This week’s recipe for Chickpea Curry is adapted from a recipe I found in the January/February 2013 issue of Cooking Light. It’s easy and quick to make, and even my most finicky eaters enjoyed the dish, despite the fact that it’s got a little kick!
Ingredients:
3 cups Jasmine rice
1 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 tblsp garam masala (see below)
3 15 oz cans chickpeas, 2 with juice and 1 drained and rinsed
2 10 oz cans Rotel
1 5 oz package baby spinach
1 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
Instructions:
1) Cook rice.
2) Heat the oil in a large pan. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes.
3) Stir in garam masala. Saute for about 1 minute.
4) Add chickpeas, Rotel, and spinach. Cook until the spinach wilts.
5) Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.
6) Serve over rice.
Note: There are lots of ways to make garam masala, but here’s the mix I use – 5 parts ground cumin, 4 parts ground coriander, 3 parts ground black pepper, 2 parts cardamom, and 1 part ground cloves.
Food chains always start with a plant (an autotroph, in ecological terms) which converts sunlight energy into energy that can be used by plants and animals. Plants are the source of energy and nutrients for all animals. As we move up the food chain, we’re looking at animals (heterotrophs) that eat certain plants. Moving further up the food chain we’d see animals that eat the animals that ate the plants. A sample food chain would be: 
Following Atticus combines these two great topics into a very entertaining book. Tom Ryan was the owner and publisher of a small newspaper in Newburyport MA, when he found himself the unexpected owner of a little schnauzer named Max. Tom and Max became each other’s best friends, even though their time together was relatively short. Still mourning the loss of his little friend, Mr. Ryan found his next best friend – Atticus M. Finch (see book cover). 
