Prolotherapy

Thanksgiving week was my designated rest week. And by “rest” I mean no training and lots of time to sleep in, catch up on things I’ve neglected while training and, in the words of the great KP, “FUCKING EMBRACE [the laziness].” It seemed like a perfect time for prolotherapy.

I don’t expect you to know what that is—I first heard of it a couple months ago—and that’s why I’m writing this post.

“Prolotherapy is a treatment that stimulates the body to repair painful areas. Specifically it involves the injection of natural substances into painful areas to stimulate the body’s own repair mechanisms to strengthen and heal injured structures. Mostly, Prolotherapy is used to strengthen ligaments and tendons.”

                                                -Journal of Prolotherapy

If you read my Pumpkinman race report, you know I dealt with some serious pain in my ankles and lower legs this past season. If you know me, you know that I’ve been dealing with the same (or similar) f***ing pain for years (somewhere between six and 17 years, depending on when you start counting).

I was determined not to be in pain this season. I started working with an amazing physical therapist in May. She taught me to walk properly and taught me to use my butt when I run. I made huge improvements—but the pain came back.

So my amazing physical therapist shipped me off to an osteopath where I learned just how messed up I was. Among other things, my tibia and fibula were externally rotated, my ankle ligaments were way too loose and my feet were too stiff. The osteopath, who is also amazing, did some manipulations and gave me homework. Some things improved (my feet got more flexible), but the pain persisted and my ankles stayed floppy.

This is where prolotherapy comes in. My doctor would inject sarapin (pitcher plant extract) into the injured areas to promote inflammation. Inflammation is the body’s way of repairing itself. For some reason—perhaps it was my diligent use of ice and anti-inflamms or maybe just my body’s ineptitude—my body wasn’t healing.

And so, on the first day of my rest week, I got 15 or so injections in each leg/ankle. Needles touched my bone. [I’m sorry. Did you come here to read about food?] It hurt, but frankly I was braced for a lot more pain. I spent the rest of the week embracing the pain of inflammation while I lazed around (as much as one can laze while hosting Thanksgiving). The following week, I started running no more than three miles at a time. And after three weeks (when my body was nearing the end of the healing cycle), I went back to the doctor for another round.

What happened? Good things. And pain, but the good things totally outweigh the pain. I still feel pain in my legs when I run, but at a tolerable level. My ankles feel stiff (in a good way) and I can actually push off my big toe when I run (something I’ve been trying to do since May). My doctor thinks that my ankles are about 40% stronger than they were before prolotherapy.* In other words, so far, so good.

I started round 2 this week. I’ll keep you posted…

*For the record, I was doing a whole lotta ankle strengthening before the first round of prolotherapy. I got better at the exercises, but my foot continued to flop around as though it was disconnected from my leg. In other words, prolotherapy alone may not have been the cause of my increased ankle strength.

Orange Pan-Glazed Tofu

This is delectably delicious. That is all. Enjoy!

(Adapted from 101 cookbooks)

1 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice (from 3-5 oranges)

1 tbsp grated ginger

2 tsp soy sauce

1 ½ tsp mirin

2 tsp maple syrup

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 package extra-firm tofu, drained, cubed and patted dry

2 tbs olive oil

1 lime, quartered

1. Combine orange juice, soy sauce, mirin, garlic and maple syrup in a medium bowl. Mix well.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

3. Add tofu to the skillet and cook until the bottom is golden (about 5 minutes). Flip it and cook until it’s golden on the other side (another 5 minutes or so).

4. Add the orange juice mixture to the skillet and simmer until it’s reduced to a thick glaze, about 10 minutes. Flip the tofu after 5 minutes. (While the sauce simmers, be sure to thoroughly douse the tofu in the sauce.)

5. Serve over quinoa, drizzling any remaining sauce over the tofu. Squeeze lime juice over everything, to taste.

Creamy Chicken-Apple Chili

We don’t like chili—at all.* If you’ve invited us to a chili cook-off, we didn’t come. We probably had a great excuse and that excuse was probably totally valid, but we were really truly grateful for whatever that excuse may have been.

