I must admit, I’ve never actually made a successful roasted red pepper sauce from scratch before. In the past, I used jarred roasted red peppers to make sauces. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I always detect a weird bitter taste with store-bought roasted red peppers. I’ve powered through many different brands, and the results were always the same. Does anyone have the same problem? Then, I tried broiling red peppers from my oven, only to discover that I don’t actually know how to operate the broiler properly. In my apartment, I have one of those cheap electric stoves with weird hot spots throughout the oven. Let me tell ya, those electric burners are the bane of my existence, especially when I’m trying to carry on with my food blogging duties. But we all make do with what we’ve got, right? I found a recipe on Minimalist Baker for a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce that looked fabulous, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. Instead of broiling red peppers (a big challenge for me), the recipe suggested roasting them at 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes. Roasting the peppers at such a high temperature brought a beautiful char to them. Guess I won’t need to tackle broiling in my oven—yet. In other news, I managed to drag my legs through a 9-mile run this weekend! By far my longest run yet. I felt excellent after the first mile, but when I got to mile 7, I WAS DYING. My left calf muscle was tightening, and I felt like I was putting too much pressure on my right knee. The little engine that could? That was me Somehow, I managed to maintain a pace of under 10 minutes per mile even after I threw in some hill work. For the actual half-marathon, my goal is to average under 11 minutes/mile. All I need to do now is to trick my mind into thinking that I can do it! And yes, there were copious amounts of chocolate consumption that night. I’ve got to treat myself after reaching these mini goals!
