Carb-Loading: Over-Achiever Style

I've been light on posting this week because Saturday (tomorrow, gulp) I'm running my very first 10K! It was something of a spur of the moment decision, Joe found a trail running festival at Pineland Farms near Freeport and while I had meant to do one more 5K before doubling my distance, I decided to go for it! Tomorrow will also mark the first camping experience of my adult life, as we're staying at Bradbury Mountain State Park so Joe can run the 25K Sunday morning (he was lured to sign-up by the promise a cowbell at the finish line).

In preparation for our runs this weekend (actually, a grand total of 35K for Joe since he's running the 10K with me), we've been eating a lot of carbs this week. One of my favorite things about running is the excuse and justification to eat lots of pasta! Earlier this week I made Pork Paillards with Sour Cream-Paprika Sauce from a Martha Stewart recipe and, because apparently paillards and sour cream-paprika sauce wasn't ambitious enough for me (and naturally GF, so maybe also not challenging enough), I also made my own fresh GF pasta. Honestly, I'm not sure I would do it again. The Pork Paillards with Sour Cream-Paprika sauce was delicious and I highly recommend purchasing smoked paprika (I hate the sweet stuff, but I want to put smoked paprika on everything!), but the pasta left something to be desired. The flavor was good, but the texture was a little gummy. And it was a lot of work hand rolling that dough for not a lot of pay off. With so many great GF pastas out there (Tinkyada, bionaturæ, Schar - love the multigrain penne, etc.) I think I'll stick to buying my pasta. Until I invest in a real food processor (I suspect that was a big part of the problem).

In case anyone is wondering, I used the fresh rice pasta recipe from The Wheat-Free Cook: Gluten-Free Recipes for Everyone, which I adore, but feel guilty about posting too many recipes from. Here's the recipe for Pork Paillards with Sour Cream-Paprika Sauce adapted for two:

• 3 thin cut pieces for pork, flattened by whacking with a rolling pin between two pieces of plastic wrap
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock
• 1/3 cup sour cream (if using light, check the ingredients!)
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
  

The sauce was so good, I'm really glad I didn't half that portion of the recipe. Season the pork with salt and pepper and cook a few minutes per side (depending on the thickness) in the olive oil until cooked through. Remove from pan. Deglaze the pan with the the white wine, be sure to scrap up the brown flavor bits! Add the chicken stock and simmer until reduced by half. Slowly add the sour cream and paprika. Serve with pork over pasta seasoned with butter and parsley. Enjoy.