fizzy lifting drink

Commoners might call it Champagne or Sparkling Wine.  I can't get over how delightfully the little bubbles race to the top of the glass, awaiting their turn to melt on my tongue like a little sparkly snowflake.

Sometimes you need a little lift.  Today was definitely one of those days for me:
"Champagne?" you say, "What are you celebrating?"
"I survived work today."

I won't bore you with the details of me burning off my Champagne calories in advance by dashing hither and yon throughout the building, making my best attempt to produce myself in triplicate.  It's not easy, you know, trying to simultaneously be in two trainings on different topics in different rooms, while also compiling data for one's own small part in another person's project.  Nevermind that an update to our website caused it to explode and vomit false pricing information at our sales agents.  Nevermind that all their supervisors had quite enough cleaning up to do to have a spare minute to help me.  Just focus on the sheer impossibility of any one person trying to be three places at exactly the same time.

Yes.  Champagne.  Fortunately, I happen to have some since one of my dinner recipes lists it as an ingredient.  Excellent excuse for stocking the bubbly, wouldn't you say?

Despite my Ode to Tiny Bubbles, I did not make the braised bok choy tonight (almost, but it definitely required the energy I left at work to use tomorrow).  Instead, I made the easiest recipe on the menu: Savory Spinach on Chamomile Couscous.  Although, I suppose if you chilled and carbonated it, the chamomile could probably resemble a mellow Asti.  Anyway....

Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach
serves 6

Ingredients:
a little more than 2 cups water
2 chamomile tea bags
1.5 cups plain couscous (one box of Near East brand couscous)
1 tsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbsp garam masala*
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 tsp salt
28 oz (petite) diced tomatoes
15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
9 oz fresh baby spinach

Boil the water, then place the two tea bags in the pot, lower heat to a slow simmer, and cover - allow to steep at least 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, stir in agave until dissolved, then add couscous. Cover, remove from heat, and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the mustard seeds and cover. When mustard seeds begin to dance, add garlic and sprinkle in the garam masala.  Allow to saute about one minute and then stir in the undrained tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, stir in chickpeas and salt and simmer a few minutes. Add about 1/3 of the bag of spinach, cover to steam 1-2 minutes, then stir into tomatoes and chickpeas to wilt. Repeat with second 1/3 and final 1/3. If your cat enjoys spinach, share some with him (or her) before you destroy it all in your dinner. Once all spinach is added and has wilted, uncover and allow to simmer about 5 minutes.

Fluff couscous. Serve spinach mixture over a fluffy white cloud of couscous!

*Garam Masala is merely a mixture of popular spices used in Indian cooking. One brand will have one mixture and another will have a completely different mixture.  For the record, my favorite Garam Masala (so far) is McCormick brand, which is made up of coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon.

double the spinach, double your fun

Some people might not think spinach is as fun or tasty as Doublemint gum. Angst would disagree.

My little monster...um, angel has had a great weekend, despite the fact that I broke two separate bags of spinach. All that matters to him is that I shared it before the big mean pot made it all gross. Each dinner had its highlights and lowlights...kind of like my new hair:
Ignore the super-cheesy smile, if you wish. I just didn't feel like having another emo/goth pouting-at-the-camera picture. After all, I'm happy about my hair.

Anyway, last night I made Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach and actually bought chamomile tea to make it this time! I figured if I only had one teabag last time, I probably had no teabags this time. It came out much better with two chamomile teabags, rather than 1 chamomile and 1 spearmint/chamomile/licorice teabag. I modified the recipe slightly - in place of the 1/2 Tbsp of honey I just swirled in some agave nectar. If I had to guess, I would say it was probably a scant teaspoon.


I have to say...I am really developing a serious distaste for the Whole Pantry Garam Masala...it's way too heavy on the cardamom - I like a more savory blend, especially for Savory Spinach. I may have to get my favored brand, McCormick, and save the WP brand for baking.

Also, I don't think the 2:1 tea:couscous ratio is quite necessary. Probably 1.5 cups would be better. 2 cups was overkill and created a little pool at the bottom of our bowls, no doubt with the help of the sauce from the vegetables.

It rained so much today. It was supposed to, according to the weather guesscast, but I really hoped it wouldn't. Alas, when I woke up and looked outside it was an absolute mess. I nearly called off my hair appointment because it just looked like the kind of day you want to be all scrubby and comfy and not go anywhere. In any case, that simply wasn't an option because our cupboards and refrigerator are becoming uncomfortably empty, so I braved the nasty rain and the not-nearly-as-cold-as-weather.com-said-it-would-be temperatures. There's still a lot of empty in our fridge, but the freezer is well stocked and the coffee situation has been rectified. And there's bread. The end of the loaf is a sign of the endtimes for Mister, so it is very important to replace the bread as soon as it runs out. Normally, I get a loaf about three sandwiches from the end of one bread, but Whole Foods hates multigrain bread this week and I think it's ridiculous that a place called Whole Foods even stocks white bread.

