The Epicurious Runner

It’s National Waffle Week! It started on the 5th and goes through the 11th. We celebrated National Waffle Week by making delicious homemade waffles topped with Caramelized Cinnamon Apples. They weren’t exactly the healthiest waffles, okay they weren’t healthy at all, but hey sometimes you deserve a special breakfast like this!

Here is the recipe.

Waffles (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 2 Apples
• 2 – 3 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
• 2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 – 2 tsp. Cinnamon

Add butter and sliced apples to a pan. Saute apples until they are noticeably softer, about 10 minutes. Add in the brown sugar and cinnamon and saute for about 5 minutes longer. Cook the apples to your desired consistency.

2 Apples makes enough for 2 people or 2 waffles. Enjoy!

Are you celebrating National Waffle Week? Or have you ever celebrated any kind of food holiday?

I have been making a ton of my own pizza’s recently and I’m trying to make them better and better every time. I’m leaning toward the Neapolitan style pizza, well at least for the toppings, I have yet to perfect a Neapolitan crust.

The first two pizzas, I did not like the crust very much. I thought it was a good recipe because I had used it before, but it turns out that it was just not good at all. Okay, that’s a lie, the texture and the ‘thinness’ of the crust was excellent, I just did not enjoy the flavor. It was too…flour tasting? I don’t know, whatever the flavor was, it just stood out too much and did not go with the flavor of the rest of the pizza.

In this case, indeed the third times the charm! I really enjoyed this crust! I think maybe next time though, it should be cooked for only slightly longer and it will be even better. The crust was pretty thin, but it had a good chewy consistency and the flavor was spot on. This was the best homemade pizza I have ever made! Looks pretty good right?

The key to making good homemade pizza is using fresh mozzarella cheese, not the bagged pre-shredded stuff! I sliced up the mozzarella and placed it all over the pizza and then I topped it with grated Romano cheese and it comes out looking like this. Mmmmmm, so good!

Here is the dough recipe I used:

• 1 3/4 – 2 1/4 cups Flour
• 1 envelope of Fleischmann’s Pizza Yeast
• 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2/3 cup very warm tap water
• 3 tbsp. oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Combine 1 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add water and oil. Mix together until well blended; about 1 minute.

Add gradually, 1/2 cup flour until soft dough ball is formed; will be slightly sticky. Add additional flour if need to form dough ball.

Knead on a floured surface adding additional flour if needed, until smooth and elastic; about 4 minutes. With floured hands, press dough out to fill greased pizza pan, OR roll dough to a 12 inch circle and transfer to greased pizza pan.

Top as desired with pizza sauce, toppings and cheese.

Bake on bottom oven rack for 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly and crust is brown.

I made oatmeal this morning for breakfast and I thought it was going to be delicious because it looked pretty good, right?

I was excited to write about this Coconut Blueberry Almond Oatmeal , but then it turned out to be a huge failure. The main reason is that the oats I am using are the 1-minute Quaker oats and those never taste that good. They are the only thing I have in my cabinet right now and I’ve made good oatmeal with them before so I was expecting a lot more. I generally like my oatmeal thick and this was was pretty dang thick!

The consistency was off and the flavor was very bland. It wasn’t sweet enough, even though I added a good drizzle of honey. The only good part about it was the almonds. After they sat in the oatmeal for a few minutes, they softened up and they were perfectly delicious in my mouth. Oh well, better luck next time.

I want to make more pizza now!

…and the chafing begins, but I will get to that later.

I was getting a little worried because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to fit my long run in this weekend. Working the night shift really throws off my running schedule. It was nice and cool here in NYC for a few days and it was definitely welcomed, but we are up for another scorcher this week, starting today.

Before I continue on, I missed writing about my long run last weekend. I had 14 miles originally planned, but my body could only manage 12, so stopped there. The run itself went really well physically, but it felt like it was going on and on forever. This was my first successful 12 mile run yet. I have run this distance, I believe 3 other times and I’ve injured myself on every one. I was so happy to come out of that run injury free. Looks like I broke the curse of the Unlucky 12.

Note: To break up this long post, I am going to intersperse my after run breakfast photos.

I love pancake & cheese sandwiches! My dad used to make these when I was little. So good.

I was nervous about this run, I had a real hard time getting to bed early last night. I had so much on my mind. The alarm went off at 6:30 and I was so tempted to just roll over and say screw it. But, then I thought about how awesome I was going to feel after running the longest I’ve ever run.

