West African Peanut Soup

So, there's a bit of back story to today's recipe:

Last sunday was a PERFECTLY beautiful sunny day (albeit a bloody chilly and windy one,) so Jenn and I decided to have a rip on the bikes out to Wycliff Park in North Vancouver. It's a really great route, one of my favourite roads to ride (it's a very hilly/rolling ride segment,) and we were joined by a few other teammates (thanks Tamasin, Sarah and Andrea for the fun!) In my typical weekend fashion, I made Jenn and I some gluten free pancakes (that I'll have to post the recipe up to, they're apparently SOMEBODY'S new favourite breakfast,) so was incredibly fuelled for the ride. Not taking much food in during the 2.5hr ride, I started to get my bonk on in the last 3 minutes of the ride (good timing eh?)

Finishing our ride at my new favourite gluten free bakery and cafe, Panne Rizo (in Kits,) I was ready to get some calories in. Little did I know, that I was about to walk into GF PARADISE; Panne Rizo was celebrating their 15 year anniversary, as well as winning the "Best GF Bakery 2013" award. AND, they were celebrating in my kind of fashion. With samples.

Lots.

And lots.

Of samples.

Legit. Lots of SAMPLES!

After eating my weight in samples, I was eyeballing a soup on the menu I've never even heard of, yet had my favourite ingredient in it: West African Peanut Soup. After digging in, I immediately decided two things:
A. I had to make this soup myself;
B. I could do it better.

I set about researching soup recipes, and found plenty. I decided to take the concept, and put my own spin on it. I hope you like this recipe, I know I do! Jenn takes props for making it before I did, and did a damn fine job. We both used a slow cooker the first time around, but today I made it at the firehall in a standard pot setup; it got two thumbs up from the whole crew, and we took down enough to feed an army! Enjoy!

ps. this looks like a lot of ingredients, but really it's not! You probably have a lot of this at home, and it's all easily accessible (and cheap) at the grocery store.

The goodness that goes in (**NOTE** I actually used vegetable broth in my recipe!)

**ALLERGY ALERT** Contains Peanuts: you CAN use almond butter in place of peanut butter!!

West African Peanut Soup (VEGAN)

Ingredients:

- 6 cups vegetable broth (I went natural organic with low sodium)

- 1 medium red onion, chopped fine

- 2 big thumb sized pieces ginger, peeled and either chopped fine or grated

- 6 big cloves garlic, chopped fine or crushed (+/- a few cloves, depending on your taste for garlic!)

- 2 Tbsp curry powder

- 3 carrots, chopped

- 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small bits

- 2-3 medium red peppers, chopped fine

- 1 bunch collard greens or kale, your preference (or both!!) chopped into bits

- 2-3 tomatoes, chopped up

- couple solid squirts Sriracha Hot Sauce (Red Rooster Brand, green lid)

- 1 small can plain tomato paste

- 1 large can crushed tomatoes

- big handful chopped cilantro

- 1 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter (I chose chunky, probably a heaping cup) **ALLERGY** use almond butter if you're allergic to peanuts!!!

- fresh ground pepper to taste

- handful of chopped peanuts

- zest and juice of two limes

Get Chopping!

Methods of Creation:

A. Crock Pot Style (aka time crunched cooking):

- while you're preparing the veggies and such, heat up 1 cup of the broth in a pot until hot;

- once it's hot, add your peanut butter (or almond butter,) and tomato paste, mixing it up together.

- throw EVERYTHING into your crock pot;

- cook on low for 8-12 hrs, high for 4-5hrs.

- If you like a smoother soup, use an immersion blender to blend it up a little, or a lot (or not at all; it's GREAT with all the chunks!)

- serve over quinoa, brown rice, or on it's own as a soup, topped with some cilantro and chopped peanuts.

Serve it up!!

B. Stove Top (total time takes 1 hour or less, depending on simmer time):

- heat some oil (coconut, grape seed, canola, etc) in a BIG pot;

- add the onion, fry it up for a few minutes until turning translucent;

- add the garlic, ginger, and curry powder, frying for 2-3 minutes;

- stir in everything else except the chopped peanuts and lime juice; bring to a boil;

- stirring it up, turn the heat down to a medium-low simmer;

- let it simmer away, partially covered, for another 20-40 minutes;

- add lime juice, season with fresh ground pepper until it's to your taste satisfaction (and add more Sriracha if you want a bit more heat);

- use an immersion blender to blend it a little, a lot, or leave it as is (depending how you like your soup!)

- top with some extra chopped peanuts and cilantro, serve it solo, or on quinoa, brown rice, etc.

