Spicy Ginger Spinach Couscous

1/2 cup vegetable broth (I use Cadia, which uses carrot juice instead of a tomato base) 1/4 cup Lundberg brown rice couscous 1/4 of a yellow bell pepper 1/2 clove of garlic, minced 1 tsp dried ginger root A pinch of sea salt 1 cup frozen peas A handful of fresh baby spinach 1. Combine broth, peppers, garlic, ginger and salt in a saucepan and bring to a low boil. 2. Add rice couscous, cover, lower heat to simmer. Set kitchen timer for 13 minutes. 3. With about 6 minutes left, uncover to add peas and enough spinach to fill up the saucepan. Cover again. 4. At the end of the 13 minutes, stir the spinach and peas down into the mix, cover again and wait another 2-3 minutes. Stir again if necessary. 5. Eat.

I love rice couscous. It's essentially just brown rice ground into granules, but I prefer the texture of it to plain rice. A handful of gluten-free alternatives are not up to the challenge of being as good as their wheat laden counterparts, but I think rice couscous is a very viable substitute - if you can find it.

I normally take the time to put more fresh ingredients in, but I wasn't feeling very well when I made this. It is also very spicy! I would suggest accompanying this dish with a glass of soy or hemp milk, or some manner of garlic bread. If you are not good with spicy things, you may want to use half as much ginger. Personally, I like a lot of ginger.

I also like to eat all my rice-veggie dishes out of my favorite bowl. It has a giraffe on it. I named him Bogart.

Holds onto all my food and doesn't even like it. What a jerk.

-♥A.H.