Ninja Sauce

Recipe: Fajita Veggies with Enchilada Sauce and Guacamole

I have to say I really like the name my daughter came up with for the enchilada sauce I made for dinner tonight. I was recording her on my phone about helping me cook and when asked what kind of sauce we were making she said matter a factly, “Ninja Sauce,” (or later ninjalado). Works for me.

I have been making a variation of this meal for the past month or two at least once a week as it is a meal I don’t have to cajole my children into eating. I figure it must be a hit as they both gobble it up. Tonight I decided to switch it up a bit and make fresh guacamole and enchilada sauce.

Guacamole:

 *4-6 small ripe avocados ( 3-4 larger ones)

 * Garlic Powder (about 1/2 to 1 tsp to taste)

 * Salt (1/4 tsp)

 * Cilantro (1 tsp chopped leaves)

 * Lime (1/2 of 1 large lime squeezed)

 *Tomatoes ( 8-10 grape tomatoes chopped into small pieces)

 * Onion (1/2 small onion any variety, I used yellow)

Directions:

Start by washing the avocados before cutting them. I find it easiest to take avocado and lay it on its side and use a medium knife to slice it in half. I then use the knife to hit into the pit and take the pit out. You could also take the pit out with a spoon if you do not feel comfortable using a knife. I know there are a terrible number of memes and posts about the dreaded “avocado hand.” Once the pit is out you can simply take a spoon and scoop out all the avocado leaving the skin behind. I then use a fork to roughly smash the avocado. As soon as you are done smashing the avocado you will want to add the lime. I squeezed one half of a large lime not only for taste but also to preserve as much green color as possible. Finely chop the onion, cilantro and tomatoes to add to the avocado, Lastly, add the garlic and salt to taste. I prefer more garlic and less salt, personally.

Enchilada Sauce:

 *1 14-15 oz Can Puréed Tomatoes (this will make a thicker sauce if you prefer a thinner sauce I would use a can of unsalted tomato sauce).

 * 3 cloves of garlic

 * 1/2 medium to large onion (any variety though I used a purple one)

 * 1 Red Bell Pepper (I only used about 3/4 of mine as it was quite large)

 * 1 Jalapeño (I used half of a medium sized one but this is completely up to taste as it would also             

    work without it)

 * 1/2 tsp Cumin 

 * 1/2 tsp Oregano

 * 1/2 tsp Parsley

 *1/4 tsp Salt ( I prefer to get unsalted tomatoes but if you buy the ones with salt you may want to use      

    less)

 * 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper (Black pepper  or chili powder could be used if you prefer a milder taste)

Directions:

First you will want to begin chopping up your veggies to sauté them for the sauce. You don’t have to worry too much about the size as you will be putting them into the food processor once they cool. Sauté the red pepper, onion, garlic and jalapeño just until soft and set aside to cool. Once room temp you can add the veggies to the food processor (a blender would also work). Once blended add the tomatoes for a quick pulse. Add all of this plus the spices to a small sauce pot and bring to a boil and let simmer on low for 10-20 minutes. I served ours with hard shell corn tortillas, fajita veggies and retried beans. This whole meal is vegan and absolutely delicious! Enjoy!

Half-Marathon here I come

I’m running my first half-marathon this weekend and to say I’m nervous would be an extreme understatement. I haven’t slept well this whole week and my mind keeps going over and over how the race might go. My goal when I first decided to run a half-marathon was to finish (obviously) and second, to break two hours. Breaking two hours at my first race is a bit ambitious but wasn’t out of reach based on my last 5k time (25:24) and training runs (8 plus miles at a 9:30 average). It seemed  reachable until this past month, as I mentioned in my previous post, when my training runs kind of went all over the place the month of May. Everything went great going into my 5k the first week of April. Approaching the end of April, I was still optimistic but looking back I logged a few too many miles, next to zero strength training sessions and not enough true rest days. For some reason I felt I needed to change up my training plan to match more closely with plans for other runners. Problem being I’m not other runners and I should’ve thought about how my training went great for my 5k and would’ve continued to translate well to the upcoming half-marathon with focusing on increasing my long runs. Frustrating that I couldn’t have given myself this advice in April. Hindsight always works like that. Current race day goals are to first and foremost finish the race. According to the race website, I have 3 hours and 30 minutes to complete the race which should be plenty of time even with modifying my goal race pace. Running a sub-two-hour half is very unlikely at this race for a few reasons: one, I have had a few off weeks, two, I didn’t log as many long runs as I anticipated, three, I’m coming off an injury, and four, it’s going to be hot and humid. I sound a quite pessimistic here but simply trying to be realistic with my current fitness level. I think at this point my best plan is to use this race as a training race to get a feel for this distance and to have more racing experience. I already have some fall half-marathons picked out where I can expect cooler temperatures and a lot more training time to get prepared in order to meet my sub-two-hour goal.

