Eating: Borsch – Cabbage and Beet Soup

The boyfriend had some cabbage and beets in the fridge, and when I googled these two words, a Cabbage and Beet Russian soup called Borsch came up. At first it didn’t look too appetizing, but after a day, this low calorie soup was actually very tasty.

 

Borsch – Cabbage and Beet Soup

Ingredients:

1 head of cabbage – cored and chopped

3 beets – peeled and grated

1 onion – chopped

4 cloves garlic – minced

2 medium carrots – chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (traditionally, dill)

6 cups of water (or more)

1 Knorr chicken stock cube

1 cup pasta sauce

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Wrap the beets in a large sheet of foil, place on a baking sheet, and cook until tender when pierced with a fork, about 45 minutes. Let the beets sit until cool enough to handle. Grate them on the large-hole side of a box grater. Set aside. (Note: next time I’ll try grating raw beets, since they will cook in the soup later anyway.)

In a large pot over medium-high heat add oil and onions. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the cabbage, stir to combine, and cook, stirring occasionally, until cabbage wilts, about 5 minutes (or more if you have a lot of cabbage like I did). Add the beets, carrots, tomato sauce, and Italian seasoning. Stir to combine and add chicken broth or water with the Knorr cube. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer, and cook until vegetables are tender and flavors blend, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot, with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and a sprinkle of dill, if you like (which I didn’t).

 

Makes 8 servings of 100 calories each.

Borsch

Borsch

Marathon Training – Week 8

The marathon in Reno is already this week, and I feel really good about being able to do the whole 26.2 miles, but this past weekend I got anxious when I saw the course map because I know I have a horrible sense of direction and I’m afraid I’ll get lost if the course is not very well marked. So this Saturday, the boyfriend drove me around from downtown, going thru Iddlewild Park, Mayberry Dr., 4th Street, Silva Ranch Rd., 3rd Street, all way to Crystal Peak Park, which is the turn around point. Then on Sunday he dropped me off at the park and I was able to do the whole 13.1 miles back to downtown in 2h25. I am feeling very confident with my training and the course now, but I’m still not sure about my 5-hour goal. There are quite a few hills near Crystal Peak Park! Nevertheless, I’m super excited for Sunday.

Other highlights of the week: my friend S.’s birthday dinner at “Slice of the Peak“, the “Up & Atom” fundraiser improv show the boyfriend did for my students’ trip to NY/DC, and spending all day painting shoes with my students.

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Eating: Baked Eggplant Parmesan

A few weeks ago I made an eggplant parmesan the boyfriend loved, so when I got more eggplants in my organic basket last week, I knew what I had to make for my “How I met your mother” series finale dinner.

It is a delicious dish, but it takes a while to prep. At least I can make it over the weekend, and then just bake it the day of.

The first step of the whole process is to peel, slice, and salt the eggplants. Then you have to leave them in a colander to bleed for an hour. Apparently this will take the bitter taste away. Then you wash the slices so they are not so salty and pat them dry with paper towels. Since I don’t have much patience, I only bled them for 20 minutes and quickly dried them with a towel after washing off the salt. They turned out just fine! Next time I’ll also try to skip the eggs and breadcrumbs process since I’m baking and not frying them.

 

Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients

2 large eggplants – peeled, sliced, bled, dried

4 tomatoes – chopped

4 cups pasta sauce (1 1/2 jars)

3 tbsp fresh rosemary

1 tbsp salt

3 eggs – beaten

3 cups breadcrumbs

3 cups mozzarella and parmesan cheese – mixed

 

Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat eggplant slices with beaten egg, then bread with breadcrumbs. Place eggplant slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake 15 minutes, flip and bake another 15 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 475°F. Mix pasta sauce, tomatoes, and rosemary. In an ovenproof dish, layer pasta sauce, then eggplant, and top with cheeses. Repeat, finishing with cheese. Bake until the cheese melts and turns golden in spots, about 30 minutes.

 

Makes 8 servings of 360 calories each

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant Parmesan

Marathon Training – Week 9

Monday: basic training at the CrossFit place next to yoga. The workout went faster than last week’s, but I still don’t like how they push us. The result: my right knee started to hurt.

Tuesday: met my friend T. at the lower Galena Creek trail. 1.5 miles uphill. Horrible. 1.5 miles downhill. Much better. I know hills are important, but I really can’t stand them. 2 hours later: my right knee was really hurting.

Wednesday: had to rest. Grr…

Thursday: had to rest again. Grr…

Friday: had to rest again. Triple grr… Now I missed 3 days of training! How am I going to complete my 20 miles tomorrow???

Saturday: after 3 days, my knee was finally better and I was excited to run, except when I checked the weather it was cold and windy… Four hours later I’m still on the couch, thinking of every single reason not to run. Finally, I tell the boyfriend I was going on a quick one. 4 hours later: I had done over 20 miles!!! To celebrate, I went dancing for 4 hours with some girlfriends.

