This was a vegetarian meal that even my husband (who eats meat at every single meal) loved! I personally could eat this every night. It's filling, full of flavor, and it made me feel like I'd never get sick again because I had so many antioxidants in my body -- which is really exactly what I needed after a [fabulous!] weekend in Vegas :)
I got the idea from Leslie Durso's recipe (via Pinterest), and substituted Israeli couscous for quinoa because that's what I had in the cabinet, and made a couple other adjustments. (Btw, how cute is Leslie Durso? And an LA girl at that! Can we be bff's?)
Here's the adapted recipe if you'd like to try it out!
Couscous Stuffed Yams
2 yams
2 T. butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 package (1 1/2 cups) Israeli couscous
1 3/4 vegetable broth
1 T. cinnamon
2 T. olive oil
2 cups kale, chopped
1/2 cup almond slivers
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Dash of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp. cumin
Zest of a lemon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Poke yams all around with a fork, and when the oven is ready, put them in on a piece of foil or a baking sheet and set the timer to 50 minutes.
While the potatoes cook, chop 1/2 yellow onion. Add the onion to a sauce pan with 2 T. butter and saute over medium-high heat until the onion is translucent. Add the package of couscous (or 1 1/2 cups) and saute until it starts to turn golden brown. Then add 1 3/4 cups vegetable broth and 1 T. cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and cover. Simmer until the liquid is dissolved (around 20 minutes).
While the couscous cooks, heat olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add in a couple handfuls of chopped kale, 1/2 cup almond slivers, and 1/4 cup dried cranberries. Saute until the kale wilts.
Add kale mixture to the couscous once it's done, and season with a dash of salt, pepper, and 1/2 tsp. cumin. I also like to add the rind of a lemon for a little freshness.
Take the potatoes out of the oven, split them in half, and pile the couscous on top.
We got a basket of cranberries in our Thanksgiving week Farm Fresh to You box, so of course I had to make my favorite red wine cranberry sauce! But I didn't get it together in time to make it before Thanksgiving, and then it was the Sunday before Cyber-Monday and I had a basket of cranberries and no turkey.
What do you do with cranberry sauce and no turkey? You make pecan-crusted chicken, it turns out.
This chicken is impossibly easy. All you do is brush it with dijon mustard, coat it in a mixture of crushed pecans and seasoned bread crumbs, and bake at 400 for 30 minutes on a greased baking sheet.*
And I added a salad of persimmons and pomegranate seeds (I had been wondering what to do with all the persimmons and pomegranates we were getting from Farm Fresh!). I made a simple dressing from apple cider vinegar, the juice of 1/2 an orange, and 1/2 lemon, and sunflower oil (you could also use vegetable oil or any light oil).
Cranberry sauce wins again!
*Recipe adapted from Robin Rescues Dinner, the book I talked about here.
Let's take this opportunity to re-watch this little gem of a YouTube hit, just for a minute:
Filmed at my neighborhood store nonetheless.
It relates[ish], I swear.
Whole Foods and I used to be bff's. I knew which organic cereal was actually edible (it's the peanut butter Puffins), which sheeps-milk yogurt was worth the price, and always remembered to write down the sku number for the bulk almonds. But for the past year (yes, year), I haven't been cooking at all.
In law school I cooked for basically every meal (except for when I actually went out and tried to have a life). It used to bother me when people said they "didn't cook," because to me, cooking was just a basic part of taking care of yourself. It was what you did when you got hungry.
And then I got a job. And you know the story. Countless fridge loads of the fresh ingredients I'd spent my precious Sunday afternoons picking out went bad, and I felt like such a shmuck every time I had to throw them out. I told myself it was because I was busy; I didn't have time to cook.
Of course, I knew I was lying. There's always time to make a stir fry. Alllllways.
The truth is, I just didn't feel like cooking anymore. I just felt like I deserved a break. A break from responsibility, from discipline, from "should's" and "to do's" and anything that required a list. Frankly, I needed a break from pretending to be a grown-up all day, almost every day. So I didn't cook.
And nothing bad happened, health-wise at least. In fact, I'm fairly certain that I ate more vegetables because of the constant health-guilt I felt for eating out all the time (also, no one wants to be that person who orders two slices of cake for dinner...). Our credit card bills, though...eh hem...they've fared a little less well. So, sitting by the Seine one day in Paris, Brian and I decided we'd rather spend that eating-out money on plane tickets and adventures or my asos.com shopping habit, and made a plan that when we got back, we'd start cooking to save money. We set a goal of three times a week and said we'd think of it as our fun-enabling savings plan.
Naturally, I started by spending some money (ha) on some new cookbooks* -- the kind that responsible adults own that give you tips on how to prep stuff ahead of time and plan out grocery lists. Sounded pretty boring, not gonna lie. I wasn't stoked.
But you guys. This meal planning stuff is changing my life! And yes, I am fully aware of how LAME that sounds, and I feel like a total loser/soccer-mom-without-a-kid right now, but honestly, I'm loving it! Case in point: Monday night we had Morrocan turkey burgers with dried figs, cumin, and goat cheese, and a side of butternut squash with coriander and cinnamon (and butter, obvi). On a Monday. And it took me ~15 minutes! (I know, I know, lame -- but when your usual Monday dinner is a mall food court salad, turkey burgers are a life improvement worth getting excited about.)
