Sesame Broccoli and Edamame Salad

I often rhapsodize about the wonders of the food blogging community, and with good reason, for in a world often struggling with negativism and tendencies towards critique, it is astounding to find a group of people so dedicated to uplifting and nourishing each other, both figuratively and literally. Thus, I find myself so grateful to all of you for your kind, loving words, comments, and emails about my few mentions of my injured hip, that, at the risk of lapsing into the genre of the confessional, I figured I would take a few moments to update everyone with the latest chapter of my Adventures in Limping. Thus far, the wonderfully kind orthopedist at the hospital where I work has ruled out a variety of diagnoses both likely (bursitis - nope, the anti-inflammatory didn't work) and unlikely (osteoporosis - nope, bone density is good, as I would hope it would be given how much care I devote to my dietary calcium intake and weight-bearing exercise!) and thus, as the pain worsens, we've moved on to more alarming possibilities. I have an MRI scheduled this week, which should hopefully illuminate the mystery, and in the meantime I find myself home on bedrest for the week. Personally I prefer to say I'm "at home propping up my foot," as the term "bedrest" frightens me. My patients are the ones who are supposed to be on bedrest, not me!

Despite the slightly less than dreamy situation, however, this experience is a powerful reminder that I should never take my health and strength for granted, and I dutifully resolve, once I am hopefully, eventually back to normal again, to never let a moment escape without being thankful.

Yet thankful I still am right now, too, for at least I have a laptop, blog posts to type, letters to write, and engaging books to read! And a grand thing it is indeed to be able to type, for I am long overdue in sharing with you this lovely broccoli and edamame salad...

Sesame Broccoli and Edamame Salad

6 cups broccoli florets
4 oz cooked and shelled edamame (such as the frozen kind from Trader Joe's)
4 tsp soy sauce
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame seeds

~ Steam the broccoli according to your preferred method (I use a microwave steamer for ours)
~ In a saucepan coated with olive oil cooking spray, gently stir the shelled edamame over medium heat until heated through.
~ Gently fold the broccoli and edamame together in a large bowl.
~ In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, and rice vinegar.
~ Pour the soy sauce mixture over the broccoli and edamame, sprinkle on the sesame seeds, and toss gently to coat.
~ Serve warm or chilled!

On the blog this time last year... Red Wine Spaghetti!

(Ruby demonstrating the importance of propping up one's feet...)