So tonight we had Curried Tofu with Mixed Baby Greens. I thought I would be clever and try to cut out the fat of sauteing the garlic and ginger in olive oil, so I put vegetable broth in place of the olive oil and 2 Tbsp water, but then I kind of goofed and made the rational connection that if I was going to "saute" the garlic and ginger in broth, I may as well add the tamari at the beginning of cooking as well. Word of advice: if you choose to make this recipe, don't do that. I will tell you why now: the broccoli rabe hogs it ALL. This means not only that the spinach and bok choy don't get to swim in it, but that every bite of broccoli rabe is a flavor explosion in your mouth and you simultaneously love it and wish you were drinking water instead. It's intense. So take my word for it - saute the ginger, garlic, and broccoli rabe in broth (rather than oil) if you must, but don't add the soy sauce/tamari until you add the bok choy!


Also, you will do well to do one of these two things:
Cut the curry spice mixture in half
OR
Don't use silken tofu.

It was kind of gross the first time I made it, and I thought it was because I didn't put the salt in the spices that was necessary to bring out their flavors. It was kind of gross this time because the spices just sit on top of the tofu...they don't absorb and flavor the tofu, they just hang out with it.

1. I am grateful I had a nice long weekend.
2. I am grateful for the opportunity to watch two timid little girls turn into bright and beautiful teenagers.
3. I am grateful for the years I spent learning how to play music so that I can now teach it.
4. I am grateful that Superfresh is only 3 blocks away and that I am able to walk with speed.

nom nom nom the spinach

First, though, tales of today's bar. Today I had the thinkFruit Chocolate Pomegranate Power bar. It left a much more favorable first impression than the Jocalat bar yesterday, though I think that if I had to choose between the two, I would actually choose the Jocalat bar.
First of all, there's just something about me that cherishes the simplicity of 3-5 ingredients. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the thinkFruit bar had the most ingredients - granted, only ten, but they included things like added pectin and the ever-enigmatic "natural flavor." Also, I don't care for the trickery of using pineapple and pomegranate flavored cranberries to flesh out the bar. I would not have been less inclined to purchase the bar if it had said Chocolate Cranberry Power or something like that because honestly, I was more excited about the chocolate. Speaking of chocolate - the chocolate taste was subtle...possibly even more so than the Jocalat bar, which surprised me for some reason. On the plus side, this bar is lower in fat than other fruit & nut bars, with the added bonus of being enriched with omega-3s despite the lower fat. Also, there were a couple of times when I could swear I tasted figs, but there were none on the label...unless they are the "natural flavor." I guess we'll never know.
Anyway, it wasn't a bad bar at all. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about thinkProducts in general, but as it goes, I wouldn't turn my nose up if this was offered to me. I just wish pomegranate wasn't dead last on the ingredients list since it's part of the bar's name.

For dinner tonight, I made the Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach (but there was actually only one piece of spinach - the rest was spinach-flavored basil*). It was fun and different. I think it'll take a little tweaking, but all in all it came out well. Also, when you are absolutely certain you have an abundance of chamomile tea in your tea chest, please check before you arrogantly write it into a recipe as though you'll never run out. You can also read that as: My dumb butt didn't realize I only had 1 of the 2 tea bags I had written into the recipe, so I substituted one chamomile tea bag with Stash Sandman tea, which contains chamomile...and spearmint, which way overpowered both that chamomile and the pure chamomile tea bag. Also, in an effort to draw out the flavors of the tea and not just the scents, I think I overdid the honey. Below you will find the amended recipe, with less honey.

Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach
serves 6

Ingredients:
a little more than 2 cups water
2 chamomile tea bags
2 cups plain couscous
1/2 Tbsp (1 1/2 tsps) honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbsp garam masala**
1/2 tsp salt
28 oz (petite) diced tomatoes
15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
9 oz fresh baby spinach

Boil the water, then place the two tea bags in the pot and cover - allow to steep at least 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, stir in honey until dissolved, then add couscous. Cover and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the mustard seeds and cover. When mustard seeds begin to dance, sprinkle in the garam masala, then stir in the undrained tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, stir in chickpeas and salt and simmer a few minutes. Add about 1/3 of the bag of spinach, cover to steam 1-2 minutes, then stir into tomatoes and chickpeas to wilt. Repeat with second 1/3 and final 1/3. If your cat enjoys spinach, share some with him (or her) before you destroy it all in your dinner. Once all spinach is added and has wilted, uncover and allow to simmer about 5 minutes.
Fluff couscous. Serve spinach mixture over a fluffy white cloud of couscous!

*this was a joke...read about the pomegranate-flavored cranberries again if you didn't get it.

**Garam Masala is merely a mixture of popular spices used in Indian cooking. One brand will have one mixture and another will have a completely different mixture. For this recipe, I used Whole Pantry brand - a.k.a. the Whole Foods store brand - which ended up being much heavier on cardamom than I would have preferred. Cardamom is one of those very pungent and peculiar spices that is better seen but not heard, so to speak. Whole Pantry Garam Masala has the following spices: black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, coriander. To balance out the pungency of the cardamom and cloves, I added just a pinch of cumin for its savory and a generous pinch of turmeric for its bitterness. You'll be able to smell if it needs something. For the record, my favorite Garam Masala (so far) is McCormick brand.

Finally, I got Angst to dance for his spinach. I tried to get some action shots to share:"mmm... is that my spinach?"
"nom nom nom"