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Tucson - Days 1-3

(Vince) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:32:34 GMT

I’ll warn you now, this entry probably has grammatical and spelling mistakes but I want to crank it out now before I start forgetting all of the details. Everything is moving so quickly and the days are blurring together and getting a little fuzzy.

I have to play catch-up so the detail won’t be as great as it would have if the TSA didn’t steal my laptop adapter. I guess that’s a good place to start. I was in the airport and they decided to go through my backpack and when they returned it, unknown to me at the time, my adapter was gone. When I arrived at the hotel room and attempted to connect my laptop, I realized what had happened but it was too late. I had one overnighted to me but I didn’t get back online until Tuesday night and I’ve already been out training for two solid days.

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Three Veggie Turkey Meatloaf

(Vince) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:37:03 GMT

I really like the extra-lean ground turkey but if I don’t work the ingredients correctly, the meal can come out too dry. I’ve been playing with various ingredients in the meatloaf and I think I’ve got it figured out now.

With the shredded veggies, I am adding moisture into the mixture which creates a tasty meatloaf. By the time dinner was finished, my wife and I had consumed nearly half of the loaf pan. The truth is that my wife only had a couple of small pieces which makes me a big fat pig. NOM NOM NOM. :)

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Going Camping

(Vince) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:38:59 GMT

Coach: If you woke up everyday for a week and your ass hurt, would you tell anyone?

Me: Probably not.

Coach: Want to go to a training camp?

Me: Sure!

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Sausage and Veggies

(Vince) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:36:21 GMT

There’s been an increased amount of talk regarding the paleo diet lately which has me looking into the amount of carbohydrates in my meals. I am obsessive-compulsive by nature so what I really need is something else to obsess about.

While this recipe contains dairy in the form of cheese, I think it would be considered a much better meal than if I had a little bit of pasta or rice to go along with it. Feel free to add it; you’re probably much more of a normal person than I am. :) Regardless of what you add, this dish was very tasty on its own.

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DIY Bike Maintenance

(Vince) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 08:13:40 GMT

Over the last year, I’ve been slowly doing more of my own bike maintenance. It started with a simple chain and cassette swap, moved to partial disassembly when I started travelling with my bike, and recently, I’ve been replacing cables.

As I gradually do more maintenance, I am acquiring the necessary tools and knowledge. Some tasks are simple and others require a few tries to get it right but for the most part, everything has gone well.

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Shepherd’s Casserole

(Vince) — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:40:21 GMT

I was not a fussy little monster; as a kid, I would eat spinach, carrots, peas, mushrooms, or most any vegetable you put in front of me. However, there were a few exceptions such as brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, and... and... and I can’t think of anything else. But there was probably one other. Since I would eat almost anything, I was never made to eat anything. What I mean is that when I said I didn’t like sweet potatoes, they took my word for it and that was the end of that.

We had dinner out a few months ago and my entrée was served with sweet potato slices. I snubbed my nose at them when I saw them sitting on my plate, occupying space where a good vegetable should’ve been, but I decided to try them anyway. Huh. I liked them. Since then, I’ve made them in a couple meals and I still like them. I’ve been trying to figure this out and the only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that I must’ve had candied yams. Whatever the reason, I’m glad I was reintroduced to them because I like them. And this meal below... the sweet potatoes put this over the top... YUMMY!

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Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

(Vince) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 05:12:02 GMT

The name "pot pie" conjures up memories from when I was a kid and brings a smile to my face. Chicken pot pies, macaroni and cheese, and sloppy Joe’s... yummy kid food. :)

Fast forward to the present and you’re not going to find a 39 cent frozen circle to pop into the oven. Instead, you’re going to find a decent amount of preparation to eat something that probably only tastes as good. But mine is healthier and contains no preservatives. Oh I forgot, it also doesn’t have a crust. Sorry, I know that’s the best part. Despite the crust, this is pretty tasty.

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ART, Ultrasound and Shock Therapy

(Vince) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:39:43 GMT

Since my initial treatment, I’ve been trying to determine if I notice improvement. Has the sensation gone away? No. Then I guess the treatment didn’t work. My friends tell me that I can’t expect miracles in one session.

I am skeptical about this course of action which I think is a good thing because I won’t fall into the placebo group and get magically cured. That said, I wish I did and I was.

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Turkey Shell Casserole

(Vince) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:43:31 GMT

I’ve been using it for years, I’ve been blogging about it for at least a year, and it turns out I don’t know how to spell her name. Poor Jennie-O, I’ve been dropping the last "e". I wonder if I’ll remember past this recipe. Probably not.

Talk about throwing a meal together. I was in another one of my moods and I started jotting down ingredients. When I thought I was finished, I began to write a few more and after that I threw in a few items during the process of cooking. The result — a tasty casserole to which I added a bit of crushed red pepper to my own dish because the wife doesn’t care for it.

