Sauteed Lettuce and Brown Rice Bowl (and an easy app!)

Hello Dear Readers! I hope today is a spectacular day for you! Here's a little food for thought: How would you live today differently if you knew it was the last time you would see each person you interacted with?  Hug a little tighter, hold your temper a little longer, love a little deeper, complain a little softer, appreciate differing opinions a little more...you get the picture.~ I'm gonna try to keep that thought in my mind all day...join me?

And now, for some food for your belly! As inspired by my friend Chelsa, here is a super quick appetizer you can throw together and impress your family/guests and their taste buds with! Because I make a lot of vegetarian recipes for dinner, sometimes I'll make a little something extra (like these) to keep my hubby fat and happy.

Greek Bites

Olives 

Pre-marinated cheese tortellini

Grape Tomatos

Toothpicks

Purchase as many ingredients as you want appetizers. My current favorite olives are the wrinkly black ones with the pits still inside. They have them on the antipasto bar at our grocer. You do have to go through the extra work of pitting them, but they come out much easier than green olives, and they're worth it! I also "cheated" from the original recipe, and got tortellini from the store that were part of a Greek artichoke salad so they already have wonderful flavor marinated into them. I just asked the girl at the counter to pick out only the tortellinis for me, and I'm pretty sure she's my new bff now ;-)! Anyway, you just thread your ingredients onto the toothpicks as shown, and enjoy! Easy peasy, right?

Sauteed Lettuce and Brown Rice Bowl

2 T evoo
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup carrot, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cooked brown rice
Several spashes of veg. broth
1-2 cups lettuce or spinach

Garnish: Parmesan cheese, roasted nuts, Herbs de Provence, sea salt, freshly ground pepper



Heat oil on low/medium in a large skillet. Saute' onions, carrots and celery for 5-7 min. or until lightly cooked but still crunchy. Add rice and blend with veggies. If your rice is cold, make sure you cook it long enough to heat it fully. Add a splash of vegetable or chicken broth (just enough to moisten the mix and prevent the rice and veggies from sticking to the pan). Add the lettuce/spinach and another splash of broth. Stir well. Keep stirring and cooking until lettuce is wilted. Place in a bowl, and top with cheese and seasonings.