You have about zero chance of keeping up with this elite runner on the race course. But you can in the kitchen.
Rice gets a bad rap, often traded in at restaurants for double vegetables or substituted with quinoa at home. In her new cookbook, Run Fast, Eat Slow, Olympic marathoner Shalane Flanagan endorses the grain as part of an athletic lifestyle. She and co-writer Elyse Kopecky explain that rice, when combined with a legume (like the edamame in this recipe), offer all nine essential amino acids, which means it's a good source of vegan protein. This salad is well-suited as a post-workout dish, or during a marathon picnic with friends. Choose wild rice that's colorful; Canadian researchers found that black, blue, pink, purple and red grains contain anthocyanins, the same type of antioxidants that are found in blueberries. This recipe has some built-in flexibility, so you can toss in any chopped seasonal vegetables that catch your eye, as well as a protein like shredded chicken or flaked salmon, for a one-bowl lunch.
Photo by Alan Weiner.
