tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51782925520324430942024-03-12T20:02:30.972-04:00The Clock-Racing GourmetLots of produce, not a lot of time.The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.comBlogger129125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-80607956905372079162013-01-02T20:23:00.002-05:002013-01-02T20:23:42.689-05:00Random North African stewIt was a night for cleaning out the fridge and I knew, this being another dreary afternoon and evening, that soup would be the outcome. I wasn't starving, having had a pretty substantial breakfast and lunch, but I didn't want to let any of what had been in the fridge for days (especially the celery) go bad. So, I basically just chopped up everything that I knew had been in there a The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-77368698801307942912013-01-01T19:56:00.000-05:002013-01-01T19:56:01.674-05:00Comfort food for a dreary eveningOne thing I've loved about this New Year's Day is that I managed to get a few things done and also had time for a cozy afternoon of reading on the Nook I got for Christmas (Steve always gives great gifts!). The current selection: Dr. Colin Campbell's The China Study. Having been vegetarian for two years now and vegan for one, I find it amazing that I'm still learning things from this The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-17133898089382928552013-01-01T13:06:00.000-05:002013-01-01T13:06:12.395-05:00Happy New Year!Well, 2012 ended on a positive note overall. My last two runs were the Cold Winter's Day 5K, completed in 21:01 (chip time), and a sub-freezing 13-miler on New Year's Eve in about 1:41 or 1:42. After partying away the last few moments of 2012 and then sleeping in this morning, I'm happy to say that Steve and I rang in the New Year with some homemade Hoppin' John for lunch!
If The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-41155270337367129762012-12-14T20:23:00.001-05:002012-12-14T20:23:31.670-05:00Black Bean EnchiladasI've had these on the brain for a while and finally got around to making them. I made it a couple of times during my hiatus from the blog and based it on a recipe somewhere on the Interwebs that I veganized by using vegan cheese. Follow Your Heart brand cheeses don't melt as easily in the oven as Daiya (which I don't think tastes as good), but I got a good result this time by coveringThe Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-35619816839359726862012-12-12T20:22:00.000-05:002012-12-12T20:22:31.969-05:00Stuffed Sweet Dumpling Goldie Squash I was going to state in the title what the squash was stuffed with, but then it would have been too long.
I'd had these two squash, which were similar to acorn or kabocha squash, in the kitchen almost since the day in late October that Whole Foods Market opened here in Columbia. I'd had the idea to stuff it with a mushroom and quinoa pilaf for weeks, and tonight (inspired by last The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-73375940794206063172012-12-11T20:44:00.001-05:002012-12-11T20:44:47.362-05:00Tuesday Night Clean-Out-the-Fridge SpectacularSo we had entire bag of spinach that was barely hanging on, plus some carrots and celery that had been in the fridge for well over a week. Once Steve opened a package of tofu for one bowl of soup and then put back almost the entire block, I realized it was time to get rid of...I mean, transform a few things. Soup seemed like too obvious a choice, and since there was tofu to use The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-85786232485790414382012-11-27T20:48:00.001-05:002012-11-27T20:48:35.052-05:00Banana curry with cashewsI saw an episode of Next Iron Chef: The Redemption recently where one of the contestants had to make a main dish using banana as the challenge ingredient. The chef, to everyone's surprise, made a banana curry dish that turned out really well and kept him on the show for at least one more episode. I've been inspired to make one ever since, but I decided to wait until after ThanksgivingThe Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-23269771477278445702012-11-26T09:12:00.000-05:002012-11-26T09:12:55.387-05:00Vegan Shepherd's Pie, Take TwoI was supposed to work at the hospital on Saturday, but with it being a holiday week, the patient census was low on the surgical unit and the charge nurse called early in the morning to say I could stay home. Yay for not having to work on Saturday!
