Lemony Couscous with Broccoli

We don't like couscous. None of us. I don't know why, we just don't. Therefore it is a little strange that I had a box of whole wheat couscous in my cabinet. It is even stranger that I saw this recipe and decided to make it for dinner. Both Kayleigh and Bill immediately said, "I don't like couscous". But then the strangest thing of all happened. We all actually liked this. Go figure!

This recipe comes from Nava Atlas' cookbook Vegan Express (which means it takes almost no time to make).

Lemony Couscous with Broccoli
3/4 cup whole wheat couscous
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, sliced (I didn't have a red so I used a regular onion)
3 cups broccoli florets (I used frozen)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tablespoons fresh dill
Juice of one lemon
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes in oil

Combine the couscous with 1 1/2 cups boiling water in a heatproof container. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until golden.

Add the broccoli and just enough water to keep the bottom of the skillet moist, then cover and allow to steam until the broccoli is tender-crisp.

Add the couscous to the skillet along with the parsley, dill, lemon juice and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir together well, cook for 2-3 minutes longer, and serve.

Kay: I usually don't like onions and couscous but this was really good. The onions were so sweet I couldn't even tell they were in there.

Mom (Dana): I had told Kay that she didn't need to be so careful picking around the onions because I had cooked them extra long so they'd be very sweet. As usual, I finished way before her and was outside watering the flowers when she came flying out the door and screamed "I accidentally ate an onion and you're right. They are really sweet!" I can't believe she would admit that!

Quinoa and Zucchini

I'm disappointed every year with the lack of decent produce we can get around here. That is why I was so ridiculously happy when I found a small organic farm nearby that offers a CSA program. Each week we get a variety of different vegetables and herbs. This is only the third week but I already love it!

One of my favorite vegetables is zucchini so I was thrilled this week when I saw 14 zucchini go into my bag. Doesn't that sound like a lot? Well, not for us. I picked them up Friday afternoon and all the zucchini was gone by Sunday!

This is my favorite way to prepare zucchini. I love it. Kay will eat it but puts a lot more quinoa than zucchini on her plate (we just recently discovered that she really likes quinoa). Bill eats the zucchini but as a side dish and refuses to touch the quinoa.

This picture shows the zucchini and quinoa along with mustard and dill green beans (the green beans and dill were also in my CSA bag).

Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 cup vegetable broth

Rinse the quinoa well in a fine mesh strainer. Place the quinoa, water and vegetable broth in a medium sauce pan. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.


Zucchini

3 medium zucchini cut in 3 inch sticks
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoon margarine
1/4 cup onion, minced
1 handful chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
1 bouillon cube
2 teaspoon ground thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet (with a lid) heat the oil and margarine over medium heat. Cook the onion and parsley (or cilantro) until soft and translucent. Add the zucchini sticks, bouillon cube (crumble it), thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir to coat the zucchini and then cover and cook for 15-20 minutes stirring only once or twice. You want the zucchini to get lightly browned.

Kay: I didn't really like the zucchini but I like the quinoa a lot. I can eat quinoa just plain with a little salt for my whole meal.

Mom (Dana): I ate this Friday night, Saturday for lunch and dinner and Sunday for dinner. After typing this up, I'm really wishing I had more - it is that good!

Phyllo bar dessert

Wow. When I said we all got sick on 4th of July, I had no idea what we were in for. We got much, much worse before getting better, including several days of fever. After two weeks we are all finally starting to get back to normal again although we still aren't completely well. We've also gone through every kind of cold related medicine and crazy amounts of Kleenex!

We did feel well enough through all this to make a dessert though! I had opened a package of phyllo dough to make something else and the rest of it was just sitting around the fridge so I decided to experiment. Kay and I thought it was fantastic and had trouble not eating it all in one sitting!

We used dark chocolate covered edamame which my sister-in-law gets me from Trader Joe's. I usually hoard them and refuse to share since I only have a limited supply but my illness obviously confused me and next thing I knew, a whole handful of them wound up in this dessert! If you don't have a super nice sister-in-law who brings you dark chocolate covered edamame a couple times a year, then you can use any chocolate covered nuts or even chocolate chips and chopped nuts mixed together.

Phyllo Bar Dessert

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 cup chocolate covered nuts, chopped

2 tablespoons melted margarine

6 sheets phyllo dough

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, stir together the cinnamon and sugar.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on the pan. Brush melted margarine over the sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Top with another phyllo dough and repeat. On top of the third phyllo dough, brush on margarine and spread all the chopped chocolate nuts over the surface. Top with another phyllo dough sheet. Again, brush with margarine and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Repeat. On top phyllo dough, brush with margarine.

Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove and pour agave nectar over the top. Let sit 10 minutes. Cut into squares (preferably with a pizza cutter).

Makes: 2 servings

Just kidding - you'll get about 15 decent sized squares.

Kay: These were awesome!

Mom (Dana): These are gooey and sticky and delicious!! If you use honey instead of agave nectar, you may want to warm it first so that it pours better. Plus honey is a little sweeter so don't use as much.

4th of July

No food this time. I woke up with a terrible cold, Bill's kicked in around lunchtime and Kay's half way through fireworks. Plus it was really cold and the mosquitos were terrible. But we did get some videos to show how noisy it is around here.