Sunday: felt great! Still got a massage, just in case 😉

Marathon Training – Week 10

What a great first week of spring! Loving this March weather we got. Besides running, I have been doing some spring cleaning for the boyfriend and cooking a bit. I made an awesome Coconut Shrimp Curry with cabbage the other day, but I’m too tired to post the recipe here since this week I did over 35 miles!

I also added a new workout (besides my 3 short runs, my weekend long run, and my 2 yoga classes.) There is a new CrossFit place in Midtown and they offered a free one-month membership for the people who went to their Grand Opening. I hate group workout classes so I know I won’t go to many of them, but I wanted to at least give it a try. Good thing I did it on Wednesday, after 2 of my short runs, because for the next two days I couldn’t move. I was only able to do my long run after I got a massage on Saturday. It was by far the most challenging run so far. The first 8 miles were easy and fast, but I hit the wall on mile 9 and was almost giving up. It was hot, I had a stomachache, and I started asking myself why I was training for a marathon anyway. Around mile 13 I got my second wind for another couple of miles, but by mile 16 I was out of water and miserable again. All I wanted to do was lay on the pavement and go to sleep. Finally completed my 18 miles in 3h40 (12 min/mile). It’s great I didn’t give up, but I’m concerned I won’t be able to finish the marathon in 5 hours at this pace.

Eating: Crepe N’ Roll

Last week  I used some Groupons to try a few new places: Hussong’s Mexican Cantina and Crepe N’Roll. There was nothing special about the meal at Hussong’s (the original restaurant in Mexico is the birthplace of the maragarita), but it was a great place to go inside the Silver Legacy Casino before heading to the Lady Antebellum concert (which was awesome BTW).  However, the crepe place is something to rave about. It serves crepes Japanese style, which is even better than regular French ones. Who knew! For atmosphere, I’ll still go to La Crema, but if I’m craving a fast and filling crepe, I’ll definitely go back to Crepe N’Roll. Good thing I still have two more Groupons to use there.

Marathon Training – Week 11

I just love daylight savings time! Now when I get off work, I can go home and still fit in a nice run before it gets dark. This past week I felt so good with temperatures in the low 70’s and flowers blooming, that I decided to change my training and do 16 miles on Saturday instead of my scheduled 10. A few months ago, when I was talking with the organizer of a race here in Reno, he said if you can do 16 miles, you are physically fit for a marathon, because the last 10 miles are just a mental challenge. Well, I’m glad to say I can do 16 miles without any problems (except that my GPS stopped working on mile 7 and I’m not sure of my exact miles… I went longer, so I probably did close to 17 miles)! So I signed up for the Downtown River Run marathon here in Reno on April 13th, which was actually my original marathon date. I’ll try to run as much as I can that day and if I complete the race in under 5 hours, then I’m done and can relax and get my life back, but if I don’t complete it, then I’ll continue training for the marathon in San Diego in June.

Marathon Training – Week 12

I didn’t run at all while I was away for a conference in San Jose, but I did make sure I jogged and did yoga the day before and the day after my trip, so I was actually able to finish my training for the week on time, which included a 14 mile run (2h48). Very proud of my high-mileage week, but not so proud of my eating habits… So far I have lost only .5 since Week 20. How is it possible to run 20-35 miles a week and not lose any weight?? Breakfast burritos, steak, wine, nachos, whiskey, pizza, cookies… That’s how. Decided that I needed a change, so I’m giving up Girl Scout Cookies for lent. Don’t laugh. It’s been a huge sacrifice already.

More: Oscar Party

For years I’ve been trying to host an Oscar Party, but it never works out, so this time around I decided to post it as a meet-up and let strangers with similar interests (basically movies, dressing up, eating, and drinking) come. The result: best Oscar party ever! Well, we actually knew most of the people that came, and between that and making new friends, we never really watched the Oscars.

 

Out of 20 people, only one person didn’t dressed up. Everybody else looked AMAZING, especially the boyfriend, who wore a tux with a bow tie and studs to match my dress. Our friend D. won the style contest for best dressed female with her creative outfit, while V. won best dressed male with his formal Indian attire. Everybody also brought drinks and mostly homemade appetizers, which made it the easiest party to host. I will definitely try to make it an annual event from now on!

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Marathon Training – Week 13

It was a crazy stressful week trying to fit it all in before my Oscar party and the conference trip. I had to split one of my weekday runs in half again, but got the boyfriend to go with me for one of them, which is always nice. Not sure what this coming week will look like for running since I’ll be out of town and busy all day long. Good thing I’ve schedule a floating week off in my training anticipating a situation like this. Nevertheless, I’ll bring my running shoes just in case.

Ps.: Made a delicious crustless quiche the other day with all the vegetables I had left over. Yum!

Steamed vegetables + 5 beaten eggs + 350 degrees for 45 min. = Delicious Quiche

Steamed vegetables + 5 beaten eggs + 350 degrees for 45 min. = Delicious Quiche