Cous Cous Salad

This is a great recipe that I like to use as a quick lunch. It’s fairly simple, delicious and pretty healthy!

Ingredients

1 cup cooked cous cous (any variety, any flavor)
½ cup garbanzo beans

¼ cup feta cheese (any flavor, this time I used herb and garlic)

chopped cucumber

chopped bell pepper

chopped green onion

Directions

Mix and eat

It’s that simple. Chop up your veggies while the cous cous is cooking and it takes maybe 10 minutes from start to finish. The great thing is you can use anything you happen to have lying around in your cupboards or fridge. It’s a good way to use up vegetables that might be starting to look a little sad. You could even throw in some leftover chicken or steak in there if you wanted, but the garbanzo beans give you plenty of protein and staying power.

I usually assemble this the night before and take it to work for lunch. It lasts very well in the fridge, if anything the longer it sits the fluffier the cous cous is. You could even add some olive oil and balsamic vinegar to add some flavor, or even some Italian dressing.

The other thing I like about this is there’s minimal chance for spoilage, making it good for a potluck (not to mention how easy!).

Welcome Home Chili

This past week Daniel left me all alone forever went on a business trip to Minnesota for a few days. I knew that when I picked him up at the airport the night he came home I wanted to have a nice, homey dinner ready to go when we walked in the door (you know, remind him why he came home). I thought chili would be perfect, since I could throw it in the crockpot and have plenty of time for making-out not have to fuss to much. I don’t have a go-to chili recipe but luckily my latest issue of Cooking Light did!

Black Bean Salsa Chili
(From Cooking Light Magazine, October 2009)

2 (15 oz) cans black beans; rinsed, drained and divided

2/3 cups water

1 tbsp dark brown sugar

Cooking Spray

½ pound ground turkey

1 cup chopped sweet onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup chopped red bell pepper

3 sweet hickory-smoked bacon slices, chopped

1 ½ tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

1 ½ cups mild salsa

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 (14 oz) can fat-free, less-sodium beef broth

½ cup reduced-fat sour cream

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 tsp fresh lime juice

1. Combine 1 ½ cups beans, 2/3 cup water, and sugar in a food processor; process until smooth. Combine bean puree and remaining beans in a bowl.

2. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add turkey; cook 3 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove turkey from pan.

3. Add onion, bell peppers, and bacon to pan; cook 5 minutes or until bacon and onion are lightly browned. Return turkey to the pan. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, and crushed red pepper to pan; stir well to coat. Stir in bean mixture, salsa, tomato paste, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Combine sour cream, cilantro, and juice in a small bowl. Serve chili with sour cream mixture.

-Yields 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup chili and about 4 tsps sour cream mixture.) Calories 199; Fat 6.2 g; Fiber 5.9 g

I did take some liberties with the recipe. First off, I used a full pound of turkey. I was lazy and didn’t feel like dividing it, and I think it added some nice heft to the chili. I also skipped step 4 because I hate cilantro. Instead I just served fat-free sour cream, chopped onion and shredded cheese on the side, to be added to taste by each of us. I also didn’t do any measuring for the onion or bell pepper, I just used a smallish onion, and one of each color peppers.  Finally, I wanted to put this in the crockpot to cook while I was at work, so the night before I did everything up to the point of simmering for 30 minutes, threw it in the crockpot and stuck it in the fridge for the night. When I got up in the morning I pulled it out and plugged it in as I walked out the door.

This was a perfectly good chili recipe, but I don’t think that it’s my chili recipe. To me chili should be easy, something you can throw together and not have to worry about it. I definitely shouldn’t have to be pureeing anything. So for me, this recipe is a little fussy. The point of the pureeing is to thicken it up, but after sitting in the crockpot all day I don’t think that would be a problem. Plus, I like lots of beans in my chili, so in the future I would probably skip the first step and just use the beans whole.

All in all it was a tasty recipe, but I don’t anticipate using it again. However, it was a perfect meal to eat with my honey while we got caught up. I served it with crescent rolls on the side, and for dessert we had some hot out of the oven chocolate chip cookies (courtesy of Pillsbury).

The First Post

I've been agonizing for awhile what I would write my first post. It's kinda like that awkward first date, where you don't quite know what to say so you end up with the small talk (What do you like? Beer and cheese! What don't you like? Spiders and assholes!). I decided I would just get it out of the way and be done with it so we can get on to the lame stories awesomeness. Besides, if you're reading this you probably know me already, and if you don't, you'll learn real quick. So, welcome to my blog internetz!