Super Foods to Enhance Your Running

After reading this article I decided to try and incorporate some super foods into dinner tonight. And what better way to eat spinach and ricotta than in Vegetable Lasagna? More specifically, Kath's: The Best Vegetable Lasagna. I followed the recipe exactly, except I used Ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese in order to use another "super food" and I do not really care for cottage cheese.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Aspects of the recipe that I was wary about were: not cooking the lasagna noodles, not sauteing the vegetables and not using an egg.  However, the lasagna turned out great and I did not have as many dishes nor did I have to do as much "pre" work as I do with a "regular" lasagna.

My plate: INCREDIBLE!!!!

Plus a small second helping (I have to get those super foods in there)......

Prior to this yummy meal, I worked up an appetite by running 4.5 miles in 40 minutes at the gym (It was a rainy/dreary day in Boston). DreamFar's training run tomorrow is 4 miles and unfortunately (fortunately!?) I will be at the Boston Pops Holiday concert with my family and won't be able to make it. So, I did the run today and will (hopefully) run with the team on Thursday.

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!

Touring the World: One bite at a Time!

Hello! I have had quite the tour of the world these last few days.....

Last night Evan, his family and I went to a wonderful French restaurant for their last night in Boston. Gaslight is a quaint little French bistro in the South End of Boston. The restaurant offers delicious food at reasonable prices.

We started with a bottle of Bordeaux.

I sipped on a small glass

This wine was very flavorful and bold. I enjoyed my glass greatly! Next came the WARM bread in a paper bag. I had to hold myself back before I ate the entire bag!!!

For an appetizer Evan and I split the Gaslight Salad.

My portion

For my entree I had the house special: Haddock Grill.

My meal was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!! It was kinda like clam chowder with haddock on top. The sauce on the bottom was creamy, but not too heavy. We then split two desserts: Chocolate Molten Cake and an Apple Tart.

I had one bite of each. Both cakes were incredible and by far the best part of the meal!

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Today I went to Italy for lunch with leftover lasagna and salad (sorry I forgot to take a picture). I then took a quick pit stop at the gym where I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and then a "Club Strength" class, which was basically an hour weight lighting classes.

My final stop was Mexico where I had some tacos and black beans. YUM!

What a great trip! Hahaha! On a real note, I am currently packing for my trip to DC tomorrow for a reunion with a few high school friends. I am not sure what my running or blogging schedule will be like, but I will try my best to do an update at least once. And maybe there will be a special guest post as well.......

Have a GREAT weekend!!!

Lasagna Goodness!

Happy Hump day! I had a great day at internship today writing away and seeing students. I also ate a yummy "normal" lunch.

1/2 ham and cheese sandwich, goldfish, apple, carrots/cucumbers

After a snack, I went for a run in the BEAUTIFUL weather today:

Distance: 6.0 miles
Duration: Unknown because my Garmin had a hard time finding satellite for the first .7 of a mile
Mile .7: ???
Mile 1: 7:58
Mile 2: 8.32
Mile 3: 8:32
Mile 4: 8:22
Mile 5: 8:38
Mile .3: 2:56

I felt really good on the run and had a LOT of energy (which was weird because I have been really, really busy this week). I also experienced no knee or leg pain. I hope this holds up for the next 2 weeks. I cannot believe the race is in less than 2 weeks!!!!!

As for last night's vegetable lasagna

My table setting

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Pasta

Roasted vegetable tomato sauce

Eggplant

Mushrooms

Garlic

Olive oil

Sun dried tomatoes

Mozzarella 

Ricotta

Parmesan cheese

3 eggs

Basil

Oregano

Salt

Pepper

Garlic salt

Direction:

1) Cook lasagna noodles

2) Chop the eggplant and then grill the eggplant

3) Saute the mushrooms in the garlic and olive oil

4) While the vegetables are sauteing, mix the 3 eggs with the ricotta cheese (I used 2 small containers, but you can also use one large one), Parmesan cheese (I used half of a small container) and spices.

5) Spray the bottom of the glass baking dish and put a layer of sauce on the bottom of the pan.

6) Layer the pasta, vegetables, ricotta mixture, sun dried, sauce and mozzarella cheese.

7) Continue the layering process for four layers

8) On the top put the rest of the sauce and bag of mozzarella cheese

9) Add some spices on top as well.

10) Put in the oven at 400 degrees and cook covered for 50 minutes and then an additional 10 minutes uncovered. 

11) Let cool for 10 minutes and the Enjoy!

YUM! I served mine with a large salad and garlic bread from Whole Foods.

My portion plus a little more lasagna

For dessert we had some coffee and a dessert plate we got from the North End the previous night.

Note: I did NOT eat all of this by myself!
I had 3 of the small Anise cookies that are on top. YUM!

Great night and great dinner!! Hope you are having a good day!