Whole Wheat Couscous with Parm and Peas

If you know me-you know that I am a side dish as a main dish queen. I like meat/chicken/fish...but really love foods that are considered sides more than anything. During my weak moments of buttery, cheesy, greasy,cholesterol-y indulgence-you could see me plopped in a wooden chair at the Cracker Barrel dining on lovely down home versions of mac and cheese, collard greens, green beans, squash casserole and cheesy hash brown casserole. Ahhh...comfort food at its finest, and hey I was getting my veggies too, right?

Well, the aging metabolism decided to slow herself down and bestow some 40 inch hips upon my little frame-so the days of creamy cheesy bliss are over for me. I still allow myself the occasional 6 Cheese Baked Mac N Cheese or Loaded Baked Potato Salad complete with gobs of mayo, bacon and cheese. I know me and completely depriving myself would just mean failure.

I also know though that I have found that I love fresh, often times raw foods. I love the clean taste and the lightness of them. I have always loved a fresh crisp salad loaded up with veggies. One of my favorite snacks is shelled, blanched and chilled edamame.

So anyway, after that long drawn out and unnecessary explanation about my love of side dishes...here's what I made for dinner last night: Whole Wheat Couscous with Parmesan and Peas It was delicious! I found it posted on Eatingwell.com-which is a recipe site I just discovered recently. *I* could eat this as a main dish for dinner with a nice green salad. It was filling and at about 200 calories per serving, I would call it hip and boo-tay friendly. It was also quick and fracktastically easy. That's one of the great things about couscous-it literally takes only a few minutes to prepare-start to finish.

I did make some lemon garlic chicken tenders to go with, as my husband is a protein freak-he is an athlete and a true carnivore so there's no getting around the "meat" in this house. this recipe has about 10g of protein by itself-but you will never convince this man that you can get enough protein without some tuna or poultry thrown in somewhere.

I forgot to upload the picture of it to my online photobook so I'll have to post that later.

OK-so...make this stuff. Its elegant and easy and yumm.

1 14-ounce can reduced-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
1/4 cup water
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup whole-wheat couscous
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Combine broth, water and oil in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Stir in couscous and remove from heat. Cover and let plump for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook peas on the stovetop or in the microwave according to package directions.
3. Add the peas, dill, lemon zest, salt and pepper to the couscous; mix gently and fluff with a fork. Serve hot, sprinkled with cheese.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 208 calories; 4 g fat (1 g sat, 2 g mono); 6 mg cholesterol; 35 g carbohydrate; 10 g protein; 7 g fiber; 186 mg sodium.

**the only thing I did differently was dumped the parmesan in and mixed it into the entire batch. **

Tuesday's Weekly Planner: Aug 4-10

Meh, I'm always a day late a dollar short so the theme might as well carry over into my weekly meal planning too. Hey-at least I'm consistent people-you can at least give me that , right?
Its Tuesday and I am planning my meals for the week now. Mondays are just too depressing to even try to be organized and Sundays-well Sundays are family days for us and frankly, I just don't feel the need to do anything productive on Sundays.

That being said here is the plan for this week:

Monday- Sunday Night Chili Leftovers and a ginormous tossed salad.
Tuesday-Brown Sugar Garlic Chicken, Veggie Fried Rice
Wednesday-Leftovers
Thursday-Crockpot Chicken and White Beans with Tomatillas, Mexican Rice
Friday-Leftovers
Saturday- Tex Mex Pumpkin Patties, Spicy Black Beans and Rice, Mixed Greens Salad
Sunday-Citrus Roast Chickens, Smashed Sweet Potatoes and Lemon Almond Green Beans

Banana Pineapple Loaf: 135 calories a slice!

We were over-run by fruit flies last week. Gawd I loathe those things and they are NOT easy to get rid of. It seems almost inevitable that we get them down here. Every grocery store seems to have them and then you are bound to bring them home with you. DEEEEZ-gusting. Anyway, because of that any fruit I get has to be stored in the fridge-and bananas do not do nice things in the fridge. So I had about three bananas left that were brown and when you have brown bananas about the only to do with them is bake something.

I am not trying to completely blow my quest for hotness though so I figured I'd throw together this low fat/ low cal banana loaf that I've made once before. Its terribly easy and at only 135 calories a slice its pretty diet friendly.

