Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Postseason fever

Well, you all caught me in a lie. I promised a race report last week and then it never came to be. That's because this happened:


My beloved Orioles are making their first postseason appearance in 15 years. The number of hours spent watching late night baseball over the past 5 days likely exceeds my total hours of sleep, highlighted by actually getting to attend the game at Camden Yards on Sunday night thanks to dumb luck and a pre-sale lottery. Memories for a lifetime have been made though, and can't wait for this to continue.

GO O'S!!!!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

What I'm eating this week

This post should be a race report from this past weekend's Tower of Terror 10 miler, but, frankly, I'm completely exhausted and admittedly taking the easy way out. There will be a report later this week though, I promise.

I got back into town late Sunday and had fortunately decided in advance to take Monday off to recover from the lack of sleep and catch up on life a bit. With Fall temps sneaking in here and there, I wanted to make soup. I decided on a basic vegetable soup recipe I made last Fall and loved, but of course decided to put my own twist on it a bit.

The main change I made was to add chicken for some good basic protein. Once I added the liquid (which, for me, was a 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, a 48 oz. container of low sodium chicken broth, and a 1/2 c. of water for good measure), and brought it up to a boil, I added in 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts and simmered for 20 minutes. When time was up I took them out and added the pasta (orecchiette was my shape of choice). I shredded the chicken while the pasta cooked and dumped it all back into to the bubbling pot.

Yum. As I said, this is a good basic soup, and, as such, is not overwhelming with alot of complex flavors. The only added seasonings are some salt & pepper, and fresh thyme. Don't skimp on the herbs. Go with the fresh rather than dried. I really think that's the key to this one. I love fresh thyme, so I didn't even bother to measure out a tablespoon. I just stripped leaves off the stems til I had a good pile. I like the addition of the chicken. It really helped make this a healthy and very filling soup.