Homemade Energy Bars

I refuse to say “Power Bar”… it makes me think of that chalky crap bar they sling.
Via Bitchin Camaro (a new one for me).

These bars are AMAZING, plain and simple. I know Elvis wasn’t a health nut, but if he rode brevets (or ran marathons), this would be his bar. I’m sure he would have one of his chefs whip it together. Me, I have to dig out the cookware myself. It is a rough life.

I tried out a couple of different recipes with success, including these bars from Grit and Glimmer. They were very good as well (especially the medjool dates), but these are just outstanding. I have a love for the peanut butter and banana combo though, so I may be biased.

One thing you want to keep in mind with both of these recipes, it really helps to spend some time chopping the nuts with a knife. I could never get the “pound out with a roller” technique to give me very consistent sizes. It seemed like they were either smashed to a fine powder or completely whole. As soon as I switched over to a good, sharp chefs knife, everything kind of fell into line on that front.

Some of the ingredients might cost a bit up front (brown rice syrup, specifically), but you will have plenty left over for another round of awesomeness. For what it’s worth, I omitted the vanilla and don’t think I lost too much. I had the agave nectar on hand, but I’m definitely going to try a batch with some honey next time.

As always, the bulk section is your friend on this. PCC has an amazing spice and grain bulk section that you should hit up. I personally don’t need a whole bottle of ground cardamom sitting around collecting dust. Just pick up what you need for a few cents.

We are starting to piece together our flèche team for the year. The plan is to travel light, long and fast. Chris and I are joining up with Joshua Bryant in Portland to hook out to the Oregon coast up into Olympia.

Chris made this amazing drawing and I added some fonts and what not. We are thinking it would look pretty kick ass on some jean jackets. I’m not sure how that is going to work exactly…

If you really like it, I’m sure Chris would be willing to tattoo it on you permanently for a small fee.

The Friday of the ride, we are taking the train down with our bikes for a 2pm start with Joshua in Portland. We should have a couple of hours to impress the locals with our charm. I’ve heard they don’t see many bikes down there, so those will be a hit, I’m sure.

Last year I rode with a bunch of flatulent, chatty randonneurs that were sure that breakfast was in “the next town”. It wasn’t. It never was!

I have no idea how this year will shake out, but I guarantee it will be an experience. Expect all of the gruesome details (hopefully no vomit involved) sometime in April. I have a bad history with night starts, so I’m looking to correct that. Still, it wouldn’t be a rando ride if I wasn’t questioning my sanity at least one time along the way.

Special thanks to Jane and Norman for once again helping drive us back home. I’m sure they will have a crazy weekend harassing the local hippies. I expect nothing less.

I know one thing is fact, I will be eating nachos at least once when I hit the finish. Olympia Hot Dog Company, here I come!

Pasta with Broccoli Rabe (aka Baby or Rapini) , Goat Cheese and Hot Italian Sausage
Serves 4 to 5 – adapted from Saveur

Pasta is one of my favorite meals, ever. I really should cut back. I blame pasta and beer directly for my pear shape and lack of a real climbing ability. That said, maybe you have a better moderation ability than I do.

This recipe would be wonderful with any pasta. The original shows orecchiette, which is wonderful, but I find can be a little pricier than others. I had my father up from San Diego, so I went a little fancier and made some homemade pasta noodles. It takes a bit more time, but I’m getting faster at it.

The original recipe also doesn’t have the meat in it, but I know that sausage and broccoli rabe are a classic Italian pairing. Feel free to omit the meat if you want to make it vegetarian.

• 1 bunch broccoli rabe (about 1 lb.)
• 4 Hot Italian sausages, casing removed
• 1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 6-8 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of your knife
  
• 3⁄4 tsp. crushed red chile flakes
• Around 1 lb. pasta of your choice
• 2 tbsp. lemon zest
• 4 oz. goat cheese

Prep the broccoli:

Get a large pot of water boiling with some kosher salt and boil the broccoli rabe for about 4 minutes, until tender. Transfer rabe to  a bowl of ice water. You are stopping the cooking process and making sure that it keeps a nice green color. Drain and pat dry on some towels. Chop the broccoli roughly into bite sized pieces.

Start sauce:

Heat 2 tbsp. oil over medium heat in a large skillet and add the Italian sausage. Break it with the back of a wooden spoon as it browns. Add the rest of the olive oil and the garlic. Cook for roughly 3 minutes to let the garlic brown and the olive oil pick up the flavors. Toss in the chile flakes and cook until fragrant, roughly 30 seconds. Add the broccoli rabe and toss until all the flavors incorporate. Remove from heat.

Cook pasta and combine:

Boil a large pot of salted water and cook your pasta as long as required for your preferred style. If you make fresh pasta, boil 3 to 4 minutes. If you have dry pasta, it usually takes 8 to 10 minutes. Once done, drain the water but save a cup of the pasta water to add to your sauce. Dump the drained pasta straight into the sauce along with some of the saved water (start with 1/4 cup) and lemon zest. Toss everything together and add more pasta water as needed.

