long run fueling friday

Our internet has been down for several days so once I get this post up I'm all caught up.

I do my long runs on Saturdays so Fridays are a big eating day for me.

Breakfast: Rice Crispies with dried cranberries; coffee with milk.

Second Breakfast: Iced coffee with milk, biscotti, and a glass of nonfat milk.

Lunch: Baba ganoush and Orgran quinoa crispibread.

Second Lunch: Pizza bagel with half an Udi's gluten-free bagel, tomato sauce, and feta cheese.

Snack: Handful of chocolate chips and a cup of tea.

Dinner: Leg of lamb and potatoes roasted with rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper; zucchini sautéed with cumin, salt, and pepper, and quinoa.

Snack: Some chocolate and a glass of nonfat milk.

what I eat while running

If you read Where in the World Am I? then you know that I'm running again, with goals and everything. I'm running a 10K in May and the Hyderabad Half Marathon in August. I have a training plan for the running, but despite all the nutritional articles I love to read I still feel like I'm not quite there with an eating plan. I know I eat too much sugar and salt. I know I need to eat more proteins and vegetables. I'm working on it.

Muffin doesn't eat any vegetables right now so it's been easy to slack off on preparing them. To inspire her and to force me, I am offering her one veggie per day, whether it's pepper slices on a pizza, chunky tomato sauce, carrot sticks, or steamed broccoli. She can say "No," and I won't force her but I'm making myself eat them. She watches me carefully and she tries a bite or two but she rarely asks for more. I know it's just a toddler phase but I can't use that excuse. Much like I read in Hungry Monkey, Muffin loves picking out the vegetables at the store and she loves to help prepare them, but she doesn't want to eat them.

I'm taking advantage of having a housekeeper to help prepare food. Surprisingly it's a lot of work to come up with meal plans and shopping lists and decide which foods I want my housekeeper to make and which I'll do myself. She washes the fruits and vegetables and I have her cut up the fruit so it's easier for me to make smoothies. She prepares meat rubs and marinades, then I pop the meat in the oven or onto the grill for cooking at dinner time.

In order to eat properly before and after running and to make sure Muffin is having wholesome meals as well, I've starting planning out my eating and running schedules a few days in advance. I don't stick to it strictly but it's a nice reminder of what leftovers are in the fridge and which meals needs to be prepared. It reminds me when I need to eat in order to be ready for a run and I plan certain snacks and meals to eat while Muffin is sleeping because I don't want to share every single bite that I eat. It sounds like a lot of work and it might even sound silly but if I don't do this I sit around eating chocolate all day behind Muffin's back and then I'm crabby and don't have the energy to make a healthy dinner so we end up eating macaroni and cheese.

I follow Anja's Food 4 Thought, the blog of a woman training for marathons in Saudi Arabia, for healthy, gluten-free, runner-friendly recipes and for inspiration for running in hot weather. All the recipes look yummy but I keep making the same chocolate-carrot muffins (another veggie for Muffin!) and apricot-pecan cake over and over again. They are great post-running treats with a glass of milk.

Speaking of hot weather, coconut water is my new best friend. I've heard it's a trendy, expensive sports drink in the United States. Here, I can walk about a quarter of a mile to a guy who sells coconuts on the side of the road, chops it open with a machete for you, and gives you a straw -- for about twenty-five cents per coconut. Despite that, I prefer the convenience of a little plastic bottle -- for about fifty cents -- that I can put in my gym bag to drink as soon as I hop off the treadmill.

Knowing the right things to eat and actually eating them are two different issues. I'm integrating small changes into my daily routine. One step at a time, just like running.
 

*I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on the Hungry Monkey link and ultimately decide to buy it, I will receive a few cents. I was not paid for this post; the book was purchased by me for personal reading.

The Best Coffee in the World

Here's a little note to let you know that the best coffee in the world, Peet's Burundi, is back for a limited time, online only. I'm not just saying it's the best because we lived there and I'm happy when Burundi has great economic opportunities. This really is great-tasting coffee.






Image from Peets.com. I was not compensated in any way for this post. Product was purchased by me for personal consumption.

jackfruit

Today my driver pulled over to buy some bananas and he asked if I'd ever eaten jackfruit. I hadn't, and as he excitedly negotiated a price for some bananas and jackfruit, because jackfruit is so great I just had to try it, I wondered if jackfruit was the big, ugly spiny melon that was sitting on the cart covered in flies.

It was. But to my relief the vendor pulled out a plastic bag filled with what looked like large, yellow unpeeled garlic cloves. They smelled good, like pineapple. They looked pretty clean. My driver advised me to eat a little of the flesh, peeling it off the large seed on the inside.

Yum! Imagine a pineapple, only sweeter and with less annoying juice and fewer annoying fibers. I gave a tiny bit to Muffin and her head nearly exploded from yumminess. I only ate one pod, thinking it was best to wash the rest before eating them. I'm trying to save some for Mike to try, but it's just too sweet and delicious. I'm popping them like candy corns. 

