Mind Games & Indonesian Cabbage Salad

We all have mind games we play on ourselves to keep ourselves going. Since my injury last summer I have been concentrating on my running form. Mainly trying to make sure to maintain a mid-foot strike instead of heel strike. This involves raising my knees up higher in my stride.

To do this I imagine I'm a steam locomotive.  They are very powerful machines. My legs are the wheels and my arms are the side rods (or coupling rods) that connect and drive the wheels.  I loosely tuck my elbows to the side of my torso forcing my arms to move in the direction I'm running and move my arms in a quasi-circular motion driving my body forward.   This little mind game seems to keep my momentum going.  I can tell when I'm getting tired on a run because my arms will swing in front of my body instead of on the side in a  pumping action.

The trickier part is keeping my legs moving in a "revolving" motion like a wheel.  Breaking almost 20 years of bad form is difficult to do.  Its especially more difficult to do when I'm tired. Wheels are pretty efficient machines and in order to run efficiently I try to imagine my legs as wheels of the locomotive. Pumping my arms and imagining them as coupling rods really helps. This will, in theory, allow me to maintain a proper stride rate by using the least amount of energy to achieve my goal.  I've noticed if I can get myself to move my legs correctly, running is a lot easier. I especially notice this when I'm tired.

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Indonesian Cabbage Salad
Scott Jurek

Scott Jurek is an accomplished ultra marathon runner and Vegan.  He wrote a book about his life and career call "Eat & Run". This is the first recipe of his that tried and it was super easy, keeps well and delicious.  I don't have his permission to reproduce his recipe online, but  check out his book and get the recipe yourself. I've tried many others of his which I will comment on as well. Keep following us for more vegan goodness!

Cashew Veggie Korma

My favorite Indian dish is chicken Korma. But since I've been on the vegan kick, I naturally had to find a vegan version - very difficult to do. The traditional dish, aside from having chicken, has a cream/yogurt base to it.

But leave it to the Post Punk Kitchen to develop a recipe. I thought it was pretty close the original thing. You can find the recipe here.

I made only half the recipe and it still made alot. I ended up giving some of it away because it was just too much for DH and I to eat.

Although the recipe is long, it really wasn't that difficult to put together. I think I had it done during nap time.

Vegetable Curry

Okay. I've been lazy. I've been hanging onto this recipe for months, wanting to type it up and post it for you all. I just never sat down to do it. Too much typing. But Kerri inspired me with her last curry recipe.

We love curry in our house. We'd put curry on our Cheerios if we could. The only drawback is that your house smells like curry for 3 days after you make it. I think this recipe makes it worth the price you pay. I've been making ever since we turned over the vegan leaf in January. Its one of our favorites. Relatively easy to put together if you are organized. And only about 30 minutes of cook time.

I wish I were this fabulous cook who could survey the things in my pantry and just make up something fabulous. But alas, I'm not. My cooking talent stops at being able to follow a recipe. This one comes from my all-time favorite cookbook "The Complete America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook 2001-2011". There isn't a recipe in this book that I haven't liked. The biggest downside about it is that there isn't much that vegan, much less vegetarian. But I digress. Here it is, I hope you like it as much we do (BTW, if anyone out there knows of a good Koorma recipe, please send it my way!):

Vegetable Curry
Servings: 4-6

2 Tbsp. sweet or mild curry powder
1 1/2 tsp. garam masala
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 onions, minced (about 2 cups)
12 oz. Red Bliss potatoes (about 2 medium), cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 serrano chile, ribs, seeds, and flesh minced
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 medium head cauliflower, trimmed, cored, and cut into 1-inch florets (about 4 cups)
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, pulsed in a food processor until nearly smooth with 1/4-inch pieces visible
1 1/4 cups water
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Salt
1 1/2 cups frozen peas (8 oz.)
1/4 cup coconut milk


Toast the curry powder and garam masala in a small skillet over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the spices darken slightly and become fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove the spices from the heat and set aside.

Heat 3 Tbsp. of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the onions and potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized and the potatoes are golden brown on the edges, about 10 minutes. (Reduce the heat to medium if the onions darken too quickly.)

Reduce the heat to medium. Clear the center of the pan and add the remaining 1 Tbsp. oil and the garlic, ginger, chile and tomato paste; cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the toasted spices and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute longer. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring constantly, until the spices coat the florets, about 2 minutes longer.

Add the tomatoes, water, chickpeas, and 1 tsp. salt; increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula or wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. Cover and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the peas and the cream; continue to cook until heated through, about 2 minutes longer. Adjust the seasoning with salt and serve immediately, passing the condiments separately.