Wishful Slacker

Planning ahead for St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Today, I am recommending a recipe to you that I have not personally tested out.  I am not trying to pull a fast one on you.  Rather, I am just helping you plan ahead if you're looking for a dish to try this St. Patty's Day.  For those of you anticipating a more sedentary holiday this year since March 17th falls on a Wednesday (zzzzz), this ale-braised corned beef slow-cooker recipe seems like a perfect meal.  Add the corned beef, carrots, and beer to the slow cooker, skip off to work, and then come home to dinner.  Looks like all you do after work is cook the Brussels sprouts (which you cook in the leftover beer and juices right in the slow cooker after removing the beef- yum), leaving ample time to add the green food coloring to your beer before plopping yourself on the couch to catch this week's episodes of The Middle and Modern Family.

I like to plan out my meals for little holidays like this one, just because it's fun.  A couple years ago Jim and I made a chicken tortilla soup from scratch, broth and all, for Cinco de Mayo, which was on a Monday.  We did a lot of the prep on Sunday, and the whole next day I was excited for our soup, which in turn made for a decent start of the week, as Mondays go.

This is our 4th St. Patrick's Day weekend in Chicago, and each year I seem to forget how totally CRAZY people get during this weekend!  We drove down to REI yesterday and had to choose our route to avoid the bars and drunken kids darting through traffic.  This was at 3 in the afternoon.  I bet there are a fair share of individuals nursing some wicked hangovers today!

Here is a picture that we took a few years ago down at the Michigan Avenue bridge for the annual dyeing of the Chicago River.  Good green times :-)


And now, I must get to work on a presentation that I am giving next month, for which the slides need to be completed this week.  I have probably spent more time complaining about the fact that I need to give this talk than the time it will actually take to create the presentation.  A lot of people have time to work on these things during work hours.  Not in my world, and therefore I must devote my precious Sunday afternoon hours to the task.  Complaining about it just helps my coping.  That's how I roll.  :-)

Alice in Uncomfortableland

First there was this (I love when the speaker says, "...the wonderful people she meets," the scene shows all the scary people coming at her- YEEK!  How was this a kids' movie?!):

And then, in 1985, this creepy-ass Alice Through the Looking Glass aired on tv:

And now, there is this!

For me, the story of Alice in Wonderland is one of the most unsettling stories ever written.  Poor Alice, everywhere she turns another weirdo shows up.  No one can be trusted and she can't find her way home.  It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it!  

I heard that the new Tim Burton version is supposed to be pretty good too, but I just don't think I can put myself through it!  No rabbit holes for me!

Curried Quinoa Salad- Jillian would be proud

With the two weeks of Olympics coverage, I'd lost track of our usual nightly television routine.  And because of that, we actually ate a HEALTHY dinner tonight while watching The Biggest Loser!  This is very uncharacteristic for us.  The one night of the week when we usually grab pizza or Thai food often occurs when Jillian and Bob are lauding the amazing benefits of Yoplait yogurt smoothies and 8 hour long workouts.  But TONIGHT, we ate a very healthy dinner.  I think Jillian smiled at me through the screen.  I love her.

I am not usually a reality television fan, but I love The Biggest Loser.  I spent equal amounts of time making fun of the forced mid-program advertising (Hey Bob, how about some ORBIT GUM to help your food cravings?!) and the over-the-top sappiness as I do cheering on the contestants and their lifestyle changes.  As I am midway through mocking someone, my eyes begin to sting.  "Are you CRYING?" my husband has asked me. 

Yes, indeed.  They got me.

But anyways, lets get back to our dinner, curried quinoa salad.  This recipe was featured in the Chicago Tribune in the past year, and it is what introduced us to The Flexitarian Diet by Dawn Jackson Blatner.  This recipe is really tasty and filling.  It is really easy to whip up too.  In the variation of the recipe on DJB's website, she also adds some walnuts, which I don't think is really necessary.  I just like gobbling up the chickpeas.  When the Chicago Tribune posted the recipe, they created a yogurt dressing to spoon on top of the salad, which I'll include here.  The hot chili sauce in the dressing gives it a great kick.  Use less if you'd like less heat (duh!).  Tonight we used garam masala, and the first time we made it we used curry powder.  Yum.  And just buy ready-shredded carrots to save time :-)

Leftovers are tasty too!

Curried quinoa salad
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
2 teaspoons curry powder or garam masala
8 green onions, chopped
2 cans (15 ounces each) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Yogurt-cumin dressing (recipe below)

Heat the water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Add the quinoa and curry powder; lower heat to a simmer.  Cover pan; cook 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the green onions, chickpeas, carrots, and cranberries in a large bowl.  Stir together with the quinoa.  Serve drizzled with dressing.

Yogurt-cumin dressing: Combine 1 cup plain non-fat yogurt, 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, 3 teaspoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon each grated lemon zest and hot chili sauce and 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin in a small bowl; refrigerate before serving.