Michael Symon's Couscous in Tomato Sauce

So Noah and I really enjoyed this, giving it a 9, while Owen and Aaron only gave this a 6.  I love that this has so many veggies, but doesn't taste like veggies only.  This came together relatively quickly and easily, and was a great side dish to have with our bacon wrapped chicken.  Each serving, and the servings are large, was 337 calories.  This came out of Michael Symon's Carnivore cookbook, and he called for fregola, but since I can't find that, we used couscous.  Here's what to do:

6 T olive oil
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 turnip, peeled and diced
1 rutabaga, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 sprigs fresh thyme
salt
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 c couscous, cooked in chicken broth or well salted water
1 bunch thinly sliced kale
1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add in the vegetables and thyme and some salt.  Cook about 10 minutes.  Add in the tomatoes, 1 cup of water, and the red pepper flakes and simmer for 30 minutes.  (I wish I had cooked this longer, I would've liked my veggies a little mushier, but that is just a personal/family preference.)
Add in the couscous and kale, and cook for a few minutes.  Pick out the thyme stems and discard.  Stir in the Parmesan, adjust the seasonings, and serve.

Absolutely Avocado's Cowboy Caviar Couscous Salad

This was a really good salad!  Absolutely Avocado came up with another winner for us, this was fast and easy, and everyone liked it.  I used homemade salsa, like always :), and used more corn than the recipe called for.  We had 10 servings out of this, and ate ours with cheese crisps for a complete meal.  Each serving was 183 calories the way I made it, and Aaron and the boys gave this an 8 and I gave it a 9.  Great summer meal idea, definitely give this a try!

1/2 c couscous
2 c chicken stock
2 avocados
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 14.5 oz canned black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
4 ears fresh corn kernels cut off the cob
1/2 c diced red onion
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 c salsa
3 scallions, chopped
3 T cilantro, chopped
1 lime, zest and juice
some red pepper flakes and salt

Cook the couscous with the chicken broth until the liquid is absorbed.  Set aside to cool.  Mix everything together, then season to taste.  Serve.

Lamb Tagine and Cheesecake!

So we had dinner tonight, hoping for an exotic dish, and we didn't quite get what we were hoping for. We had lamb tagine with couscous, and it was really delicious with tender lamb, which I love, but I was hoping for more spice, or something. Here's the recipe:
Lamb Tagine from Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe cookbook
2 1/2 lbs boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
Salt and pepper
3 T olive oil (I only used 2)
2 medium-large onions
4 medium garlic cloves, minced
3 T flour
1 1/2 t cumin
1 t cinnamon
1 t ginger
1/2 t corinader
1/8 t cayenne (optional)
2 1/4 c chicken broth
14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 c dried apricots or other dried fruit (I used prunes) roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
6 fresh cilantro sprigs
15 oz canned chickpeas
1/4 c fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 c toasted slivered almonds (optional--I didn't use)

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 300.  Season the lamb generously with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Heat 1 T of the oil in a large oven-proof pan over medium-high heat until shimmering.  cook the meat until well browned.  Remove from pan and set aside. 
3. Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 1 oil, and swirl to coat the pan bottom.  Add the onions and 1/4 t salt and cook, stirring frequently and vigorously, scraping the pot bottom with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits, until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cook until  fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the flour, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, and cayeene (if using) and stir until the onions are evenly coated and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
4.  Gradually add the broth, scraping the pot bottom and edges with a wooden sppon to loosen the remaining browned bits and spices, and stirring until the flour is dissolved and the liquid is thick.  Stir in the tomatoes, prunes, bay leave, and cilantro sprigs and bring to a simmer.  Add the brownded lamb and accumulated juices in the bowl, pushing down the meat to submerge the pieces.  Return to a simmer, cover the pot, and place it in the oven.  Cook for 1 1/4 hours.
5. Remove the pot from the oven and stir in the chickpeas.  Cover and return the pot to the oven.  Cook until the meat is tender and the chickpeas are heated through, about 15 minutes.  Spoon off any fat that rises to the top if serving immediately, and if not, stew can be kept covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
6. Discard the bay leaves and cilantro sprigs.  Stir in the minced cilantro and adjust the seasonings.  Serve immediately with couscous or basamati rice.

So the calories on this without the rice or couscous were 304/serving for 8 servings. The boys, Aaron included, gave it an 8, and I gave it a 7. It was good, just not what I was hoping for.

So the cheesecake we made because we had guests for dinner, and so the boys voted for this dessert. I was going to make this on my birthday for myself, but they decided we had to try it now. This was amazing. It was Junior's Devil's Food Cheesecake, and it was worth the calories, which were out of control :).  For 1/32 of the cake, yes I'm serious, the calories were 492. Sigh. This was heavenly, the frosting Aaron said was the best he has ever had, and it was so rich and creamy and chocolatey and great. Aaron gave it a 9, and he doesn't like cake or cheesecake, so go figure. The boys and I gave it a perfect 10. Too bad it is sooo crazy bad for us.  Sorry about the uninspiring picture, it really looks better and tastes better than that, I just didn't get a good picture.  So in spite of the bad picture, I suggest making it anyway :).


Tomorrow we're having a chicken dish.

Shrimp and Couscous

So tonight I forgot to take pictures until we were all the way done with our food, so you get the leftover pictures :)  We had Israeli Couscous Taco Salad and Spicy Lemon Garlic Shrimp for dinner tonight, and what a great dinner it was.

 

The shrimp had great flavor, and was super easy, but since we cooked the shrimp with the shells on and they were a pain to take off after cooking, we only gave the recipe a 7.  If it had been shelless it would have been a 9.  The calories for 1/2 the recipe, so one pound of shrimp, four servings is 291/serving.  We'll definitely make this again, I'll just shell the shrimp first then cook it in a pan.

The couscous taco salad was soooo great.  I give it a 10, so does Noah, and Owen and Aaron gave it a 9.  It was fresh, fast, easy and amazing.  The flavors were great, and it was pretty healthy.  We made the full recipe, and cut into 6 servings the calories were 320/serving.  I could probably eat this every day, it's so flipping good :). 

Tomorrow we're having some breakfast bars, and some meatballs from the Pioneer Woman.

Greek Couscous Salad with Chicken

Although I have no pictures for you, this recipe was fabulous!  We had a Greek couscous salad from Our Best Bites cookbook, it was fast, filling, and super easy.  I made some chicken in the crockpot, and then just added it to the salad for a main dish.  It was couscous cooked with herbs, then chicken, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, feta cheese, all covered in a light lemon dressing.  Really delicious. We gave this a 9, Noah ate his so fast and said he wanted couscous all the time.  There are 300 calories per serving for 6 servings.  Tomorrow we're having Italian crockpot meatloaf.