Master chef-ing, with Runners World recipes!

In which... my blog turns into a cooking blog!!
I kid, I kid! But eating is extremely important when you run a lot and when you decide to cook up a recipe found in Runners World it is completely valid content for a running blog.

A picture of the delicious end result. I am the Martha Stewart of my generation, obviously.

My sister comes by for dinner on a weekly basis if our schedules allow. This gives me a reason to be a slightly less lazy cook- while I can cook, and do cook, I'm not fond of overcomplicated or horribly challenging recipes.

And you guys- if I see one more running blog filled with salad after endless salad I am going to cry! There are so many good things to eat, and while salad can be one, enough already. Time for something hearty and delicious and maybe a little healthy too! (I would typically fall back on some steak but I was looking to branch out.)

There were some interesting recipes in Runners World recently for rice bowls. Quite a few of them looked good and I am a fan of dinner in a big warm bowl of goodness that I can bury my face in.

"Spring Wild Rice Bowl With Asparagus" was the winner. I took a bit of liberty with some of the ingredients and will make notes of that.

We started with a Maple Manhattan. My specialty!

As a responsible adult it is wise to have a cocktail to ease the pain of potential culinary failure. Just kidding, I make a very excellent Manhattan and it is smart to enjoy a nice grown up beverage once and a while. While sipping away (slowly, they pack a punch) I assembled my ingredients like the amazing chef that I am. Much organization. So skilled.

Ingredients.

What do we have there??
-3 cups cooked wild rice (I used a blend rice- white, brown, wild and red. so rebellious!)
Yes. The rice in the pic is uncooked. Use imagination!

Sautee-
1 bunch of Asparagus
1/2 lb Cremini mushrooms, sliced (I used baby portabellas- and slightly over a 1/2 lb)
To the sauteed veggies I went slightly off recipe and added a finely diced shallot and a large clove of minced garlic. A couple glugs of olive oil, a tablespoon of butter, and a sprinkle of salt topped things off nicely.

The dressing called for:
3 T evoo
Juice of half a lemon (I suggest using slightly less- it was tart!)
2 T minced dill
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp salt (I used less since I salted the veg)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (I omitted these)

1 poached egg per serving

OK, so I chopped up the veggies as prescribed and threw them in a pan to sautee.

Obligatory "veggies cooking!" photo

I am not 100% confident poaching eggs which is silly since I am a grown ass woman. My sister and I decided that we could use teamwork to simplify the process. We boiled some water, salted it, added a tablespoon or so of vinegar and chucked the little buggers in for about 4 minutes. It was slightly too much time but we would rather have a somewhat firm egg than a runny googily one. The cooking process was just as easy as it sounds- I no longer fear poaching.

Cooking some eggs. I think everyone but me knows how to do this well. But if not use this picture tutorial.

After the eggs were done swirling creepily around poaching, I threw the rice and veggies into some fancy china bowls, popped the eggs on top of everything and topped the whole thing with dressing and some shaved parm. Tah Dah! Culinary masterpiece!

Eric opted out of the non-googily egg option.

And how did this turn out?
Really damn good. Like, impressively tasty.
This recipe met all of my requirements, it had a short ingredient list, did not require cooking skills that I do not have (well, poaching wasn't my strong point) it was filled with things I enjoy eating and was hearty, full of flavor and probably healthy enough.

The recipe indicated that it would serve 4 and it would not, unless you eat like birds or eat quite a bit of cheese and crackers beforehand. So, serves 3 happily or 4 with salad and appetizers. 

I hope that everyone is looking forward to my next installment of middleaged cooking which will be something astonishingly complex like english muffin pizzas, hahaha ugh!
Until then, have fun eating things. It is my favorite passtime after all....