A pot of guaranteed smiles :-)

Hope you all enjoy this recipe! I PROMISE you will love it, it's got some serious flavour and freezes well. Served over quinoa gives you a good hit of protein. We had it with egg sandwiches today.

Happy training everyone :-)

Nathan

The Support Network Grows Stronger

Training and racing in triathlon requires a lot of focus, hard work, determination, dedication, and down-right love of doing all the crazy things we do, day-in, day-out. It also requires a lot of time, equipment, and CALORIES. To keep healthy and on top of our game, there is a large support network behind each and every athlete, ranging from clothing and nutrition companies, our physical therapists (massage, physio, etc,) and even our family and friends, who give us positive encouragement and a good mental balance in life. My support network consists of an absolutely amazing group of people, that make what I do possible. I am incredibly grateful for the help, advice, support, and positive vibe of the people I've surrounded myself with. I think of them every day, which helps to motivate me that much more. 

Rocking my Champion System gear in Penticton

With that, I'm excited to announce two new members to my support team for the 2013 season: for my custom cycling, running, and triathlon race kits, I'll be working with Champion System Canada. I've used some Champion System kit before, and it's always been exceptional fit and quality. I'm proud to join their team, and will be designing my own kit to train and race in.

Champ System Team O kit during a bike fit

Secondly, for all my running shoes and equipment, I've joined forces with Dave and Meghan Cressman of Distance Runwear in Vancouver. Dave has me running in the Inov8 footwear, which I've used in the past. It's a minimalist-style footwear, which helps increase your feel for the ground and natural running form. 

Dave and Meghan Cressman's store, Distance Runwear

With these two additions to my team for 2013, it's most certainly going to be my strongest yet. Time to get out there and train!

Wicked minimalist shoe selection at Distance Runwear

Happy training everyone,

Nathan

My Take on Borscht

Rest days. As much as they are important for recovery, especially after something as big as the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, I still hate them. I hate every minute of every one. But, I usually manage to get myself into some sort of trouble on rest days (much to the humour and dismay of coach,) so I figured with an ENTIRE WEEK off I'd try something I haven't really done: play around with the slow cooker! A slow cooker is fantastic; you spend a little bit of time filling it up with all sorts of good things, and head off to work for the day (or whatever be your plans.) All day long you think about what will appear under that lid after a full day of merging and fusing of flavours, a conglomeration of smells, colours, and tastes! On your way home the excitement grows; as you approach your front door, you can barely contain yourself. As you enter, you're stuck by an enthralling aroma that captivates your senses. You approach the crock-pot with the excitement of a kid walking towards a christmas tree, and as you lift that lid, you finally get a peek at what has captivated your attention for the better part of the day!

Okay, so maybe I get just a LITTLE too excited about food, but I'm sure this sounds familiar to some. Anyway, I've undertaken my first attempt at Borscht, and it turned out just dandy. It's a meatless variation, but I'll include instructions how to do it with meat.

All sorts of beet-y goodness! 

Slow-Cooker Borscht

Ingredients:

- 5 big beets, chopped

- 5 carrots, chopped

- 2 large potatos, chopped

- 1 large sweet onion, sliced fine

- 5 cloves garlic, minced (or put through the garlic crusher)

- 1 can (8oz) diced tomatoes, drained

- 1 small can tomato paste (seasoned works well, such as garlic)

- 2-4 cups broth of your choice (veggie, beef, etc) amount depends on size of slow cooker

- ½ head cabbage, cored and shredded (**CHEAT** use the 'Coleslaw' salad mix from grocery store, saves time)

- ¼ Cup red wine vinegar

- 3 Tbsp brown sugar

- 1 Tbsp dried dill weed

- 2 Tbsp dried Parsley

- sea salt and black pepper to taste

- Greek Yogurt or sour cream to garnish

- Fresh chopped parsley to garnish

- **OPTIONAL** beef chuck steak or lamb steak, cut into cubes.

Just be aware this is for a BIG slow cooker, and it'll be full. If you have a small one, perhaps halving the recipe would be a good option for you.

Before it's cooked. AWESOME colours!

Method to the Madness:

- If you want to use the meat, sear it on a pan on high heat (with a dribble of coconut or canola oil,) just until the outside is darkened.

- Throw everything EXCEPT the cabbage into the slow cooker. Fill the cooker pot up with broth until it is about ½ to ¾" from the top (you want a little bubble room.)

- Cook on low for 8-12hrs (depending on how warm your cooker gets; I had to actually go for 16hrs as mine isn't very hot,) or on high for 4-6hrs (as with all things slow cooker, you have quite the window of opportunity for cooking. It's hard to cook it too long!)

