Chicken Couscous

This weekend I was lucky enough to have my parents in town for a quick visit and to see our new house! It is always so nice to spend time with them, especially now that we live so much further away. This was a short but busy trip and I will take any time we get! One of the things our family loves is not only food but to cook food so it was really nice to be able to do this.

I must confess that I ripped this recipe out of the magazine while I was getting my hair done. I know I am that person, but it just looked so good I had to. It was a good thing I did because this dish was delicious. I misread the directions and added an entire can of chick peas but that was not bad since we enjoy them. Only few tweaks I would make are to cook the vegetables a little bit less so they have more of a crunch. And measure the amount of liquid left in the dutch oven before adding the couscous. This will help determine the amount of couscous to add. We followed the directions and there must have been too much liquid left because it didn't fluff up as much as it normally does, but still was tasty.

Chicken Couscous

Servings: 4

Source: Fitness Magazine

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 36 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

¼ cup sliced almonds

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat trimmed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 bunch scallions, white & light green thinly sliced

1 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

2 carrots, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon tumeric

1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1 large tomato, chopped

½ cup canned chickpeas, drained

½ lemon, zest peeled into 1/2 inch thick strips, juice to taste

1/3 cup raisins

3/4 cup whole wheat couscous

¼ cup chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Warm the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the almonds; toast until golden, 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer them to a bowl.

2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add to the dutch oven and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer chicken to a plate. Add the scallions, zucchini and carrots; cook for 5 minutes. Mix in the cinnamon, cumin, coriander and turmeric; saute 1 minute.

3. Add the chicken stock, tomato, chick peas, lemon zest and raisins; bring to a simmer. Return the chicken to the pot, cover and simmer 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chicken and vegetables to a serving bowl. Season with lemon juice. Cover to keep warm.

4. I suggest measuring the left over liquid first, it should be 1 cup. Add the couscous to the liquid in the pot, cover and turn off heat. Let rest for 5 minutes; take off the lid and fluff the couscous with a fork. Serve chicken and vegetables over the couscous, garnished with almonds and parsley.

Nutritional Information per serving:

473 calories; 29g protein; 62g carbohydrates; 15g fat (2g saturated); 11g Fiber

Beef Stew

Everyone has always raved about crock pots and how convenient they are. So after all of the hype we got one for our wedding and I was yet to find a recipe and excuse to whip it out. I thought it might stay in the box for a while since you don't get the cooler fall or winter weather like up north where you want to curl up with a soup, stew or chili that they are known for. However, I came across this beef stew recipe and something about it called out to me. Today was the day the crock pot was taken out of the box and its wrapping. 

Based on this dish it was definitely worth the wait. Our house smelled from all of the delicious seasonings and made us hungry for dinner! By preparing everything ahead of time it allowed me to just throw it all into the cooker, turn it on and go about our day and dinner was ready for us after our evening walk. I wasn't sure with the tomatoes since I am not a huge tomato lover, but there is more of a broth flavor than a tomato sauce so it was perfect. The only thing we missed was some good bread to dip in all the juice...guess I know what I am buying to go with the leftovers tomorrow night ;)

Beef and Tomato Stew

Source: Eat Yourself Skinny

Servings: 8 (1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

2 pounds cubed stew beef

1 (15 oz) can stewed tomatoes

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

3 1/2 cans of water using tomato paste can 

1/4 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 medium onion, chopped

3 large carrots, sliced

3 ribs celery, chopped

1 can peas, drained

2 russet potatoes, quartered

1 Tbsp. dried basil

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. Mrs. Dash original blend

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

Directions:

Chop your onion, carrots and celery and set aside. 

 

In a slow cooker, add stewed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce and mix together. 

 

Stir in cubed meat, chopped vegetables and peas.  Season with remaining ingredients and slow cook on low for 8 hours.

Cookie Swap

This is a short post but was reading other blogs and saw something about a holiday cookie swap. Now I have always wanted to have one with friends because who doesn't love getting together with friends, eating cookies and having new recipes. So I was really excited when I found a cookie swap for food bloggers. You sign up and will be sent information for 3 bloggers to send a dozen cookies. To me this is not only yummy cookies but mail that is not a bill or junk, what could be better?! Find all of the details below if you are as intrigued as I was!

The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Get lots of great ideas for next years’ cookie swap.

Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Want to join in the fun?

Sign up now!

Sign ups are open through Friday, November 18th. Matches will be emailed to you on Monday the 21st, and we ask that you please get your cookies in the mail no later than December 5th. Blog posts with your cookie recipes should be written and ready for publication on December 12th. Julie and I will be posting a full round-up of all the participating bloggers and their cookie recipes shortly thereafter. Please note these deadlines and make sure you are able to meet them before signing up

Pumpkin Seeds

Fall means pumpkins and pumpkins means roasted pumpkin seeds! This is one of my families favorite things to do and eat. Living in Florida it is a little strange to go to the pumpkin patch in shorts but at least we tried to get the feel of it by going to an actual farm even if the pumpkins weren't grown there. This morning we carved our pumpkins just in time for Halloween. Jason had never saved the seeds before so I showed him how to sort the good seeds from the pumpkin guts and get a little messy. I love how simple this is and makes such a healthy and delicious snack for the week. They are also versatile so you can use whatever combination of seasonings you like, could even make them sweet with cinnamon and sugar. I stuck to traditional salt and also seafood seasoning like old bay...mmm

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

Rinse, lay out and pat the pumpkin seeds dry on a rimmed cookie sheet.

Season with kosher salt or old bay seasoning and shake to coat adding more seasoning if necessary. I did a sheet of each to please everyone!

Place in the oven for 30 minutes then shake to mix up the seeds. Then put back in for another 20 minutes or until dried out and crunchy but not burnt.

Tequila Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs

Our kitchen is finally coming together with the boxes mostly unpacked and everything put away. There are still those random miscellaneous items that we don't know what to do with but are feeling more settled. Only problem is remembering where we put things. I must open at least 3 cabinets or drawers looking for a utensil or pot or pan. Hopefully things will become second nature soon enough. 

The best part though was being able to make and enjoy our first meal in our new house. I found the box with all of my cookbooks and stacks of recipes ripped from magazines or printed from online. While the grill is not hooked up yet this recipe was just as easy to do inside using our grill pan on the stove. I hadn't found the tequila so I used the recommended substitution of more pineapple juice. The spice rub was really flavorful and the lime juice shone through refreshingly. I think the tequila would have given the sauce a little extra kick to cut the sweetness of the pineapple juice but it was a moist and flavorful chicken recipe I would try again.

Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs

Source: Cooking Light June 2011

Serves  6

Ingredients:

1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon chipotle chile powder

2 lbs chicken thighs, skinned (about 6 pieces depending on size)

¾ cup pineapple juice

1/3 cup tequila (can substitute for 1/3 cup pineapple juice)

¼ cup honey

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons water

2 teaspoons grated lime rind

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice (2-3 limes)

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat grill or grill pan to medium high heat

2. Combine the first 4 ingredients in a small bowl and rub evenly on chicken.

3. Bring pineapple juice, tequila and honey to a boil in a small saucepan; cook until reduced to

¾ cup (about 10 minutes). 

4. Combine cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water in a small bowl and stir well. Add cornstarch mixture to juice mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Bring to a boil and cook for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in lime rind, 3 Tablespoons lime juice and red pepper flakes.

5. Spray cooking rack with cooking spray. Place chicken on grill rack over direct heat. Cover and grill for 5 minutes on each side, basting occasionally with juice mixture. Move the chicken to indirect heat. Cover and grill an additional 5 minutes on each side or until done, basting occasionally.