Basic Smoothie

Pretty straight-forward - dump ingredients in blender, and activate!

If you find that you need to pee on a ride, cut down on the soymilk. I often use a 1/2 cup.

Stick with the basic recipe if you're going to be doing something intense, otherwise embellish with extra ingredients!

The almonds add a little more substance, as well as the flax seeds (plus Omega-3), green stuff makes it look like spaceship food, and the pineapple adds some zing!

Cereal

I love raisins in cereal. Yum!

I really recommend mixing up your cereals. For example, right now i have a base of Nature's Path 'Millet Rice' flake cereal, and their 'Cinnamon O's' kids cereal. I'll have as many as four different cereals all mixed together. (Five is just plain crazy.) I use a big plastic container to contain it all. =)

Some people like berries in their cereal, but that's not something i've ever really enjoyed.. Bananas are a regular tho.

Oatmeal

Oatmeal is a great staple, and being very high in carbs, i'll often eat it before a ride, or on race nights before heading out.

Stick oats and water together in a pot, along with any extras (sans bananas - that's gross.)

Cook on low for 10mins or so, until oats are warm and look like oatmeal. Dish into a bowl and add other ingredients, and mix. I'll add the maple syrup last, so it pools on top for some extra tastiness.

Nuts'n'Chips

Nuts and seeds are great, but even better with chocolate chips!

Toast’n’Chips

This recipe requires a toaster oven. (Or regular oven, but that's overkill..)

Lightly toast bread, spread on a little margarine (if you like) and the nut butter. Sprinkle a bunch of chocolate chips on each piece, and then put back in the toaster oven for 30-60 seconds, until soft..then spread the chocolate with a butter knife.

If you use hazelnut butter, you'll find this is much like Nutella. Yum.

Pre-ride Note: I find the nut butters (especially ones from beans, like peanuts and cashews) are rather hard to digest, and so i'd give at least 2-3hrs before going on a ride. Maybe you can digest these better tho.

Cinnamon Toast

This recipe requires a toaster oven. (Or regular oven, but that's total insanity..)

Lightly toast bread, and spread on a bunch margarine. Sprinkle a TSP or two of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon. Maybe spread more margarine on there...depends on how fatty you like it! Either way, spread the sugar and cinnamon together, as well as a pinch of salt. (Salt makes sweet foods taste better, and you're an athlete, so you need the stuff!)

If you feel Cinnamon Toast needs raisins, sprinkle raisins on top of it all. I would argue it does.

Finally, stick it back in the toaster oven for a little bit to make sure the margarine gets melted, and also warms it up. Enjoy!

Salad!

The above is a very colorful and potent salad! It is one of my main staples; i try to eat a salad every day.

Basically, just chop and mix ingredients! I enjoy an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, but feel free to replace with a dressing of your preference. Go light tho...keep the fat down.

I read recently that savoury herbs dramatically increase the number of anti-oxidants absorbed in a given me, and so i've started adding them...and the extra flavour is nice as well!

Pasta

The pasta is pretty straight-forward, boil as instructed on package. I eat 5-6 plates of pasta every week, it's one of my main sources of carbs. Great recovery food!

For the sauce, warm the oil in a pan and mix in the mushrooms, tofu or soy stuff, pumpkin seeds, carrot, zucchini and onion. Sizzle together until starting to look cooked, then mix in the tomatoes (and paste if necessary), herbs, salt and sugar. Turn down the temperature, and allow to simmer.

That's it! You're suddenly saucy!

Pour a dollop on a plate of pasta, and for a cheesy substitute, sprinkle nutritional yeast and sesame seeds on top, then drizzle some olive oil on that for some bonus tastiness.

This makes several cups of sauce, don't try eating it all in one sitting! Pack it away in the fridge or freezer, and use for subsequent plates of pasta!

The addition of tofu or other protein source is very important, as having protein in with the carbs greatly enhances absorption, and will speed your recovery.

TIP: Being the lazy turd i am, when i prepare pasta, i'll skip re-heating the sauce, and spread a thin layer right on top of the freshly cooked pasta, which warms the sauce. It's not 'hot', but i'm not crazy about 'hot' food anyway. Colour me crazy!