We like this chili—a lot—and both admit that chili might not be quite as horrific as we once thought.

*Actually, I had fantastic chili at a friend’s house in 8^th grade, but between that chili and this chili, I’ve been totally chili-phobic.

(Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray)

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts (or chicken tenders), cut into ½-inch chunks

olive oil

4 tsp chili powder

2 apples, peeled and cubed

1 onion, chopped

3 tbsp unsalted butter

¼ cup brown rice flour

2 cups chicken broth

¾ cup skim milk

2 cans of white beans, rinsed

2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese

1. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

2. Add chicken and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.

3. Transfer the chili-ed chicken to a bowl and add a little more olive oil to the Dutch oven (about 1 tbsp), if needed.

4. Add onion to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring often, 3-4 minutes (until starting to turn translucent).

5. Add apples and cook for another 2 minutes

6. Transfer the apples and onions to the bowl with the chicken.

7. Turn the temperature down to medium-low and add the butter to the Dutch oven.

8. Once the butter is melted, add the flour and whisk for 1 minute. 

9. Add chicken broth and milk. Whisk for about 3 minutes, until thickened.

10. Add the chicken, apples, onion and beans. Stir and bring to a simmer.

11. Add cheese. Stir until combined. Serve.

Orange-Cranberry Sauce

For those of you who, like me, aren’t what one would call “planners.” For those of you who might be thinking, “hmmm, I suppose I should make some cranberry sauce tomorrow,” here ya go:

12 oz. fresh cranberries

1 large orange, zested and juiced

½ cup natural sugar

½ cup water

1. Combine water, orange zest, orange juice and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves (2-3 minutes).

2. Add cranberries and bring the mixture to a boil.

3. Reduce the heat and simmer until the cranberries explode, about 7 minutes.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Chiffon Cake

Since I’ve vetoed pie at Thanksgiving this year, I’ve been on a quest for alternative desserts. I’ve figured it out: we’ll have pumpkin pie pudding, chocolate peppermint bark and this cake. (If you’re coming for dessert and have problems with any of those selections, zip it, please.) This cake is light and fluffy and deliciously delicate. If I didn’t know better, I’d call it pumpkin angel food cake. But, thanks to Joyofbaking.com, I know better. Apparently, chiffon cakes include egg yolks. Angel food cakes do not. Therefore, this is a chiffon cake.

(Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray)

1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour

1 ¼ cup organic sugar

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp baking powder

9 eggs total (4 yolks and 9 whites—all at room temperature)

1 cup pureed pumpkin

confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325º. Lightly spritz a tube pan with canola oil.

2. Combine flour, ¾ cup sugar, pumpkin pie spice and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix well with a whisk.

3. Combine egg yolks and pumpkin in a medium bowl. Mix well with a whisk.

4. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture and stir until smooth.

5. Place the 9 egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk at medium speed until foamy, about 2 minutes.

6. As the mixer continues whisking, gradually add ½ cup sugar.

7. Turn the mixer speed up to high and beat the egg white mixture until it becomes stiff, but moist, 1-2 minutes.

8. Gently fold about a quarter of the egg white mixture into the pumpkin batter until no streaks remain. Repeat, gradually folding the rest of the egg white mixture into the pumpkin batter until no streaks remain.

9. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 55 minutes. (The cake should be sproingy.)

10. Let the cake cool for 5 minutes and then flip the pan over* so the cake can cool upside down for about 1 ½ hours.

11. Dust the top with confectioners’ sugar and serve.

*Our tube pan has spikes on the rim so we flipped the pan over and put it on top of a cooling rack. If your tube pan doesn’t have spikes, try balancing the tube on a narrow-necked bottle.

Pumpkin-Ricotta Gnocchi With Sage Brown Butter

We’ve had mixed success with gluten-free gnocchi. (And by “mixed” I mean we've had "very little" success.) Gnocchi is all about texture. If you nail it, it’s perfect. If you don’t, you’re stuck with little turd-like things with the consistency of soggy paper towels (in my opinion). 

