Vegging Out

The past few days have been less than ideal to run in since it’s grossly hot by 9am and stays that way all day, and I cannot get myself up to run at 5am. Swimming at 5am was one thing in my youth, but running, I’m still working on it. So I’ve been trying to get runs in wherever possible, but Tuesday night was afforded another no-go, since by the time I got home and was ready to head out, there was a massive rain/thunder storm in the area. This leaves me four days since my last run. I’m signed up for the Firecracker 4 Miler on the 4th of July, which will mark the 1 year anniversary of the beginning of my running “career.” Hurray!

So because of my lack of running, the “veg” part of my title has two meanings! I’ve been super lazy on that front this week, but have managed to get in a serious amount of veggies in it’s place! Tuesday night’s dinner was another veggie delight, this time coming from Vegetarian Times, a magazine my co-worker subscribes to, and I get their newsletters via e-mail. This particular recipe was under the “Dinners for One” section, so I just doubled the recipe for myself and the fiancé. This is a pretty nice twist on a stir-fry and noodle-bowl combo, and I’d definitely make it again.

Since this past Sunday was Father’s Day, I left the shopping in the hands of my fiancé so I could head to my parent’s house early. To be fair, I wasn’t sure what they looked like either, but he bought vegan gluten free brown rice spagetti. The recipe called for rice noodles, and these were close enough, and had a pretty decent taste since they had so few ingredients! Other than that minor hiccup, the recipe was followed and went off without a hitch!

The “sauce” I suppose you could call it was really good – I’m definitely going to use it in other stir-fry like dishes, since it had nice heat and a good flavor between the tangy rice vinegar and salty soy sauce. Hopefully next time I can figure out what the rice noodles are, and grab those too. Maybe I’ll get crazy and mix up the veggies. Who knows!

Rice Noodle Bowl with Broccoli & Bell Peppers
-Serves 2-

Ingredients:
3 oz. dried rice noodles, broken into 1-inch pieces
4 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp chile sauce
4 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1 cup sliced-thin red pepper
1 cup broccoli
2 tbsp peanuts

Directions:
1. Bring 4 cups of water to boil. Add noodles. Remove from heat. Let stand 5-7 minutes. Drain, discard water.
2. Whisk soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chile and 1/2 cup of water. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and garlic, stir-fry 1 minute. Add broccoli and pepper, cook 1 minute more. Add sauce mixture and bring to boil for 1 minute.
4. Stir in noodles. Serve with peanuts.

Happy nomzing!