With nine hours of time on hand that I did not expect to have, I shopped for lights and ornaments, decorated the The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-20473374070592238882012-11-23T16:20:00.000-05:002012-11-23T16:20:05.883-05:00Thanksgiving Day Part 2: My First-Ever Vegan Thanksgiving!Well, it was a busy 2 or 3 hours of chopping plus actual cooking, but another Thanksgiving dinner is now in the books. I have to say, the absence of a bird made this thing a whole lot easier - even easier than last year, when I made that giant pot pie with seitan, which I kinda thought afterwards was a lot of trouble for what I ended up with. On the other hand, the pot pie&The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-17748440612608345192012-11-22T12:23:00.000-05:002012-11-22T12:23:13.860-05:00Thanksgiving Day Part One: BrunchGood afternoon, and happy Thanksgiving to one and all!
I wasn't hungry when I got up this morning, so Steve and I just lounged over tea and coffee as we often do on weekends and holidays. However, after an hour or so of housecleaning, I couldn't help but notice that lunchtime was approaching and I still hadn't eaten.
We're not big breakfast people, and things like brunch and Breakfast forThe Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-43914122421046611952012-11-18T16:01:00.000-05:002012-11-18T16:01:29.657-05:00And she's back...in time for Thanksgiving!Well, after several months of cooking and not blogging, I've finally come back to my blog. Why was I away so long? Well...it's been a busy and stressful time for a variety of reasons that aren't really worth going into. Thankfully, none of those reasons has stopped me from cooking. Not cooking's not an option, since Steve still brings home all the produce he sees and likesThe Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-91743436140076070602012-04-19T20:40:00.000-04:002012-04-19T20:40:59.527-04:00MinestroneBefore I go into tonight's dinner, I should go back about a month in time and provide an accounting of my fast. In a nutshell, I broke down on day 3. It was just too hard, even with a 3-day weekend, to do stuff around the house on a juice-only diet after five days of eating fruits and vegetables only. I just felt too deprived, so on days 3 and 4 of the juice fast, I broke the The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-36346319842609213602012-03-22T19:56:00.000-04:002012-03-22T19:56:33.898-04:00My 15-Day Reboot, Part 2Six days down, nine to go.
The salad pictured here was the last thing I ate last night, besides a banana and an entire grapefruit. It was big, and it was good. Spinach, asparagus, avocado, tomato, olive oil and lime dressing.
So, day one of the juice fast: not as horrible as I expected, but it is only day one. One of the reasons it hasn't been so hard, I suspect, is The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-85383242410267363192012-03-19T20:56:00.000-04:002012-03-19T20:56:30.117-04:00My 15-Day Reboot, Part 1I'm on a 15-day "reboot" right now, and day 3 is drawing to a close. The decision to do this was inspired by my recent viewing of Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. For those of you who haven't already seen it (and if you haven't, you should! Find it on Netflix or check it out of the library!), the film follows a guy named Joe, who suffers from obesity and an autoimmune disorder and The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-62813087892920573602012-03-12T19:43:00.000-04:002012-03-12T19:43:38.179-04:00Eggplant Tapenade PastaAfter nearly a month of cooking up a storm and forgetting to post about it, the Clock-Racing Gourmet is back! This past Saturday I ran my first marathon in four years, the inaugural Columbia Marathon, and crossed the finish line after 3:46:26 of nonstop running. Hells yeah!
My pre-race meal was at the Good Life Cafe, a place I never would have considered back when I still thought The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-3897572685125814902012-02-15T20:57:00.000-05:002012-02-15T20:57:09.690-05:00Valentine's Day Plus OneI had to work last night, so Steve and I exchanged gifts while I was home in the morning and skipped the candlelit-dinner-for-two thing. I think this way was nicer, especially since last year Al's Upstairs' limited Valentine's Day menu had no veg-friendly entrees and I had to talk them into making me a plate of pasta alfredo (or something similar).
Tonight I was off, so I had time to whip The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-82810508408901809492012-02-06T19:31:00.000-05:002012-02-06T19:31:01.646-05:00A Tale of Two Stir-FriesWell, the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart ended two weeks ago and I've decided to stick with being vegan for the duration. This wasn't really my plan, but then, neither was being vegetarian. We'll see how it goes.
