Looking at this actually gives me a headache.
I'm not a big champagne drinker.
It's nice and all, but I still can't shake the memory of that horrendous headache I got two hours after downing two glasses at a restaurant one holiday season several years ago. Since then, it's never appealed much to me. Unless orange juice and Mexico are involved.
But, as it's a New Year's requisite and all, I sipped a glass of bubbly on New Year's Eve before going to bed 30 minutes into 2012. Oh, yeah, Lindsay Lohan has NOTHING on my hardcore partying!
Anyway, so I still have champagne in my dang fridge, and I probably need to go home and toss it this evening. On Sunday, though, I poured a couple of cups -- but not to drink.
OK, so y'all know I'm on Weight Watchers, right? One of my favorite (i.e., simplest and cheapest to make) dishes is black beans and rice. I'll make enough for six meals, one or two of which I usually end up throwing away because I'm so stinkin' tired of black beans.
But I have to admit, this last batch wasn't too bad. I did my beans the usual way, with a variety of spices and low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth, then boiled wild rice -- but not in plain ol' water. In lieu of six cups H2O, I used four cups chicken broth and two cups champagne -- and it actually tasted pretty decent. I figured that as I use left-over red wine when cooking lentils, bubbly would be dandy in rice. Ever-so-slightly sweet, perhaps, but flavorful -- and only 11 points for a serving! For those who don't speak WW, that's not bad.
What interesting things have you done with left-over champagne or other liquor? Please keep it in the kitchen and out of the gutter.
Peace, love and bubbly rice ... XOXO