Jackfruit has vitamins and stuff, and some of the less-sweet flesh is used as a carbohydrate source. People make jams and chutneys out of it and dry it out for chips. I'm just going to be eating it from now until it goes out of season. I can go buy one every day if I want to! I'm thinking they'd be a great addition to my smoothies.

Find more information at Jackfruit Basics. Image from Jackfruit Basics.

chocolate banana milkshake

Milkshakes aren't generally regarded as health food (don't even think about SlimFast or anything related). But as a weekend treat for myself, I've figured out a pretty good combination of bananas, unsweetened cocoa powder, and nonfat milk. How do you get a thick creamy milkshake out of nonfat milk? Freeze the bananas!

Frozen bananas are my latest food obsession. Several times a week I send my housekeeper out to buy bunches of the baby bananas we have here. They are very sweet and taste better than any banana I've ever had in the United States. And they are a perfect size for adding to smoothies and shakes without having to cut them up. Not that it's not difficult to cut up bananas, but every bit of time saved seems to help these days. When I get my bunch of baby bananas I peel them all and put them in a bag in the freezer (which also keeps the ants away from them!). Then each morning I pull some out to add to my daily blender beverage. I only use two in fruit smoothies, because there's plenty of other fruit. But four or five added to the milk makes for a cold, smooth, creamy treat that is exactly as if you've added ice cream.

I don't really measure and sometimes I end up with enough for two (or three, depending on if you're counting both Mike and the baby). I use 1 1/2 to 2 cups of nonfat milk (I use Bob's Red Mill Nonfat Milk Powder to make my nonfat milk), four or five frozen baby bananas, and a heaping spoonful of cocoa powder. Blend it up and pour it into tall glasses. It's super-fantastic, if you like bananas.

If you are in the United States, you may be able to find these baby bananas at an international grocery store. I'd get them at an Asian grocery store in Falls Church, Virginia, and I'm pretty sure I saw them at some of the Mexican/South American stores in the area also. They really are tastier than the oversized, over-produced, under-flavored Chiquita or Dole bananas you'll find at Stop & Shop.

what I eat while pregnant

I have celiac disease, I live in Africa, and now on top of that I'm navigating the world of eating for two. The gluten-free part is easy. The lack of variety here is my big challenge. I haven't really had cravings, but I've had some very strong aversions, which makes the lack of variety even more challenging. Like every expectant woman I want to make sure the baby and I are getting enough of everything that we need.

A friend here gave me her copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting and I immediately turned to it for dietary guidelines. Most of the foods on the list are either unavailable here or inedible for me, which didn't surprise me. What surprised me was the gigantic amount of food that they want you to eat in one day! I'm working hard to gain the weight I need to with the proper nutrition, but I can't get anywhere near the daily calorie recommendation. (My husband looked at it too and was amazed. He doesn't even eat that much, and he's a fit, athletic guy who consumes mass quantities.)

I have a gluten-free prenatal vitamin. I'm eating a lot of quinoa and quinoa pasta, which has protein and folic acid. I'm also eating a lot of rice and beans, another good source of protein and folic acid. I try to get one serving of meat per day, but sometimes meat is my greatest aversion. I started making my own yogurt and I found a nonfat powdered milk that I can tolerate, so I'm getting plenty of calcium and my healthy yogurt bacteria. Every morning I start my day with a tropical fruit smoothie. (Sometimes on the weekends I make a banana-chocolate milkshake instead for a treat -- with my yogurt and nonfat milk of course.) I can get broccoli, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers here for my veggie intake. The baby craves carbs more than anything so I'm baking my own bread and eating cereal like mad. And my ultimate comfort food is Annie's gluten-free macaroni and cheese.

Besides the nonfat milk, I also drink a ton of water. Most of the other beverage choices here are too sugary for me and even before the pregnancy I drank them sparingly. I occasionally have caffeine-free coffee or tea. I gave up caffeine and alcohol as soon as I found out I was pregnant, and within two weeks my blood pressure plummeted from borderline too high to the low end of normal.

I know my efforts are paying off with every visit to my local nurse, who checks my blood pressure and does a urinalysis every other week. Without adequate medical care here (for anything more in-depth I have to go to Nairobi, South Africa, or even Europe or the States), my diet has to be my primary source of health maintenance. As you can see, I'm eating good stuff, but I am dreaming of the day several months from now when I will be back in the United States and can walk into any grocery store to face a huge variety of food.

fruito

No one can argue that one of the greatest products to come out of Burundi is Fruito fruit juices. Fruito takes local pineapple, juices it, and bottles it. Voila. There's no sugar added. You get a bottle of 100% pineapple juice every time. It tastes magical. They also make a passion fruit juice that has some sugar added. Real cane sugar, which I think is a real treat. 

The Fruito company is also an inspiration for local businesses. A Burundian nurse who used to work at the U.S. Embassy here had an idea for a juice company and applied for a grant from the Embassy. She got it, and with a lot of hard work, she's now one of the most successful entrepreneurs in town. Nearly every restaurant and store carries Fruito. People buy it in cases from the bottle depots. (We certainly do!)

