Life in the Fast Lane, Surely Make you Lose Your Mind

Using crispy rice as a crunchy topping for a salad was a fun idea to use up the small leftover black grain.  Heated on a hot pan until it begins to crust, rice takes on a very nutty and savory flavor that any cook knows.  When was the first moment someone discovered that secret awesomeness, perhaps while cleaning up they scraped the pan and like me, tasted the caramelized wonder.
Today I felt it is culinarily (yes, its a word in food land) time to take these bits and give them their moment in the spotlight.

I'm pretty easily entertained and satisfied so a small new delight can really shake up my nerd world. I eat a lot of burger patties over salad, because it's tasty, easy, fast and relatively healthy.  The best things about this type of easy meal is the countless variations.  You can make a turkey, black bean, ground chicken or beef burger, topped with many different cheeses.  You can use so many types of lettuce, theme your salad or make the dressing the star.  So one idea can be several meals.  I added fresh orange juice and zest to this iceberg salad with chick peas and avocados. 

I'm so inspired today by my own lame low-bar values that I'm making a cup of orange peel tea with you guessed it, my own orange peels that I pulled off with my own tiny nail-bitten fingers.  And guess who has fresh mint!? My mom used to make it this way, so it's nostalgic, green, and planet saving but not at all pretentious because it's just me enjoying life in the cheapest ways possible.  To continue the festivities I also whipped up a jar of my house blend popcorn seasoning.