Banana Pineapple Loaf

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup mashed banana

1 can un-drained crushed pineapple

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to about 350. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine sifted dry ingredients, sugar and walnuts in a large bowl. Stir in banana, pineapple and eggs. Spoon into prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven for 1 1/4 hours (or until a skewer inserted comes out clean). Stand 10 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool.

**I added coconut flakes to mine. I think chocolate chips or macadamia nuts would probably be really good too.**

Garden Update: Tuesday July 29, 2008

At ten days in here is the little mini -garden we just planted! Everything has begun to sprout except the Cilantro. The Dill has two TINY little sprouts and and onions have little green threads poking up from the soil.

The sunflowers were the first to sprout, then the beans and pumpkins.

Pole Beans

Pumpkins

Sunflowers

Update from the container garden on the deck:

We have a little tiny crown of broccoli forming!

Tons of Peppers

The cucumber plants are growing quickly too

And finally the brussel sprout plants are fighting back after the destructive cabbage worms nearly destroyed them.

Chicken and Cilantro Week- Recipes 3 and 4 ???

See that? What? You mean you don't see anything? Well that's because the final two recipes of Chicken and Cilantro week were never cooked. Some dillhole in the house turned the refrigerator setting to "Antartic Cold" and froze all the veggies in my produce drawer-my cilantro was ruined! So I went out and found a stupid plaque to hang on the wall to remind the boys that this is MY kitchen-just stay out and don't touch anything!

Ah well-it is what it is. I do plan on making both of them sometime soon though-the Chicken Encilantrada sounds like it would be great with some corn tortillas and some queso fresco.

Chicken and Cilantro Week-Recipe #2: Chicken and Manadarin Oranges

Chicken and Mandarin Oranges (as posted on allrecipes.com)

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 (4 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges
1 small onion, chopped
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Hot cooked rice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

In a small bowl, combine the salt, ginger and pepper. Sprinkle over both sides of chicken. In a nonstick skillet, saute chicken in oil for 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken to plate and keep warm.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Drain oranges, reserving juice. Stir juice, onion and red pepper flakes into skillet. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes or until onion is tender. Bring to a boil. Return chicken to skillet. Reduce heat; cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken juices run clear. Place chicken over rice; keep warm. Combine cornstarch and water until smooth. Gradually stir into skillet. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for about 2 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Add mandarin oranges; heat through. Pour sauce over chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro.

My Notes:

I liked this-it was light and fresh tasting. I did use more oranges and more juice than the recioe called for though and I also added broccoli to it and then some cashews when I plated the dish. Serve with brown rice.

Nice and easy work week dinner recipe.

Chicken and Cilantro Week-Recipe #1: Trinidad Stewed Chicken

Trinidad Stewed Chicken as posted on allrecipes.com

1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon chopped onion
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup canned coconut milk (optional)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon butter


Place chicken on a plate. Sprinkle the green onion, cilantro, garlic, onion, salt and pepper over it. Cover, and marinate for 30 minutes.

Heat the vegetable oil in a deep pot over medium heat. Stir in the sugar, and cook until the sugar has melted into a nice golden brown syrup. Add the chicken pieces, and brown quickly while turning continuously. Cover the pot, and let it cook for 2 minutes.

Pour in 1 cup of water, coconut milk and pepper flakes. Replace the lid, and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. Stir in the ketchup and butter. Continue cooking until chicken is fork tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve chicken with the sauce in the pot as a gravy.

*************************************************************************************
My Notes:

I'm not so sure how I feel about this one-the taste is decent, but I think something is missing. Maybe some more heat? Chunks of tomatoes? Maybe even some lentils?

I think I'm not very keen on the whole "coconut" in savory style dishes. Not sure what it is-but I had a coconut-cilantro rice dish once that I couldn't even stomach. I thought it was just a fluke-bad cook or something, but this almost gave me the same feeling. This is not that bad-but its just not great in my opinion either. I think though my palette just might not enjoy that flavor combo.

I do think I might try to make it again though-sans coconut milk and maybe even sans cilantro. The beginning part of the recipe alone smells fantastic so I think that might make a great dish. The brown sugar, garlic, onion black pepper and salt with the chicken really smells almost sweet and nutty as it cooks together.

Like I say-it wasn't bad-just maybe not my thing, or might just need something else to make it really come to life. I should also say that the broth that it makes tastes very much like an Indian Soup. I think that's why I feel like maybe lentils might really make the dish.