15 Minute Risotto and a Mediocre Run

Monday night I sent out a tweet (can't believe I just used that as a noun) for dinner recipe suggestions that would use up a lot of mushrooms I had in the fridge. A friend of mine tweeted back: risotto or pizza? I've never made risotto before, and I thought I'd give it a shot.

Now by now you know my number one food philosophy is "quick and healthy" for weeknights. Most risottos take about 30-40minutes and are often very rich. I consulted one of my favorite cookbooks, Rachael Ray's Veggie Meals (before she was famous!) and made up a quick risotto recipe on the fly.

The goods:

1 cup quick-cooking brown rice

1 cup vegetable broth

1/2 Tbsp butter

1 cup (or more!) baby bella mushrooms

8 stalks asparagus

1/2 medium onion

1 Tbsp garlic

Handful spinach

Start by boiling the vegetable broth and butter. Add brown rice and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until fluffy.

Meanwhile, chop and steam veggies, adding a little of whichever seasonings you like (I used thyme and salt/pepper).

Combine.

Voila! 15 minute risotto! Alright, so it wasn't made with arborio rice, and wasn't made with wine, but this version is much faster, healthier and just as delicious.

Another thing that I've been up to this week is the continuation of marathon training. I'm finding that like cutting back on my drinking to make long runs successful, I need to start being more mindful of what I eat before weekday runs. Today I had indian buffet for lunch (yum) but then ran 8 miles.

It wasn't pretty. My average splits for the first half of the run hovered around 9:15 min/mi, but the second half clocked in around 9:45 min/mi. I'm glad it's over, but lesson learned: no curry before a run!

Bigcat, of course, would never do such a thing.

Have had any food or running revelations this week?