Have Your Pre-Race Pasta In Caesar Salad

It’s a big day Sunday. Bloomsday is here. Excitement is in the air.

We ready our house for our Seattle guests and plan the weekend. There is no doubt that pasta is our pre-race meal.

I checked around some Spokane supermarkets to see if pasta is the hands-down choice for people participating in the race.

It’s spaghetti, says Helen Carver, who works in the deli at the North Cedar Tidyman’s. She walks Bloomsday in about 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Gerry Mamishian, pharmacy manager at Tidyman’s, eats spaghetti, too, along with a big salad and garlic toast. The race will be run with his 13-year-old son, Andy, and they’ll finish in about 90 minutes.

At the Northwest Boulevard Albertson’s, I caught up with two Koprivica Beverage Systems workers taking inventory of the stock.

Jeff Smith, 29, likes to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory with friends. He’s looking for a 1-hour finish.

Bloomsday is a family affair for Ron Cerenzia, who has no pre-race food preference. Cerenzia runs the race in about an hour with his wife, Linda, and daughters Morgan, 14, and Kirsten, 12.

Albertson’s courtesy booth supervisor Dorothy Robinson, 50, enjoys a family reunion for Bloomsday. Where does their gathering eat? “Wherever we can find a reservation for 20 people,” she laughs.

A 10-year race veteran, Robinson expects a 1:09 finish. What’s also impressive is that her 72-year-old mother, Velena Hughes of Butte, Mont., walks the course in 2-1/2 hours.

Sharon Haynes, the deli manager at Shadle Center’s Safeway, has only participated in Bloomsday once, two years ago. She expects to walk most of the race with fellow workers. “I’m supposed to probably eat pasta,” Haynes says, but she’ll eat whatever she feels like.

Theresa Stiner, a bookkeeper at the same store, goes out for spaghetti every year with her sister and friends. It will be a two-hour walk for her.

Marathon runner Daron Fredericks, photo manager at the North Cedar Tidyman’s, plans to do the race three times. Fredericks’ first lap will take about 52 minutes. Pasta, he says, is most helpful if you’re running longer distances, in the 12- to 15-mile range.

Whatever their pace, everyone can enjoy a low-fat pasta meal as a pre-race celebration. This Caesar salad variation might be just your thing.

Happy Bloomsday, runners and walkers!

Shrimp Caesar Salad From “The 5 In 10 Pasta and Noodle Cookbook.”

1/4 pound bow tie pasta

1/2 head of romaine lettuce

1/2 pound cooked bay (salad) shrimp

1/2 cup bottled fat-free Caesar salad dressing

1 cup herbed croutons

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until tender, 8 to 9 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; drain well.

While the pasta is cooking, tear the lettuce into bite-size pieces and place in a salad bowl.

Add the shrimp, pasta and dressing to the lettuce and toss. Add the croutons and salt and pepper to taste. Toss well.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 239 calories, 2.8 grams fat (11 percent fat calories), 113 milligrams cholesterol, 32 grams carbohydrate, 19 grams protein, 587 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.

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