Sunday, April 5, 2009

Recipe for heart healthy Tomato Bisque

Below is my recipe for Tomato Bisque that I created for the American Heart Association and was printed in the Suburban Journal. The link takes you to the full article but below are the first two paragraphs. When it comes time to make this recipe, consider your personal health situation and feel free to modify the cream and broth salt levels. A little more of both really makes this baby POP! Remember, everything in moderation.

http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2006/11/28/life_and_style/cooking/heart-y_bites/doc456390d491da5372275535.txt

HEART-Y Bites: Savory tomato connects to summer flavors

By Stanley Crocker Tuesday, November 28, 2006 9:15 PM CST

TOMATO BISQUE

This is the time to look for new sources of warmth, but there is no reason to leave all the perks of summer behind.A tasty and nutritious reminder is canned tomatoes – especially when they are fire-roasted and part of hearty and delicious bisque. Their smoky flavor adds a warm smolder just right for leaf raking or a day on the Katy Trail.Tomatoes are technically a fruit, because they develop from the ovary in the base of a flower. Using them in savory dishes lets them work under cover of a vegetable year-round. Regardless of their alias, tomatoes are a tasty addition to a healthy lifestyle.

In processing, some fruits and vegetables can lose nutrients, but not canned tomatoes. They retain most of them, including lycopene, an antioxidant that may reduce risk of some cancers. Lycopene also gives tomatoes their brilliant red color.The tomato doesn’t stop there. One tomato provides a boost of vitamins A and C and potassium.The tomato is starting to look more like a fruit all the time.Many of the soups enjoyed today, particularly canned ones, are loaded with salt. Moderation of salt is important for those concerned with high blood pressure or kidney disease, but everyone should monitor its intake, because it is so pervasive in purchased food.Current dietary guidelines recommend limiting daily intake of sodium to 2,400 milligrams per day. Most people can achieve this by limiting processed foods and focusing on whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables.One serving of this lower-sodium soup leaves room for some more in other foods throughout the day. Paired with a fresh green salad and crusty bread, it makes a hearty and healthy meal.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Events and goings on

Last friday I got myslef up to Seoul and met the lads at Storck bicycles. We left at about 4 for the qualifier for the Tour of Korea Amateur race. It was quite a caravan with two teams, two team vans, and a bunch of support. The B squad and A squad loaded into their respective vans. Both teams are sponsored by Storck and Harley Davidson of Korea.

After arriving on the East coast we checked into the hotel, with well appointed rooms for a mere W40k or about $30. I bitch about a lot of stuff but this really was a sweet deal. We had some dinner that we had brought and hit the hay.

The next day we got up and readied ourselves and took a drive around the qualifier course. There was loads of debate about approaches but we all knew the pack would likely (A) crash a lot and (B) break into splinter groups. Both came true. I'll spare the details but it was required that we average 30kmh (18 mph) over the 63km. That sounds slow but the walls we climbed along the ocean front put that into perspective. I felt pretty good in the first 10-15km but then my git-up-and-go got-up-and-went. No amount of hope was gonna help my gasping. WTF? My legs felt pretty good and I managed my way up a hill or two in sight of the the wee ones. On a flat section of the second loop I realized my average was about 33kmh and I was pretty safe to roll in at my own pace while still qualifying. The rest of the team qualified as well.

After arriving at the finish I was immediately cold. I scurried back to my room to shower and refuel. Still cold. Later, on the ride home the sinuses started cracking and popping. My muscles also had a weird resistance to releasing (Mg+ deficient?). I crashed at a friend's place that night in Seoul. I woke up to a packed head of snot and bilateral earaches. "This should be fun for my 10k run in the Incheon Marathon this morning". Stranger yet, the legs felt great.

Suzanne and I ran the Incheon Marathon (she hates the pics so I'll respect that). She dusted me by 5 seconds and I have to applaud her effort put into training. It make me so proud of her when she does something good for herself like this. We then got blind drunk on beer and Chicken at my runner/bandmate friend's house. Good times. Ok, not so blind drunk. Tipsy maybe.

Now, I've been sick for 4+ days and the lungs are just disgusting. I'm off my training plan for the Tour of Korea until I feel it's safe to resume without progressing to pneumonia. So I did not do a good job of sparing the race details, I WILL spare you the lung cookie details.