Back to normal

After the huge exercise endeavor that the 1/3 iron race presented to me, I am happy to get back to normal.

'Normal' is different for everyone, of course. For me, normal is exercising 1 hr/5 days a week instead of 2+ hours. It's nice to have more flexibility in what kinds of exercise I pursue as well, since I don't feel I need to stick to a training program. Normal is also spending a little less time in the sun, getting more fresh fruits and veggies, and having more time to cook. So, this week, getting back to normal started with a trip to the Farmer's market.

2 bags of rainbow chard, a squash, a zuc, a baggie of grape tomatoes, 7 large tomatoes, and a good looking melon.

And at least a month worth of beef! It might seem strange to get beef from the farmer's market, but this guy has grass-fed beef, which he raises within an hour of town. He gets it butchered in a small town 1/2 an hour away, and he brings it in a freezer every week. PLUS, ONCE YOU EAT IT, NO OTHER BEEF WILL BE GOOD ENOUGH. It's seriously that good. I got 2 packages of beef ribs, 2 lbs of stew meat, and a lb of hamburger. If you want to get beef from this guy, he's super nice and will answer all of your questions. He even does special orders. Here's his card:

Since we're also working on clearing out our freezer and pantry before we go grocery shopping again, we've been pretty limited in our meals. We've been having a lot of fish, since we had a couple big bags of bulk fish in the freezer. Just take a look at some of these meals:

Breakfasts:

Some form of kashi with fruit and iced coffee.

Pineapple with a panini-pressed PB&J (hey, points for creativity, please?)

1 egg + 1 egg white over-hard with cantelope

Blueberry pancakes + cantelope. Butter, no syrup (blech!)

Lunches:

 

Vegetarian greek sandwich on wheat. 

Salad with spinach, olives, tomatoes, mushrooms, krab, broccoli salad, and carrot salad.

A baguette with goulash. Yummmmm. 

Fruit, krab, and varieties of cool-whip salads. OMG, I love fluff! 

Dinners: pasta with tomato, basil, scallop, garlic. Those are green beans in the back. 

  

Portabello ravioli, 1/2 with pesto, 1/2 with marinara, broccoli

Finally, my masterpiece of the week comes with a how-to: 

Baked fish, bread, and this amazing zucchini side-dish! 

Now, I owe Emily for the inspiration for this dish. She made this excellent zucchini-noodle pasta that I just HAD to copy in my own version. I know a lot of you probably don't read her blog, but I recommend it. She has such good, healthy ideas that appeal to a variety of people! 

To make the pasta, start with a couple of good sized zucs.

Then, skin it with a peeler. It gets super slimy, so I use corn-cob holders to keep it in hand.

Then use a veggie peeler to make long strips. 

STOP once you get to the seeds. They are not good for noodles, but they are still tasty. I cubed the rest of the zuc and put it in a bowl for another meal. 

When you're done, you'll have a bowl of this.

To make the above pasta, I sauteed 1 tsp of olive oil, 1 cup of grape tomatoes cut in half for 2-3 minutes. Then I thew in the zucchini noodles and about 1/4 c of pesto. I stirred to coat and then took it off the heat. The zucchini will wilt on its own and be perfect. 

You might need extra salt, but it's SOOOOO good. 

Ok, I gotta go. I'm way behind in life today and I hope to talk about some of the other important stuff from this week as well as do a science post this weekend. FIRST, I have a question: 

I have a friend who doesn't like legumes. She has recently asked me for advice on what bean dishes to make to try to learn to like beans. What is your favorite bean dish?

Eating Requires Exercise: Mon OFF, Tue 3 mile speedwork, Wed 25 mile run, Thurs off, Fri planned 6 mile run.