Recipe: Polenta Fries (Step by Step with Pics)

We have a thing with burger nights at our place- we love 'em. Usually, it will be one of those situations of... "What do you want to do for dinner tonight? " "I don't know, what do you want?" "Burger night?" "Sounds perfect." I have the menu down to a science, and it's all super easy but does require a bit of lengthy prep with all the washing, chopping and mixing of ingredients.

What really stands out about our burger night (besides the meat) are the "french fries" I make. As you can guess, I'm not really a traditional french fry kinda gal, but french fries with a healthy spin? I'm in!

I'll cover the rest of our burger night ingredients in another post eventually, but for now, let's talk about the fries. Now don't be a hater -- I get that these may not be the most nutrient-dense things in the world, nor are they any kind of super food, but we all need a little something something that just satisfies those cravings for a salty and semi-crunchy food, right?

Polenta Fries

Directions:
Start with your pre-cooked polenta tube. I get the kind that's pictured below; note: it is organic. The one you see there is the "original" kind that you can get at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, etc. I normally don't get original; I usually get basil garlic or one of their other flavors for a reason. I prefer basil garlic or other varieties of this brand because they have a slightly more solid consistency and are easier to cut into fries. The original is more delicate and falls apart if you're not careful when cutting.

The foundation.

So here we go: Get a sharp knife, and a damp paper towel or dish towel. Cut the polenta into thirds. I do this with the wrapper still on, and then I just peel it off.

First step: cut into thirds.

Next, sit those chunks upright and cut into long slices. This is key to prevent breakage: After every 1-3 chops, wipe off your knife with the wet cloth. The build-up of polenta residue on the knife will cause your slices to crumble apart when cutting. Clean knife = clean cut.

Slicing.

After you've sliced lengthwise, then turn the polenta and slice the opposite way so you get nice little cuts the size of french fries. Note how you can see some polenta crumbling off on the cutting board below? Sometimes I'll lay the flat slices out and chop up one at a time instead of all together, which seems to keep them stable.

Perfect french fry size.

After that, line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with olive oil spray -- don't overdo it on olive oil otherwise they'll be too mushy; but you need enough to prevent sticking. Then add all your fries to the cookie sheet and lightly spray again with olive oil. Pictured below is 1 1/4 tubes of polenta. For two people, I recommend one tube; anymore than two people get at least two tubes because the fries shrink.

1 1/4 tubes of polenta ready to go in the oven.

Bake in oven at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes until they feel a bit crunchy on the outside and still soft in the middle. Then crank up oven to broil (high) and cook for another 5-7 minutes, or until they are browned and even more crispy. Don't broil for too long -- they'll burn!

As you can see below, they do shrink quite a bit in the cooking process. When they're done they should be pretty crispy on the outside and only slightly soft in the middle. If they still feel mushy to the touch, cook longer. You want that crispy outer layer.

The finished product. Yum!

