Hearty Vegan Bean Empanadas

Running, by its very nature, means you're on the go. If you throw work, family, and other responsibilities in there, that leaves little time and energy to think about planning meals. Fuel is a key component of running success, though, and the best fuel comes from whole foods. Luckily, making homemade, wholesome, and delicious food is not as difficult or overwhelming as it may seem. Take this from a chemistry Ph.D. candidate who puts in 70 hours a week in the lab!

These tasty empanadas are a perfect example: they require an hour or two of your time on a free day, and then you can stash them away in the freezer and enjoy a wholesome on-the-go meal with no more effort than tossing one in the microwave or toaster oven. Enjoy with your favorite salsa, or slather them with some guacamole. To save even more time in making these, use your favorite whole grain frozen pizza dough for the crust. It's not quite as good as homemade, but it'll still be great.

What's so great about these? Adzuki and black beans are an excellent source of lean protein and fiber, as well as micronutrients like folic acid, manganese, potassium, iron, and others. Between the beans and whole grain crust, there's a load of complex carbohydrates, which are digested slowly, to give you fuel over the course of your day (and to replenish glycogen stores that have been depleted after a tough workout!). Add in a bunch of colorful veggies like onion, corn, bell pepper, zucchini, and cilantro, which are all currently in season in the Midwest, and you've got yourself a real meal. It just happens to be vegan, but it's just as delicious for those of us who are omnivores.

Ingredients

Dough:

1 1/2 cups coarse cornmeal

3 cups whole wheat or spelt flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp instant yeast

2 tsp kosher salt (less if you're using table salt!)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 cups warm water

Filling:

2 1/2 cups cooked black or adzuki beans, drained

2 dried chipotle peppers, soaked (or cooked with beans), and finely minced (or dried powder, to taste)
2 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp canola or olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 ears of corn, kernels cut from the cob (~3/4 cup)

1 small zucchini, roughly chopped

2 medium sweet red bell peppers

1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:
1. To prepare dough (for comparison, recipe would make enough for 4 thin crust pizzas): Combine cornmeal, all-purpose flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl. Add olive oil, then warm water, and stir until smooth. Add whole wheat flour in portions, stirring well. Add additional all-purpose flour if needed (I needed to) until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a well-floured surface, and knead dough, adding more flour if needed, until dough is smooth and elastic, 3-5 min (a good test: when you gently push your thumb into the dough, it should bounce right back - if it doesn't respond, you have more kneading to do). Shape into a ball and place into a lightly oiled large bowl...the biggest one you have. Cover and allow to rest for 2 hours or so, until it is at least doubled in bulk. Turn out onto a floured surface and split into four portions.
2. Meanwhile, cook beans if needed. Put bell pepper(s) on a foil-lined baking sheet and heat under a broiler, turning over once, until both sides are blistered and slightly blackened (I do this part in my toaster oven). Place in a small bowl or paper bag and secure opening, and allow to rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and seed, then chop.
3. In a large saucepan, cook onion in oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add garlic, minced chipotles, and cumin, and cook another minute or two, just until aromatic. Add corn and zucchini and saute for a couple of minutes, until slightly tender.
4. Combine beans, red pepper, and saucepan contents in a large bowl. Stir in cilantro.
5. Roll out each portion of dough into a roughly square shape, one at a time, until about the thickness of a thin-crust pizza. Cut into four squares. Top one half of each square with a couple of generous spoonfuls of filling, leaving some space around the edge. Pull other half of dough over the filling and seal the edge. Repeat this until you run out of filling. NOTE: I had one portion of dough left over after the filling was used up; it can be wrapped in plastic and kept in the freezer for up to a month for ready-to-go pizza crust.
6. Arrange prepared empanadas onto a baking sheet (either lightly greased or generously sprinkled with cornmeal). Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.
7. Eat hot, or allow to cool completely and either store in fridge in an air-tight container for up to a week or place in a sealed bag and store in freezer for up to two months. To reheat, simply take out as many empanadas as you want and heat in the microwave or toaster oven. Enjoy with your favorite salsa!

Makes 10-12 empanadas

Homemade Energy Bars

One of my favorite books on running is John Parker Jr.'s Once a Runner. At one point, as the protagonist digs into a huge pile of greasy food, he proclaims, "if the furnace is hot enough, anything will burn." While it is true that competitive runners can get away with consuming inordinate amounts of food (and I most certainly take advantage on occasion), not all calories are created equal, and putting the right kind of fuel in your body can make a big difference in your ability to train and compete at a high level. You can't drive a car with an empty tank, and neither can you run without any fuel.

Energy bars are a great, convenient way to keep yourself fueled when you're training. They come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors, and most grocery stores have a dizzying array. However, many of them are loaded with refined sugars and processed ingredients that are difficult for non-chemists to pronounce or are prohibitively expensive for most of us. Luckily, making energy bars at home is super easy, quick, cheap, and healthier than you're likely to find in the store, with ingredients that you can find in the bulk bins. The recipe that I use is adapted from this one, which I found in Running Times (click for a good explanation of why they're good for you). The recipe specifies these as a pre-run snack, but they're great both before a run and after. The other nice thing about these is that you can whip up a large batch and throw a bunch in the freezer, so that you can keep them fresh for when you need them - just take them out an hour or two before you want to fuel up. As another bonus, making them homemade means they're 100% customizable. Oh, and did I mention that they're delicious?

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped if needed (raisins, cherries, cranberries, dates, goji)

3/4 cup raw sliced almonds

1/2 cup raw unsalted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds

1/4 cup sesame seeds

2 Tbsp chia seeds (or whole flax seeds)

1 1/2 cups tahini (or natural nut butter)

1 cup raw clover honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Mix together oats, coconut, dried fruit, almonds, pepitas, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and chia seeds in a large mixing bowl.

2. Stir together tahini and honey, microwave on high for 1 minute, then stir in vanilla.

3. Pout wet ingredients over dry and mix well.

4. Spread mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and smooth out the top.

5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for ~15 min, until edges have browned. (you can also leave these raw, although they hold together better with a little baking)

6. Allow to cool, then cut into desired number of bars. Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks, or in the freezer for 1-2 months.

Variations:
-Add in 2 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate (>60% cocoa)
-Stir in 1/4 cup natural cocoa with dry ingredients
-use any mix of nuts and seeds that you'd like (cashews, pistachio, walnuts, hemp seeds, etc.)
-replace honey with maple syrup or agave nectar
-instead of making bars, make bite-sized energy balls: use a cookie scoop or hands to make into golf ball-sized balls, and place close together on baking sheet

Makes 16 large or 24 small bars