Food Clubs and Pasta in Red and White Sauce

First the $10.00 PETSMART gift card (or e-certificate) AND the $269.00 DRAWING.  ENTER HERE.  Good luck.

Next, the workout…drum roll…TAPER WEEK!   Began with a total upper body and ab workout: back, chest, shoulders, and abs.  Arms were worked yesterday with legs, which are pretty sore today.  Guess I didn’t go as light on my legs as I thought.  Shane and I went for a 3 mile easy run to shake those legs out.  It was 62 degrees and wasn’t raining. Perfect running weather.

During tapering, the goal is to recover from any physical demands your hard training has put on the body without losing fitness.   This week, the 5 days prior to my race, I’m cutting the miles way down to about 19 or 20, depending on how I feel.   The weight workouts will be light, even though some sources say to cut out weights completely.  If too much running and training is cut out, there’s the possibility of feeling sluggish the day of the race.  With all the excitement and anticipation, I can’t imagine feeling sluggish. 

Do you have any experience with tapering?  Do you enjoy the taper or get too antsy during tapering?

FOOD CLUBS

Finally! My Sunergia Tofu arrived!  It’s flavored.  Simply grill, bake or fry and serve.

It’s impossible to get this brand of tofu from anywhere but a food buying club. Amazing!  So I joined a food buying club.

The club is the United Natural Foods Eastern Division.  The commitment of the organization is impressive with a proactive concern for the environment, reverence for the land and sustainable agriculture. 

I placed my order with the club organizer and was notified that the truck was in at 10 am last Thursday. 

Everyone’s order comes in on a pallet and you  pay in advance so it’s a simple pick up.

My two boxes of tofu were minimal in comparison to what the others ordered.

This short notice pick-up deal is certainly not my thing especially when I have to break away from work just to pick up.  But once a month or less, and for Sunergia Tofu, it’s worth it.  Sunergia also makes Soy Feta but I’m too passionate about my feta cheese to appreciate the soy version.

Red and White Sauce

Fromage Blanc:  Did you know Emeril offers a homemade recipe for this creamy cheese on FoodNetwork?  Check it out. It looks pretty easy.

Here is a description of Fromage Blanc from “Cheesemaking”

Fromage Blanc is a wonderfully creamy cheese that may be used in place of cream cheese in any recipe. I love to use this in both Couer a la Creme and Cheesecake. It has a smooth consistency and only takes a few minutes of work to make it. I like to make this cheese at night and drain it first thing in the morning. This way it is ready to use for my guests when they arrive for lunch or dinner. (You may use from 1 to 4 quarts of milk depending on how much cheese you wish to make each quart of milk will produce about 10 ounces of cheese.)

I used the Fromage Blanc in my homemade tomato sauce.  It rounded out the acidity of the sauce and muted the heavy garlic taste. 

Pasta in Red-White Sauce:

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 medium eggplant, peeled and chopped into 1” cubes
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 2 1/2 cups pasta sauce – your favorite recipe or use this one. Make sure you have made your sauce before beginning this recipe.
• 1 lb pasta – such as penne rigatoni
• 8 oz Fromage Blanc – or you can use any other soft, creamy cheese (goat cheese is my usual favorite).

Cook the pasta according to the package directions, al dente.

Heat your pasta sauce.

When the pasta is cooked, drain and put a little of the warm pasta sauce in the bottom of the pot you boiled the pasta in (about 3 TBS of sauce just to line bottom of pan).  Add the drained pasta back to the warm pot with the sauce on the bottom, just to keep warm. *This should be done about 5 minutes before your veggies (eggplant, etc) are cooked.

Heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add the eggplant, squash, and green pepper. Stir constantly until cooked, about 10 to 15 minutes.  The squash should begin to brown.

Toss the cooked vegetables into the pasta. 

When ready to serve, add the Fromage Blanc (or other soft cheese) into the sauce and stir.

Serve with pasta and vegetables.

Once the marathon is over, I’ll switch back to focusing on proteins and reducing the carbohydrates to a nice balance: 45 carbs-35 proteins-20 fats.   This week however, I’ll enjoy my pasta.

What’s your healthy balance of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats?

Joanne