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Chilean Chicken Pie

(Vince) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 07:42:23 GMT

The other day I made a Peruvian dish and last night I directed my attention south to the country of Chile. I’m geographically challenged and had to use a map to determine the location but that’s what Google is for anyway. Maybe I’ll find something Argentinean next.

By looking at the picture, you’d think this was corn mush. It is corn mush but I assure you, it’s delicious. The preparation seemed longer than usual but it was well worth it. By the time I got done, there was very little left so in the future I’d like to double the recipe in order to make all that hard work worth something.

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I Need ART?

(Vince) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:12:13 GMT

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been dealing with a nagging sensation in the general area of my Achilles tendon. I’m assuming this is an Achilles injury attempting to wreak havoc on my training. Like a good little boy, I stopped running in an attempt to stave off a full blown case of Achilles tendonitis.

After a small break, the would-be injury disappeared — it disappeared until I decided to run again — in which case it presented itself once again as a non-painful sensation. I really don’t know how to describe it other than to say that it doesn’t hurt although at one point, I think I might have felt a slight burning sensation but I am hyper-sensitive to just about anything now.

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Peruvian Chicken

(Vince) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:47 GMT

Continuing down the road of ethnic cooking, I discovered this chicken dish which really isn’t all that different than something I would’ve cooked except for the use of paprika. That said, one small addition added a really nice touch to a fairly simple recipe.

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20,000 Yards

(Vince) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:43:07 GMT

I’m finally at a place where I feel like I can hold my own in the water. That doesn’t mean that 15 year old girls don’t kick my ass in the pool, it just means that there are less of them doing it these days. :)

I’ve gone through several training methods to finally discover one that works for me consistently. By consistently, I mean a method that allows me to improve without putting me at risk for injury. My approach for the last year or so has been mostly low intensity volume. I haven’t completely excluded intensity, but the majority of the work has been done at an easy effort.

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Chili Number 10

(Vince) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:50:18 GMT

Yes, it is true. This will be my tenth variation of chili to date. I wasn’t really planning on blogging this latest version because I just started throwing ingredients into the pot but it turned out to be delicious so I felt I needed to share it.

I really did just start throwing ingredients into the pot. While sautéing the veggies, I put a large plate out on the counter and began to dump spice onto it. At one point, I thought I would probably regret the combination but after tasting it, I was pleased with my concoction.

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Stuffed Salmon

(Vince) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 05:11:21 GMT

I was looking for a tasty but healthy meal to cook for Valentines Day and I found a stuffed salmon recipe that looked delicious. I opted for cottage cheese instead of using ricotta which seems to be a good substitute as long as there are other flavors to complement it.

This meal was fairly easy to make except that I nearly destroyed the salmon attempting to butterfly it. I asked the butcher for a thick fillet but it was somewhat tapered which made it quite difficult to slice it in half. I succeeded (barely)!

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Yogurt Chicken over Brown Rice

(Vince) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:09:48 GMT

I’ve decided to go ethnic. Ok, not me personally but my cooking. I’m running out of recipes and in an effort to seek out new flavors, I’ve started my search for ethnic dishes. I’ve gone down this path before but I think I need to stay on it for a while. I mean really... how many ways can I make a meatloaf or a bowl of chili? I have recipes for 9 of each listed on this sight.

I fired up my handy dandy rice cooker and used 2.25 cups of water per one cup of brown rice. If I make this again, the only thing I’d change is maybe add a little bite to it in the form of cayenne pepper or curry powder.

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Mushroom Meatloaf

(Vince) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:00:21 GMT

The majority of the meals I cook start with a recipe. In most cases, I will modify that recipe to some degree in order to make it healthier than the original and I’ll add or subtract a few items for personal preference.

I found a meatloaf recipe and after quickly glancing through it, I thought it sounded good. When I attempted to cook the recipe, I took a closer look at the instructions and realized the meatloaf was fried in a pan.

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That Last Pound

(Vince) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:06:46 GMT

I’d like the subject of this post to be "That Last Kilo" but I had to Google "convert 1 kilo to pound" so I think it would be just plain dishonest to use anything other than the Imperial measurement.

I remember back in the 70’s when they attempted to switch to the Metric system. That lasted about a week until someone shouted: "Screw you and your funny base10 measurement system!" And that was the end of that. Little did they know we’d switch from exporting to importing over the next 40 years and now I’m screwed without the help of Google.

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Moroccan Squash Stew

(Vince) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 07:36:53 GMT

Yeah, I know. I cooked with butternut squash earlier in the week. When I decided that was going to be the veggie of the week, I found two recipes I really wanted to cook so that’s why I’m using it again.

I found that if you buy a large enough squash, you can cut the head off and not have to deal with the seeds. Rather than peel the squash with a vegetable peeler, I just used a knife and cut straight down the side until the flesh was exposed. I’ve used a peeler in the past and the skin is fairly difficult to remove using that method.

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The Running Man

(Vince) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 06:36:27 GMT

The problem with a game like 30/30 is that my competitive side wants to take over and win. Unfortunately, my goal for 2010 is not this game and therein lies the rub. That said, I feel like I played the game wisely.

