SANDWICH DAY is the Best Day :]

Deli-licious - Somerville, MA

http://deliicioussomerville.com/

The Godfather... amazing

     I have been working at Bluetrain for over a year now, and have only gone out with everyone to ACTUALLY purchase lunch once. They always go get the most amazing looking sandwiches that smell up the office for hours. The first reason I don't normally buy anything is because of lightweight reasons. The second reason is that I find it so difficult to spend $8 on a lunch. I just can't afford that. I seem to keep setting these goals where I tell myself, "Oh I'll go after Speed Order" or "Once I get to 135 again, I'll go." But then my reasoning changes, and I never end up going. This time, I told Griffin to make me get a sandwich in week. I put it on our calendars… and that meant it was happening.

     So the day came, and I decided to try out Deli-licious in Davis Square. After browsing their menu before leaving, I narrowed it down to the Godfather and My Cousin Vinny. Don't be fooled… this was no easy task. This place didn't just have a "Sandwiches" section. No… they had a panini section, a burgers section, a wraps section, a melts section, "Roast Beef in Paradise" section, "Delicious Clubhouse" section, and "Classics" amongst other non-sandwich sections. Based on the names of some of these sandwiches, I'm guessing an Italian Family owned this restaurant.

     The Godfather it was! Five bucks got me this deli-licious warm panini with thinly sliced prosciutto, a huge slice of mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, field greens, oregano and balsamic vinaigrette. I seriously haven't had prosciutto in eons, and I don't know how I've made it this long. My love for salt made this the best choice I could've made. The salty prosciutto with the warm mozzarella was just incredible. The freshness of greens, peppers and vinaigrette perfectly balanced out the bold flavors of the prosciutto and mozzarella. And I was really in awe at how critical the addition of oregano was! Call me crazy, but it added such a great little bit of flavor to each bite. All my sandwiches (which are few and far between) will include oregon. Seriously… it was magical. All of these delicious fixings were on focaccia bread that had some melted cheese on it. OH my goodness… It was like they took the partially overdone cheez-its (that no one likes for some reason) and topped the bread with them. Those cheez-its are my absolute favorite. Like the prize you used to eagerly dig out of cereal boxes as a kid. So topping bread with this cheese just sparked my fancy.


Power Pasta - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Whole wheat angel hair, tomatoes, red pepper, sweet potatoes
and goat cheese. Who knew they'd be so good together?

    I'm constantly reading about how sweet potatoes are apparently the perfect pre-race food. So before our 6k, I purchased one and perused the interwebz looking for something fun to do with it. I stumbled upon this recipe for, what I decided to call, Power Pasta. It was on Eating Well's website and is actually called Sweet Potato and Red Pepper Pasta. It was basically a mix of shredded sweet potato, pasta, plum tomatoes, goat cheese, red pepper, and I added spinach, chicken and cinnamon Four of these ingredients are supposedly optimal for a pre-race meal, so I was in. While doubting my physical strength shredding the sweet potato, I had the chicken and garlic cooking in my cast iron skillet and whole wheat noodles cooking on the side. Once you got past the shredding and cutting of the veggies, all you've got left to do is throw it all together, cover, let it cook for 15 minutes or so and add in a few medallions of goat cheese. Boom. Energy. Delicious.

Power Pasta

8 ounces whole-wheat angel hair pasta
1 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups shredded, peeled sweet potato, (about 1 medium)
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup diced plum tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup spinach
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup of crumbled goat cheese or 2/3 medallions

1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta until just tender, 4 to 5 minutes or according to package directions.

2) Meanwhile, place 1 tablespoon oil and garlic in a large skillet. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the garlic is sizzling and fragrant, 2 to 5 minutes. Add diced chicken and cook completely. Add sweet potato, bell pepper, tomatoes (canned and chopped) and water and cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell pepper is tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and keep warm.

3) Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water (I forgot to do this... woops). Return the pasta to the pot. Add the vegetable mixture, chicken, parsley, spinach, salt, cinnamon and cheese; toss to combine. Add the reserved pasta water, 2 tablespoons at a time, to achieve the desired consistency.