adventures in chickpealand…

Things will be winding down a bit soon, and I have lots of yumminess to post. Soon, I promise.

Until then, we have a chickpea adventure that is slowly unfolding. Let me tell you a little story…

Once upon a time, two dried chickpeas were bored. They sat around in a mason jar with all of the other dried chickpeas and nothing happened. Then, one day, a man brought the jar out onto the counter. Something exciting was going to happen! What they didn’t realize was that this was no ordinary man, it was the Hummus Man! Then, they saw the pressure cooker. “Oh no!” they thought. “We have to do something or we’ll become dinner!”

So the two chickpeas schemed their way out of the colander and dropped down into the bottom of the dishwasher, which was slightly ajar. It was dark and a little damp. They didn’t know what to do, so they decided to lay low for a couple of days.

And then, they sprouted.

The Hummus Man found them 3 days later, little white sprouts about 1 1/2 inches long, and decided to float them in some water and give them some sun. Within hours they were green. By the end of the week, the situation had gotten a bit out of hand.

So the Hummus Man planted them. And it was good.

The chickpea plants spent their days on a high window sill, observing the silly cats who ruled the Hummus Man’s home, enjoying the process of photosynthesis and speculating the origins of the plants outside. But two weeks later, the chickpeas had outgrown their little pots, so the Hummus Man had to replant them.

The Hummus Man was so kind to them, repotting them in pretty new terra cotta pots with three times as much room, giving them water and staring at them adoringly, so they decided to give him a present.

Because no one had taken the time to explain the cycle of life to the chickpeas, they didn’t know what it meant to become deflowered. Oops.

“Oh my!” said the one chickpea plant to the other, “I’m with child!”

“Me, too!” said the other plant!

And so the story continues…

Believe it or not, we’ve gone from dried bean to three-foot-tall plant in 4 weeks. 🙂 Given that neither Jim nor I have ever kept anything which you plant alive before, this is going quite well. Here is some more info on chickpeas and how they grow.

Stay tuned to the chickpea saga! It’s like a foodie soap opera!

ode to my rice cooker

I love my rice cooker. It’s one of my best friends in the kitchen, which is ironic because I used to think they were stupid.

This is a very cheap rice cooker. Soon I will be upgrading to a very nice one, but we bought this one as a tester a little over a year ago to see if we would actually use it. See, I always thought they were for lazy people. I thought, “Hell, I’m a rice cooker.” Pot + lid + rice + water + me =rice cooker. Ah, but I was foolish. Rice cookers, yes, can be for lazy people, but they are also for perfectionists. Being the Virgo that I am, I can readily appreciate the consistent perfection this little unit turns out with every batch. Fluffy, soft, never burnt on the bottom or soggy like my pots always were. And you don’t have to play the guessing game, poking around with a fork, not trying to disturb the surface while wondering, “Is it done? A few more minutes?”

And oddly enough, I have only made rice in it once. We usually make quinoa, sometimes millet and I’ve made wild rice a couple of times. I’m hope to experiment more with it this winter. But for now, my love affair with quinoa continues.

My favorite way to make dinner is to get home, pop some quinoa into the cooker, do yoga and then when I get into the kitchen dinner is halfway done. Excellent…

This bowl was inspired by the BBQ and Brussels bowl at Bye and Bye. I made BBQ chickpeas, garlic roasted brussel sprouts atop a layer of perfectly fluffy quinoa, topped with a sprinkle of Parma. This is the kind of food that makes me deliriously happy it’s autumn.

As a sidenote, suppose you’re interested in buying my book (and I swear that I’m not trying to turn this blog into an infomercial for my book. the shameless self-promo is winding down, I promise) but you also need some vegan jerky, makeup or marshmallows… head on over to Cosmos Vegan Shoppe, which is a one-stop shop for all the vegan goodies you can cram in your mouth. Yum…