My Go-To Vegetable Curry Recipe

When writing my first book Essential Sports Nutrition, I wanted to include some type of recipe that was easy to prepare but also flavorful, nutritious and satisfying for athletes. On page 151 of the book, I created a delicious Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Quinoa Curry dish - packed with spices and veggies.
Inspired by this dish, I recently found myself in the kitchen - being creative as always - and created a similiar recipe but with root vegetables (perfect for the winter) and lentils (rich in plant protein, along with calcium, iron, folate and potassium). Depending on what veggies you like (or what you have on hand), you can also be creative with this recipe. I hope you enjoy my new favorite go-to vegetable curry dish. This recipe is sure to leave your taste buds happy, while feeling satisfied and thankful for such delicious food in your belly.

Marni's Go-To Vegetable Curry Recipe

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

• Olive Oil (2-3 tsp)
• 1 can lite coconut milk + water
• 3 large potatoes, chopped (skin removed) - you can use any type of potatoe (I used Russet)
• 1 cup lentils
• 1/2 medium onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• Your choice veggies (I used 2 large carrots, 2 large parsnips, handful mushrooms, and celery root) - chop all veggies - you can keep chunk-size or diced (or anything between).
• Pinch of salt and pepper (optional chili powder for a kick)
• 1/2 tsp of each seasoning: Cumin, tumeric, paprika, curry.

Directions

1. Set stovetop to medium heat. In a large pot, drizzle olive oil on the bottom and sautee onions and garlic until golden brown. 
2. Add coconut milk and water (I filled the empty coconut milk can with water and then added that water to the pot). 
3. Stir in veggies, lentils, potatoes and seasonings. 
4. Reduce heat to low and let the stew cook for 25-30 minutes. Stir every 8-10 minutes. 
5. The mixture will become thick and creamy looking and your kitchen will smel extra yummy. Continue to stir and cook until veggies and potatoes are soft. 
6. You can serve with your choice of protein or eat as is - this dish is very filling and satisfying. 
7. Enjoy! 

Stewed vegetables with barley

                                 

Wouldn't it be nice if you always had a meal ready for you immediately after your workouts?

Think about it.
No more processed food because you are too hungry to cook.
No more fast food/take-out because you can't find time to cook.
No more incomplete meals because your food options are limitless.
No more snacking your way to a meal because you are too starving to wait for a meal.
No more sabotaging workouts from not eating the right foods at the right time to repair and recover. 

Sadly, athletes are busy and ironically, food is an afterthought. Well, not so much food being the afterthought (as athletes do eat) but food prep isn't always a priority. With every minute of the day planned and occupied, many athletes don't put meal prep on the hierarchy of "things to do" each day.
This often backfires as athletes will find themselves not meeting energy needs, not recovering well, eating too much convenience/processed food (quick and easy), struggling with aches and colds (immune system depression) and not feeling good inside.

Simply put - food is your fuel!

When you eat well, your body performs well.
When your body is starved for energy or key nutrients, it's easy to reach for pick-me-ups like energy drinks and/or caffeine. It's also common for athletes to overly use NSAIDs and sleep aids because the body is not recovering well from workouts. 

If you read the recent article on Gwen Jorgensen, you'll see that Patrick (her husband) makes sure that Gwen always refuels and fuels. 

"Food preparation is arguably Lemieux’s most important job. When they travel to races, Lemieux turns the couple’s hotel room into his own kitchen. He insists on packing his own knives, cutting board and rice cooker. He gathers food from a local grocery store and uses his rice cooker to prepare everything from meat to vegetables to quinoa.

During the season, Lemieux shops at a grocery store six days per week. 

After serving Jorgensen her morning oats, Lemieux transitions to preparing lunch, which usually consists of rice with meat and vegetables, followed by a piece of dark chocolate, a staple for Jorgensen after every meal. Lemieux looks at his watch often, knowing his wife will return home from her swim workout at 12:30 p.m.

“Lunch needs to be on the table immediately,” Lemieux said. “She is hungry.”

Jorgensen is grateful that lunch is served so soon after her morning swim. This allows her to relax and stay off of her feet for several hours until her next workout at 4:00 p.m.

Not all triathletes are as fortunate.

Many of Jorgensen’s rivals spend this critical recovery period between workouts shopping at the grocery store, cooking lunch and cleaning dishes."

I realize that not every athlete is this lucky but it is important to emphasize how critical nutrition is as it relates to how your body adapts to training stress.
Because you don't have to be an athlete to be healthy, I suggest to see meal prep in another light - it nourishes your body for disease prevention and healthy weight maintenance. 

Whether you see food as fuel or nourishment (or both, as I do), I encourage you to make an added effort to not let meals be an afterthought in your busy life.

Try this.....

Think about how you eat when you don't have a meal planned for after the workout.

Now, plan a meal for post workout.
No, not right now, but in your head. What would you eat after the workout? Maybe oatmeal, eggs and spinach or chicken, a baked potato and sauteed kale or homemade pancakes with eggs, yogurt and fruit.

Think about how you would eat differently if you had your meals planned ahead of time, before the meal. 

Instead of having a bowl of cereal, a packet of oatmeal with a protein bar or a rice cake plus avocado and a hardboiled egg for a meal, you could have something more substantial and filling.

But the only way to make this happen is by preparing your meals ahead of time.

Try to make this more of a habit. Tell yourself that you can't start a workout unless you have food options or a meal ready for after the workout (I suggest to have a meal ready as much as possible because we all know that food cravings change post workout - it's easy to eat what's craved versus what is most "healthy" and practical for post workout.)  

If you make time to train, you should make time to fuel and refuel with nourishing food options. 