My strategy for the game was to run each day at an easy pace. Basically, I walked out the door, started running and whatever pace my body wanted to run was what I ran. On most days that pace was somewhere around an 8:30 minute/mile.

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Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

(Vince) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:31:47 GMT

I had an idea. I decided that I wanted to pick a vegetable, not a common vegetable, and then make a dinner based around it. Last night I decided butternut squash.

We shall see how long this last given my short attention span. I seem to recall sometime ago that I wanted to list the nutritional benefits of a vegetable in my recipes but that lasted for two or three entries. Whatever.

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The Street Sweeper

(Vince) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:20:03 GMT

Sometimes I write because I like to write. And sometimes those pieces never get published here (or anywhere for that matter) because they have nothing to do with training or cooking. You know... because training and cooking go hand in hand. Duh. :P

This morning while catching up on Seth’s Blog (thanks g!), I came across an article he wrote a little over a week ago and it seemed like a sign for me to post my unrelated piece. Heck, it’s my blog, I can do whatever I want. :)

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Stockpot Lasagna

(Vince) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:22:59 GMT

I’m sort of becoming a one trick pony with turkey meat. Ok, it’s more than one but when I see ground turkey in the refrigerator, I think meatloaf, chili, sloppy Joe’s, or pasta sauce. I’ve made quite a few meatloaves and various versions of chili lately. Sloppy Joe’s are fairly easy to make as well so I was left with pasta sauce. I have a fairly standard pasta sauce and if I had a little version of me running around, that recipe would get taught as the "family recipe".

I guess what I’m trying to convey is that when I cook I want to try something different and I want to have something to blog about. As I was pondering my options, I thought about lasagna but immediately tossed that idea out the window because lasagna has too many noodles and too much cheese. In my mind, that equates to — too many calories. I thought about vegetable lasagna like one that I’ve made previously with zucchini instead of noodles. While that’s a delicious meal, it’s already been done.

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Broccoli and Turkey Sausage Casserole

(Vince) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:19:35 GMT

This recipe is a bastardization of two separate recipes. I don’t know how healthy it is but it’s healthier than the originals which used ricotta and half and half.

It was delicious! I quickly switched to eating a giant bowl of salad to prevent further consumption of this tasty entrée. There’s enough for lunch... barely. The Mrs. was also pleased. I will try this again but I’ll use the extra-lean ground turkey instead.

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Name That Tune

(Vince) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:50:58 GMT

Lately I’ve been seeing quite a few ads for Ironman training plans that preach the "smarter not harder" approach. I saw a plan this morning with only 10 hours of training per week. While trying to wrap my mind around that, I was reminded of one of my favorite scenes from "Something About Mary"...

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Sunday Night Turkey Casserole

(Vince) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 05:27:10 GMT

I’m running out of names. It’s sad. Anyway. I’ve got a meal cooking in the slow cooker but that’s for lunch. I still have dinner to prepare and needed to clean out the fridge. When I looked to see what remained, I had a package of Jenni-O turkey and some veggies. The outcome...

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Moroccan Meatloaf

(Vince) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 16:38:55 GMT

Another tasty meatloaf! I think using the corn flake crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs allows the loaf to turn a darker color which for some reason is more appealing to me. It might have something to do with using turkey instead of beef. Weird.

I realize I’m not a photographer and that my photos are sort amateurish. But then there are photos like this one where I had to work some Photoshop magic in order to get a photo that would meet my low standards.

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White Bean Soup

(Vince) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:38:34 GMT

In an effort to keep the refrigerator stocked with leftovers, I found a chili recipe, hacked it to bits and turned it into a soup. Among the many differences, the original recipe wanted me to soak beans. I don’t have that kind of patience so I used canned white beans. Not the white kidney aka cannellini beans but the smaller canned white beans.

I had low expectations for my leftover but this turned out to be quite tasty. Now that I think about it, I might’ve thrown in a celery stalk as well. I would’ve added it with the onions. It’ll be good either way.

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Nike Free 5.0 V4

(Steve) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:23:06 GMT

Product Description

The Nike Free 5.0 V4 Men’s Running Shoe emphasizes natural foot movement while delivering an extraordinary feel, combined with the cushioning, traction and underfoot protection of a shoe. Updates to this version of the Free 5.0 make it even better for runners who want to reap the benefits of barefoot training. Weight: 8.2 ounces (men’s size 9)

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The BEST Stuffed Bell Peppers

(Vince) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:01:17 GMT

I had a package of turkey sitting in the fridge and thought I better make use of it before it started to get funky. In a pinch, I grabbed bell peppers from the grocery store thinking that I could slap together stuffed bell peppers.

I grabbed a few different recipes and with some of my own magic, I concocted what I think are the best stuffed bell peppers ever. My wife took one bite and said they were delicious. Sometimes you just get lucky and this was one of those occurrences.

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