#EnduranceFoodies: Bok Choy Turkey Sliders

As I mentioned yesterday, Ironman training is basically here to stay for the summer. And so is the need to recover from the ridiculously long brick workouts that I’ll be doing every Saturday. Ice baths are a regular part of my Saturday afternoon routine, as is ensuring that I have ready-to-go post-brick recovery meals sitting around.

This is tricky, because my body is extremely efficient at storing fat. One key for me personally is to get in a good shot of protein, as well as a small amount of carbohydrate to replenish some of the glycogen I burned off in 6 hours of training, as quickly as possible. This way, I’m not (too) hungry later, and can tackle the Sunday morning run with ease.

The “as quickly as possible” component of this is tricky, and requires having everything in my fridge, ready to be reheated when I walk in the door. I have a couple of go-to post-workout meals, but decided to create another for this months’ #EnduranceFoodies Bog Carnival. The theme this month is “Iron Chef,” which basically means nothing to me because I can only pick up two TV stations on my antenna and I don’t have a couch to sit on and watch TV.

What I do know, however, is that we were challenged to use bok choy, as well as fennel seed, and that this is somehow related to some TV show I’ve never seen.

I think I will stick to talking about triathlon and what I eat after training rather than going into any details of the background associated with this challenge. TV is not something I know much about. With that, I present a twist on traditional sliders.

Bok Choy Turkey Sliders

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes, peeled – select potatoes with a cross sectional diameter of about 2 inches

2 teaspoons salt, divided

½ tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 tablespoon fennel seed

10-12 bok choy leaves, finely chopped

Bulbs from bok choy leaves, diced

3 pounds 99% lean ground turkey

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Spicy mustard or other condiments (optional)

1. Slice the potatoes into rounds approximately 1/8” thick. Toss with ½ teaspoon salt, spread into a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 F. Flip each round, bake an additional 5 minutes. Set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a saucepan over low heat, add onion and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook 25-30 minutes, or until caramelized.

3. Turn heat up to medium, add fennel seed and cook 2-3 minutes, or until fragrant.

4. Add diced bok choy bulbs, cook 2-3 minutes

5. Add finely chopped bok choy leaves, cook until wilted.

6. Remove mixture from heat, allow to cool.

7. Mix turkey, remaining salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Add onion and bok choy mixture and stir until uniform.

8. Form meat mixture into 2” diameter patties about ¾” thick. Broil or grill 10-12 minutes.

9. Using the cooked sweet potato rounds as “buns,” assemble sliders with any desired condiments.

Be sure to check out the other #EnduranceFoodies posts this week – some other great recipes are no doubt waiting for you there!

Jason: cooktraineatrace.com

Donna: beatinglimitations.com

Mia:  dietsarecrap.blogspot.com

Amanda: runtothefinish.com

Lindsay: cottercrunch.com

Courtenay (Will be posting on cooktraineatrace.com)

Adrienne: sixkickswitch.blogspot.com

Joanna: everydaynutrition.wordpress.com