This weekend starting guns fire and Wisconsinites will run exuberantly, recklessly, euphorically outside! Wisconsin's warm-weather season begins! The jolly spring giant has finally poked the ant mound that is Wisconsin, and we Wisconsinites will frantically pour out of our protective shelters, rushing helter-skelter in all directions, to take it on! This weekend's events calendar on TravelWisconsin.com links to:
- 3 foot-races, -one of which is the Madison Crazylegs 8K run, 2 mile walk, and wheelchair race
- 3 motorcycle and ATV races
- 3 canoe races
- 2 fishing tournaments
- And an alpaca competition!
And for those Wisconsinites who'd rather stroll than compete, garden expos abound and nature areas lift up their gates! Yes, Wisconsinites are on the move! We're moving OUTSIDE! And this weekend a lot of us are movin' FAST!
Being the author of a food blog, I predictably asked, "What are the best foods for a racer to eat?" I Googled the question, "What to eat before, during, and after a race?" and got over 250 appropriate links. So obviously not only Wisconsin, but the rest of the world is running around just for the joy of it too! On the Run Events.com (the first hit) recommends carbs like spaghetti the night before the race, and carbs such pancakes or toast the morning of. I found a runners' chat on the question, and the consensus seemed to endorse oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast. "Avoid the dried fruit!" they warned. (It's a fiber-timing thing. I understand this. I once went on a back-packing trip and supplied all of my companions with copious quantities of dried fruit. I imagine the moose found that mountain especially lush the next year.)
So in the spirit of this race weekend, I looked through my cookbooks for spaghetti recipes. I found one that fits my cooking style - easy, nutritious, fast-to-make, and, best of all, can be prepared ahead of time. It also can easily be brought to pot-lucks! The recipe is spaghetti and Italian sausage pie, and I'm posting it on the side page Everyday dinners easy enough to cook every day. The recipe comes from Wisconsin nutritionist Donna Weihofen, R.D.'s cookbook, Mom's Updated Quick Meals Recipe Box: 250 Family Favorites in Thirty 
Minutes or Less.
My eight-year old daughter is home from school sick today, which means I'm home today too. So I made the spaghetti and Italian sausage pie this morning. It smelled so delicious when it came out of the oven that Lauren begged to have it for lunch. After just two bites, she said, "This is awesome, Mom. Make this again!" She knew I would share the recipe on this blog, so she said, "Be sure to tell them that I like it, 'cause, well, you know, I'm kinda picky." OK, that settles it. This recipe goes in my recipe box.
Donna Weihofen may have featured this recipe on her regular cooking show (WISC TV - CBS), I'm not sure. But the numerous cooking tips in her book, Mom's Updated Quick Meals Recipe Box, have been very helpful to me. I now understand the reasons behind some basic cooking practices, such as why fresh herbs are added at the end of the heating process rather than before with the dried. I had been more of a mind to just throw the herbs in the pot whenever they happened to be in my hand. Donna explains which foods can be substituted for others. I confess to disastrous results after just winging-it with my overly-imaginative substitutions. Even separating eggs makes sense to me now. It was merely fun before. But most importantly, Donna's cookbooks fit my life-style. 
It's up to me, and me alone, to provide daily nutritious, tasty meals for my busy family. And although I enjoy cooking, I'd rather not live in the kitchen. When dinner's done, I'm heading OUTSIDE!
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Some other tasty and healthy foods to pack for the race are:
Hi-Honey Energy Fruit Bars for Athletes
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A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. (Michel Eyquem Montaigne, French essayist)
Posted by: Jordan 4 | September 06, 2010 at 09:20 PM