A big thank you to my colleague at the South Clinic, Dennis McCrea, for sharing a generous bag of freshly picked basil with me! When I've got this much basil, the best move is to whip up a big batch of pesto, and freeze the extra for another day. I’ve also discovered that toasted walnuts are a great (and more affordable) substitute for pricey pine nuts.  As for the recipe... I usually just taste and adjust as I go, so the measurements are more of a rough estimate!

Ingredients:
4 cups tightly packed fresh basil
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons salt - add one then taste to see how much more you want!
one package pasta

Instructions:
Make the pasta according to package, saving about a 1/2 cup of cooking water to use to mix with the pesto.

Dump all the ingredients into a food processor.  Be sure to only add 1/2 of the salt to start.  Process until it becomes a paste-like texture.  Adding more olive oil if it is too thick/dry.  Then taste and add more salt as needed. 

Toss a good amount of sauce with the pasta and some of the left over pasta water.

With any extra pesto you have, put it in an ice cube tray and put it in the freezer.  Then you can store the cubes in a Ziplock and use as needed for a future meal.

Enjoy!

I had some wild rice mix hanging around in my cupboard and found this easy recipe in my Forks Over Knives cookbook that looked pretty interesting.  The sweetness of the dried fruit contrasts with the pungent curry flavor and goes nicely with the orange.  Be warned, I only used 1/2 of the jalapeño and it was almost too hot for us, see my note at the end for substitution ideas.  Serve this salad on a bed of greens-such as spinach, arugula, or field greens-for a nice lunch or a unique summer potluck offering.

Ingredients:
2 cups brown basmati rice (or wild rice)
2 oranges (fruit wedges from one, zest and juice from the second)
¼ cup brown rice vinegar
¼ cup brown rice syrup
½ cup dried raisins
6 green onions (white and green parts), finely chopped
½ small red onion, peeled and minced
1 jalapeño pepper, minced (for less heat, remove the seeds) 
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon curry powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Rinse the rice under cold water and drain. Add it to a pot with 4 cups of cold water.  Bring it to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, covered, for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
2. While the rice is cooking, combine the orange zest and juice, brown rice vinegar, brown rice syrup, currants, green onions, red onion, jalapeño pepper, curry powder, cilantro, orange wedges and salt and pepper in a large bowl and mix well. When the rice is finished cooking. add the rice to the bowl and mix well.

Enjoy!

*Note: I used 1/2 of the jalapeño and it was on the verge of being too spicy.  In the future I might try using an Anaheim or Poblano pepper instead, maybe even roasting it as well first.  This would still provide the great pepper taste, but with a lot less heat!

Straight out of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is a very useful book I have had for years.   This is a super easy and fresh take on any combo of available spring vegetables.  

Ingredients:
​
1 1/2 - 2 cups stock (chicken or vegetable)
2 springs fresh thyme or other herbs you have available
salt to taste
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
1 bunch asparagus, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium zucchini or summer squash, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 package pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
black pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

- Bring a large pot of water to boil for the pasta and cook per the package instructions.

- In a large skillet, boil 1 cup of the stock, then add the carrots, onion, thyme and a pinch of salt.  Cook for 3 minutes.  Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes.  Add the zucchini and cook for 2 minutes.  You may need a little more stock along the way, depending on how many veggies you are using.  Add the peas and cook until all the veggies are just tender and the stock has just about evaporated.  Turn off the heat.

- When the pasta is just about done, turn the heat under the veggies to medium and stir in the olive oil.  Cook for about a minute to warm it all up and then add the remaining stock.  Cook until the veggies are tender, but not mushy, maybe another minute or two.

- Drain the pasta, saving 1/2-1 cup of pasta water, and toss it with the vegetables and broth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Mix in 1 cup of the Parmesan to thicken the sauce.  You can use a little extra pasta water if needed to adjust the sauce here.  Serve with additional Parmesan at the table.

Enjoy!

