Sunday, March 01, 2009

I Love Gold Camp Road!

Today's bike ride was with a few good Team in Training buddies who are training for Ironman Louisville. Our needed rides were similar in length so I met them at their place mid-morning, along with another TNT-er and her husband. Though the forecast was about 60 degrees, at 10:45am it was still only 40. Brrrrr. But the sun was sneaking out at times and we headed out. First was a little warm-up up and down 31st St, then over to 26th St. 26th turns into Gold Camp Road, which is a fantastic gradual climb, between 4% and 6% grade. I forgot my GPS so I didn't get any data, but I love that ride! The lower part is kind of steep, then you hit a steady climb up into the mountains over Colorado Springs. We stopped when the road turned to dirt, about 5 miles from where we started. The views of the city are phenomenal from up there. My legs felt great - I wasn't sure how my new position (more forward for the aerobars) would be for climbing, but it seemed to work just fine! Now if I could only get a little more comfortable descending to take advantage of free speed!

The rest of my day was spent cleaning the house and baking a chocolate cake. We're hosting the Porsche Club board meeting on Tuesday so I thought I'd make a really great chocolate cake. It's a 3-layer cake from the Mrs. Fields "I Love Chocolate" cookbook. The frosting is like fudge. Yum. Good think I did that bike ride today since I licked the bowls.

Now for this week's Recipe:

Tacozagna and Banana Cheesecakes
(From the food network and Rachel Ray.)

Ingredients
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 1/2 pounds ground turkey or ground sirloin
1 zucchini
2 carrots, peeled
1 onion, peeled
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 tablespoons chili powder, 3 palm fulls
2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2/3 palm full
1 tablespoon coriander, a palm full
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup beef stock
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas
3 cups shredded Chihuahua cheese or Monterey Jack
4 scallions, chopped
2 hearts romaine lettuce, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
3 cups prepared cheesecake filling (recommended: Philly brand)
2 very ripe bananas with spotty skins
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons honey
6 individual graham cracker crusts
Whipped cream

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Add the meat and brown, 5 minutes. While meat browns, grate the zucchini and carrots with a box grater. Add the vegetables to the meat and grate in the onion and garlic. Season the meat with chili, cumin, coriander, salt and pepper and cook 7 to 8 minutes more to soften vegetables. Stir in beef stock. Grease a 8 by 13-inch baking pan with vegetable oil. Layer in 3 overlapping flour tortillas and top with 1/3 meat, 1/3 cheese. Repeat the layers twice and bake 10 to 12 minutes to brown cheese. Top with scallions, lettuce and tomatoes, cut into squares and serve.
While Tacosagna cooks, make dessert. Place cheesecake filling in bowl and mash in 2 really ripe bananas, season with cinnamon and stir in honey. Fill the crust tins and when you are ready to serve top with a swirl of whipped cream.

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