That's it! Polenta fries have been a hit whenever I've served them. They're great with dipping sauces (from ketchup to hummus) or on their own. And most of all they are a great substitute for french fries with fewer calories, no deep frying and still lots of great flavor. Gluten free, too. Check out the nutrition label of the brand I get (basil garlic variety):

~~~

And since I was talking about burger night... below are a few things that always accompany the fries. (NOTE: Not pictured are organic beefsteak tomatoes marinated in balsamic, creamy goat cheese to spread on the burgers, arugula, pears that get added to the caramelized onions, Dijon mustard, and even buns for those carb-lovers.) Got your mouth watering? Mine is...

Oven-roasted asparagus. Add olive oil, lemon, s&p.
Simple and delicious.

Sweet onions about to be caramelized;
eventually sliced pears are added to mix.

Organic, grass-fed beef. The only kind I'll get.

Recipe: GF Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce

Friday night I wanted a good home-cooked meal, but I was not in the mood to spend a lot of time going crazy in the kitchen, and I wanted to use what we had on hand rather than making another trip to the store -- I grocery shop enough as it is. I'm sure you can relate.

Sometimes my meals just sort of happen (like that delicious beet dish), and actually turn out better than expected. This was one of those cases. I know the recipe I'm about to share is nothing extremely unique, but, heck, it's easy, tasty and healthy so I'm puttin it out there!

Spaghetti Squash & Meat Sauce (gluten-free)

Up close. It's hearty.

Easy, healthy one-dish meal; very few ingredients.

Ingredients:*
1 spaghetti squash (if you have a large one you'll only need half of it)
1.25-1.5 lbs ground turkey ("regular fat" content; not the super lean kind. Too lean = dry)
25 oz (1 jar) marinara sauce of choice (I used Vons Organics Tomato Basil Pasta Sauce; I actually like the ingredients in this line more than the Whole Food's brand; less sugar.)
5 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic or 2 cubes frozen garlic (I use the frozen cubes from Trader Joe's)
1-2 tbsp basil or 2 cubes frozen basil cubes (again, TJ's)
1 tbsp oregano
red pepper flakes, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste

*As always, use organic whenever possible.

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and when it's ready stick your spaghetti squash in there on a cookie sheet for 1.5 hours (again, this is for a bigger squash; smaller ones may require less time).

Note on SS preparation: I used to cut my squash in half, scoop out the seeds and lay face down on cookie sheet in a bit of water and then bake, but I don't bother with that anymore. I've found it turns out just as good to throw the whole thing in there until it's done, and then cut open, remove seeds, etc. Of course, wash it first.

After squash has been in over for a while, start prepping other ingredients. Heat large pan on stove top with 1 tbsp EVOO. Chop green onions and add to the pan. Cook on medium heat. A couple minutes later, add more EVOO and the ground turkey, 1 cube garlic, 1 cube basil and a bit of salt and pepper. Spoon the turkey around constantly and let it break apart into small bits as if you're making taco meat; this requires constant stirring. When turkey is halfway done, add about 1/3 jar of marinara. Mix and let sauce soak into turkey well, then add another portion of sauce.

Meanwhile, when spaghetti squash is done, cut it in half, let it cool a bit and remove seeds. Then fork out the squash strands into a bowl. This is always my least favorite part - so dang hot; fingers burning! 

Seeds removed; time to fork it

Add half or all of your squash to the meat mixture. You want it to be a fairly even ratio of squash to meat sauce; not too soupy with sauce, not too squashy/dry with spaghetti squash. Add the rest of the marinara sauce, another cube of garlic and basil, red pepper flakes, and more S&P if desired and let all that simmer on a low heat until the sauce is well absorbed. It should have a hearty consistency when done. Again- not soupy, and not dry.

Adding spaghetti squash to the meat mixture.

Mixing squash, meat, more sauce.

And after a bit of time letting all the flavors and ingredients blend together, you have yourself a meal!

The finished product.

Hearty consistency. Men will like. 

Sauteing jalapenos in evoo.

Serve with a veggie of choice. I served with steamed broccoli (again, something that's easy to make), and some pan sauteed jalapenos for a kick (I randomly got the jalapenos at the farmer's market and they turned out to be quite tasty and not too spicy if you cook them long enough in olive oil and add sea salt; I cooked them for a good 30-40min).





This dish was even better the second day as leftovers. Too bad John was out of town and didn't get any ;) But I certainly enjoyed it after tough workouts of swimming and kayaking.

Saturday Race Day!

Time is flying by! I'm doing REv3 Portland in one month from today then after that it's all about Canada. Well it's all about Canada now, but still some fun stuff mixed in, like Saturday's race. I'm doing the Bonelli Olympic, race #3 in the LA Tri Series. Missed the first two races this year due to the hectic life as of late, but I've done these races before and I love them so I'm excited to get out and redline for 2+ hours and have some fun -- that sadistic painful sort of fun ;)

It's been a weird week leading up to the race. It's a recovery week coming off my biggest week of training to date that wrapped up Sunday. I was smashed and happy :) Monday was off, then Tuesday I somehow "trained" for 3.5 hours. It happened by mistake, I swear. That's what happens when you actually see training time as fun time :) I did a strength class at my gym followed by a swim. Then later that afternoon I took a dude friend out for his first spin through Camp Pendleton. It was my first time riding with this guy, and I ended going harder than anticipated considering the theme of the week was recovery, but I guess that's just me -- I let me competitive nature take hold and hammer lol. I was expecting Wednesday to be a mellow day, but I was wrong.

I had a photo shoot with John Segesta and Profile Design down in SD on tap for Wednesday (I love working with Segesta), so like I said, I figured it'd be mellow studio stuff. Good because I actually woke up Wednesday feeling under the weather. Turns out the shoot was "outdoor action" day on bikes. Crap. There went that recovery day. It wasn't super crazy exercise, but among all the driving (we ventured into East County and the day's total car time was close to 5-6 hours), riding bikes, changing outfits/locations, being peppy, etc., I was wiped at the end. Still had fun during though, of course. Great people to work with :)Roughly 13 or 14 hours later when I got home my body just gave out and I crashed. I felt like poo on a stick times 10. For all I know I had a touch of the flu, and perhaps eating gluten-filled food all day didn't help the matter. Who knows, but it was bad, like fetal-position-moaning-in-pain bad. I canceled some of my Thursday stuff so I could keep it to a mellow work day at home with minimal physical exertion. And thankfully that was all I needed... I woke up Friday feeling refreshed and good again! Not that I'm "fresh" and expecting to get a PR at the Oly distance, but I'm to the point where I know I'm as good as I'm going to be and am excited. Again, like with the LH Half-Mary, this ain't an A race, it's just a chance to work my butt off, hurt and have fun. Gonna go out there and give it my all! Raaaarrr ;)

Oh yea, maybe Thursday's dinner of homemade from scratch gluten-free pancakes and bacon made the difference. I asked around for some pancake recipes and ended up combining all the ideas into my own unique concoction... several different GF flours, greek yogurt, eggs, agave, among many other things... if I remember the recipe correctly, I'll try to share. They were really good. And that's not just me talking. I had a guinea pig over for din, and he loved them.

Sorry, only took a couple really crappy pics. Next time I'll get better ones that do the food justice. This time it was all about the eating, and we ate the whole [big] batch haha :)


Last but not least, I got some [amateur] pics from the photo shoot with Segesta (amateur meaning on my point and shoot, not by John lol)...

Somewhere in East County "on top of a mountain" lol...
My male counterpart (apparently a legit cyclist)...
Gettin into it and havin fun!


Somewhere even more deep into East County...Blue Steel?
Segesta planning his magic...Can still see fire damage, crazy...

Food

That's always a popular blog title :) I've made a couple recipes lately that are yum yum so have to share. A good contrast of sweet and savory.

#1: Whole Foods' Flourless Brownies
The kicker with these: the main ingredient is black beans! But don't let that fool you. These brownies are sweet, moist and as delectable as can be! You'd never know there was a bean involved. I swear. I'll admit, I was sketchy about them, but I trust WFs (and Maggs) so I went for it. Have yet to find someone who didn't like 'em.

You can find the recipe here. The only modification I did was add some blueberries to the mix, per Maggs' recommendation. I also may have added slightly more chocolate chips ;)

