Cascioni Romganoli

I had no idea what Cascioni Romganoli was either. When I saw this recipe over at Food52, I was intrigued. Cascioni Romganoli is essentially a savory turnover, and turnovers are great for lunch meals or snacking with one hand since the messy filling is neatly contained in a sealed pocket of dough. The author says that her mother would use leftover piadina (a flat bread from Romagna), and stuff them whatever ingredients were on hand to make stuffed dough pockets that are cooked on the griddle.

Begin by creating a simple dough enriched with olive oil. More traditional doughs are made with lard, though the author of this recipe chose olive oil as it makes working with the dough easier. After mixing and kneading lightly, my dough was rather spongy and oily, and I wondered if it would even be able to roll out. I had to sprinkle the dough, board, and rolling pin with flour, which wasn't suggested in the recipe, but it got the job done.

Let's talk about the filling. When I first read "Swiss chard" in the ingredients list, I thought it sounded boring. I've never actually cooked with it before, but the idea of a leafy green filling wasn't very appealing to me initially. As I cooked the filling (which contains sauteed onions and garlic), though, I changed my mind. Once it was cooked, I had to stop myself from eating it straight from the pot. (Pro tip: Strain the filling after cooking to remove excess liquid.)

I wasn't sure whether or not to use the stems of the chard. Since the recipe didn't specify, I went ahead and added the chopped stems to the pot. They tasted fine and all and cooked thoroughly, but the pieces poked through the thinly rolled out dough (should have seen that coming). Next time, I'll keep them out.

The turnovers are supposed to be filled with either the cooked Swiss chard, or with a fresh mozzarella/tomato mixture; I combined the chard with the cheese and didn't bother with the tomatoes. As a result, there wasn't enough filling for all twelve turnovers, so I stuffed the remaining two with cheese. Tasty cheese.

These turnovers are cooked in a skillet on the stove rather than baked. I fell into a methodical rhythm of working on forming a turnover while another one baked since I lacked the counter space to form them all before baking.

Typically, when I make something this labor-intensive for dinner, I end up wondering what I was thinking. The results exceeded my expectations in this case, and while I wasn't sure if I made the dough correctly, I was glad I did it. The crust wasn't too oily after cooking and it holds up to the filling better than I thought.

The remaining turnovers were individually wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for another day.

Carrot Cake Luna Bar

Luna Bar has a new flavor available this season! When I was offered the chance to taste them, I said yes. (While was given the bars for free, all opinions are my own.) This new flavor is carrot cake, a spicy and sweet bar iced with a vanilla glaze. I looked forward to it since I enjoy carrot cake, a cake flavor I don't make very often because I hate grating carrots.

Since many of us are more body-conscious during these warmer months, Luna reminds us that we don't have to compromise taste for health. The nutritional stats (180 calories; 8 grams protein; 3 grams fiber; contains CORE 4™ vitamins and minerals: calcium, folic acid, iron, and vitamin d) make it the perfect snack to help satisfy cravings while still indulging in a delicious treat.

Taste-wise, I think I tasted more of the cinnamony spice than any actual carrot flavoring, even though the bar does contain organic dried carrots. It's tasty and reminiscent of a healthy crispy rice bar, but with icing. I don't eat bars very often, though I have a selection of favorites I reach for when I'm on road trips or need a quick snack to tide me over. Luna Bar offers so many varieties of bars (a few that I've previously reviewed) and is a brand I often purchase on my own.

If you'd like to try this tasty carrot cake bar for yourself, it is available at Target and natural food stores and sells for $1.39.

Ridgewood Run 10k Race Report

On Memorial Day, I ran my first race of the season. As is typical of me, I didn't have much training going in and hoped for the best.

Race: Ridgewood Run 10k

Course: Fast and semi-shaded

Goal: Not sure, because, you know, my training was intermittent and sparse, and really I was just training to finish… Which is a lie, as I wasn't really training to do anything.

Outfit: I found my matching socks, and the morning of the race I decided to go all out and wear my racing flats since it matched. Also, I wore these almost obscenely short shorts because I cannot be seen failing wearing them.

Hair report: I tried a high ponytail and a low ponytail and settled on the latter. Less swooshing, which can sometimes annoy me.

Pre-race breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal and a banana.

Pre-race fuel: A pack of Gatorade G-Chews and a 5-hour energy. I forgot my water bottle.

Temperature: Pretty sure it was around 51°. scrape. told me I lucked out; Memorial Day around here tends to be a scorcher.

Warm up: 5 minute jog, if that.

So I'm lining up close to the start, not because I'm overly ambitious but because n00bs tend to line up close to the start at small, local races. Since this isn't a small race (there is prize money and elites), I figured it would be even more congested. I end up being behind two woman who shouldn't be there. Two of them (and a few others) disregarded the National Anthem until the crowd became so quiet, carrying on a conversation about singing Born To Run for college and vacationing to Puerto Rico would have been obvious.

Mile 1: 7:50.92 - I've never been claustrophobic at the start of a race before, but this almost did it. So congested, and I almost knocked into a couple runners a few times. I was looking forward to the pack thinning out by mile 2.

I see a woman around my age in a greenish headband and keep her in my field of vision. At this point, we're kind of running shoulder to shoulder, and the idiot is messing around with her iPhone band. I see her take it off and I chuckle to myself, certain she will use this as an excuse.

Mile 2: 7:38.73 - Little bit of a downhill. Headband Chick is a little ahead of me. She's running about 10-15 seconds faster, and I decide that it's not in my best interest to stay with her at this time. I slow down to my pace and worry about catching her later on. As long as I can keep an eye on her, I'm good.

Mile 3: 7:46.16 - There was a little bit of an incline, but nothing terrible. I notice that I set an unofficial 5k PR. I'm going to have to sign up for a 5k, which I won't train for since I race better when I don't.

For some reason, I tell myself that I'm good for at least 4 miles, then I promptly tell myself to STFU, I'm good until forever.

Mile 4: 7:53.10 - Starting to struggle. My breathing isn't out of control, though, and I continue concentrating on taking deep breaths. I grab a water at a stop and take a sip.

I see Headband Chick slowing down up ahead. Eventually I catch up and pass her.

Mile 5: 8:09.06 - The difference between being trained and not is mile 5. When I am properly trained, I do not slow down this much this mile. I'm struggling more, though coming in under 50 is kind of important to me and I don't want to mess it up.

Mile 6: 7:56.44 - Downhill. I see Alex and half ass a wave because it's kind of difficult for me to be purposely do that. But my hand was already up, so all I had to do was lift my wrist.

I focus on my stride and breathing and tell myself that if I give up now, I fail at life.

Point 2: 2:06.79, 7:19 pace - My splits are off by .09, not sure why. I hate it, because it's already mentally tough to remind yourself that you still have to keep running after you hit mile 6; even more when you have further to go than that.

Eventually, I cross the finish line. I almost stopped early before realizing the start chute with the balloon banner was not the finish line.

49:21.20

Not a PR, but this makes my third 10k under 50 minutes. I don't know why everyone hates 10ks so much, because I absolutely love them.

Does anyone else with a Garmin 210 find that it takes forever to load history? It takes me a good couple of minutes.

So, I'm pretty happy with this race and that I lucked out with the weather. I feel that I'm in good place for the Army 10 Miler later this year as long as I train smartly. In the meantime, I might sign up for another 10k if I can find one around here.