The sweetness of the squash really goes nicely with the asparagus and the creamy dollops of cheese here.  This dish could easily be enjoyed for a breakfast or dinner option.   While out shopping I couldn't find any delicata squash, even though I went to 3 grocery stores!  I found that the butternut squash filled in just fine for it. I also totally forgot to get goat cheese, and do not usually have this on hand, so I filled in with ricotta cheese and it was also a fine substitute.  However, I do think the goat cheese would be a little more flavorful.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 medium delicata squash (or 1 small butternut squash)
1 bunch fresh asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
10-12 eggs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
4 oz goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and then slice it into 1/2 inch discs.  Toss with a little oil and then roast for 20-25 minutes.  While this starts, toss the asparagus in oil and add it to the sheet of squash with about 7-8 minutes to go.    (note:  You can eat delicata squash rind, but I'm not sure you want to eat the butternut squash rind.  I trimmed the peel off my butternut squash prior to roasting it using a potato peeler!)

Whisk the eggs, garlic, turmeric and salt and pepper to taste.  Grease a 9x13 casserole dish.  When the squash and asparagus are done roasting, place them in the dish.  Turn the oven down to 375 degrees.  Pour the egg mixture over the veggies and crumble the goat cheese evenly over the top.  

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until it is fully set.  

This dish is similar to the well-loved Pad Thai, but it has more peanut flavor and less spice. You can use any noodles you prefer—we made it with rice noodles and stir-fried some vegetables before mixing everything together. Feel free to swap the vegetables for whatever you have on hand or substitute the tofu with chicken or another protein if you prefer.  




Ingredients:

5 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 pound firm or extra-firm tofu, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into ½-inch cubes
⅓ cup natural peanut butter
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 garlic clove, minced
½-1 teaspoon chili paste
1 pound fettuccine, wide rice noodles, or other pasta
1 red, orange or yellow pepper, sliced
1 medium head of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
2 scallions, thinly sliced (both green and white parts)

Instructions:

Make the tofu:  Preheat broiler on high.  Stir together 2 tablespoons of the tamari and ginger in a medium bowl.  Add the cubed tofu and stir gently to coat.  Mist a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.  Spread the tofu on the baking sheet in a single layer.  Place under a broiler for 5 minutes.  Flip the tofu and broil for 5 minutes or until light brown and crispy.  Then set this aside.

Make the sauce: In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 3 tablespoons tamari with the peanut butter, maple syrup, rice vinegar, water, sesame seeds, garlic, and chili paste and set aside.

Make the noodles according to the package.

Stir fry the veggies while the noodles are cooking:  Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok or large frying pan.  Place your cut veggies in the pan and sauté for 3-5 minutes, or until they begin to soften.  If using broccoli, add 2 tablespoons of water and cover to let steam at the end for 2-3 minutes.

Toss the veggies, tofu and sauce all together in the wok, frying pan, or in a large bowl.  Top with scallions and enjoy!

By Jess Kehoe

For Christmas Santa gave me the book "What I Ate in One Year" by Stanley Tucci.  If you are unfamiliar with him, he's an actor with strong Italian heritage who has made a travel and food show called "Searching for Italy".  I was mildly obsessed while riding the stationary bike two winters ago, I would like to go to Italy and eat all that food too.  This book was a fun little read that gives insight to the life of a famous actor, who also is obsessed with good food.  In it he shares a few recipes and I tried two of them, with good results.  I will share how I made them with you.  

Ingredients:

For the Chard:
one bunch of Swiss Chard, strip the leaves from the stems and chop up both leaves and stems
one garlic clove, halved
salt to taste
a drizzle of olive oil

For the fish:
Enough cod for 2-4 people (I used flounder because it was available for a good price, it worked great, you could probably also use tilapia)
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
one 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
4-5 fresh basil leaves, torn
1/2 cup white wine (I didn't want to open a bottle for this, so I used chicken broth instead)
8 green olives
1 tablespoon capers, drained
salt to taste
olive oil
rice for 4

Instructions:

Make the rice per package instructions, or however you usually do it!

For the fish and chard, you can have them going at the same time.  I started by prepping all the ingredients.  Then it went something like this...

In a medium to large sauce pan, cover the chard stems and the garlic with water and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes.  

While this is going, heat two tablespoons or so of olive oil in a medium to large frying pan.  Add the onion and garlic and sauté until soft.  Then add the tomatoes and their liquid, the basil and a pinch or two of salt.  Cook for a few minutes.

When the first 10 minutes of the chard is up, add the leaves and a bit more salt.  Cover and leave on low to steam and wilt the leaves for about 10 minutes.  When this is done strain the liquid and drizzle with some olive oil.