~~~

#2: Gluten-Free Flatbread
I have amaranth flour from some muffins I made, and wanted to find a new (savory) recipe for that flour. Did a little online searing and found several recipes that led me to concoct this flatbread, which will seriously now be a new staple in mi casa. I love the savory cracker flavor and texture. Plus, the middle sections stay a bit more moist if you make it thick enough, and that's just as yummy as the crispy parts. Great as a snack, a side dish or for your favorite dip or spread (like hummus!) Recipe after pics...

Went sans motorized kitchen appliances here and stirred the old-fashioned way.

Peek of the goods on the cookie sheet (this recipe is enough to fill one large cookie sheet, but I'd recommend splitting it onto 2 sheets if you want it more crispy overall). Finished product, which lasted less than 24 hours in my house (hmm... made this pre-wisdom tooth surgery so I had to get all my crispy-food eating out of the way because now I'm on the mushy diet haha)

Flatbread Recipe:
1 1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
2 T. EVOO (I used Annie's garlic-infused olive oil)
1 T. Avocado Oil
1 egg (yolk and all)
1 1/2 tsp dill
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
sesame seeds (didn't measure, just added haha)
1/2 cup room-temp water (a bit more may be needed when forming bread)

Preheat oven to 350 and get out a big cookie sheet or two, and cover with olive oil or avocado oil. Throw all ingredients in a large bowl and combine well (by hand or food processor). Get your hands moist with water and start forming a flat layer of the dough on the cookie sheet(s). It will be sticky, so dip hands in water during this process to prevent half the dough from remaining on your hands. Bake for 30-40 min depending on thickness and size, and your desired "crispy" level. (It took me about 35 min for the whole batch laid out as one flatbread; next time I might separate the dough onto two cookie sheets).

~~~

I've now been on the mushy food plan for the past couple days, and I'll I want to do is bite into something crunchy and crispy lol. Oh well. Thanks to the Vitamix, I can still eat pretty much whatever I want! I've been averaging about 5x a day with that thing. Probably the best new drink/dessert I've made is a carrot cake smoothie. Heaven in your mouth. Details to come on that one :)

Few Recipes for Your Healthy Enjoyment

I was going to post a brand-new recipe blog today (including Vitamix goodies), but I found an older-ish unpublished blog in the mix... how did I let this slip by? Ooops.

So here ya go... three recipes with a mix of sweet and savory (all gluten-free of course)....

GF & Grain-Free Pumpkin Muffins with Nut Butter Spread
I'm obsessed with pumpkin and this one is so quick & easy to make! About 88 calories per muffin (not including nut butter)...

1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup raw almond butter
4 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 zucchini, shredded
1 cup pumpkin, pureed from can
4 eggs separated
5-7 packets stevia, or sweetner of choice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder

Heat over to 350 degrees
Mix egg yolks and almond butter until well blended. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites until stiff then add to yolk mix. Then add almond flour, zucchini and pumpkin. Mix. Add spices and rest of ingredients. Mix well.

Put batter into greased muffin pan and cook for ~30 minutes at 350.

Nut Butter Spread: Any nut butter will do, but I prefer either Justin's Honey Almond Butter (or any of his nut butters mmmm) or my own concoction: Mix a few tablespoons of peanut flour (I use Trader Joe's brand) with water and Greek yogurt, keep mixing until it's a creamy consistency.

After muffins cool, spread on top, in the middle or just eat a spoonful with each bite of muffin :)

*Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of these, but you can imagine what a brownish muffin would look like lol :)

~~~

GF Salmon & Black Bean Burgers with Avocado
This one is super easy and I just randomly came up with it one night when we didn't have any fresh meat to cook...

