Reading on Running

After one more run, I'll be one month into a beginner's marathon training schedule. It's amazing to think that in just four weeks, a person can go from not running at all to continuously running five miles. My routes around the DC area are so visually stunning that I run without headphones just to absorb all of the structures and people who pass by. In three miles, I see not only the Washington Monument but also the White House. Last Friday when I went past, the U.S. flag was at half mast for Sen. Kennedy's funeral. My four mile route takes me from Dupont Circle through Georgetown and across the Key Bridge to Rosslyn and back, which is absolutely stunning as I get to see people sailing in their kayaks across the Potomac. Tomorrow, I am running five miles, which will take me past all of the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall and the U.S. Capitol. Gorgeous.

I find training for a marathon requires a particular type of discipline. One has to be dedicated to a training plan because it's not a small thing at all. 26 miles can take up to six months to train for, and in my case, a little longer as I'm building in a cushion in case I experience hiccups along the way. Outside of work, I find I think about running often - so often that I'm even incorporating running-related books into my library. Most recently, I've identified two to buy:



I can't wait. The first book by Christopher McDougall is about a tribe in Mexico that lived isolated from "Western" influence. Due to their geographical location, members of this tribe are ultramarathoners, running barefoot through the canyons of Mexico. The second book reminds me of my own runs as it outlines Haruki Murakami's internal dialogue while he trained for a marathon. He identifies when he is inwardly dissociating, externally dissociating, and everything in between. Running provides an opportunity for a participant to only benchmark him or herself against the self, and Murakami very cogently explains how 'normal' long distance runners are of the mindset "it doesn't matter how long as long as I finish."

I haven't read Born To Run but I did watch an interview between Jon Stewart and McDougall. Like Murakami's book, I'm sure it will inspire me to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Marvelous Makeover: A Chicago Favorite

One of the few drawbacks to living alone is that one cannot cook foods with days and days worth of leftovers, unless one is prone to eating mold. Ick. An example of this type of food is pizza.

I adore pizza. I've tried all variations. The convenient single-serving English muffin pizza. The pita pizza. The tortilla pizza. One day, I'll try a Japanese version of a pizza made with a cabbage crust.

None of these comes even close to the fluffy, buttery, sauce-laden Chicago deep dish pizza. While some die-hard Neopolitan pizza lovers swear by the thin, brick oven baked crust as being the most important component of a pizza, I think that somedays, you want sauce. You want cheese. You want chewy, moist crust, not something thin and dry and slightly charred. You want deep dish.

I brought up my desire for deep dish deliciousness to a community of health-conscious folks, and I was pointed to this recipe from The Pampered Chef. Called Bubble Up Pizza, I instantly recognized this as a close parallel to that Chicago favorite I craved. However, I ran into that same problem of having leftovers for ages if I made this in its casserole form. Then, in a flash of creativity akin to Priori Incantatem, I realized what to do!

I hope you really enjoy this recipe. It's one of my favorites! Feel free to switch things up with some pesto sauce with parmesan, a salsa-based sauce with cheddar, and I even think for Thanksgiving flare, a mashed potato-and turkey filling with cranberry topping could be wonderful.



MINI DEEP DISH PIZZAS
10 servings

INGREDIENTS

Crust
10 count refrigerated biscuit dough

Sauce
15 oz. canned tomato sauce
6 oz. canned tomato paste
2 tbsp beet pesto
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
oregano, to taste
basil, to taste
crushed black pepper, to taste
salt, to taste
Whatever you wanna add; I used 1 cup of chopped mushrooms but you could easily add a non-vegetarian item
1/2 medium sized onion, chopped
2 tsp olive oil

Topping
1 cup low fat mozzarella, shredded
Whatever else you want! Turkey pepperoni and roasted zucchini are examples