In this one you can see some of our pathetic fireworks but you can also hear all our neighbors. They obviously spent much more money than we did!

This one is the town's fireworks show that we can see from our driveway. If you listen closely, in the middle you can hear Bill's beautiful cough!

Today Bill and I are feeling better but Kay is miserable. At least we all got it at the same time so it won't drag out over a week or two.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Strawberry Jam

Every year when I was young, there was one day when I would come home from school and find my mom and grandma in our kitchen canning. I remember tomatoes mostly and a big mess! The one thing I don't ever remember is being asked to stay in the kitchen and watch. So that is probably why the thought of canning food for later use is completely overwhelming to me!

Instead, I make recipes like this one, but only make enough for us to eat across a week or two. Plus, this recipe only takes about 30 minutes instead of all day.

Strawberry Jam

4 cups mashed strawberries (about 3 pounds whole)

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup lemon juice

Mash the strawberries in a food processor in small batches so that everything gets pureed. In a large sauce pan (I use a stock pot - it boils up much larger than you'd expect) mix the pureed strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to high and bring the mixture up to 220 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring often. Transfer mixture to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

Kay: It is really good. It is better than the store bought kind. I wish the strawberries we got this year didn't have so many rotten ones so that we could make more.

Mom (Dana): You'd think we'd get tired of it but since we only get it once a year, we enjoy every last drop!

Vegetable Pita with Pesto Hummus

Kay has been on summer break for a week now and we are starting to settle into the new schedule. Last week she went to a gymnastics camp each evening so that was a little hectic but she had a lot of fun. It was shocking how much she learned in just one week.

In the middle of our busy week, Kay had her palate spreader removed (she can now talk normal again) and her braces went on. So for a couple days she was back on a smooshy food diet. She is still having some pain but has done a pretty good job of dealing with it.

This sandwich is based on a recipe from a cooking magazine. I changed it quite a bit though based on what we like and what we had in the fridge. Kay had to disassemble hers in order to eat it but she said "This is actually pretty good". Shocking!

Vegetable Pita with Pesto Hummus

For spread:

2 garlic cloves

1 1/2 cups fresh basil

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup prepared hummus

In a small food processor, chop the garlic and basil. Add the oil and blend. Add the hummus and blend until smooth.

Pita filling:

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup chopped cucumbers

1 cup orange bell pepper

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl.

To assemble:

Warm a pita in the oven for a couple minutes. Spread the inside with the spread. Fill with the salad. Eat.

Kay: I didn't think I would like this but it was really good. I went back for seconds.

Mom (Dana): This time I used a store bought hummus. I have a recipe for a really good hummus but I think the store bought blends a little better with the pesto for this recipe.

Meme

Javagirlkt has tagged us to do a meme and since it is hot, humid and the first day of summer break, this is about all we have the energy for! We'll both answer the questions.

What were you doing 10 years ago?
Kay - I was 1 year old so I was probably sitting on the floor watching Barney!

Dana - I had a one year old and working full time so I was ripping my hair out! Actually I was working as an auditor with a different business than where I am now. Wait - I just remembered. I was completely fed up with that job and searching for a new one which I found in August. So I was just on the verge of my career taking off although at this point I had no idea! That's kind of exciting to think of now! We had also been in our house for about a year (yes, we had several life changing events all at the same time!) so we were starting what was to become the neverending renovations!

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
Kay - Watch tv, play on computer, play outside if it doesn't rain, go shopping, listen to music

Dana - Looking at Kay's list makes me wish adults got summer vacation too! I am shopping (obviously since Kay doesn't drive!), doing laundry, planting herbs, reading, and hopefully just sitting around!

Five snacks you enjoy?
Kay - Ice cream, oreos, nutella and peanut butter sandwiches, popcorn, biscotti.

Dana - dark chocolate, tofutti cuties, guacamole, salsa, cucumbers.

Five things you would do if you were a billionaire?
Kay - Buy a Wii and all games, get more pets, buy a big house, buy a water park, buy a limo.

Dana - Finish all our home improvement projects, go to the grocery store without a budget, go to Europe, seriously - I don't know! I'm way to practical for this question!!

Places you have lived:
Kay - In this house!

Dana - In two houses and one apartment all in this same town and then 2 dorms and one apartment in Bloomington, IN while at college. (I think I'm becoming more boring by the second!)

Jobs you have had:
Kay - feeding the cats, sorting laundry, watering plants, cleaning my bathroom and bedroom, mopping the kitchen.

Dana - Babysitting, selling knives, working at a bookstore, pharmacy tech, collections administrator, investment consulting assistant, and then all the levels from staff auditor on up to the top of the audit department.

Future jobs.....
Kay - Architect, interior designer, veterinarian, or a teacher.

Dana - Hopefully still auditing. I love it so much that I just hope the economy allows me to keep doing it. Please please please let my current company not get bought out!!!

To reverse this question, I'll post what I thought I wanted to do when I grew up: store lady (I thought cash registers were really cool!), lawyer, architect, accountant. I actually decided on accounting when I was 14 because like I've said over and over, I'm really boring!!

Now to tag people:

Ms Mac
Holler at Tinned Tomatoes
Melinda at Anything Said
Randy at Possum World
And Bill just to make him post on the blog he made us set up for him!!