My clothes were already laid out since Friday night so I was just about all ready to go come this morning. I decided last night to skip on Central Park and stick to Astoria. I have a good 6-7 mile loop that I normally run, so I figured I might as well just run that twice. I hid an almost frozen bottle of gatorade in my front yard so that I could refill my water bottle halfway through my run.

No camelbak today. Unfortunately I left gatorade and water in it for several days so it started to growing funky stuff inside of it. Gross, I know. I need to get some sanitizer and a brush to give the hose a good cleaning.

I started out pretty slow on my run, well not super slow, but I knew I needed to pace myself physically and mentally. I broke my run into 3 – 5 mile segments and thought of it as the beginning, middle, and end. I ran into a small race going on around mile 11 and I cheered for a few of the people and a kid running by. It made me feel good and it also gave me some unexpected energy.

The last two miles were TOUGH! I had to keep repeating to myself, less than two miles or less than 1 mile. I made it though and I evened out with a 10 min/mi. average pace!

It’s supposed to be at least 90 degrees here today, so that is why I headed out so early. I definitely never wake up that early, not even to run. It’s a good thing I got out there when I did though because it was really starting to heat up by the time I finished. For some weird reason I had the Spanish alphabet stuck in my head for the last two miles and I couldn’t stop singing it. Random.

I realized recently that I haven’t been eating enough, not only after my long runs, but in general. This has never happened to me. I’ve been getting really light headed at work around the same time every night and I think it’s because I don’t eat enough in the evening. I really hate this schedule, but thankfully I only have one more week of nights and then I am FINALLY moving to the day shift, thank god!

But, yes like I said, I have not been eating enough, so today I came home with a goal. EAT! I have trouble eating after a long run, my stomach never feels up to it right away. I spread these 3 small meals out over 2 hours.

I also experienced some minor chafing on my run, between my knees and under my left armpit. I think I’ll need to purchase some body glide.  

Here’s the proof:

New York City may be over crowded, dirty and filled with millions of cars and even more people, but every once in a while the city gives back to the people and I must say this is one of the coolest things I’ve yet to experience here.

I ran the route, down and back and racked up a total of 11 miles. It was a beautiful day out with perfect weather, I couldn’t have asked for more! I was supposed to meet up with my friends at 8am, but I got out of work really late on Friday night and there was no way I would’ve been able to get up that early. I ended up getting there around 10:15.

I finally feel my speed coming back. Every week my long run pace is coming down significantly.

• Distance: 11 Miles
• Duration: 1:50:11
• Pace: 10:01

Splits:

1. 10:12
2. 9:44
3. 9:29
4. 10:01
5. 9:32
6. 10:35
7. 9:50
8. 9:14
9. 10:42
10. 10:01
11. 10:45

I had to stop a lot on my turnaround trip, there were a few intersections that were still open, so when the light changed they had people standing there with stop and go signs and I managed to hit a lot of stops on the way back. Either way, I am very happy with my run because I felt great the whole time! I feel like this is my first run since being back where I felt like myself. I’m really looking forward to the Bronx Half Marathon next week.

After my run, I had plans to meet up with Derek and Dave at Shake Shack. I was a little late, but they sat and had a beer while they waited at a nearby bar. Shake Shack was amazing of course. I made sure not to eat too much, because I didn’t want to feel overly full the rest of the day. I got a double Shack Burger and a Concrete. My concrete was full of calories, but I didn’t care, it was worth the splurge. It was called: Jelly’s Last Donut and it had donuts, cinnamon, raspberry jam swirls inside of vanilla frozen custard. Mmm, it was so good.

I swear, every summer I go through a phase where all I am craving are fish tacos. They are so good! I haven’t had a lot of different kinds, but the ones from Margaritas stick out to me and are really good, considering they’re fried. I prefer the fish to be grilled or baked. I woke up on Sunday morning and read a few blogs before I stumbled upon this post from Eat, Live, Run. That was it, I couldn’t get them off my mind! I had a pretty chill weekend and didn’t have too many responsibilities so I decided that my one and only goal for Sunday would be to finally make my very own fish tacos.

I have a very specific way fish tacos should be made, so I searched and searched and searched before I found the right recipe. It happened to be Mr. Bobby Flay’s recipe, which made me happy and even more confident that these suckers would come out phenomenal.

