Day Three Hundred Fifty Nine: Don't Mess With My Couscous

The grocery I frequent has an amazing prepared food section.  There they offer all sorts of prepared foods for you to take home and warm up, and lots of amazing cold salads:  chicken salads, pasta salads, and green salads of all types. (Some of you are familiar with this den of temptation called Central Market.) One of my favorite is a Israeli couscous salad.  It's made with those little couscous pearls and it's delicious.   :drool:    I dream about it from time to time.  I ran across Martha's recipe for Couscous Salad with Cherry Tomatoes and it looks suspiciously similar.

I had to try it.

You start by actually toasting the couscous in a small pan before cooking it in boiling water like pasta.  Once it's tender, drain it and rise until cool.  Then toss couscous, quartered cherry tomatoes, diced shallots, balsamic vinegar and a spot of oil in a bowl.  Let sit at room temperature for an hour then serve:

I took this photo before the couscous had marinated.  After an hour, it starts to turn a nutty brown color.

I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb here:  this is better than my grocery version.  We've been compulsively eating it for a couple days now and it actually gets better the longer it marinates. My husband was a little put out when he found out I had eaten the last of it.

I will definitely be serving this again.  And soon.    

Six Days.....

Day Three Hundred Fifty Eight: A Slaw By Any Other Name

Wednesday marked a seven-day countdown to my little Martha project.  I have been so busy, these last few months have flown by.  I can hardly believe I'm almost done.

:frankly shocked:

That day I made Martha's Bok Choy, Carrot, and Apple Slaw.  My husband has a slaw love affair so I figured he would like this one.  Bok Choy is a kind of cabbage, only with a much cooler name. This recipe is pretty simple if you don't mind lots of chopping.

You start by halving the bok choy lengthwise, then cutting crosswise into thin strips. Throw it in a colander and sprinkle with salt.  Top with a plate and weight with a heavy object and set aside to drain. This gets the extra moisture out of the bok choy so that your slaw isn't all watery later. Don't skip this part.  (I was tempted to.)

Next toss together an apple (cut into matchsticks), shredded carrots, lemon juice, fresh ginger and a teensy bit of vegetable oil.  Add the bok choy and season with a bit of S & P.  

Gorgeous, no?

As expected, my hubby liked this...although if I make it again, I'd add something to spice it up a bit.  It is Asian-inspired, after all.

Six days to go!!

Day Three Hundred Twenty Six: Camp Coleslaw

My husband loves coleslaw.  Any sort of vegetable cut up into a semblance of "slaw" is good for him.  He's usually tickled.  (I am not in the traditional Coleslaw Camp, myself.  Never been a fan. Vegetables swimming in mayo?  No thank you.  I don't care how many raisins you throw in there.)

Earlier in the week I made Martha's Cabbage-and-Raisin Slaw.  Since I am terribly smart, I purchased the pre-cut cabbage and saved myself several minutes of cutting and slicing.  If you are like me, you'll be happy to know the mayo is no where in sight.  The dressing is made with lemon, mustard and olive oil. The recipe is indecently easy.  It's the sort of recipe that I made in my pretend kitchen as a child:  just toss all the ingredients in the bowl and mix.

Of course, my husband loved this recipe.  I don't think he even noticed the missing mayo.

Day Three Hundred Thirteen: Easiest Side Salad

I'm always looking for interesting and easy side dishes.  Easy being the operative word here.  I hate spending ages on a main dish, then slaving over a side to go with it.  I confess:  I'm often serving a green side salad out of sheer laziness.  When I saw Martha's Cucumber and Sweet Onion Salad, I had to try it.

Chop up the cucumber, onion and dill. Mix all of it with olive oil, lemon juice, white wine vinegar... and you're done.

I don't know what's better:  this dish, the fact that it is so easy, or that it can be made in a single bowl.

Dishwashing is way over-rated.

Day Two Hundred Ninety-Nine: Baked Apple (Not for) Dessert

While we were packing up to head home from our beach vacation, I realized we had a few uneaten apples.  Knowing they would only be thrown out, I decided to make Martha's Baked Apples.  I figured the apples were more likely to be eaten if they tasted like the inside of an apple pie. Martha suggests serving them with vanilla ice cream.  My imagination conjured grand dessert plans for the kids....

...who wouldn't touch these apples with a ten-foot pole.

Seriously.  Five children came to investigate the captivating smell coming from the kitchen, but none of them would dare try the apples.  I was baffled because the apples were tasty and clearly were a Pied Piper for any kid under ten.

I ended up serving the sliced apples to the adults as a side for grilled pork chops.  They were still excellent, even without the vanilla ice cream.

Day Two Hundred Ninety-Eight: Lemony Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

I have a friend who loves anything with lemon.  Sweet or savory, it doesn't matter. While we were at her beach house, I made her Martha's Caramelized Brussels Sprouts with Lemon.

I don't cook Brussels Sprouts often, and I don't know why.  I usually walk right on by them in the grocery.  These are steamed slightly then allowed to caramelize until they turn a lovely golden color.  A squeeze of lemon over the top finishes the dish.

Really, really good.  Even if you aren't a lemon-adict.

Day Two Hundred Sixty-Three: Acorn Squash Flop

While we were out of town for Thanksgiving, we celebrated my husband's birthday.  His idea of celebration was to grill steaks on the b-b-q for a dozen people in sub-zero weather.

