Woke up at 10 in the middle of a confusing dream where I was re-enrolling at Oxford and moving back in with my roommate - at nearly 30. I forced myself to think calmer, happier thoughts and napped until midday, when cereal cravings forced me out.
After a quick lunch of scrambled eggs and a sprinkle of garlic chives, I made a quick trip to the gym for a 5 mile recovery run - not strictly needed after the 16 miler yesterday, but it felt great. I love running when it's easy and fluid like today. I felt like I could easily have run another 5 miles, but wanted to be careful and allow myself to recover. It's easy days like today that make me feel like an athlete. They almost make up for the painful, stumbly days when I'm forcing myself through it.
When I got home, it was time to try out a couple of recipes I've been excited about all week.
A few days ago, I added a brand new ingredient to the usual roster - pork tenderloin! Here it is nude. Try and avoid thinking about penises.
I was following the Napa Valley stuffed pork tenderloin recipe from one of my favorite new food blogs, with a few modifications, including rubbing with mustard before putting it in the oven.
Stuffed pre-oven:
Couldn't find any toothpicks to pin it together, so used fancypants wooden skewers. They worked great!
While the tenderloin cooked, I got busy on a yummy mushroom sauce to go with it. I mixed in some white and oyster mushrooms, and sauteed them with onion, wine, garlic and flour to thicken. Delicious!
Pre-wine:
Post-wine:
35 minutes later and the tenderloin was ready.
Carved
Continuing to pay homage to my sweet potato carby craving, I made sizzling sweet potato skins on the side (but forgot to take any photos of the process). This involved twice baking the potatoes - once to soften, scooping out the insides, blending with buttermilk and cinamon/paprika, then baking again for 15 minutes. We had them with sour cream and green onions.
The complete masterpiece:
This was my first truly ambitious meal in a few weeks (I've been sticking to some tried and tested recipes for a while) and I was really pleased with how it turned out. Not sure of the calorie count here (not completely sure that I want to know), but given that I didn't use any butter or oil (substituted with PAM), it didn't feel too sinful.
If I make it again, I may substitute plain potatoes for the sweet - it felt like the tastes clashed a little - but it was a great, truly satisfying meal that succeeded in quieting the marathon appetite for a whole night. No snack needed. Miracle!
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