I made my list and went to the grocery store to buy every last ingredient that was needed. The recipe is pretty simple, but it takes A LOT of prep time. I was dicing and chopping for over an hour, but in the end it was all worth it.

*Note: I used tilapia, instead of mahi mahi, which is what the recipe called for. You can basically use any type of good white fish. This recipe came from FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients

• 4 (8-ounce) mahi mahi fillets
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Citrus Vinaigrette, recipe follows
• 8 (6-inch) flour tortillas, cut into 2 1/2 to 3-inch circles, and deep fried
• Red Cabbage Slaw, recipe follows
• Tomato and Avocado Salsa, recipe follows

Directions

Citrus Vinaigrette:

• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 heaping tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup canola oil

Red Cabbage Slaw:

• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 head red cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 large carrot, cut into fine julienne
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
• Salt and pepper

Tomato and Avocado Salsa:

• 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
• 2 ripe Hass avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
• 1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 serrano chile, finely diced
• 1 to 2 limes, juiced
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 to 2 teaspoons honey
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For some reason, 10 miles is my favorite distance to run. It’s a pretty long run, but it’s doable, I just love being able to say I ran 10 miles today, what did you do? haha, just kidding. Anyway, I woke up later than I had planned, which is usually what happens because I am not on that early morning schedule anymore. I went to bed around 11:30 last night, but probably didn’t actually fall asleep until closer to 1.

I woke up around 8:30 and decided that I would go to Central Park to do my run, I just wasn’t looking forward to running 10 miles in Astoria, where I would have to stop frequently and would have to wind up and down roads just to get my mileage up.

The weather wasn’t too bad today. It was probably 74 or 75 out, but the sun was shining strong. I was faster this week in my long run because I haven’t been wearing those arch supports that I bought. They made my feet feel like bricks when I wore them last weekend on my 9 mile run.

Though, I wasn’t very fast either.

Unfortunately that is what happens after you don’t run for 5 weeks and it is the middle of the summer. I’m sure time will heal my slowness and until then I will keep on trekking on.

Here are my splits and stats:

• Distance: 10 Miles
• Duration: 1 hr. 42 min. 45 sec.
• Pace: 10:16

1. 10:46
2. 10:02
3. 9:40
4. 10:34
5. 10:07
6. 10:22
7. 10:05
8. 10:07
9. 10:35
10. 10:22

After I got home, I stretched A LOT! Then I ate this delicious egg sandwich with tabasco sauce.

So, my car is still not fixed! I got it back from the shop in CT and there are now 2 more problems with it. So, last week the boyfriend and I took a bus trip home instead of driving. We left early on Thursday Morning and ended up getting to the lake around 3pm. I wished we had more time there because it was so nice, but I was definitely glad to have a nice little vacation for a couple of days.

We went tubing, I got a tan, and I ate A LOT! But, what else is new right? I also, as previously stated, ran my first pain free run! I also got to run with my sister, which was awesome! I’m so happy my sister is getting into running and she is loving it! She is doing the C25K program and is doing awesome! She is signed up for the Cigna 5K Race in August and I’m sure she is going to kick ass.

This was up until Saturday morning, I will have to recap the rest of the weekend in another post. But, yes I brought Magnolia cupcakes up for everyone and they got devoured fast! Also, check out this ridiculous painting that was hanging in our cottage, haha.

I tried to do as much swimming as I could. I definitely think I got some good exercise in and it was nice to actually swim in a lake and not a pool.

Does your family re-visit vacation spots? Where do you go yearly?

So glad it’s Friday, I am really looking forward to the long weekend. This morning, or rather this afternoon I did a 2 mile run and my foot felt amazing! There was no pain at all so I couldn’t be happier. I am very much looking forward to the 6  mile run I have planned for Sunday. After the run, I did four sets of lunges so I’m sure my legs will be feeling those tomorrow.

Breakfast was a 2 egg omelette with feta cheese and Tiger sauce on a plain bagel. It was delicious, but it wasn’t spicy enough so I also added a little tabasco sauce and that did the trick.

Okay so I’m going to try again with the half marathon. This time will HAVE to be a success because it is right smack in the middle of my marathon training plan so hopefully I will be feeling and doing great.

Just signed up for the Bronx Half Marathon on Sunday August 15th. I’ve never actually been to the Bronx, so I guess why not make my first trip there for an awesome race, sounds perfect to me!

Headed to work early today, see you over the weekend!