This past weekend Michael and I had a bit of a whirlwind 32 hours. We left town on Friday night around 7:00 PM en route to Geneva NY to check out our friend’s bluesy-jazz show at Club 86. The show was bumpin’ and fun, but we failed to schedule time to eat dinner prior to the show. So, not until around 9:00 PM did we find ourselves in downtown Geneva, having an unfortunately too-small dinner, whose main centerpiece was white rice. We wrapped up dinner by 10:00 PM, stopped by Kershong Creek to listen to some stellar live folk-punk music for a few minutes, and then hit the road for Ithaca.
In bed by 12:30 AM and out of bed by 6:00 AM, we made our way to Hammond Hill forest area to get Michael to the start line of the Thom B 52K by 7:00 AM. Off and running he went, while I drove back into town for some coffee and breakfast…which was merely a croissant and a too-small bowl of muesli. My race started at 10:00 AM, and we were both done running 12:30 PM. Post-run, we shot into town for some burritos! Sad to say, we were both quite dismayed by the lack of gusto in the burritos we wound up with…and the overabundance of white rice…strike two in the restaurant world. So, we hung our tails between our legs, splurged on a bottle of blueberry kombucha, and headed back up to Rochester.
Within 30 minutes of arriving in Rochester, we were back on the road to Buffalo for one of Michael’s (slated-to-be) last metal shows with Nokturnal Hellstorm. Fortunately for me, the show was over by midnight, at which point we rolled down the street to a pretty funky burrito bar called Lloyd’s. Still hungry from our lack of satiating foods earlier in the day, we went out for more burritos after the show. These were at least more delicious than the first two, but still, heavy on the white rice. By 1:00 AM we were done eating and driving back to Rochester yet again.
It was about 2:30 AM when we finally rolled into bed.
The next morning – Mother’s Day. We’d had grand plans to have breakfast with Michael’s mom, lunch with my mom, and run from one mom’s house to the other in between meals. Needless to say, we did not accomplish that much! We made it to Michael’s mom’s for breakfast by noon! And by the time we got to my mom’s house, we were both ready for bed! We rallied, though, in time to make dinner with my mom around 5:00 PM.
By this point, however, we were both famished, and fairly constipated! All that white rice we’d eaten from a full day of sub-par burritos (well, Lloyd’s burritos were good, but still…white rice), the lack of veggies, and the certain dehydration after a muggy, long run left us with very little keeping our bowels clean and moving!
So, how did we remedy that? With food, naturally! We made the following two recipes – Tabbouleh and Steamed Veggie Mix – and had a side of steamed broccoli to go with it. Our recovery meal definitely revived us, and helped get that normal bowel flush going again 😉
Tabbouleh
YIELD 2-3 Servings | COOK TIME 30 Minutes | PREP TIME 15 Minutes
Ingredients
1 cup dry bulgur
2 cups water
Sea salt
½ bunch parsley, chopped
¾ cup olives, cut in half
¾ cup tomatoes, diced
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup kale, raw, chopped finely
½ medium cucumber, cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup button mushrooms, chopped into ½-inch pieces
1-2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp sea salt, or 8 grinder cracks
Directions
Step 1
Rinse the bulgur in a fine mesh strainer, then add to a small pot with 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes or so, until all water is absorbed and bulgur is puffed up and just chewy. Add about 15 cracks of the sea salt grinder, or just shy of 1 tsp fine grain sea salt.
Step 2
Prep your veggies!
You can use any combination of veggies here, I just used what I had available in my fridge.
Chop all veggies and then put into a mixing bowl. Once bulgur is cooked, rinse under cold water for a few seconds to bring the temperature down. Then add bulgur to mixing bowl with veggies.
Drizzle olive oil onto bulgur-veggie mixture, add lemon juice, and additional sea salt and black pepper as desired.
Mix well, but gently. Serve, and enjoy!
Sauteed Veggie Mix
YIELD 2 Servings | COOK TIME 20 Minutes
Ingredients
½ red or white onion, sliced or diced
½ Bunch Kale (any kind), stems removed
½ Bunch Swiss Chard, stems removed
¼ head cabbage
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
2 Tbsp coconut oil or pure olive oil
Water
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Directions
Step 1
Prepare the vegetables: slice the onion; de-stem the greens; chop stems into ½-inch pieces; chop green leaves into 1-inch pieces; chop cabbage into 1-inch pieces; mince garlic.
Step 2
In a medium-large fry pan over medium-low heat, warm the cooking oil. Once warm, add the onion and stem pieces. Cook 3-5 minutes, stirring, until onion becomes just translucent and stems become tender.
Step 3
Add about 2 Tbsp water, then add the cabbage. Cook for about 2 minutes. Then add the green leaves from the chard and kale. Cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the garlic, cook 1 more minute, then remove from heat. Season with sea salt and black pepper (or other spices of your choosing!) to your taste.
In My Mother's Kitchen 