Vegan MoFo: Broccolette and a 5K

So this past Saturday, I did something I've been meaning to do for six months. I ran my first 5K!

I had planned to do my first one last May, but I wound up over-training and getting burned out. By the time it came time to register for the race I had lost interest. When I moved back home in September I decided to head to the track at the middle school, which is about six blocks from my house. I started running again, for the fun of it, and when a 5K came up at church a few weeks ago I was all over it! I was much smarter about it this time. I balanced my running days with days on the elliptical and I didn't work out the day before the race. The only thing I regret was not getting more sleep, as I only got about five hours. However, I was so excited when I woke up that I think that made up for any sleep loss!

The run was a benefit for the cold weather shelter, so being out in the 35 degree windy weather was a good reminder to why this run was a good cause. I was only cold until I started running, but then I was fine. I made sure to get some under-armor, gloves, and a band that went around my ears so that could run without freezing any parts of me off.

The course itself was alright. The first mile was flat, the second mile was all uphill, and the third mile was all downhill. Actually, I'm lying. I really liked the course, though it was kind of weird to run downtown through traffic. My time wasn't too bad. It was 33:42, which I'm not proud of, lol. I did all right, through the part of the race where my iPhone dropped out of my pocket and I had to go back and look for it on the street kind of set me back. I also said, "eff that hill! I'm walking it!" when I saw its 45 degree incline over two blocks. Anywho, I'm not an athletic person at all, so I don't mind being slow. I mostly focus on crossing the finish line. This is me after the race with my boyfriend, Drew:

So after running this race I've decided that I'm going to run in every 5K my town has to offer. All two of them. We have a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day (which is actually like a third one), but I'm seriously going to be sleeping in on that day (then stuffing my face). Also, it's cold. Really cold. I'm done running outside for the year.

Anywho. My mom found a couple of old issues of Shape magazine at the library for free and she picked them up for me. The day before, I had gone to HyVee and found some organic broccolette  (baby broccoli?) on sale for 2/$4. In between deciding how I wanted to cook it and reading Shape magazine, I found what seemed to be the perfect recipe. I adjusted it just a tiny bit, and voila! Now have a tasty new vegetable recipe in my repertoire! So, yes, this recipe is adapted from one found in a November 2006 (!) issue of Shape. The only changes I made were to make it taste better. 

Oh yeah, I went there.

I also keep wanting to call this stuff broccolini. I'm pretty sure they're the same thing, though I know for SURE that this vegetable isn't broccoli rabe. I haven't heard nice things about that one.

Argh. Forget it! I'm just going to call this stuff broccolini. Lol. Ignore me! Ok, now, the recipe says to trim the stems, so I basically just cut them in half to get most of the tough part off. There was still plenty of stemmage leftover. I just used orange juice, but if you want it to have more orange zing you can add about 1/2 tsp. of fresh orange zest when you add the broccolini to the skillet.  

Sauteed Citrus Broccolini:

2 bunches broccolini, washed, stems trimmed

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 orange, juiced

1/2 c. vegetable broth

1/2 Tb. minced garlic (2 cloves)

1/4 tsp. salt

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, saute the onions and garlic in 1/4 c. of vegetable broth for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the broccolini, the juice of the one orange, the rest of the vegetable broth (1/4 cup) and the salt. Turn the heat up to high, cover, and cook for four minutes. Remove the cover, give it a good stir, and cook another four minutes or until the broccolini is just tender and most of the vegetable broth has evaporated. Enjoy! 

Broccolini with marinated, baked tofu and brown rice = super tasty meal! 

This is really one of my newest favorite vegetable recipe. It has no added oil (bonus!) because cooking it in the vegetable broth gives it a lot more flavor and the orange juice gives it a hint of sweetness that compliments it very well. Also, I think that it's a little "milder" that regular (adult?) broccoli, so I would definitely give it a try. In fact, I might even make this dish for Thanksgiving!