This gnocchi was perfect—so perfect that I got cocky enough to make it again with pumpkin.

(Adapted from Mark Bittman’s Ricotta Gnocchi recipe in the New York Times)

Note: The ricotta and pumpkin measurements are approximate. The original recipe calls for 15 oz. of ricotta. I used the pureed pumpkin I had left over from the pumpkin pie pudding and filled the rest of the measuring cup with ricotta.

10 oz. fat-free ricotta cheese

5 oz. pureed pumpkin

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 ¼ cup shredded Parmesan (plus more for serving)

¾ to 1 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour

3 tbsp unsalted butter

10 (or more) fresh sage leaves

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

2. In a large bowl, combine pumpkin puree, ricotta, eggs and Parmesan cheese. Add about ½ cup of flour and stir. Add a little more flour and stir. Repeat until you get a very sticky dough.

3. Scoop a spoonful of dough and drop it into the boiling water. If it falls apart, add more flour to the dough and try again. If it stays together, wait until it floats to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

4. Once you have successful dough, cook the gnocchi in batches (about 5 spoonfuls at a time). One at a time, remove each floating gnocco from the water and set aside.

5. As you near your last batch of gnocchi, add butter to a large skillet over medium heat. When the butter melts and starts to brown, add the sage leaves.

6. Add the gnocchi to the skillet and cook, stirring occasionally until the gnocchi start to brown.

7. Serve immediately. Top with shredded Parmigiano.

Pumpkin Pie Pudding

I have two confessions.

1.) I only like the innards of pumpkin pie. Sure, I’ve eaten plenty of pie crusts in my day, but only because Miss. Manners says it’s rude to scoop out the good stuff and leave a pathetic-looking crust on one’s plate. Of course, now that I don’t eat wheat, I have a perfectly valid excuse for leaving the crust on the plate…OR I could just make this pudding, which takes all the good stuff of pumpkin pie innards and makes it better—and more pudding-like.

2.) This is my second attempt at this recipe. It was successful. The first attempt produced a very tasty pumpkin pie soup. Why? Because I decided the directions were dumb. Why would you heat sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat without any liquid? To make pudding, apparently. I learned my lesson. Trust the directions—in this case, at least. No need to go overboard.

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

6 tbsp organic sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 ¾ cup skim milk

1 egg

½ cup pureed pumpkin

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

¼ cup walnut halves

2 tbsp organic sugar

¼ cup whipping cream

1. In a medium bowl, combine the milk and egg. Whisk. Set aside.

2. Combine 6 tbsp sugar and cornstarch in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon, for about 2 minutes.

3. Gradually add the milk mixture to the sugar mixture. Whisk! Keep whisking and bring the mixture to a boil. Let it boil for 1 minute (keep whisking). Remove from heat.

4. Combine the pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir to combine.

5. Add the pumpkin mixture to the milk mixture (one dollop at a time), whisking constantly.

6. Move the saucepan back to the burner and cook the pudding over low heat—don’t stop whisking—for 3 minutes. (They warn you not to let the mixture boil. I say, if it boils, you don’t have it over low heat.)

7. Pour the pudding into individual bowls or ramekins. Cover the surface of the pudding with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.

8. Add 2 tbsp of sugar and the walnuts to a small nonstick skillet over low heat. Cook, stirring, until the sugar get gooey and turns golden brown. (They say this will take 3 minutes. Perhaps it will, if you’re using “low heat” with the ability to boil something, but it took our sugar 12-15 minutes to become gooey—and that’s after I turned the heat up to medium.) Toss the walnuts to cover them with the gooey sugar.

9. Transfer the gooey walnuts to a plate or a parchment paper-covered plate or a cooking spray-coated aluminum foil-covered plate. Let them cool, then chop into chunks.

10. Place the whipping cream in a bowl and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form.

11. To serve, top each bowl of pudding with whipped cream and candied walnuts.