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Stay With Familiar Foods Day Before The Big Race

Merri Lou Dobler Correspondent

My usual practice is to give you a pasta recipe for Bloomsday, something new that’s quick-cooking so you have time for family festivities the night before the big race.

What you really don’t need, however, is an unknown food just before you push your body in an event where it relies on the fuel it’s fed.

So here’s this year’s recipe, a week early. Try it out on the family first, and you’ll be ready when Bloomsday eve arrives.

Some other pointers for planning that prerace meal:

Avoid bean dishes unless you regularly partake of beans. Likewise, eating at a Mexican restaurant might be better after the race rather than the evening before. But if your heart is set on burritos, try taking Beano beforehand to reduce the gaseous after-effects.

If you’re heading out to a restaurant, choose foods you’re familiar with. Save that impulse to try Thai cuisine for another evening.

Focus on an entree, not a dessert - that is, concentrate on the starches on your plate and don’t save most of the calories for your Tunnel of Fudge Cake. Otherwise, your “ooohs” and “aaahs” at the dinner table will become groans and moans halfway up Doomsday Hill. Watch that evening dish of ice cream, too.

Eat early and eat light. It’s better to be a little hungry than too stuffed. You can pig out after you work out.

From “The Instant Gourmet” comes the following recipe using fresh pasta and prepared pesto. The addition of shrimp makes this extra special, extra delicious, and extra easy on a night when you’re getting ready to join the mass of humanity in the celebration called Bloomsday.

Have a great race, Spokane.

Fresh Spinach Pasta with Shrimp and Creamy Pesto

Adapted from “The Instant Gourmet” by Melissa Clark (Penguin Books, 1995).

1 (9-ounce) package fresh spinach linguine or fettuccine

1/2 cup good-quality prepared pesto 1/3 cup nonfat sour cream

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste 1/2 - 3/4 pound cooked and peeled medium or large shrimp

Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Meanwhile, in a serving bowl, combine the pesto, sour cream, vinegar, salt, and pepper.

About 1 minute before the pasta is done to to your taste, add the shrimp to the pot. Cook until the pasta and shrimp are both just done. Drain immediately and toss with the sauce.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 528 calories, 41 grams carbohydrate, 44 grams protein, 20 grams fat (34 percent fat calories), 422 milligrams sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen

The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen