Nothing fancy happening this weekend except another 18 mile long run. It’s going to be a tough one though. It’s one of those runs with faster middle mile pacing and to help me do that, I’m running 8 easy miles then a 10K race with a 4 mile follow up finish. I have a sneaking feeling those last 4 miles are going to be torture.
Have you ever put a race into your marathon training long run?
Did you run at marathon pace? half marathon pace? or were you unable to control it and raced all out at 10K pace?
A Garden Fresh Recipe.
Now all of you with gardens are bringing in the rewards of your hard work, here is a recipe idea credited to Chef Eric Stein from Sizzle, Winter 2013 edition. Get ready to use up that squash and zucchini!
Serves 8 – 10
Ingredients:
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- 2 cups rinsed and drained quinoa
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 25 oz jar marinara sauce
- 15 oz can Fire Roasted diced tomatoes
- 6 large fresh basil leaves, chopped
- 15 oz Part Skim Ricotta Cheese
- 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 medium zucchini cut into thin rings
- 1 large yellow squash cut into thin rings
- 1 medium eggplant, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and sliced thin. *If you can’t slice it thin, you should sauté the slices in a little bit of olive oil first, just to soften, about 3 – 4 minutes otherwise the eggplant will be chewy due to it’s thickness and difficulty in cooking.
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 400 F. Bring the broth, quinoa and salt to a boil. Stir and allow to cook over medium low heat for 15 minutes. Cover and remove from heat, allowing to sit for 5 minutes.
Place quinoa in a large bowl and add 3/4 of the jar of marinara sauce. Pour the fire roasted diced tomatoes into the jar of the remaining marinara and mix up. Set this jar aside for a minute.
Add basil and cheeses to the quinoa mixture. Stir.
Add 1/4 of the marinara – tomato mix (from the jar) to the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan. Spread to cover the bottom. Top with overlapped slices of zucchini, squash, eggplant. Spoon 1/2 of the quinoa mixture on top. Cover with another 1/4 of the jar mix (marinara- tomato) and repeat with more vegetables, then remaining quinoa and 1/4 jar of marinara mix. Finish with the rest of the remaining vegetables then the sauce and finally sprinkle on the 1 cup of Parmesan cheese. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remover foil and cook uncovered for another 15 minutes.
Want more recipes for Vegetarian Lasagna? Check these out!
Vegetarian Gluten Free Lasagna
Meatless No Bake Lasagna *Not a GF recipe.
Vegetable Lasagna: Eggplant and Squash
Do you have a recipe for vegetable lasagna? Please share.
I think those last 4 miles will feel great, actually, if you use them as a cool-down after the 10K race. Whatever you do, it sounds like a fun way to get a long run done.
I like all of those ingredients so I’m sure I’d like your recipe!
I like that you added tips about slicing the eggplant very thinly or else pre-cooking it a little. Well-cooked eggplant is great but undercooked eggplant will ruin a dish like that! I also like that instead of trying for a gluten-free pasta, you just used quinoa instead to make this dish gluten-free. Probably a lot easier, and more nutritious than if you’d used a non-whole-grain gluten-free pasta.