My taper this week is going well but it is a bit different than my other tapers because of the time I have taken off to heal and try and get over these shin splints. In the past my tapers have felt like a big break and I’m just itching to run faster on my runs. However, now I have simply been taking it easy in fear of creating another injury or bringing back my previous one. Instead of wanting to run faster I’m afraid to push it at all. How this will affect race day will be determined. I biked one day and I did two easy stroller miles along with some short 30 minute leg workouts. The rest of the week I plan on just stretching and keeping my legs loose with a possible short shake out run on Friday.

This weekend’s race is an out of town race so I have to make sure I have everything packed that I might possibly need for race day. I’m currently checking things off my list as I write this so I will be including my packing list in this post (see below). I definitely don’t want to forget anything as going out to buy something last minute is not only costly but could be difficult depending on what I could possibly forget. And if you follow the advice of nothing new on race day the dilemma of having to buy something becomes even more difficult.

Finding my stride

I’ve attempted to start this blog a few times but never really found my stride so to speak until now. I wasn’t sure what direction I wanted it to take and to be honest I was just trying to figure how to be a new mom of one baby while pregnant with number two. Writing definitely took a back burner to everyday life as did many of my previous hobbies and interests. My babies are toddlers now and we are at the fun age of starting to learn numbers and letters and they way things work. They love to help mommy with everything which has given me a great opportunity to get back into some of my former hobbies as it is something we can share and learn about together. Writing is just one of the things I used to do for myself but as a new mom I didn’t make it a priority. The other two main interests I didn’t bring back into my everyday activities until after my children were born were running and cooking. Looking back I find this interesting as running and cooking/nutrition are two of my biggest interests and something we do as a family everyday now. Perhaps this is a sign about making writing a priority again.

Anyway, let me me reintroduce myself as I haven’t blogged in what seems like forever (I think its been 3 years). As I mentioned above, I’m a SAHM of two toddlers. I love to cook and try new recipes, run, lift weights, read and travel. I have tried a few different types of diets and exercise programs but coming back to running and a plant-based lifestyle has made me my happiest and healthiest. Stick with what works, right? I’m currently training for a half-marathon (my first) and eating and cooking a plant-based (vegan) diet.  I was a vegetarian for over 15 years and I grew up running with my dad (he’s a running coach) so going vegan and starting distance running again wasn’t a far leap but I am so glad I took this step.  It’s been a win for everyone as my husband has lost 30 pounds, my kids get to share a love of running with their mom and papa and overall we are happier and healthier. Not going to argue with that.

I have my first half-marathon this Sunday so I will definitely be doing a recap blog about that next week. I am super nervous about it as it’s my first, I’ve never run that far ( my training runs have only been 10 miles) and this past month my training has been all over the place consisting of mostly biking and home workouts because I have been struggling with shin splints. Rookie mistake? Maybe? But with everything there is a learning curve as our bodies all react and operate a little differently. Some runners are able to stay injury free with little to no cross-training but that has not been the case for myself. However, I really had no way knowing becasue as an adult I have always included cross-training with my running until now. I had been consistently cross-training with weights and strength exercises up until my last 5k in April when I took a break from it and started to concentrate solely on my running as I wanted to up my mileage and get in more long runs in preparation for my race this weekend. Well, that definitely backfired as I started to get symptoms of overtraining after only a couple weeks without my strength exercises but having not dealt with an injury like this or trained for a distance beyond a 5k I didn’t pick up on the signs until I was sidelined for a week and then another. Yes, you read that right. So frustrating. I took a week off and biked and started to feel better so I decided to try running the following week with a modified plan of only three days a week running and two biking which in theory is and will be a good plan but it was too much too soon and again I ignored the symptoms of my shin splints shrugging it off as just DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness). Wrong move. Ended up having another off week where I attempted to run three days in a row to only make it a mile and end up walking. At this point I probably should’ve started biking to keep up my base endurance after the first failed run but instead I let my anger and frustration get the best of me. I instead attempted and failed to run three times in a row before I decided to take another break and start some home workouts focusing on leg circuits to build calf and shin strength in order to avoid worsening my shin splints and build the strength to get rid of them. So now a month later I have two weeks of no running with some biking and  leg workouts and two weeks of running but no runs longer than 8 miles. How this will translate on race day will be nothing short of interesting. Running and training is a bit like a puzzle as you have to try different ways until you figure out what fits. For myself that picture includes cross-training (biking, leg circuits, HIIT workouts, weight-lifting) and my of course my beloved running. 

More on my taper and race preparation tomorrow.