So I’m running a marathon on Sunday, my seventh! I’m incredibly excited, even though I know there’s pretty much a 0.000032% chance that I’ll PR. It’s okay, though. I signed up way back in August when I had no idea what life with a baby would be like, and figured that it was a good goal to have for 7.5 months after having a baby.
On my 5ish mile run yesterday, my legs felt SO fresh and ready to run that it took some serious willpower not to just keep going. I gotta save it all for the race, though. I only did one 20-miler this training cycle, so there’s a pretty good chance I’ll crash and burn hard somewhere around mile 22 if I go out even a little bit too fast.
I’ve done a lot of runs on the treadmill lately but the weather has been better the past few days, so I’ve been running outside more. It’s kind of nice to go from zoning out, staring at a TV playing the news at 5 AM to fresh air and great blue herons in the nice afternoon sun. I’ll take a little more of the latter.
We have a big bag of these little egg noodle nests in the cupboard, which I know are not the healthiest choice, but I love them. They require a decent amount of oil to avoid turning into a giant yellow clump, so I don’t cook with them too often, but when I do, I try to add a lot of vegetables so there’s at least something a little healthy going on. We’ve had a bunch of broccoli stalks sitting in the produce drawer for a couple weeks, and I’ve been promising Mike I’d use them and wooohoooo I actually did. Finally. I also roasted an eggplant, fried some tofu and sliced up a red pepper, so there was a pretty nice variety of flavors and textures.
Ellie and Mike impatiently watched my pre-dinner photo shoot.
Ellie REALLY wanted to try some of this, but she’s still doing mostly purees at this point. They’re exciting purees, though! Red lentils with tomato and coriander, carrots with dill, and cauliflower with cumin – and she loves them all. But she still was very intrigued by our food.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp regular soy sauce
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp Shao Xing rice wine
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
- 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2" cubes
- 16 ounces tofu, pressed, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
- 4 broccoli stalks, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 8 ounces egg noodles
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Stir the soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and rice wine together and set aside.
- Toss the eggplant cubes with 1 tbsp of oil and spread in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast for about half an hour, or until the cubes are browned and very soft.
- While the eggplant is roasting, heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet and add the tofu. Cook, flipping occasionally, until golden brown on all sides. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil and cook the noodles according to package directions. Drain and toss with a little oil.
- Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet and add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until very fragrant, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the broccoli and bell pepper and stir fry for a few minutes, until crisp-tender.
- Add the tofu, eggplant, and soy sauce mixture and continue cooking for another few minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, then serve over the noodles
Do you have a baby puree recipe book you use for Ellie? I just started making purees for my 6m-old twins, but just single fruit or veggie ones.
I started with this one, which I really like: http://www.amazon.com/Cooking-Baby-Wholesome-Homemade-Delicious/dp/1416599185
I’ve branched out a little bit from there and now a lot of what I do, I just make up as I go. That book has lots of good recipes, though!
I have no doubt you’ll rock this marathon just as you have every other post-baby race.
This looks delicious! Good luck at Big Sur this weekend!
And again, like a broken record, I say that Ellie is the cutest baby ever.
Good luck at Big Sur!
I need Ellie’s outfit! That dress is so cute. Oh, and the food looks awesome too.
Best of luck to you on Sunday!