A cold Fruito on a hot day (which nearly every day is) is one of the best things in the world. When I got home from my run this morning, Mike made me a mango smoothie with Fruito passion fruit juice. It was just what I needed as a reward, since I hadn't really been in the mood to run. 

Unfortunately for most people, Fruito does not leave Burundi often. You'll just have to come here and try some for yourself.

white russians

Last night we had our much anticipated and much planned La Fete Lebowski, a celebration of all things Big Lebowski. We wore robes, we (Wii) bowled, we watched the film, and we made white russians, a drink with which no Lebowski celebration can be without.

We stockpiled vodka and Kahlua for months. When I traveled through Nairobi earlier this week I grabbed an additional bottle of each from the duty-free shop and it's a good thing, because we opened those last two bottles. They can both be purchased here but can be quite expensive and may not be top quality.

When making white russians in a country where  you can't run down to the Ralphs for some half-and-half, it's important to test your recipe ahead of time with the different milks you have available. As far as I'm concerned, white russians made from irradiated pouch milk are utterly disgusting. We decided to use our fresh milk source and everyone raved about how great our white russians were.

In a place where beverage options can be mind-numbingly limited at parties--Coke, Fanta, Primus, Fruito, Amstel grande and Amstel petite--expect that more people will choose to drink your signature drink than, well, you expect. We bought a lot of extra milk for the party and didn't think we'd go through it all. We assumed that the cream, sugar, and alcohol content would keep folks to one or two white russians each. (I certainly couldn't have had more than two without yakking.) But a novel beverage choice was extremely popular and by the time the movie ended we were out of milk; folks were adding dry milk powder, Lebowski-style, to straight Kahlua.

Mike and I took turns tending bar and used a simple, basic recipe:

1 part Kahlua

1 part vodka

1 part full-cream milk

over ice

Some people added additional splashes of their favorite ingredient.

Vodka and other distilled beverages are widely regarded as gluten-free. However, if you're unsure, find a potato-based vodka with no additives. Most sources state Kahlua as being gluten-free. (It sneakily contains dairy, which is what gives some people a reaction; however, if you're drinking white russians I certainly hope you are dairy-tolerant.)

I actually didn't get to drink much white russian. The one that's in the photo is one I made earlier in the day, while we were prepping for the party and testing proportions. I only took a few sips because I didn't want to be wasted before the party even started. Then, later, I made one to drink while watching the film but I put it down on a table for a minute and it disappeared. After the film I tried for the third time, just to discover we were out of milk. And I didn't relish the thought of milk powder so I gave up for the night.

We have enough Kahlua and vodka so that the next time we buy milk I can make a white russian to sit and enjoy quietly.

Cross-posted at Where in the World Am I?

tropical fruit smoothie

One of the greatest benefits to living in Bujumbura is the abundance of tropical fruits: bananas, pineapple, mango, and papaya. Sure, it's not a huge selection and occasionally I crave an apple, but it's available year round, it's always delicious, and it's cheap.

Our cook has a standing order to keep fresh tropical fruit salad in the refrigerator at all times. We eat it for breakfast most days and sometimes for dessert after lunch. And several times a week we make fruit smoothies with it. With some of the local passionfruit or pineapple juices and a bit of dry milk powder, we have an amazingly sweet, creamy treat.

We have a five-cup blender and I fill it about halfway with the fruit salad. I add about a half cup of dry milk powder (I prefer Bob's Red Mill nonfat or buttermilk powders), a bottle of fruit juice (250 mL -- and the pineapple is sugar free; the passionfruit has cane sugar added), and six to eight ice cubes, and blend.

When a friend from the States was visiting, I made these smoothies for him and Mike after they'd gone for a run. He exclaimed, "You'll pay seven dollars for this back home!" And here seven dollars buys you more than enough fruit to make a smoothie every day for a week. The juice and milk powder are optional. At the very least all you need is the fruit and the ice.

On Sunday mornings the fruit smoothie makes the weekly malaria pill go down, well, smoothly.

savanna dry premium cider

I don't get a lot of ciders to drink here. The supply of Woodchucks I brought with me ran out a few weeks ago but soon afterward I had the opportunity to place an order for Savanna Dry Premium Cider from South Africa. They arrived last weekend to much anticipation.

I'd read a couple reviews and I hoped they would be drinkable at least. And that's about what they are. I like my ciders to be a bit darker and dryer than these are (despite the fact they are called "dry"). I think they are more light and sweet. Apparently you're supposed to drink it with a lemon wedge stuck in the neck, like a Pacifico or Corona. I haven't had the chance to try that yet because lemons aren't always available here.

I do enjoy them for the sake of trying a new African beverage. Savannah ciders are made in South Africa from Granny Smith apples. You can taste a little bit of the Granny Smiths in the aftertaste. 

So, not the greatest, but certainly not the worst. I'll gladly finish my case, but I may not be as protective of them as I was my Woodchucks. I'll share them to spare others the fate of buying them by the case and paying shipping fees from South Africa for a beverage that they may not find phenomenal.