Cherry Tomatoes with Asian Greens and Garlic

I was having the kind of work day which I wished would end. I love my job is so many ways--I'm a teacher and I love my students and my subject. But I really don't like marking student notebooks. It's an essential part of my job and so I do it a lot. But I was having the kind of day in which success at marking had to be be achieved by comfort eating chocolate at the same time. Ugh.

By the time a class set of books were marked, I think I had eaten four mini bars of mint chocolate and three mini packs of M&Ms. My stomach felt awful but I was so relieved to be finished. I packed up and left from a twelve hour day. Dinner could be simple, since my husband was not going to be present. In the end, all I wanted to eat was a bowl of vegetables. Do you have days like this?

This recipe is actually adapted from a pasta dish with the pasta left out! It's a recipe based on one from Ellie Krieger's book Weeknight Wonders: penne with grape tomatoes, spinach and garlic. Here's a pdf of the pasta recipe. My version is grain-free, serves one, takes about ten minutes, and hopefully offsets comfort eating.

Cherry Tomatoes with Asian Greens and Garlic
adapted from Weeknight Wonders
serves 1

1 large or 2 small garlic cloves
1 T mild olive oil
1 c (200 g) cherry tomatoes
200 g Asian greens such as kailan, bok choy, choy sum, or spinach
a few shavings of Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Thinly slice the garlic.
Heat the oil over medium heat and add the garlic. Cook, stirring twice, for about four minutes until the garlic is golden but not burned.

Slice the tomatoes in half. Finely slice the stems of the greens and roughly chop the leaves.
Add the tomatoes and greens to the pan and stir for about three minutes, or until the greens are soft.

Serve with the cheese, salt, and pepper on top.

This recipe is part of the blogging group Eating with Ellie. Visit the others to see what they thought of the recipe. Presumably they included the pasta!

Do you comfort eat to get through tough tasks?

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