In the tomato sauce, increase the heat to high and add the wine.  Let it boil for a minute to burn off the alcohol, if using broth, just bring to a boil to heat it.  Then turn the temp down to a simmer, add the olives and capers.  Place the fish in the pan and cover with some of the sauce.  Cover and cook for 3-5 minutes, then flip the fish and cook and other 3 minutes.  The fish should be flaky and opaque in the middle.  

Serve with a side of rice, the sauce is nice on all of it!

​My 11 yr old received a cookbook, How to Cook, for her birthday this August, and it has been a game changer.  So far she has actually cooked dinner with minimal help one night a week in September, it's like a miracle!  This meal turned out really good, and can easily be adapted with lots of different ingredients to use what you have or what you like best.  

Ingredients:
1 14-oz package of firm or extra-firm tofu
3-4 tablespoons olive oil, separated
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
4 eggs
4-6 small heads of baby bok choi, rinsed and sliced in half
1-2 carrots
1 red pepper, sliced
4 packages of instant ramen

Instructions:
**Feel free to use any veggies you have on hand, sauteing up a few sliced mushrooms, broccoli, or zucchini would be a nice addition or substitution to any of the ingredients above. 

Make the tofu:  This step can take anywhere between 15 min to 6 hours, depending on what time you have.  The longer you drain the tofu and marinade it, the more flavor it will have in the end.  But a quick squeeze and marinade also works in a pinch!  Pat the tofu dry, then wrap it in cheese cloth or a few paper towels.  Place it between two plates and place a moderately heavy thing on top, careful it may slide as this sits.  Let this arrangement sit for 15-60 minutes.  By "squeezing" out some of the liquid in the tofu it is able to take on more flavor from the marinade and also bakes up to be nice and crispy.  Slice the tofu into 6 rectangles.  Wisk together 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the soy sauce, garlic and vinegar.  Place this in a bowl or plastic bag with the tofu.  Let sit for at least 10 min or up to several hours, even overnight in the fridge.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Place the tofu on a baking dish and roast it until the tofu has a firm texture and has a light brown color flipping half way, about 40 minutes.  Set aside on a plate.

Soft boil the egg:  Fill a medium bowl with enough water to submerge your eggs.  Place some ice in the water, and set aside.   Place the eggs in a medium pot and cover with water by about 2 inches.  Set over high heat and bring the water to a boil.  As soon as it comes to a boil, cover it and remove it from the heat, let it sit for 6 minutes.  Then place your eggs carefully into the ice bath, let them sit for 5 minutes.  Gently peel the shells, slice in half.

Sauté your veggies: Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium pan.  When your oil is hot sear the bok choi for about 2-3 minutes or until it chars a bit.  Put this on a plate.  Then add another tablespoon of oil and sauté the red pepper until just crisp tender.  

Shave the carrots: Wash and peel the carrots.  Then using your peeler, shave the carrot into long ribbons.  

Cook the ramen according to the package then serve, adding the tofu and veggies to the bowls of ramen.

Enjoy!

Don't want to take the time to flip all those pancakes? Here's a one bowl, one pan breakfast that cooks up easy with ingredients you probably have already in your cupboard  Feel free to use frozen berries, and any fruit would work great.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup blueberries
optional toppings: whipped cream, maple syrup, powdered sugar, yogurt, bananas, etc.

Instructions:

Combine the eggs, mild, flour, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla in a blender. Pulse until evenly combined and smooth.  Let batter rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.  Or leave overnight in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees when you are ready to make the Dutch baby.

Place the butter, cut into pats, in a 14 inch cast iron pan or a 9x13 inch baking dish.  Spread out the fruit with the butter.  Place this in the oven for 2 minutes, or until the butter melts.

Pour the batter over the melted butter and berries, then return immediately to the oven.  Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the edges have puffed up and started to turn a golden brown.

Cut and serve immediately, using any desired toppings.

​

Here's a healthy option when you get a huge head of lettuce at the farmers market, and you're looking for something tasty other than salad.  This recipe is pretty quick to whip up, if you skip the marinating of the chicken.  Our family used chicken here, but you can sub tofu for a vegetarian dish as well.