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350* F
2. Oil spray 10 muffin tins.
3. Press an individual refrigerated biscuit into the shape of the muffin tin. It will be approximate; just make certain that the sides of the muffin tin are covered with dough.
4. Bake biscuit dough pizza crusts for 3-5 minutes; remove and let cool.
5. While the pizza crusts are cooling, add 2 tsp olive oil to a pot over medium heat.
6. Once the oil is hot, add onion, garlic, basil, and oregano.
7. Saute onion mixture until transparent.
8. Add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms shrink in size.
9. Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, and beet pesto.
10. Let simmer for 10 minutes; stir occasionally.
11. Fill each biscuit dough pizza crust with sauce.
12. Top pizzas with 1-2 tbsp cheese and pizza toppings.
13. Bake pizzas at temperature stated biscuit dough package for 10-12 minutes.
14. Broil pizzas until cheese is brown.
15. Enjoy! Pairs well with green salad.

Vangibath (South Indian eggplant rice)

On left: vangibath; On right: vangibath dry roast

Armed with some eggplant, I decided to try out a dish my mother made when I was growing up. Vangibath, or eggplant rice, is a dish which originates in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is sweet, spicy, and sour at the same time, and pairs well with plain yogurt.

You can purchase vangibath powder from any Indian supermarket - look for the MTR brand - but as I do not live near one, I made my own. Additionally, I used basmati brown rice instead of white rice to include additional fiber. In terms of eggplants, use fresh ones. I had some Asian eggplants, so I used those.

I used a recipe from Dil Se, but made a few modifications. While I used 2 tbsp tamarind concentrate, I would recommend only using 1 to cut down on the sour flavor. To compensate, I wound up adding some brown sugar into the mix.

Here's the recipe:

VANGIBATH

2 medium sized Asian eggplants, cut into bite-size pieces
4 cups cooked basmati brown rice
2 tbsp Tamcon tamarind concentrate
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tbsp brown sugar
Salt to taste

For masala powder:

2 tbsp dry coconut

1 tbsp channa daal

1 tbsp urad daal

For seasoning:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp channa daal
1 tbsp urad daal
2 red chilis
1 tbsp cashews, in small pieces

Directions

1. Cook the rice with enough water and seperate the grains with a fork.
2. Fry the eggplants with a little oil in a saucepan until it almost gets cooked.
3. Dry roast the masala ingredients and grind them into a fine powder.
4. On medium heat, saute all of the ingredients for the seasoning together. When it starts spluttering, add the tamarind concentrate and the ground masala.
5. Simmer for 5 minutes
6. Add the eggplants and salt.
7. Cover the vessel and allow the eggplants to cook until tender.
8. Mix the prepared mixture with the cooked rice and brown sugar.

Zucchini daal

I love food from South Asia. Most of the food I ate growing up was nutritious - not like restaurant fare - and chockful of vegetables, lentils, a little fat, and complex carbohydrates.

This week, I had the urge to make a very simple daal reminiscent of what my family would eat in times of illness. It's relatively bland compared to other Indian foods, and it's filled with the stapes of Indian cooking. You can add whatever vegetables you wish to this; I had zucchini and tomato available. Also, feel free to experiment with the wide variety of lentils available. This daal can be eaten by itself, with flatbreads, with rice, or even with plain yogurt. In particular, daals are very good for people trying to stablize their blood sugar levels.



CHANNA DAAL WITH ZUCCHINI
Inspired by Show Me The Curry

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked channa daal, soaked overnight and drained
1-2 zucchinis, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp canola oil
1/2 medium white onion, diced
Water - 3 cups
Salt - to taste
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin seed
a pinch Asafoetida/hing
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp ginger, grated or finely chopped
Tomato - 1 med, chopped
Cilantro - for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil channa daal for 30-40 minutes in a large pot with water and a little salt. Once the daal is soft and nearly falling apart, drain in a colander.
2. In another pot, add oil on high heat. When oil is hot, add onion, garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, zucchini and chili peppers. When onion becomes transparent, add turmeric, hing, and tomato. Continue to saute until zucchini is soft and tomato juice boils away.
3. Add channa daal and 1 cup water to zucchini mixture. Stir well.
4. The daal is finished when it has a little water let for moisture.

