2 Tasty Recipes That Every Runner Should Try

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Crafted by Mikey

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As a runner, I’m always looking for nutritious recipes that will fuel my performance. At the same time, I’m also looking for TASTY recipes that get me excited about spending time in the kitchen preparing them. Luckily, when I do eventually find delicious, healthy recipes I can’t wait to share them, so without further ado here are two of my favorite recipes that every runner should try.

Recipe 1: Pizza

Okay, I know you probably think I’ve gone mad telling you that Pizza is a healthy meal choice, but hear me out. I’m not talking about ordering an 18” Dominos (they are delicious but they’re definitely not nutritious!) I’m talking about…

“Chicken, pepper, mushroom and red onion served on a whole wheat flatbread”

Now we’re talking.

Pizza

This cheeky little recipe is actually recommended by none other than US Runner and two-time Olympian Kara Goucher. She’s also a three-time NCAA champion and medalist at the World Championships, so if this recipe is good enough for her then it’s good enough for me! (You can read more about Kara here).

The Ingredients You’ll Need

*This is her recipe so all the amounts are in cups. Don’t worry too much about converting it all. Just pick a reasonably sized cup from your cupboard and get to work.

  • 4 Whole-wheat flatbreads (The base)
  • Half a cup marinara sauce (Your tomato topping)
  • One cup Chopped, sliced or shredded mozzarella cheese (Your cheesy topping)
  • One cup of cherry tomatoes
  • 1 large size sweet pepper
  • About a quarter of a red onion – sliced
  • Half a cup of mushrooms
  • 1 or 2 grilled chicken breasts (You could also use Quorn or Tofu for a Vegetarian Option)
  • A couple of tablespoons of parmesan
  • Some freshly cut basil leaves (or just some from a herb jar)

How to cook it

Pizza dough

Don’t go pretending you don’t know how to cook a pizza.

1) We’ll start by turning our oven on to about 200 degrees centigrade.

2) As our oven is heating up we’ll need to quickly grill or pan fry our chicken, just so that it has a head start on the other ingredients.

3) Cover your flatbreads in the marinara sauce followed by the mozzarella.

4) Add all your vegetables

5) Put everything in the oven for about 12 minutes. This should allow the bread to crisp up a bit (but not too much) and your vegetables should soften.

6) Take it out the oven, sprinkle with some parmesan and garnish with the basil.

7) Eat and enjoy

When to eat

This meal is ideal for the night before a long training run, or as a recovery meal after your long training run. It gives you a good mixture of carbohydrates and protein to ensure great recovery and refill your energy stores.

*Top Tip: This meal comes in at about 500 kcal per flatbread. If you need a few extra calories you can drizzle some olive oil over your flatbread.

Recipe 2: Classic Omelettes

Since we’ve already covered a great dinner and recovery meal, we’re now focussing on an amazingly simple and tasty breakfast choice. This is one of my favorites because it has so many customization options, you can pretty much make a tasty omelet with anything you have in your fridge and cupboards!

Omelette

For the main omelet, you’ll need

  • Four eggs, as large as possible (free range taste better, they just do!)
  • One tablespoon of butter for the pan (although oil would be fine)
  • A pinch of salt and pepper for seasoning

For the filling you can use pretty much anything, but here are three of my favorites…

  • One-quarter to half a cup of cooked steak, chopped, plus a handful of sliced mushrooms (sautéed.)  I call this ‘The American.’
  • One tablespoon of queso fresco, two tablespoons of salsa and one tablespoon of cilantro. I call this one ‘The Mexican’
  • Two tablespoons full of mixed herbs (ideally fresh but no worries if not) like parsley, tarragon, and chives. Two Tablespoons of goat’s cheese (soft). I call this one ‘The French Kiss’ (Okay I don’t actually call it that, but this is a French style filling!)

How to Cook Your Omelette

Another nice simple recipe for you.

1) Heat up a shallow frying pan. Add some of your butter (or oil) to prevent your eggs sticking

2) Whilst you wait, whisk your eggs, along with the salt and pepper until fully blended

3) Add your egg mixture the pan. It should take about thirty to fifty seconds for the underside of the mixture to set.

Breakfast omlette

HOWEVER, you’ll probably still have some mixture on top that needs a bit more cooking. A simple solution is to use a spatula to lift up half the omelet and tilt the pan slightly in that direction so that the mixture falls to the side when you straighten your pan out again the mixture will run underneath the set mixture. You may need to repeat this a few times.

4) When all your mixture is cooked, add your fillings and fold in half. Give it a few seconds to heat up.

5) Serve it onto a plate and enjoy.

*Top Tip: Depending on the size of your pan you might need to make a few smaller omelets rather than a single big one.

Anyone else getting hungry?

There you go, two of my favorite tried and tested recipes. If you’re a runner looking for some tasty and nutritious meals then you absolutely have to try them out.

Which one are you going to try?

36 thoughts on “2 Tasty Recipes That Every Runner Should Try”

  1. Both recipes sound really delicious with fresh quality ingredients and I think that they are great as a post workout meal. Thanks for sharing, Agness.

    Reply
  2. Love the idea of using a flatbread for the pizza base…and having a healtheir pizza overall. And an omelette is a great choice too.

    Reply
  3. Two great dishes! Flatbread does make good pizza crust, doesn’t it? Yours looks great. And I can eat omelets for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

    Reply
  4. these are two easy but very filling and nutritious meal ideas! plenty of room to be personalized, too, which i appreciate. 🙂

    Reply
  5. ooh, all those veggies on that pizza sound amazing! and if it’s olympian-approved, it must be good (;

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  6. These both sound terrific! We LOVE homemade pizzas here, especially when we have lots of fresh vegetables for topping them.

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  7. Pizza is definitely one of my favourite foods especially homemade ones. I just had a odd thought, omelette on a pizza? :O It’s always so awesome to find a healthy way to enjoy favourites 🙂

    Reply

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