I know.  I tell him he's weird all the time.

As part of the dinner, I made Martha's Roasted Acorn Squash Pasta with Kale and Almonds.  Since we had such a big group, I tripled it.  It turned out pretty tasty.  I've never cooked acorn squash or kale so it was a new experience.  I had to wrestle a large bush of kale, but I eventually got it all in the pot.

It squash part did not go well.

The recipe didn't call for you to peel the squash, but after it was roasted the skin was rather chewy and some pieces were straight-up hard.  My poor, sweet mother-in-law was actually nibbling the roasted squash off the skin.  I'm probably lucky she didn't lose a tooth. 

I'm pretty sure causing dental damage is not Good Thing.

Day Two Hundred One: Last-Minute Salad

Yesterday we had a last-minute guest for dinner.  I'm always happy to have guests, but sometimes the contents of my refrigerator don't reflect that sentiment.  For instance, yesterday I was running low on fresh vegetables.  I had a bunch of bell peppers, some carrots and just enough salad greens for one person.  Random.  Luckily Martha came to my rescue with her Layered Summer Salad.  (I know I bid Summer farewell several days ago, but this was an emergency.)  

Do you have any kitchen tools that are supposed to make your meal preparation quick, but ultimately end up making it longer?  My mandolin is like that. I tried to use it to chop up all the vegetables, but evidentially it was on strike.  It shredded my peppers and mangled my carrots. It refused to cut any ingredients; and, the only thing it sliced was my finger.  

Stupid mandolin.

So instead of taking five minutes to cut all the ingredients, it took me about thirty....and that includes the time it took me to hunt down a bandage for my finger. 

But the salad is really very pretty.  Martha suggests that it's a great salad to bring to a party.  It's very refreshing.  I put my five salad leaves in the middle, just to add a little green. 

Now I'm off to negotiate terms with my mandolin.  Maybe it will come back to work for me.

Day One Hundred Eighty: French-Cut (Your Fingers Off) Green Beans

Last week I bought one of those little bags of haricot vert, otherwise known as French green beans.  They are great raw or cooked.  I brought the bag o' beans home, put it in my refrigerator and promptly forgot about it...Until today when I found those little beans looking past their prime.  So, I decided to make Martha's French-Cut Green Beans with Dill Butter.

The recipe starts by removing the tough tips of the green beans. That's easy enough.  Then each bean must be split in half lengthwise.  This is sort of like trying to cut a toothpick into two long splinters.   Now, I like green beans.  I like them a lot...but you've got to really like green beans to slice them lengthwise.  After I nearly became That Mom With Only Nine Fingers, I started to think that there is a secret to cutting these things....otherwise they never would have caught on.

I didn't learn the secret.

My suggestion is this:  Only try this recipe if you are feeling masochistic or if you have a bounty of band-aids.

p.s.  These were really good beans. :with band-aids on fingers:

Day Forty Five: Spicy Cauliflower Surprise

I am trying to lose my baby weight.  "Baby weight" is the weight one gains while pregnant (and that hangs around after the baby is born).  For me, that number encompasses the extra weight from my baby plus that ten pounds I wanted to lose before I was pregnant.

My baby is welcome to this last few pounds.

I don't know a single person who doesn't want to lose a few pounds.  After all, this is America, land of the Overwieght, home of the Diet.  Of course, my writing this blog and consequently buying butter in bulk doesn't help at all.

To that end, I thought I would take advantage of Martha's Healthy Main Dishes and try her Roasted Salmon with Spicy Cauliflower.

According to my husband, the salmon was just "eh".  Nothing really exciting to say there.  The Cauliflower is another story.  Warning:  disgusting-looking photos ahead.

The Cauliflower starts by taking a bunch of anchovies, garlic and red pepper flakes and mashing it up into a paste:

The result looks like something you'd find on the floor of a frat-boy's car on a Sunday morning, or what your cat threw up last week.

Lovely cauliflower:

Then take the cauliflower and toss it into the cat vomit garlic-anchovy paste:

When it's cooked, not only does the cauliflower look brown and burnt, but the garlic-anchovy paste has blackened into something that looks like bird droppings...

HOWEVER, it tastes like a bit of spicy heaven....if you like garlic, red pepper and salt (which I do).  My hubby and I were fighting over who was going to get the last bit of cauliflower. But if you make this for guests, don't worry about people fighting over second-helpings.  This dish looks so terrible, you'll probably have plenty of leftovers. 

Day Thirty Two: 11th Hour Cocktail Sauce

Today we took our mountain visitors to the beach.  We spent all day playing hard and exploring, then returned home late.  The kids turned various shades of pink (Mother of the Year Award, right here!) and fell asleep exhausted.  My Martha project seemed doomed for failure as I didn't have the energy or ingredients to make anything.  Luckily, earlier in the day, my sweet brother bought me some fresh oysters.  If you like to enjoy your oysters raw (as I do) you must eat them very fresh...and they should be eaten with....:Lightbulb:...cocktail sauce.

Martha has a yummy Cocktail sauce that I tried.  Only a few ingredients needed and it's easy to make.  The day was saved...

Mix it up and....

 ...add oysters...

Delicious.  And easy to make at the 11th hour...