Carbo-loading

One of the biggest lessons in the final week of marathon tapering?

It’s never too early to start carbo-loading.

Tonight, I rung in the carb-loading season (and by season, I mean the three days before my marathon?) with a little whole wheat pasta, a little kale, and a whole lot of beans! Yum, yum!

Here’s what I concocted:

Kidney Bean n’ Kale Red Sauce with Whole Wheat Penne

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. whole wheat penne
• one small can of tomato sauce
• 3 cups chopped kale
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large shallot, diced
• EVOO
• balsamic vinegar
• rosemary, thyme
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• parmesan cheese for garnish

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. Add EVOO to a heated skillet. Saute garlic until fragrant (about 30 seconds) and add shallot. Cook for 3-4 minutes, and then add kale to skillet. Cook until the kale has softened and reduced in size.
3. Add tomato sauce, kidney beans, a couple glugs of balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of rosemary + thyme to skillet. Simmer until heated through.
4. Add red sauce to pasta, and stir until the pasta is evenly coated in sauce.
5. Garnish pasta with fresh parmesan cheese.

When I get home from work around 6 or so, I tend to be hungry and rarely feel the burning desire to spend hours slaving over a recipe with tons of ingredients and loads of prep. My stomach can’t handle waiting that long for dinner. Nah….I’ll just take something simple that takes less than 20 minutes to prep + cook and features healthy, good-for-you ingredients. Thank you very much.

Now, if you don’t mind, my roommate just baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I’m going to have to have one.

Or two.

Y’know…in the name of carbo-loading.