...And soopa easy.

Well, it's only taken me a full day to recover from Disneyland, so I know I'm officially old. Though getting home at 3am and working 6 hours later definitely didn't help. But that's ok. It was totally as much fun as I expected it to be. The Russian (Russian is faster to type than Ukrainian, ok??) and the other half don't mess around...we were ride champs. Even though we didn't get to go on Peter Pan...we tried, three times...a forty minute wait really doesn't sit well for a Fantasy Land ride. Even though you do go all the way to London.

At least work was entertaining yesterday. I love that my job keeps me on my toes. Got in and discovered I had to do a last minute photo shoot in a field of grapestock. In the dirt. While wearing black pants(and flats, thankfully). Which were a delightful dusty brown by the end of the afternoon.

But I got some good shots, which was especially fun cause you know how much I enjoy taking pics of my food...they'll be grapes one day. And wine, after that, so that's even better. It counts.

My favorite part of the day, however, was when I got back and my boss called me the Annie Leibovitz of grape leaves. Hilariously fantastic. Thank you, sir. I'll take it.

So not surprisingly, I wasn't in much of a mood to cook after 5 hours of sleep (I need 9. Seriously) and an afternoon of trekking through dirt. Which led to Fresh and Easy assisted meal #2 this week. And it was fantastic.

I wanted fajitas, and while I'd normally get their pre-packaged fajita combo, I went the long route and got their chicken asada and a package of pre-sliced bell peppers and onions instead. Sauteed those up, spooned them over romaine (for me, flour tortillas for the husband), topped them with fresh salsa, a sprinkle of cheese and non fat greek yogurt, served them with refried black beans and homemade spanish rice, and we were in fat-kid-but-this-is-actually-really-healthy heaven. The rice was the most labor intensive part, and really, all I had to do was chop half an onion and measure some spices. Totally do-able, and totally better than what I'd get from a box.

Spanish Rice
1 cup long-grain white rice
olive oil
2 cups chicken broth (water'll work if you're out)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
pinch cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves, if you have them
pinch pepper
1/2 tsp salt
cilantro for garnish

Heat a splash of olive oil (1/2 tbsp or so) over medium heat. Saute onion a couple minutes, add garlic. After a minute or two, add rice, stir well. Saute about 2 more minutes, then mix in cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper and cayenne. Add broth or water, bring to a boil. Add can of tomatoes and bay leaves, return to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, then cover and cook about 15 minutes.

Fluff cooked rice with a fork, and add salt to taste. (You may not need any more if you use broth, it tends to help.) Sprinkle with cilantro...if I'm having a full plate of mexican food, I put it on everything. Pretty. Serves 4-6.
If five servings, about 175 calories, 3g fat, 1g fiber, 35g carbs, 5g protein.