Shrimp Gumbo

When heavy nausea set in this afternoon, I realized I did NOT eat enough after my race this morning. I also had a a bad headache which led me me to believe that on top of not having enough food, I was also severely dehydrated. Ughhh…

A big lunch was needed. A large bottle of SmartWater was welcomed as well.

I had purchased a GroupOn for Infusion Tea a while ago, but have been saving it for a rainy day. Well, it wasn’t raining, but no better time than the present, right?

I started with the Ice Tea of the Day – a Winter Mint Roobios.

Very minty.

I needed carbs and lots of them! The Greek Pizza was screaming my name on the menu and I knew it would be the perfect meal to kick my nausea to the curb.

Infusion Tea has the most amazing whole wheat pizza crust. It’s thin, crispy, and full of whole grain goodness. They also have an amazing marinara sauce that has just a touch of sweetness and pairs beautifully with the salty goat cheese and sweet balsamic reduction they drizzle over everything.

Derek had an Eggplant Parmesan Panini that left him full and satisfied.

Happy Plates

We spent the afternoon running errands and once again I learned you can’t go into Target for one thing without leaving with one or two new toys.

Like needing cleaning supplies and coming home with new boots, a new purse, and new cardigan.

What? The boots and cardigan are a must have for my trip to Colorado next week and the purse…. well, the purse has been needed for a while.

See the frayed straps?

And broken attachments?

I think I wore that purse out past it’s prime. Definitely time for a change.

I’m a fan of finding one purse that’s a fun color and just sticking with it. This new red should be a fun one to just blindly pair with everything.

I wanted something sweet when we returned from shopping. I dug into a couple of last night’s chocolates and the last of my fresh figs.

Handmade Dark Chocolate Coconut Cup. Yum!

Derek and Maddie both needed some time to recover from their 3 mile runs this morning.

Aren’t they cute?

How Derek and I decided what to have for dinner tonight:

Me: What do you want for dinner?

Derek: How about those carrot peanut butter fries?

Me: Umm… ok. What should we pair it with?

Derek: Okra?

Me: Maybe. But what kind of okra?

Derek: Okra fries

Me: Umm.. not feeling it. How about something else with okra?

Derek: Okra and tomatoes?

Me: What about stewed tomatoes with okra. Like a soup with beans and stuff. I know there’s a name for that. What’s that dish called?

Derek: Gumbo?

Me: Yes, Gumbo. Let’s make gumbo!

And that, my friends, is what’s for dinner tonight!

I googled a few Gumbo recipes, but didn’t like what many of them ad to offer them. Some the ingredients list were too long and other seemed to short. I decided to create my own to make it just right.

Shrimp Gumbo

adapted from Paula Dean’s Savannah Seafood Gumbo

• 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 of a large Red Onion
• 2 Carrots
• 1/2 Orange Bell Pepper
• 1 tbsp Minced Garlic
• 3 Cups Water
• 1 can diced Tomatoes
• 1 can Black Eyed Peas
• 2 cups Okra
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp Parsley
• 2 tsp Salt
• 2 tsp Pepper
• 1.5 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1.5 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 tbsp Hot Sauce
• 1/2 pound Shrimp

Begin with a hot pan. Add the vegetable oil and flour and cook while stirring constantly until the mix is a light brown.

Chop the veggies into small bite size pieces

Add the garlic, onion, carrot, and pepper to the flour & oil combo. Cook until veggies are soft (about 5 minutes)

Once veggies are soft add the can of tomatoes + water + spices

Can’t forget the black eyed peas!

Last, but not least – the okra! Because what’s gumbo without okra?

(make sure to chop the okra into bite size pieces too!)

Let the gumbo simmer for about an hour on low. Add the shrimp in the last 5 minutes to avoid overcooking them.

Serve over rice

with a dollop of plain yogurt (or sour cream)

and some nice crusty bread on the side.

Beer

I think the hot sauce was really what brought this gumbo over the edge. As far as gumbo is concerned – the spicier the better!

More leftover chocolate with ice cream for dessert!

A chocolate covered Nutty Butter! Mmm….

Race Results

Track Shack (the local running store/ race sponsor) has a fun new system to check out your race results after races.

To review your results all you need to enter is your last name and birthday.

As I was filling in the information I thought “Man, this would suck if someone had the same last name and birthday as you” and then it realized someone does have the same last name and birthday as me. His name is Josh and he’s my twin brother! Good thing he hasn’t run any Track Shack races yet!

All that information leads you here.

Every result for every Track Shack race I have ever participated in is not in one neat little area. How convenient is that? It’s actually really interesting to have one are to quickly reference how much I’ve improved in my last two years of running.

Let’s just compare the Miracle Miles Races:

2008 1:30:36 9:43.2

2009 1:21:05 8:41.9

2010 1:20:31 8:38:3

Love it!

You can read all my recaps from each race at my Racing Recaps Page