Current Obsession: The No Meat Athlete Cookbook

I'd like to start a new occasional blog post series dedicated to my current obsessions. When I'm into something, I'm, like, ALL IN. And right now, I'm pretty much obsessed with all things No Meat Athlete. I've been working my way through the podcast for a couple years now (the episodes date back to 2011), and I'm only 3-4 episodes away from having listened to them all.

And I just can't get enough. The show — and blog — is run by Matt Frazier and Doug Hay, two vegan ultrarunners who live in the Asheville, NC area and love beer, running, and eating whole foods (ME TOO!!!). They're goofy and inspiring at the same time, and listening to their show inspired me to sign up for my first ultra — the Stanky Creek 50K (which I'm training for now).

About a year ago, Matt and his friend Stepfanie Romine released The No Meat Athlete Cookbook , and I was so excited that I pre-ordered it on Amazon (I rarely pre-order books!). I cooked from it quite a bit last summer (here's my review!), but as cookbooks tend to do after a while, it started gathering dust on my shelf. But since I've started training for my 50K (and since I've signed up for my CSA), I've been inspired to cook from the book again. Here are a few meals I've made over the past week.

Last week, I made the Beet Bourguignon (Beet-Lentil Stew) using fresh beets from my CSA, plus carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, and lentils. It has a red wine stock that is just heavenly paired with those beets.


This week, my breakfasts have been the Daily Grinder — a savory breakfast sandwich with hummus, avocado, pickled onions, cucumber, carrot, lettuce, sprouts, and hot sauce.


It sounds like a weird breakfast, I know. But I'm a savory breakfast girl most of the time (unless I'm having smoothies or oats!), and this book is loaded with savory breakfast ideas. This sandwich is made with the No Meat Athlete breakfast hummus, which has a lot of the same spices as a tofu scramble. So it tastes a little breakfast-y. The pickled onions are also from the book, and they're so easy (just onions, citrus, salt, and a pinch of sugar).

I'm sure you'll be seeing more from this book in my weekly Stuff I Ate posts! If you don't own it, it's definitely a must-buy. The focus is on whole foods with lots of ideas for meals to fuel and recover after workouts.