When serving, add a few small dollops of goat cheese to each plate. A little goes a long way.

I’ve managed to make it to a couple of the SIR Winter Training Series rides so far. I’m not quite as on the ball as I want to be right now, but I feel like I’m making a comeback of sorts.

On Saturday, Chris, Dan Boxer and I rode out to Bothell (25 – 30 miles or so) for a “35 mile” ride around the hills in the area. The cue snakes everyone through an evil series of loops, up and down, but mostly up. Somehow there ends up being something like 4000 feet of climbing. It wasn’t until I flipped my cue sheet over that I realized that the course was actually 45 miles, with plenty of hills still coming.

I figured that I had enough food on me, but I was dead wrong. I forgot my bananas out the door, and some of my Shot Blocks in my bag were hard as rocks. I need to make sure to squeeze them before assuming they’ll work for me. I had a baggie full of awesome homemade energy bars, but they mostly just got me through the first half of the day.

By the time I was on the last hill, my legs were burning and I was seriously undernourished. I was completely bonking by the time we got back to park. I laid out on the ground and soaked in a little bit of sun. I tried to eat a little bit of a (different) protein bar that I had in my bag. It was way too sweet and sent my stomach reeling. Sometimes you have to learn the nutritional stuff the hard way.

Dan and Chris basically had to nurse me back home. I spent at least 15 minutes on the side of the Burke Gilman Trail laying in the grass letting my stomach settle. Thankfully, it was an amazingly beautiful day for it.

I was anxious to get home though. I had planned to make dinner for my “little” cousin Thomas. He is shipping off to Kyrgyzstan (not to sound like a jerky American, but I had to google that again) with the military. Someone gave him a license to operate a 2 million dollar cargo loader…

We got him pizza’d up with some friends and drank some beers. It was a generally pleasant night, despite my aching body and throbbing muscles.

On the cooking forefront, I’ve had a pretty good streak of Sunday baking going. Three weeks ago I made a homemade pita bread from a couple of random online recipe sites. They came out great so I made a double batch of hummus that I’m still working on. I’ve been meaning to cook up some eggs and stuff them into breakfast pockets. Soon!

Two weeks ago, I had another successful run with making bagels. This time I was able to use a proper stand mixer since Norman was able to find his dough hook attachment. It was so much easier this time around. I still made sure to get in and hand knead a bit though. I’m starting to actually enjoy that process. I played around with some poppy seeds and onions for toppings. I burnt the onions a bit, but the poppy seeds worked great.

Last night I made some English muffins (with Jane’s help) out of Norman’s “The Bread Bible” (Beth Hensperger’s) book. I am constantly surprised at how easy these staples are to make. They take a little bit of time, but it is totally worth it. I’m getting to the point where I can handle multiple projects at the same time, so it cuts down on overall cooking time. I was able to cook us dinner while multitasking the bagel cooking.

English Muffins

Makes 16 or so

• 4-4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (can sub out a cup or two with whole wheat if you want)
• 1 tbsp of salt
• A pinch of sugar
• 1 tbsp of active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup of room temperature milk
• 2 tbsp of melted butter

1. Combine the water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl with a whisk and sit until foamy (10 minutes).
2. Combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in egg, milk, butter, and yeast mixture. Mix with a paddle attachment (or wooden spoon) until creamy (2 minutes).
3. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until you have a soft dough that just clears the sides of the bowl.
4. Switch to a dough hook attachment and turn on medium for 3 to 4 minutes. Alternatively, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes. If you use a dough hook, you can still hand knead for a few minutes to ensure that the dough is smooth.
5. Lightly oil a large bowl and the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size (1 1/2 hours). If it takes longer, be patient.
6. Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal. Pour the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface and roll out to a roughly 1/2″ thick rectangle. Use a 3″ cookie cutter (or large glass) to cut out muffin shaped pieces of the dough. Combine the scraps and roll them out to make more muffins.
7. Heat a large griddle over medium heat. Cook muffins for up to 10 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them though, they can burn fairly easily. Mine all needed about 7-8 minutes per side. It takes a while for the middle of the muffin to cook properly.
8. Cool on a wire rack. Be patient!
9. Spread muffins open with a fork.

Cooking the sauce

Croque-Madame (one of the best things, ever)
Serves 2 – adapted from Epicurious

There are lots of weak versions of this recipe out there. This one beats any I’ve tasted in any restaurant. You’re opinions may vary.

This has enough calories to get you through a 600K.