Canned salmon (omega-3 enriched preferred)
Eggs (omega-3)
Canned black beans (or fresh if you prefer)
Garlic Salt
Basil
Oregano
Dried chives

Directions: For every can of salmon, add one egg and 1/4 cup black beans. My recipe had three of each and that made about 6-8 burgers. If you're using canned black beans, make sure to rinse well and slightly mush them up; don't add beans that are too "wet." Add seasonings (you can be flexible and add as much or little as you want, or even throw in more stuff).

Mix all ingredients with your hands and form into balls, then slightly flatten those out and place on pan or grill. Don't make the burgers too big or they might fall apart. Cook on low heat about 5-8 min each side.

Once done, pile on the slices of fresh avocado and enjoy with or without a bun!

Note: I eyeballed everything on this recipe and didn't keep track of measurements, cook time, etc, so just have fun with it and experiment! Hopefully yours turn out like this:
~~~

GF & Grain-Free Zucchini Nut Bread (Paleo-Friendly)
*Note, this recipe is floating around many gluten-free blogs, so it is not an original of mine and I'm not taking credit for it, but it's worth sharing...

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 c almond butter
2 zucchinis, shredded (2 small or one large)
4 eggs, separated
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
3 tbsp coconut flakes
2 tbsp agave
3-5 packets stevia, or sweetner of choice
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
optional: 1 tbsp cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

Directions: Heat oven to 325. Grease a 5x9 loaf pan. Or two pans*

In a large bowl beat the egg yolks until light yellow (~2 minutes). Add the zucchini, almond butter, almond meal, salt, agave/stevia, spices, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and mix until well blended.

In a clean bowl whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff peaks form.

With spoon, add egg white mix into the zucchini mixture. Fold until no more streaks of white appear.

Pour into the prepared pan and cook for 45–50 minutes until browned and puffy on top and firm in the center. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan, discard parchment and allow the loaf to finish cooling on a rack.

*Instead of making one big loaf, I used two pans and made two smaller loaves so the pieces were similar in size to a hearty piece of biscotti. Perfect little snack that last 2x as long :)

Diet Tweaks

I figured my tummy issues during Sunday's Xterra run were a fluke. But now not so much. My stomach ache has yet to fully disappear, even when I'm just resting. It's way different than that flu feeling, so I know it's not food poisoning or something. I attempted swim this morning and even that was no bueno. Ugh.

My first thought: it's not the food I'm eating, it's that I'm drinking too much coffee/caffeine lately--that's the only glaring difference in my diet as of late. With evening classes, that extra big mug of caffeine is a permanent fixture and my daily oz intake of joe is probably off the charts. Combine that with the stresses of exercise and life-in-general. Not that I'm "stressed out" but I am always on the go and sometimes forget to just chill out.

So... I think it's reasonable to wean myself off the coffee to see if that's the culprit, as well as keep on with more rest than normal. Nothing to lose, everything to gain with O-side on the horizon.


Stomach/GI issues are not completely new in my world. Last year I went to the doctor because I was experiencing some bad stuff during long runs. We determined that cramping, etc, would happen on the runs that were being done in the late afternoon--in other words, after eating at least a couple meals & snacks, so we figured it'd be good to try running in the a.m. It worked alright. Then offseason came.

Now that long runs are consistently back in my life, I've looked over my training log and I'm seeing a trend: cramps/issues occur more often than not when I get into double-digit miles, that's especially the case in the last couple months. I still do long runs pre-lunchtime but post-breakfast and post 1-2 cups of coffee. In training I'll allow myself to stop briefly and let the pain pass. I won't do that in a race--duh!--which is one reason why I think I had that episode at Xterra.

Also, before you ask, my breakfasts are nothing elaborate. I make a point to avoid majorly high-fiber breakfasts because I know what that can do. I also have lower-GI foods. Normally I will have some form of gluten-free carbs (either GF pancakes from TJs, brown rice tortillas, oatmeal, etc), protein (eggs or sometimes yogurt) and a little fruit.

Anyways, I'll stop rambling about gross issues, but it's something I hope to nail down sooner than later..... I just realized I'm signed up for Boise 70.3 and that starts at 2 p.m. uh oh.