Stir Crazy Rice Bowl
November 18th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Have you ever had cabin fever? Gone stir crazy? I have! This week! And I’m feeling a little batsh*t crazy right now, to be honest!
In fact, Peter and I both feel a little like this:
Happy Face
(Except less happy and more crazy. Crazy, Crazy, Crazy.)
Peter’s stomach bug was the main reason for staying housebound, but for half the day yesterday we had no choice but to stay home since the Department of Public Works was working on the sewer right outside of our house. We had NO WAY to leave our driveway. They didn’t even knock on our door to tell us what was going on! Ugh!
It ended up being fine since Peter had a recurrence yesterday. All over himself and the living room floor. Double Ugh! The upside (there’s always an upside) is that I’ve been forced to Swiffer mop the house.
He seemed better on Tuesday, so when he asked for raisins and a waffle for breakfast yesterday morning I said “okay.” Big mistake. BIG. HUGE. (Pretty Woman is one of my favorite movies. Can you believe it’s 20 years old?!?)
Risking the chance of a recurring, uh, recurrence today, I shipped homeboy off to school this morning. And after school, we are going to the dry cleaners and the grocery store! Wahoo! We’re leaving the house! This is funny: this morning I told him that we are going to run “errands” after I pick him up from school and he got all excited thinking that I was saying we are going to my sister “Erin’s” house to play with his cousins. That’s funny, right?
Can you tell I haven’t talked to many people in four days? Let’s see, what else can I tell you? Well, there was that one time? In band camp? Just kidding. I never went to band camp.
Seriously now, as I mentioned yesterday I haven’t been to the grocery store in a while because we were away last weekend and I had no reason to go this week since Peter hasn’t been able to eat much. (My husband is on his own. Tap into those hunting and gathering instincts, buddy.)
I was dying for a healthy lunch, though, so I went through the fridge and cabinets to create what I’m calling my “Stir Crazy Rice Bowl.”
I had a container of cooked rice leftover from the “rice broth” I made for Peter on Monday, so that was going to be my base. Next I was on the hunt for mix-ins and I managed to wrangle up these things:
Stir Crazy Rice Bowl
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 celery rib, sliced (the ONLY fresh vegetable I have in the house! What to the WHAT?)
2-3 tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
2 tbsp. kalamata olives, chopped
4 artichoke hearts, quartered
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
salt & pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Heat oil in pan. Add chopped onion and saute until onion is translucent.
2. Add celery (and some salt and pepper) to oil and onion and saute for 5-10 minutes.
3. In the meantime, put feta cheese, olives and artichoke hearts in a bowl.
4. Add rice to onions and celery, and cook until heated through.
5. Dump rice mixture on top of feta cheese, olives and artichokes, add oregano, and mix together.
6. Salt and pepper to taste.
Easy, right? And it was really good, too. So when you say that you have “nothing in the house” to cook, look again. You may be able to wrangle up a meal that’s easy, moderately healthy, and delicious.
I’m going to go run around the outside of the house now until I have to pick up Peter.
Have a great Thursday!
Mexican Mix-in Bowl
June 28th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
As I mentioned in the previous post, I had two sick boys on my hands last night. Neither of whom was in the mood to eat dinner. But, dagnabit, I was in the mood for dinner and I had a hankering for a little Mexican! (No, not you Miguel! Food! A little Mexican FOOD!) And if there’s one thing I go out of my way to do, it’s satisfy my hankerings. I considered delivery or take out, but then I started looking through the kitchen and found that I had the fixings for a Mexican mix-in bowl, aka “burrito bowl” or a “naked burrito.” Just the guts, hold the skin. (That reminds me of Dexter. I really miss that show. My husband won’t let me watch next season. He says it’s “evil.”) So, anyway, I cooked up some brown rice, heated up some jarred salsa and a combination of chickpeas and black beans, threw it all in a bowl and topped it with a few dollops of plain yogurt and some diced avocado. I just realized that I had corn in the freezer that I could’ve added, too. That would’ve been good. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Of course chicken or beef could be added, as well as some shredded cheese, lettuce…whatever floats your barca.
Mexican Mix-in Bowl
Serves 2, more or less
1 cup brown rice
1 cup bean of your choice (black, chickpeas, kidney, or a combination), drained and rinsed.
1/2 jar salsa (or make your own)
1/2 cup frozen organic corn kernels, defrosted
2 tablespoons plain yogurt (or sour cream)
1/2 avocado, diced
1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. When there’s 10 or so minutes left until the rice is done, heat the beans, corn, and salsa in a skillet, stirring occasionally until hot.
3. When rice is done, place some in a bowl and top with bean mixture, yogurt, and avocado. Mix it up and dig in. Or, if you have tortillas, you could wrap it all up to make one big honkin’ burrito.
It hit the spot! All that was missing was a margarita–believe me, after spending 4 days and nights with a sick 2 1/2 year old, my soul is crying out for a margarita. My poor little buddy. Keep your fingers crossed that he feels better tomorrow. I hope my big buddy is feeling better, too.
