Three Beautiful Things 12-10-2023: Aerobic Snow Shoveling, Luna's Quiet Day, Dinner with Christy and Debbie

1. A half an hour of shoveling wet and heavy snow this morning had my heart beating faster and my lungs huffing and puffing more rapidly than a half an hour on the aerobic machines! I finished that job and let it suffice as my workout for today.

2. Luna had a quiet, still day resting on her favorite pillow on the bed. She's having trouble walking, but early this evening she made her way off the bed, drank some water, and once Gibbs and Debbie turned in, she had some time with me in the living room and hobbled around the living room and kitchen a bit. She slept next to me through the night. Copper got closer to me than he ever has and made it clear to me that he wanted to lie on my arm, which I was able to extend his way so that he could. 

3. Paul and Carol had a cast party this afternoon. I don't know what Molly did today.  But I do know that we didn't have a full-blown family dinner. Instead, Christy joined Debbie and me for some Middle Eastern food. I decided to fix a HelloFresh meal without the bag of ingredients, but replicate one on my own.

I fixed Middle Eastern Chickpea Bowls with Spiced Basmati Rice and Garlicky White Sauce. 

To begin, I combined turmeric, coriander, cumin, garlic powder, allspice, paprika, and pepper to make a Shawarma Spice Blend. 

I then put olive oil in a medium pot heated it up and added chopped onion, minced garlic, and Shawarma spice blend, let it cook for about a minute, and then added rice. I cooked these things together briefly and then added water and some Vegetable Better than Bullion paste. I brought it to a boil and then put on the lid and cooked the rice a low temperature.

On two parchment paper lined baking sheets, I spread out chickpeas, grape tomatoes, and wedges of white onion. I drizzled olive oil over them and seasoned them with Shawarma Spice Blend, salt, and pepper and put the sheets in the oven.

I then combined sour cream and yogurt with minced garlic and made the white sauce. 

When the rice was cooked, I fluffed it, added some cilantro, and a chunk of butter.

I took the baking sheets out of the oven and topped the chickpeas, onion, and tomatoes with lemon zest.

In each of our bowls, I put a layer of spiced rice and topped it with the chickpea, onion, and tomato blend. I drizzled sauce over the top, added some cilantro, and put lemon wedges on the table so we could add more lemon juice to our bowls.

I was very happy with how this meal turned out and look forward to replicating more Hello Fresh meals.

I also prepared a salad for our dinner. 

Last night, Debbie made a cucumber and green onion salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

I augmented her salad with more cucumbers, fresh dill, lemon juice, feta cheese, and a few grape tomatoes, and more balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

I was very happy with this salad, too, and enjoyed how the salad and chickpea bowl complimented each other.