For sauce
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tbps flour
• 1 cups whole milk
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Black Forest Ham and Gruyere Cheese

For sandwiches
• 2 tbps unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 ounces coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (3/4 cup)
• 4 slices white sandwich bread
• Dijon mustard (to taste)
• 1/4 lb thinly sliced cooked ham
• 2 large eggs

Grilled in butter

Topped with sauce and broiled

Finished with a fried egg

Making the sauce:

Melt 2 tbsp of the butter over medium-low heat and whisk in the flour a bit at a time. Let the mixture (a roux) cook for about 3 minutes. It is important to keep whisking it so nothing burns. Consider it exercise for the calorie fest to come.

Slowly at the milk and whisk to incorporate. Bring it to a boil and then drop the heat to a light simmer. Let it cook for about 5 minutes but keep an eye on it. It will threaten to boil over if you aren’t careful. Whisk it occasionally.

Mix in the salt, pepper, nutmeg and 1/4 cup of the cheese until melted. Remove the sauce from the heat. Cover the mixture with a cloth or wax paper (not a lid) while you prepare the sandwiches.

Making the sandwiches:

Lay out the 4 slices of bread. Top two of the slices with a few tablespoons of the sauce each. Split the remainder of the cheese over the slices with the sauce. Spread mustard on the empty slices and top with ham.

Preheat broiler with rack 5 inches or so from heat source.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in large skillet and cook sandwiches over medium-low heat until golden brown, 2 minutes per side Alternatively, you could butter the bread directly, but I find that you need a bit more butter to cover that way.

Transfer sandwiches to a shallow baking pan and wipe out skillet.

Top sandwiches with the remainder of the sauce and broil until the top is golden and bubbly. Note that I cooked mine a touch too long. Keep a close eye on it. There is a very fine line between perfect and burned.

While that is cooking, start 1 tbsp of butter in the skillet you wiped out earlier. Fry up the 2 large eggs over medium heat with a touch of salt and pepper.

Top the sandwiches with the eggs. Eat it right away. Perfect.

My boss at my full time job was nice enough to let me borrow her pasta roller about a month ago. She claimed to have not touched it “in years”, so I didn’t need to be in a hurry to get it back. That is good because I’ve cooked 3 or 4 homemade pasta dishes with it now (I lost track, really).

Before I got the roller, I tried my hand at a potato gnocchi…

Finished gnocchi with ragu

Uncooked gnocchi

Gnocchi with Ragu (adapted from Epicurious)

Variations on original
• I made my favorite ragu from this recipe on Saveur

It is really important that you are able to mash the potatoes very fine. A potato ricer would have been really nice, but I don’t own one (yet). I mashed by hand and ended up with a few small chunks that I had to pick out by hand while forming the gnocchi. It wasn’t a huge deal, but made the process take all that much longer.

Honestly, this isn’t a recipe for a weeknight. I spent like 4 hours on the whole thing, but I’m pretty positive that I could knock half an hour to an hour off with some practice. The ragu itself has to cook for 3 to 3 1/2 hours though. It doesn’t need to be babysat, but you need to have some patience.

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I’ve been riding my bike, you just wouldn’t know it from my blog. I end up sneaking rides in to cold and early mornings where I don’t want to take off my gloves to snap any photos. It ends up being a lot easier to snap a picture of a meal I just made, so here you go… more of the same. I hope some of you enjoy it anyways.

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Ga Kho

Caramelized Chicken (from Ravenous Couple)

I made this last night. The recipe calls for bone-in chicken, but I ended up with boneless on accident. Just keep an eye on it to make sure that it cooks all the way through. It can be tough to tell once the sauce is in the pan and everything darkens up. The flavor was incredible though. I will definitely be making this again soon.

Variations on original:

• 1.5 lbs chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup water

I was just cooking for three, and the servings were substantial with even a little bit left over. Served with white rice and some extra green onions.

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I’ve been slacking off quite a bit on the bike riding front just in time for the holidays. Oddly enough, I’ve been commuting by bike a bit more than usual, just not going on quite as many rides for fun on weekends. I’m not sure if the two are related.

I’ve picked up a few books by Michael Pollen that have got my brain pushed into new directions lately. Both “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food” have got me to reassess my values on what is healthy. He speaks truths that the government seems to want to dance around. Eat more vegetables, less meat (though it doesn’t not encourage you to drop them), and eat less of everything.

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I made this last night and it came out pretty great. It seems like the last few times I’ve cooked with Norman over, things have came out kind of “meh”. I was happy to have what I considered a success on my hands.

Ziti with Sausage Gazpacho Sauce
Via Epicurious

• 10 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 lbs tomatoes, cubed – the original calls for cherry, I used romas from our garden.
• 3 bell peppers, cored and quartered – go crazy on the colors
• 2 medium red onions, cut in to six to eight wedges
• 2 lbs zucchini,  (4 medium - I had 2 monsters from the garden), trimmed and quatered lengthwise
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 mild to hot Italian sausages
• 3 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 pound ziti pasta
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 cup crumbled ricotta

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