Saturday evening after work (I work every other weekend. Always fun. Not.) I chopped up about half of the veggies I recently bought with a stir-fry in mind. The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-78159597594594434602012-01-17T21:19:00.000-05:002012-01-17T21:19:17.587-05:00My Sweet Sixteen Birthday Dinner RevisitedFor those of you who don't already know, today's my birthday. Over the weekend, when I was thinking about what I might like to do for dinner tonight (go out or dine in?), it occurred to me that the most memorable birthday dinner I've ever had was for my sweet sixteen, on this date 20 years ago. (So guess how old I am now?) I remember that, after a bad day at school, I came home The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-14555049581916727462012-01-09T20:36:00.000-05:002012-01-09T20:36:51.975-05:00Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Soup with Broccoli RisottoWell, I'm back, and happy (belated) 2012. Hopefully some of you are still sticking to your New Year's Resolutions. One of mine is to participate officially in the 21-Day Vegan Kickstart, which means that, unlike back in September, I've actually signed up to do the full three weeks instead of noncommittally seeing how long I can stand it. I hung in for three weeks and changeThe Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-45982128685575253612011-12-30T20:47:00.000-05:002011-12-30T20:47:29.227-05:00Spicy Spinach and Artichoke PastaOkay, so the previous post wasn't the last of 2011 because I made my pre-race pasta dinner tonight instead of going out.
Usually I go out for a pasta dinner the night before a race, but the last time I did so I found myself thinking when it was served, "Hmm...$10.95 for something I could have made at home." I won't name the restaurant, since we do generally enjoy it when we go, but The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-88247686878327686042011-12-30T16:36:00.000-05:002011-12-30T16:36:00.774-05:00Thai red coconut curry stir-fryI made this Tuesday night (leftovers were gone by lunch Wednesday) and I'm just now getting around to blogging about it. It's been a very lazy week at home since I joined the sisterhood of hospital staff who worked on Christmas Day.
A couple of months ago, I made my first Thai coconut curry, based on a recipe I found online, and was disappointed enough with the result that I The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-34292440248990526532011-12-21T13:54:00.000-05:002011-12-21T13:54:54.983-05:00Lentils with cracked wheat and wilted kale saladWell, today was the last of several days off from work before before I go back and - yuck - work straight through the Christmas weekend. Oh, well. At least I got over my cold in time to do all the fun stuff planned for this past weekend.
So, being home, I decided to cook for the fun of having a lunch not of leftovers and also so that I'd have ample leftovers for the next few The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-41130481925248358152011-12-15T13:56:00.000-05:002011-12-15T13:56:26.631-05:00North African Vegetable SoupWhen shopping for Christmas presents on Amazon last week, I came up a few cents short of the $25 minimum order that qualifies for free shipping. So, I looked around in the food/kitchen part of their website for a little something for myself and found this prepared harissa from France. The four-pack cost about $15. En tube, no less!
Then I felt like a jackass when I The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-79575635171788157372011-12-14T12:10:00.000-05:002011-12-14T12:10:54.616-05:00Tamarind Rice and Okra MasalaWell, the holidays are here once again, which means that opportunities to overeat abound. Since I just bought a pair of skinny jeans the other day (my first-ever time shopping at Old Navy), I'm going to do my best to restrict any holiday excesses in my kitchen to the big day (T minus 11 and counting) and to making stuff for the various parties we've been invited to. Thankfully, my The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5178292552032443094.post-15288448270896840902011-11-24T20:51:00.000-05:002011-11-24T20:51:24.232-05:00Could it be...Seitan?Yep, my first vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner comes to you courtesy of the fake meat industry that thrives so that non-meat eaters like myself can indulge themselves without breaking any self-imposed rules. For the unfamiliar, seitan can best be described as "wheat meat" or a high-protein substance made from wheat gluten. Wheat's answer to tofu, if you will.
My original plan for The Clock-Racing Gourmethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17318212585300892041noreply@blogger.com1