Ingredients:
1-1 1/2 lbs diced chicken (you can use breasts or boneless thighs)
1 large egg white
1 tablespoon and 2 teaspoons cornstarch (divided)
2 tablespoon rice wine or dry sherry (divided)
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
4 tablespoons peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced ginger
4 scallions (2 minced and 2 cut into 1-inch pieces)
salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2 lb mushrooms, stemmed and diced
12-14 large lettuce leaves.  (Bib or Butter lettuce is preferred)
Soy sauce, chili paste for serving

Instructions:  (total time about 1 hour with marinating step)
Prepare the chicken: Wisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon rice wine and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch in a small bowl.  Add the chicken and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

While the chicken is chilling, make the sauce:  Wisk 1/3 cup water, the oyster,  hoisin and soy sauces, 1 tablespoon rice wine, and the sesame oil in a bowl or small mason jar.  Then add 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, mix until dissolved.

Make the stir-fry:  Heat 2 tablespoons of peanut oil (you can sub vegetable oil in a pinch, but the peanut oil will give it a nice flavor) in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the chicken and cook, stirring for 2-3 minutes or until cooked.  Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and place on a plate.  Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of peanut oil, then stir in the garlic, ginger, and minced scallions.  Add the sugar and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stir-fry for 30 seconds.  Then add the mushrooms and scallion pieces and stir-fry for about 2 more minutes.  Return the chicken to the pan and then add the sauce.  Cook for 1 minute.  

Serve with lettuce for wraps.  Enjoy!
​

By Brace Hayden, DPT and Miya Ensley

If you are interested in learning more about the causal factors and differential
diagnostics for Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome (MTSS) or “Shin Splints” please read the first of this two part article “Running with Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome - What is Causing My Shin Pain?”

Treatment Options for Shin Splints

As this article was compiled by a PT, we can only stress the benefits of getting yourself in for a proper professional and structured PT assessment.  This will give you the most personalized treatment plan for optimal healing and expedited return-to-run results.

However, the DIY options include:

• Pausing high impact training (ie. running) or ramp down your training until MTSS symptoms improve.
• While taking a hiatus from run training or reducing your run volume, don’t throw out your metaphorical running baby with the bathwater and lose your fitness by stopping all physical activities. You can increase your odds of a faster healing process by diversifying your workouts and cross-training. Consider pool running, kick-boarding drills in the pool, biking on road/gravel/trails, or hiking/walking with ski/trek poles.
• Ice cup massage your shin(s) to reduce acute inflammation or hot pack them to improve blood flow. There is debate in the current sports medicine literature as to which is best, so a little self-experimentation is recommended to see what helps your system more.
• Always try to do a light warm-up jog for 5-10 minutes and then perform run-specific dynamic mobility exercises as a pre-run / cross-training workout to reduce future injuries. See these two prior RWM articles on some selected exercises and benefits of performing some pre-run stretches.
• Post-run sustained stretches (hold each for 5 to 30 seconds, back off/relax muscle, and repeat stretch 5 times). Like cooking, some people spend hours preparing a meal, others pop a frozen burrito in the microwave.  Customizing the duration of a recovery stretching routine is largely an individual’s preference based on time availability and what works best for their body.  Most importantly, just do it. Some people find adding tooled assistants (ie. foam-rolling or percussive massage guns) can add value to the routine. The bottom line is, performing a stretching routine after a run has a lot of supportive evidence on keeping muscles more flexible, less sore and reduce occurrence of injuries.
• “Toe-ga exercises” and more: Here are a few popular PT-recommended foot/ankle drills links to improve your leg strength, mobility, and MTSS-rehabilitating exercises. Dosing (repetitions, sets, times per day/week) of each can generally be started with 2-3 sets of 10-30 repetitions depending on respective fatigue and relative fitness. 
  • Ankle alphabets
  • Split lunge on BOSU
  • Eccentric tibialis ankle pull ups with loop band and weight
  • Heel-walking drill
• Wrapping and taping: Wrapping the shin musculature with a compression wrap prior to exercising can reduce some of the stress response and shin pain. There are a multitude of available taping techniques (Kinesio Tape, McConnell, etc) for supporting / binding the medial arch and lower leg musculature some athletes have found helpful.