Mini Summer Vegetable Gratin

Inspired by a recent recipe from the New York Times and the abundance of summer corn, I tried this out:

MINI SUMMER VEGETABLE GRATIN

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

2 red chilies, chopped

Salt to taste

1 large garlic clove, minced

1/2 pound summer squash, thinly sliced

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Kernels from 2 ears sweet corn (about 2 cups)

3 large eggs

1/2 cup 1% milk

1 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and coarsely ground in a spice mill, or slightly crushed in a mortar and pestle

1/2 cup reduced-fat cheddar cheese, shreded

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil 6 muffin tins. Set aside the kernels from one of the ears of corn. Heat the olive oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the onion and chilies. Cook, stirring often, until it begins to soften, about three minutes, and add the red pepper and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onions and peppers are tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic and the squash, stir together and add another generous pinch of salt and some pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the zucchini is just beginning to look bright green and some of the slices are translucent. Stir in the kernels from one of the ears of corn. Stir together for a minute or two, and remove from the heat. Scrape into a large bowl.

2. Place the remaining corn kernels in a blender jar, and add the eggs, milk and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until smooth. Pour into the bowl with the vegetables. Add the cumin and the cheese, and stir everything together. Scrape into the muffin tins.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes, until the tops are browned and the gratin is firm to the touch. Serve hot or warm.

Notes: I loved these mashed up inside a tortilla. Kind of a breakfast burrito. They also pair well with salads and fruits.

I recommend these before they are brown on top; because they are in muffin tins, they cook quickly.

Whole Wheat Peach Ginger Muffins

The one bad thing about peaches is that they tend to squish easily. Without fail, I always manage to squash a peach in between purchase and storage in my vegetable box. On Saturday, I arrived home with an extremely juicy peach complete with dent. It looked to be in such a state of disrepair that I decided to use it immediately. Continuing with my experiments using whole wheat pastry flour, I settled on peach muffins laced with ginger and cardomom. Here's the visual:



I will say that these didn't turn out exactly as planned. While the ginger and cardomom were in full presence, the peachy undertone was much more subtle, so subtle that I wished I had added an additional peach to the batter. Next time, next time...regardless, the muffins are still spicy, fruity, and sweet. On the nutritional side, they're not bad, either, coming in at 3 WW pts each.

Here's the recipe I followed:

WHOLE WHEAT PEACH AND GINGER MUFFINS
Approximately 6 very large muffins, or 12 medium muffins

1 Freestone peach, diced with skin
1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tbsp ginger, minced and sauteed until fragrant (crystallized ginger preferred but regular is fine too)
3 tbsp cardomom pods, crushed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 egg
1 cup skim milk
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp light butter with canola oil, melted and cooled for a few minutes
Turbinado sugar, to sprinkle

1. Combine peach, ginger, and cardomom in a blender and puree until smooth.
2. Combine milk and lemon juice; let sit.
3. Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, brown sugar and salt in a large bowl.
4. In a separate smaller bowl whisk together the eggs and the buttermilk. Whisk in the melted butter.
5. Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients, leaving adding peach mixture by folding in the end.
6. Fill muffin tins with batter; sprinkle tops with Turbinado sugar.
7. Bake at 400* for approximately 30 minutes. I prefer these slightly underdone, served with a little butter, apple butter, or just piping hot with tea.

Free cupcakes in Dupont!

Via Twitter...

Cupcakepocalypse @ Red Velvet Cupcakery/Tangysweet

It's been a little slower than normal in the free food department this summer. Perhaps the tight economy is to blame? Luckily, the folks at Tangysweet are opening up another Red Velvet Cupcakery at their DuPont Circle location. To celebrate, they will be giving out free red velvet mini-cupcakes starting at noon on Friday until closing, which is 1 a.m. on Fridays. The cupcake recipes were developed by pastry chef David Guas, known for his work at the Passion Food group of restaurants.