Eating for Excellence: Cooking with Anna Marno

Together at Last! I have a double blog life, with racerex and my food blog Bring It! Sometimes—pretty often actually— food and skiing bump up against each other. They’re going to collide a lot more for me now that I’ve met Anna Marno. Anna is on the US C Team (read her bio here) and for the second year has earned a World Cup start position. In the old days that meant she would have waited for her airline ticket to arrive, then traveled as a fully funded part of the US Ski Team. These days, as we in the ski racing world know, things are a little different.

In addition to full time ski racing, athletes like Anna live with a tribe of ski team sibs in Park City. Together they come and go to camps while training at the Center of Excellence and figuring out how to fund the dream. Like many athletes, Anna gets funding from the T2 Foundation.  A key component of T2’s mission is giving back to the sport by encouraging funded athletes to engage and inspire youth.  As part of her effort to do that last year, Anna led a cooking class for U-16 girls in her hometown of Steamboat Springs, CO.

Anna herself got inspired for healthy eating after being sidelined with injury, and since then has developed some pretty bombproof tactics for eating well on the road in any country that has mountains and snow. I’m really excited to start working with Anna as she shares her tips, techniques and recipes, here as well as in Ski Racing as a Racer Next guest. She’s the guiding force behind an upcoming condo survival guide for young ski racers. Oh and you foodies will be seeing her in Bring It! as well

Here she gives us a taste of what she’s serving up in her Park City digs. This Thai Salad shows off summer produce and utilizes one of her go-to/go-in-or-on-anything staples: Sweet potato hash.

Learn more about Anna on facebook and instagram @annmarno. If you like what she’s doing for goodness sakes follow her and cheer her on!

PS: I’m feeling pretty good about outsmarting 2 hours of formatting hell by color coding the recipe so you can follow it. Clearly I need help.

Sweet Potato Thai Salad Serves 3-5 people Preparation 20-40 min Ingredients: • ¾ cup Coconut Curry Dressing (recipe below) • 4 cups mixed baby greens • 1 cup Sweet Potato Hash (recipe bellow) • Avocado- Sliced • Sweet bell pepper- Sliced • Cucumber- Peeled and cubed • 2-3 cups cubed or shredded chicken (a rotisserie chicken is an easy option) • ½ Cup Cashews • Mango- Peeled and cubed (if available) • Garnish options- Crunchy Chow Mein noodles, Coconut flakes, Sriracha Preparation: Toss the greens with ½ cup of dressing, layer the remaining ingredients, drizzle the rest of the dressing over the entire salad, garnish, LOVE Coconut Curry Dressing Ingredients: • 1 Can Coconut Milk • ¼ cup lime juice (about 1-2 limes) • 1 tbsp Curry powder or paste (a little extra if you use paste) • ½ inch Peeled ginger root • 2 tbsp Honey • 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter • ½ Jalapeño w/out seeds (optional) • Salt or soy sauce to taste Prep: Blend all the ingredients together in a blender or Magic Bullet (there will be extra dressing) Sweet Potato Hash Ingredients: • 1 Large sweet potato grated with a cheese grater • 1 medium yellow onion minced • 2 cloves garlic finely minced • ¼ cup olive oil • Salt to taste Prep: In a large pan on medium heat add the oil, onion, and garlic. Cook about 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften, and add the sweet potato and a splash of water. Stirring occasionally, cook until the sweet potatoes are soft and tender, about 10 minutes.