal for a beautiful summer day
Sage and Garlic Green Beans
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. fresh sage, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup water
1 cup green beans, trimmed
1 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper
Directions:
In a saute pan, bring water to a boil and put green beans in the water to poach/parboil them for 2-3 mins. Drain the water, add olive oil, garlic and sage and saute until the green beans crisp up. Salt and pepper to taste.
Summer Melon and Goat Cheese Salad
Summer Melon and Goat Cheese Salad
Ingredients:
3 cups arugula
¼ cup red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup cantalope, cubed
2 tbsp. goat cheese
olive oil
red wine vinegar
salt
pepper
Directions:
Soak sliced onions in ice cold water to remove sharpness. Meanwhile, arrange arugula, melon and goat cheese in a bowl. Add onions, drizzle with nice olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.
Sun-dried Tomato, Mushroom and Fresh Herb Chicken
Ingredients:
3 sun-dried tomato, packed in oil
¼ cup mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp. mixed fresh herbs, minced
1 organic boneless skinless chicken breast, butterflied
1.5 tablespoons olive oil
salt
pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a oven proof skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat. Saute sliced mushrooms for 2-3 minutes. Remove mushrooms from skillet, leaving oil in pan.
Stuff the butterflied chicken with the sun dried tomatoes (3 slices approx), mushrooms and 1/2 of the fresh herbs. Close, sprinkle remaining herbs on top and salt and pepper. Add the remaining oil back to the skillet. Place chicken in the skillet and brown on both sides. Remove skillet from heat and bake in oven until chicken is cooked through about 35 minutes.
My salad looks neon pink from the beets.
Yes, its that old saying: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Its funny when I decided to name this post that since I realized as I made my beautiful salad, that what I am really imitating is myself. Let me clarify. There is a cafe in the Marina in San Francisco that I adore called Blue Barn. I go there very often to get a fresh, delicious, organic salad. I love their salads, but the truth of the matter is, I only ever get one salad and it is a combination I chose myself utilizing their “You pick your own” salad option. You get a choice of greens, 6 toppings and can add avocado or protein for an extra dollar. Their dressings are delicious, my personal favorite being the grain mustard vinaigrette (which is gf & vegan). Heck, its probably the reason that I keep on going back.
However, there are (many) times when I am not available to drive into San Francisco and get a $10 salad, or I am not in the area at all. Should I do without? Say it isn’t so. So it dawned on me one day that I must figure out how to make that dressing on my own. I played with it and ultimately, found a dressing which mimicked that at Blue Barn. It is easy enough to gather the ingredients that I ALWAYS pick when I make my salad there and now am able to enjoy a taste of my favorite joint, wherever I am. Sadly, I don’t have a cute chinese takeout box to put mine in like they serve theirs.
Devon’s Favorite Salad
For this salad, I use the following vegetables & then when I want to make it heartier I top with a few ounces of meat such as in the picture (leftover BBQ’d chicken):
Spring/Mixed Greens
Jicama, julienned
Carrots, julienned
Cherry tomatoes
Beets (Raw or cooked, whatever is on hand)
Roasted Bell peppers
Avocado
And one of the following (again what is on hand): grilled portabello mushroom, caramelized onions, garbanzo beans or red onion
Ingredients for Dressing:
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp grain mustard
2 tsp agave nectar
1 cup good olive oil
salt and pepper
Directions:
In a blender, blend all ingredients except the olive oil together. Then with the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil in until the dressing emulsifies. Makes several servings.
(more below picture)
PB filled deliciousness. Nice crisp outside, soft on the inside. Yum.
Another thing I have taken keen interest in imitating but in a gluten free fashion is peanut butter filled pretzels. I love pb pretzels but haven’t found a brand that does them gluten free. I have taken it upon myself to create such a product. Maybe just for me, maybe for the world.
This was my first attempt at working them out. They were good, not great. But still pretty darn tasty. I need to work out the xanthan gum amount, or better yet, work with a gluten free flour mix that already includes it (which is much easier yeah). I am going to re-write the recipe and do much more perfecting before I post the recipe (if I ever do, who knows I could come up with an amazing secret formula I patent and produce for the world). I am excited about continuing to work on this though. After that, I am going to start work on my own on the run nutrition bars and see if I can create my own ultimate running food.
I like Hummus on my salads. Alot. However, traditional hummus doesn’t necessarily go with every kind of salad. I was in the mood for a Southwestern inspired salad so I made a “winter worthy” salad by adding sweet potato roast disks and a chili bean-corn spicy hummus. While the look of this particular hummus came out looking more like steak tartar, it was delicious. I would recommend kicking up the heat with a habanero or Tabasco sauce.
Southwest Salad with Chili Bean Hummus, Sweet Potato and Avocado
Ingredients:
1 can chili beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup frozen corn
2 tbsp. chopped garlic
¼ cup cilantro
½ lemon
2 dash habanero sauce/Tabasco
½ large sweet potato, cut into disks
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. chili powder
2 cups mixed baby greens
2 roast bell pepper, chopped
¾ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
½ avocado, chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450. On a parchment covered baking sheet, lay the sweet potato disks in a single layer and sprinkle with the olive oil and chili powder. Place in oven. Cook for 10-12 minutes until beginning to be tender and one side is crisping. Turn over and continue to cook another 10-12 minutes. Remove when done cooking.
Meanwhile in a food processor, combine chili beans, corn, cilantro, garlic, juice of half of a lemon, and salt and pepper. Pulse until combine. Then with the motor running drizzle in olive oil until smooth.
To compose salad, toss greens with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato and bell pepper and toss again. Plate greens over sweet potato around the edge. Spoon 1-2 heaping spoonfuls of chili bean hummus in the center of the salad and sprinkle avocado pieces over top.