- About 45 minutes before serving, throw your cabbage in the cooker (if there's room!) Set it on high for 45mins.

- Toss into a bowl, hit it with a blob (or two) of greek yogurt/sour cream, and some fresh chopped parsley.

This beauty eats like a meal (I know, it's what I've eaten the last two nights!) Filling but fairly light. It also freezes well; I freeze in single serve containers (actually, used greek yogurt containers.)

Well, time to clock out for tonight. Tomorrow is the first day I get to do SOMETHING even remotely resembling training, and the sooner I hit the hay, the sooner I get to ride. 

Happy and safe training everyone!! Get out into the sun tomorrow (for you Vancouverites.)

Nathan

Abu Dhabi Race Report: The Lantern Rouge

Rachel and I flexing some Canadian Muscle day before the race.

Tuesday, February 12^th, 2013. Alarm goes off, time to get up to run and get ready to go to Vancouver Island for two days. I grab my iPhone to see what’s going on in the world that day, scrolling through messages and casually scanning emails. A particular message catches my attention, from Simon and Daisy, the athlete representatives and organizers for the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon. An incredibly immediate yet light wave of excitement flows through me, as I open it and see the following message:

“Dear Nathan,

We’re excited to extend to you a confirmed invitation to race in the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon on March 2^nd, please respond with the following information……”

I literally jumped out of bed and flew downstairs to report the news to Björn, and at the same time begin to wonder what the HELL I was going to ride?!?!? As you see from my previous posting, that was taken care of pretty quickly by the bike building maestro Björn. Check out the post about the new race rig.

LONG flights took me over some beautiful places

With only 2 weeks until I would be on a plane Abu Dhabi-bound, it was too late to really ‘prepare’ for the race in the literal sense; instead we worked on some fine tuning over the two week lead-up to get me ready. Only having received the new bike 7 days before my flight took-off, I knew it was going to be a bit of a challenge.

The 'Terminator,' all tuned up and ready to race.

But I do love a good challenge. It’s only 200km anyway, what could REALLY go wrong?

Double-Compression for the long haul

The trip over was epic unto itself, 26hrs being the longest I’ve ever been in transit for a trip (and with only a few very short layovers, most was spent in the air.) Wearing my Compressport Full-Legs and Full-Socks (as I always do,) had my legs feeling very fresh still by the end. The days pre-race were fantastic, I was able to get in the sun a little and do some light training to get the blood flowing through the body. Apart from almost getting run over on several occasions (we ride on the equivalent of the I-5 during the race,) it was fairly uneventful. The money present in the city was completely overwhelming, extravagance taken to the absolute limit almost everywhere you look. One of my favourite places to see this was DEFINITELY our hotel buffet, where we ate like kings. Almost TOO good at times…..

Standard skyline in town, over 80 stories!!

On to the actual race report now: After an oddly restful and extensive sleep (I pretty much passed completely out around 8pm, waking at 3am on my own account,) I headed to the buffet for my usual pre-race breakfast: two big bowls of oatmeal with banana, honey, cinnamon, and yogurt (unfortunately peanut butter did not exist for us there,) along with two cups of coffee and half an 85% Dark Chocolate bar (Green and Black’s is my favourite!) Pre-race warmup went well, I was feeling alive and ready.

The 'Terminator' racked in transition

Race morning temperatures (time/humidity/temp)

There’s something to be said when you’re standing at the start line on the beach with Chris McCormack to the left (for those who don’t know, Chris (or Macca as he’s known,) is an Ironman World Champion,) The ‘Caveman’ Conrad Stoltz to your right, World Champion Normann Stadler in front with the start gun, and various other Ironman champions. It’s very exciting, but very humbling. The gun went, and off we went in a massive fray of arms and legs, fighting for a good set of feet to hang on to. I went hard out of the gate, but their speed was just too much for me to hold and they started to slowly pull away. Tenille Hoogland (one of three women representing Canada) came by me in a pack of three, right at the end of the first loop. I managed to hold off the charging main pack of women, but barely.

