Workout Recap & Plans and Monday’s Weeknight Dinner

Leftover Squash Soup with Spinach and Jerked Cod
Leftover Squash Soup with Spinach and Jerked Cod

This dinner came together in about .5 seconds after I got home from the gym.  Mike even jump started it by seasoning the cod in some jerk spice rub and getting the soup on the stove.  The soup is, in fact, the exact same from the  the other day.  Which, by the way, makes this dinner Paleo as well.  If you wanted to un-paleo it, or if it looks a little light for your family- you could add a side of warm and toasty biscuits- but let’s face it- we all need a little detox after the holiday, right?

This isn’t really a recipe- more of a step by step guideline for how to transform your leftovers using only 3 additional ingredients. (I am including the jerk seasoning as an ingredient.  So if you are counting food items- really only 2)

1-  Cod.  Season with jerk rub.  The “recipe” will be at the end of today’s post.  We cooked our fish under the broiler- which can be messy business.  To decrease cleaning we lined our pan in aluminum foil, and gave the pan a few spritzes with non-stick spray.

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2. Heat up the soup.  Use the stove, because it is easier to get a whole bag of spinach into a relatively small pot with the continuous heat of the stove.

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3. Open the spinach (pre-washed, but we are bringing it to a boil, so I’m not too worried about salmonella or other gremlins)- and stuff it all in the pot.  Fold it in so that hot soup is in contact with the leaves- it should melt down into the soup pretty quickly.DSCN22354.  See?DSCN2236 - Copy

So it may not win any beauty prizes, but we have just increased the nutritive value of our dinner quite a bit (loads of iron!), and I like a sturdy green to contrast the sweet soup.  I wanted to amplify the flavor of the soup, so I added 2 tsp of jerk seasoning to the soup.   The soup already has some warming spice in it- so go easy on the jerk IN the soup- first off, it is HOT (also has habanero powder in it!)- and second of all, too much spice is gross.  Soon you will be jerking all of your squashes-  acorn squash slices or halves are also delicious jerked :)

5.  Pull the fish out of the broiler after <10 minutes.  It really depends on how much fish you are cooking and how thick it is.  I was looking for easy flaking but still retaining moisture.

DSCN22436.  Plate dinner because you love yourself and your family and you deserve pretty food!

DSCN2246 DSCN2248 DSCN2249So what if the fish gets a little flakified- what you are going for is mixing it all together, anyhow.

This was absolutely delicious and we ate it in, like, 20 minutes flat.  I was hungry!

ANYHOW-

Workout Recap-
Last week (Sunday-Sunday)
M- OFF
T- 6 Mile Run (I know, I said arc trainer…)- progression.  2 mi@ 7mph , 2 mi @7.5 mph, 2mi @8mph  + Muscle Pump
W- 70 Minute Arc Trainer + Stretch + Abs
T (T-day)- 7 miles w/Mom.
F- 10 Miles w/Mom
S- 10 Miles (AGAIN) w/Mom
Su- 6 Miles w/Mom
Total Miles- 39

My calf is doing OK- I have PT this Wednesday.  By OK I mean it is TIGHT and I am totally aware of it, but I am not currently in acute pain.  I can’t wait for PT!

This week- anticipated:
M- Today I did the Arc trainer for 75 minutes, and sorta did some abs.
T- 6 Miles- w/whatever speed I have, + Muscle Pump
W- PT!  Not sure what I will be able to do depending on how it goes.  Would love to run 8.
T- 9 miles, hopefully
F- 6
S- Arc Trainer + Muscle Pump (or swim + muscle pump)
Su- LR – 14-15 miles.
Anticipated total Miles- 43

Again- everything this week is pretty tentative, depending on how PT goes.  I really want to be able to ramp up my mileage – because I officially begin training for Boston at the end of this month.  My weekly goal is to try to make it to at least 2 pump classes, and try not to run more than 4 days in a row (since it seems to lead to injury).  If I do progress to 5 days in a row, the 5th day will be a much shorter run, just to get a few extra miles in.

I also want to start doing doubles at some point.  Running people- do you run doubles?  How do you feel about them?  I have heard that people who have been injury prone actually do better running this way.

Jerk Spice Rub
Author: 
Recipe type: Rub
Prep time: 
Total time: 
 
An All-purpose spice rub that goes well with chicken, pork, veggies, or fish!
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander
  • 2 tablespoons ground ginger
  • 1-2 tablespoons habanero powder (we buy it at Whole Foods)
  • 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon cayenne powder
  • 2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dry thyme
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cloves
Instructions
  1. Combine all of the spices into a resealable container. Use as desired!

 

Anyhow- tomorrow-  chocolate biscotti anyone?  And some more pictures of leftovers :)

 

 

 

 

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