Preventing Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome

• Make sure you wear the correct running shoes for your foot type. If you're unsure, visit a local running store that offers professional fitting and analysis.
• Have two pairs of (reasonably recently purchased) running shoes with good cushioning and alternate wearing them can vary the stresses on your feet / legs.
• If you enjoy running on roads or paved roadside paths that have a significant camber to aid rain run off, run out and back on the same side of the road (if traffic / safety allows). Similarly, consider alternating directions if you are doing long-distance track workouts.
• Strength train two to three times a week. Long-distance running requires a solid routine of weekly strength and conditioning workouts to maintain healthy joints and supportive musculature. Some runners can get away with just running, but the best evidence leans on a balanced (strength, cardio, stretching, sleep, nutrition, etc) routine. See the “Toe-ga exercises” section above for a few suggested starters.  Visit with a PT for a more personalized plan.
• Perform pre and post-run stretches. Especially if you are prone to developing sore shins, take the extra time to stretch the muscles of your calf and anterior shin once you’ve warmed up.
• When returning to your running routine, a good rule of healing is to gradually increase your mileage by no more than 10 percent of total distance / mileage each week.
• Choose your return-to-run surfaces and incline angles wisely. Hills and hard surfaces (ie. concrete) can increase impact loads on tendon bone connection causing the aforementioned increased potential for inflammation on the legs. Softer surfaces (ie. grass, trail, or the synthetic rubber track) and lower angle profile runs are recommended until MTSS pain has resolved. Reinstating hills and hard-pack surfaces gradually after injuries is helpful.
• Nutritional recommendations for reducing inflammation, healing and improving bone density are summarized nicely in these two articles on healing and bone health and healthy dietary tips on reducing inflammation.
• Improve your running stride and cadence. New evidence on shortening your stride and optimizing the rate your feet strike the ground each minute can reduce injury risk and improve gait efficiency. Getting an appointment with a PT trained in running assessment is one helpful route or measuring and progressing your cadence to 170-180 steps per minute has been deemed optimal. The benefits of shortening your running stride length and increasing the frequency are summarized nicely in this systematic review article.
• Orthotics and supportive insoles may be helpful for some foot types or people suffering from shin splints. People with particularly flattened arches or recurring MTSS issues, may find either off the shelf or custom fit corrective orthotics beneficial for reducing stresses on the lower leg. Supportive insoles may also improve alignment and stability of the legs and feet, thus improving the strain potentials of the musculature affecting shin splints.

References
Bhusari, N., & Deshmukh, M. (2023, January 18). Shin splint: a review. Cureus, 15(1). 10.7759/cureus.33905

Budde, K. B. (2018). Physical therapy guide to shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome). Choose PT. https://www.choosept.com/guide/physical-therapy-guide-shin-splints-medial-tibial-stress-syndrome-

MacLean, K. (2023, November 16). 9 healthy eating tips that can help reduce inflammation. UC Davis Health. https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/good-food/9-healthy-eating-tips-that-can-help-reduce-inflammation/2023/11

McCrann, P. (2018, September 1). Choosing the correct running cadence. Endurance Nation. https://www.endurancenation.us/run/choosing-the-correct-running-cadence/

McNamara, W., Longworth, T., Sunwoo, J. Y., Rizvi, S. M., Knee, C. J., & Cole, B. F. (2023). Treatment of medial tibial stress syndrome using an investigational lower leg brace. A pilot for a randomised controlled trial. BMJ. 10.1136/bmjinnov-2022-001054

Schubert, A. G., Kempf, J., & Heiderscheit, B. C. (2014). Influence of stride frequency and length on running mechanics: a systematic review. Sports Heatlh, 6(3), 210-217. 10.1177/1941738113508544

Shin splints | medial tibial stress syndrome (exercises, rehab, strengthening). (2021, October 3). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OyNx5VMzzc

Shin splints: symptoms, causes & treatments. (2023, June 14). Cleveland Clinic.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17467-shin-splints

Vasudevan, J. (n.d.). Shin Splints: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment and Prevention. Runner's World. Retrieved June 24, 2024, from https://www.runnersworld.com/health-injuries/a19595626/shin-splints/

Winters, M., Eskes, M., Weir, A., Moen, M. H., Backx, F. J., & Bakker, E. W. (2013). Treatment of medial tibial stress syndrome: a systematic review. sports medicine, 43(12), 1315-1333. 10.1007/s40279-013-0087-0