Coming out of the water in my Nineteen Rogue

Going into T1, I was feeling great still, and looking forward to seeing what the new Teschner could do. Melissa Hauschildt and Caroline Steffen came by me asap on the bike, and I stayed with them for 45 minutes or so, at which point I started to get some ever-increasing pain in my hamstrings and glutes, forcing me to back off ever so slightly, and fall off the pace. I continued on through to the Yas Marinas F1 race track, where we had the privilege to ride three loops of the course. That, by FAR, has been the coolest thing I’ve EVER done in a race, period! Regardless of the incredible pain building in my hamstrings, I imagined I was a race car, flying around each hairpin turn at high speeds (with, of course, all the necessary sound-effects.) Popping out the back-end of the circuit, it was time for more battle with the winds on the rest of the three loop course, which at this point were starting to whip up pretty strong, knocking me around fairly relentlessly. As the pain in my legs grew to agonizing levels, it was all I could do to keep going, and my pace started to decline. Fellow Canucks Rachel McBride (my most awesomely-awesome Team Ossenbrink Teammate,) and Heather Wurtele (equally as awesome, just a bit taller,) managed to catch me. I put in a good effort to stick with Heather for half a lap, but the debilitating pain caused me to fall off once again, and they took off down the road. My smile never left my face though, and I carried on, relentlessly.

Ripping around the Yas Marina F1 Circuit, killer fun! And yes, there WAS car sound effects (VROOM!)

Pulling in to T2, I made for a quick change into my runners and a brief chat with Joe Umphenour (a USA pro whose bike only arrived at 3am ON RACE MORNING!!!) who unfortunately had to pull out of the race. I remember saying something along the lines of:

“Holy Jesus Joe, my legs are KILLING me! This run is gonna suck BAD. But hey, see you at the finish line!” 

With a smile and a wave, I was out on the run course. There was to be no magical run this day, no miracle fancy-footwork that would bail me out and let me run through the field. After the leg-shattering pain from the ride, it was all I could do to just cruise through the run, all the while cheering on my fellow country-folk (who I'm sure appreciated the cheers on the inside, although they gave me this sort of "Oh man I hate you so bad right now" face,) other competitors and volunteers, never letting my big smile fade for even a moment. With 5km to go, I could see Tanille way up ahead, and just piled on what I had left to catch her. Successfully done, it was nothing but the finish line and some massive congratulations for my Canadian teammates and other competitors.

Never-ending smile, happy to be done!

Heather Wurtele put in a massive run to come in 4^th, Rachel McBride killed the whole day for 7^th, Tenille Hoogland in 8^th, and I managed to drag myself across the line as the 13^th pro male. Now, you might remember there were a few more men at the start line, 22 to be exact. With an attrition rate of ALMOST 50%, I am just incredibly proud of myself for pulling through and finishing. Anyone who’s ever ridden long and hard knows, that it doesn’t matter how you slice it 200km’s in the TT position will make you hurt. We all know it’s coming. But with the absolutely incredible, unexplainable pain in my legs, I went to some fairly dark places on the bike just to keep moving. When every inch of my being said to just stop, I shouted out the classic Jens:

“SHUT-UP LEGS!!!!”

Literally too; if anyone heard me they’d have tossed me in the looney bin! It was frustrating, knowing there was so much more potential energy in my legs to go harder, but with the veritable rev-limiter slowing me down, it was an incredible grind. The headwind on the last leg in didn’t help the cause much either. But there's something to be said about slogging on, continuing when all arrows point to 'stop.' Just thinking about all my family, teammates, and friends back home, watching their computer screens and cheering me on, kept my head in the game. I was determined to get to the finish line no matter what, if not for me, for all those who support me and were waiting to see those splits as I crossed over the various timing mats. That was one of my biggest motivating factors to carry on.

Post race we attended the awards ceremony, which included Alistair Brownlee, who had won the ‘Short’ distance race. I had the pleasure of a last supper in Abu Dhabi with Rachel, her parents (who flew in from GERMANY just to watch the race!!!) Heather, and Joe Umphenour. It was a fantastic finish to an overwhelming race. Flying out the next morning, I took advantage of the buffet (to the LIMITS!) You see, I've been having to pass by all the tastiest treats at breakfast this week, including the croissants, danishes, loaves of delicious breads, and especially the DONUTS! I mean seriously, who does that to a bunch of tapering athletes, leaving donuts out like that?!? I didn't leave the hotel hungry, we'll just put it that way. 

I’m incredibly proud of the Canadian women for their performances, and proud of myself for what I accomplished out there. I’ve yet to DNF, and hell if I was going to Abu Dhabi to do it. As I sit here on the plane home, bringing with me a newfound fire and focus for the season ahead, a broader smile, and one hell of a sunburn, I feel content with my early season performance.

Rachel McBride = 7th

Heather Wurtele = 4th

I sure as hell can’t wait to go back next year, with a whole new understanding of what kind of monster I’ll be up against.

Happy training everyone, the race season is baring down on us!!!

Nathan