If you complain that you just don't have time for meal prep or healthy eating, perhaps you need to rethink your priorities as you can't optimize your fitness and health with a poorly planned diet. 

Stewed Vegetables with Barley
1 cup barley (measured dry) - or your choice grain or potato

1 eggplant
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 green pepper
Pasta sauce
Olive oil

Salt/pepper

Protein of your choice

1. Cook barley. Rinse, then cooked in 2.5 cups boiled water, on low heat, for 40-50 minutes. 

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

3. Chop peppers and eggplant (into chunks). 

4. Drizzle olive oil on bottom of large casserole dish until evenly coated (thin layer, a few tbsp). 

5. Toss peppers and eggplant in olive oil and spread over casserole dish.
6. Add pasta sauce (enough to cover the veggies). Toss to evenly coat. 

7. Cook for 30-40 minutes. Let veggies sit on oven (turned off) while barley continues to cook.
8. Cook protein of your choice (I made tempeh, Karel made chicken). 

9. Prepare your dish: 1/2 - 1.5 cups barley tossed with veggies (as much as you want), topped with 4 ounce protein.

This is an easy hassle free dish as you can let veggies and barley cook without having to stand around in the kitchen. You can ride your trainer or run on the treadmill for 30 minutes or fold laundry, pay bills or play with your kids. There's no reason that you can't find 60 minutes to prep and cook this dish in your day. Be sure to plan for leftovers. You can add dark leafy greens and a different protein to leftovers the next day to make it a whole new meal! 

2 weeks post IM KONA (recipes and pics)

Wow - I can't believe it's been two weeks since IM KONA.

After a few days, the aches, burns and chaffing subsided and that was a sign that I was officially in my off-season...and  I'm totally enjoying every day of it! Three full weeks of no weight bearing activity (ex. no running, plyometrics, etc.), no workout structure and no alarms. There's plenty of time to catch up on house chores, be super creative in the kitchen, take longer walks with Campy and just give a little TLC for my awesome body for what it allowed me to do this summer. And to rest up for a very exciting season of destination races: St. Croix 70.3 (May), IM Austria (June), IMWI (July). There's a lot of work to do in the off season after my recovery period and I am really excited to set new goals and to enjoy another exciting year with my healthy body.

Just to recap the past few weeks, there have been no post-race blues, no guilty feelings about no structured activity (typically 30-60 min of working out a day - swim, elliptical, walking, core/hip work. I've only biked once on my road bike) and a lot of transitions with Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition. There will be many exciting announcements to come but in the mean time I have been working on new services, camps/clinics, discussing coaching with potential athletes (love working with athletes who love hard work and dreaming big!) and Karel now offering Retul fitting and his pre-race "valet" bike tune-up service (IMFL is around the corner and there are many bikes in Jax that are now faster thanks to Karel working his magic on them).

And to summarize the past two weeks in pictures, I must say that my life post Triathlon season doesn't look much different than the training for two Ironmans over the past 22 weeks. Triathlons are my lifestyle, not my life. I will never stop eating for health as I know the same foods that help reduce risk for disease also help to fuel my active lifestyle. 

Can't beat this fall weather! I love my Campy walks!

What a stud - IRON DOGGY!

Sauteed kale with olive oil, tossed in a skillet with a stir fry of corn, cooked quinoa, mushrooms and onions - topped with asiago cheese. Side of cottage cheese (Daisy Brand 2%) and pineapples.

Road bike spin followed by a shop at the farmers market. Not a bad problem to have a bag overflowing with seasonal fruits and veggies. 

Putting my farmers market finds to good use - rye bread with scrambled eggs and fresh strawberries and a side of sauteed kale, onions, garlic, red peppers. 

Thin roasted, crunchy potatoes (425 degrees, slice thin and toss in olive oil and season with salt/pepper and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown) and a stir fry of quinoa, peas, tofu, tomatoes, chickpeas and mushrooms. 

Working at Baptist Medical Center South - I always leave with a better appreciation of my health and feeling so incredibly thankful that my body allows me to do what I choose to do with it. I also learn something new every time I see patient. Luckily, the day I worked last week wasn't filled with Cancer patients. Those days are always hard on my heart. 

Trimarni stew - broccoli, chickpeas, black beans, tofuy, garlic, onions, peppers, quinoa (or brown rice) + marinara sauce (about 1/2 - 1 cup) + water to meet consistency needs. Cook covered on low heat for 1 hour and plan for leftovers (they will taste great the next day).

Karel's Czech inspired egg salad - dill pickles, tomatoes, leeks, green pepper, eggs (hardboiled) and greek yogurt (0% Fage) on a bed of mixed greens. 

I spoke at 1st Place Sports as part of a panel of experts to a group of half marathon and marathon runners. My talk was on pre and during sport nutrition for training and racing. I gave away a lot of my special tips and suggestions and had lots of props. 

What a perfect combo for a snack (or pre dinner munchies) - cucumbers and feta cheese

Oh - SURPRISE! I got a new bike - thank you Karel!! 

.......Which means Trimarni and her one of a kind, custom paint job, is for sale! Email me if you are interested in the price and specs on the bike (Karel has kept this bike maintained since I got her with tune-ups at least every 2 weeks). 

And now - happy times are ahead. This weekend - Campy is taking his first trip to Miarmi for Miami 70.3 to watch Karel race and to cheer on all the amazing athletes (like Trimarni athlete Caitlin from Healthy Tipping Point) who is doing her first ever half Ironman!

After 12 weeks of working together - coach and athlete are reunited at last!

That bike (and the legs behind it) have the need for speed! 

I love making memories with these two!


Happy 5 year anniversary (10/26/08) Karel!! I can't wait to keep making memories with you (and Campy)

What a lucky doggy!

Great times in Miami! Can't wait for race day tomorrow!