Thank goodness for that gym membership

Woa, time out. It’s gotten out of hand here. Asian turkey burgers, sesame noodles with shredded chicken, lemon loaf all in less than 24 hours….Can I go back to work now? Yes, I’m modifying ingredients to ensure lower refined sugars, fats, etc…but three items and 20,000 calories in one 24 hour span? That’s plain nutty. And all I gotta say is thank goodness for my gym membership and handy Nike+ gadget…I can track my runs, pace, goals and all that good stuff…which makes me feel like I can eat some of the goooooood stuff.

So, what made me do all these crazy things? I’m going to blame it on my mom for raising me in to enjoy kama’aina foods….I will eat anything with ginger and shoyu (or as mainlanders – now including me – call it: soy sauce). I’m probably destined for high blood pressure given the amount of soy sauce I had as a child, but I figure the ginger will magically counteract that by its known properties to boost circulation. Wait…hmmm…that sounds dangerous. Mom, what did you do to us?!?

Tuesday’s dinner: Asian turkey burgers…from the Grill Every Day cookbook. I highly recommend upping the cilantro and ginger – double time it. A delicious kettle chip (low salt variety for perfect potato-ness) was a great addition. Todd said, “Woa, hella good.” I think that means he likes them. (No we didn’t have any veggies, bad us. But we did have lots of them for lunch.)

Wednesday’s lunch: Sesame noodles with shredded chicken from America’s Test Kitchen. It is pretty good, but lacked a little punch. Any suggestions on what to add if I were to add anything? Of course, I already did up the ginger and garlic but it needed a little punch…red pepper flakes?

SESAME NOODLES WITH SHREDDED CHICKEN RECIPE

Featured on America's Test Kitchen and printed in Cooks Illustrated magazine, October 2004 issue.

¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup chunky peanut butter
2 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
1 piece (1-inch) fresh ginger, grated or minced (about 1 tablespoon)
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce (such as Tabasco)
2 tablespoons lightly packed light brown sugar
Hot water
3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1½ pounds), trimmed of excess fat
1 tablespoon salt
1 pound fresh Chinese egg noodles or 12 ounces dried spaghetti
2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
4 scallions, sliced thin on diagonal
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated on large holes of box grater (about 2/3 cup)

1. Toast the sesame seeds in a medium skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1 tablespoon sesame seeds in a small bowl. In a blender or food processor, puree the remaining 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, peanut butter, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, hot sauce, and sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds. With the machine running, add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until the sauce has the consistency of heavy cream, about 5 tablespoons; set the mixture aside (it can be left in the blender jar or food processor workbowl).

2. Bring 6 quarts water to a boil in a stockpot over high heat. Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to 6 inches from the broiler element; heat the broiler. Spray the broiler pan top with vegetable cooking spray; place the chicken breasts on top and broil the chicken until lightly browned, 4 to 8 minutes. Using tongs, flip the chicken over and continue to broil until the thickest part is no longer pink when cut into and registers about 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 5 minutes. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken into bite-size pieces and set aside. Add the salt and noodles to the boiling water; boil the noodles until tender, about 4 minutes for fresh and 10 minutes for dried. Drain, then rinse with cold running tap water until cool to the touch; drain again. In a large bowl, toss the noodles with the sesame oil until evenly coated. Add the shredded chicken, scallions, carrot, and sauce; toss to combine. Divide among individual bowls, sprinkle each bowl with a portion of reserved sesame seeds, and serve.

Serves 4 to 6 (or an army, depending on your portion size – seriously we have enough for the next week).

And of course, I needed to make a pound cake of some sort – a little zing to the ginger’s zang. This is an old trusty recipe; Mom and I have made them as holiday mini-loafs for friends and family. From the Crème de Colorado.

And after a day of yet again shirking my capstone book, I capped it off with a good workout at the St. Paul YMCA….Krista came too and we had a blast. Thanks KMS!

This is my "mini" from the Nike+ website. :)