The Start of Race Season & Sweet Ginger Shrimp with Dill and Quinoa
I ran my first race of the season yesterday afternoon, only because a snow storm gave me a temporary pardon on the Georgetown 10-miler a couple weeks back. It’s a good thing it did, because I don’t think I would have been ready to run back-to-back ten milers (one on Saturday, one on Sunday). But it also means I have a lot of races coming up in the very near future! In fact when I finish the Broad Street 10-miler in Philly on May 3rd, I’ll have run five ten 10-mile races in five weeks! Today’s race went remarkably well, considering I’ve not trained as I should since getting back from my trip. I finished with just under an 8-minute per mile pace, coming only 1:37 seconds from beating last year’s PR on the GW Parkway Classic, an almost entirely downhill course. I wasn’t disappointed since my prediction to Courtney was that I’d finish with a 9.5 – 10 minute pace. Luckily, he knows by now never to listen to me when it comes to expected finish times. I’ve come to the conclusion that some people’s pace is more influenced by the race-day environment than others, and I’m one of them. Anyways, I haven’t yet looked at the course maps for any of my upcoming races, but maybe between four of them I can set a new PR!
Anyways, let’s talk food. Sometimes I pick an entire recipe based on the desire to use up a single ingredient in my fridge. Often times it’s not even a major ingredient. Take this shrimp and quinoa dish, for instance… I decided to make it because I had leftover dill! (Okay, I also happened to have every other ingredient except peppers, but it was the dill that caught my eye.) Ironically, as we ate Courtney and I agreed that the dill didn’t really seem necessary in this dish. It wasn’t disruptive per se, but I think the flavor would have been just as nice without it. I definitely wouldn’t buy dill for this recipe if I didn’t already have it on hand.
I adapted a number of things about the recipe, and there are a couple more things I might change next time. First and foremost, Vicky and I must have very different ideas about portion size. I divided this into three servings instead of the suggested four, and we still found this to be the size of the first course at a restaurant. I had a protein shake after dinner, and Courtney ate some of the pasta he made for his lunches for the week. Next time I would definitely add something to bulk it up. I think broccoli would be good, and shelled edamame would also be a nice touch. Overall I really liked the flavor, and this dish was ridiculously quick and simple!
Sweet Ginger Shrimp with Dill & Quinoa
Adapted from MenuByVicky
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 1 red pepper, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger root (or more, to taste)
- zest of one lime
- 3 cloves garlic
- Freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound large shrimp
- Juice of one lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
Directions:
- Cook quinoa according to package directions and set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Cook onions and peppers, stirring for 2 to 4 minutes.
- Add ginger, lime zest and black pepper. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring until fragrant.
- Add shrimp, lime juice and honey. Cook for about 5 minutes. Stir, scraping any bits from bottom of the pan until shrimp are pink and cooked through. Remove from heat.
- Toss prepared quinoa with shrimp mixture and dill.
Serves 2-3