The best part about this whole cooking experiment though, and the reason I'm sharing it I suppose, is really just the fact that every time I make a meal on a weeknight, I feel like I'm making this BigLaw life that shouldn't work, work.** Which is so gratifying! It's like, at least I'm winning at dinner, right?
Anyway, I'll try to post my favorite easy recipes as I discover them, and I hope you'll share your own faves in the comments or by email!
*The book I've been using most is Robin Rescues Dinner, which is organized into 52 weeks of 3 seasonal meal plans per week. The recipes allow you to make some stuff a day or two ahead of time, and they have overlapping ingredients so you don't end up wasting food (also, this is where the awesome turkey burger recipe came from!). I also bought Cook's Illustrated's The Best Make Ahead Recipes and Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook. I have high hopes for the crockpot -- I feel like you can do incredible things in there. (Crockpot cake anyone?)
**Alternatively, I may have written this post entirely as an excuse to re-watch that Whole Foods video. Which (in my book) is totally legit (just sayin').
The summer of 2007 was a hot one in North Carolina. I remember feeling like I was living in a sauna, but with clothes on.
The good thing about those hot Southern days, though, is that they make for the most peaceful, beautiful nights. One evening, right at dusk, I remember thinking I couldn't tell where the air ended and my skin began. For just that moment, everything stood still.
On nights like those, we used to barbecue. We'd invite our friends over and set up the makeshift grill we picked up at Food Lion on the patch of grass behind Brian's apartment, and play country on his laptop. One of those days, Brian and I went Californian and picked up some tuna at Whole Foods instead of the usual ground beef, and a half-hour later, the Pearson Burger was born.
For our second anniversary, I thought I'd bring back the tradition (maybe it was the ridiculous late-summer L.A. heat wave that brought me back...). So on a Saturday night, I threw on an LBD, set up our patio furniture up on the roof (OK fine, Brian did that), picked up some gold chargers and candles at the Dollar Store (keepin' it classy), and made a real Pearson-Burger feast. There may have been a little less beer than there used to be at our backyard barbecues, but they were the same old Pearson Burgers, and we were the same old(er) us.
{this might have been the first time I had cooked in a year ha...}
Pearson Burgers
Sesame oil
2 ahi steaks
Salt & pepper
2 sesame buns
1/4 c. Mayo
Wasabi
1/2 orange
1/2 avocado
Brush the grill/grill pan with sesame oil and let it heat up on medium-high. Spread some oil on the steaks and season with salt and pepper. When the pan is hot, throw the steaks on. Cook for about 5 minutes per side, until fully cooked on the outside, but pink inside. Squeeze half of the orange over the tuna just before its done.
While the tuna is cooking, mix together the mayo with as much wasabi as you can handle (in my case, less is more), and slather on the sesame buns. Slice the avocado and add to the buns, too.
Top with the tuna steaks. Eat.
Pearson Slaw
Broccoli slaw (the kind that's pre-shredded and comes in a bag...let's be real here) -- you'll only need about 1/2 the bag
1-2 T. wasabi-mayo (depending on how mayo-y you like your slaw)
1/2 c. cashews (I like to use the chili-lime ones from Trader Joe's to add some spice)
1 t. curry powder
1 orange
Grate the orange rind, and squeeze the juice of 1/2 orange. Mix all ingredients. Add some chili powder if you like it hot.
Ginger-Orange Pudding Cups
Instant vanilla pudding
2 cups of milk
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 c. shredded coconut
Whatever is left of your grated orange rind
Candied ginger, finely chopped
Follow instructions for the instant pudding, but add the cinnamon and coconut in with the milk. When it's done cooking, pour into bowls, and top with orange rind and chopped candied ginger. You could also add a pour of triple sec if you wanted. Serve warm.
You know how they say you should never eat something bigger than your head?
Well, they're wrong. If it tastes like this did, then you should eat as much of it as you possibly can. And then eat the left overs the next morning for breakfast (yep).
Lest you think we are gluttons, I should explain that we don't usually eat like this. (And by "like this," I'm referring to the 4 sticks of butter, 1 pint of sour cream, 5 strips of extra thick bacon, 1 pound of cream cheese, and the handful of unnecessary grated cheddar that made this meal a feast fit for a cowboy.)
But yesterday was a special occasion -- Brian's birthday! When I asked him what he wanted for dinner, he first insisted on a "roast" of some kind. As a girly cook, I have no idea what that means, so luckily, I convinced him that a "roast" would be too hearty for a summer dinner, and that maybe he should consider something more seasonally appropriate (Me: "a roast? ...umm...isn't that something people in the movies eat at holidays? ...). So steak and potatoes it was. And where else to turn when faced with making a man-meal but to the Pioneer Woman?
I am not a devout Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond) fan like many of you probably are, and this was the first time I have used her recipes. But now? Now, I'm a true believer. She really does know the secrets to man food; I mean, fried onions in potatoes? And Lawry's seasoned salt on your steak? As a snobbish eater, I was skeptical to say the least. But I did it, for Brian's sake. And it was so wrong, and so right. Fatty, salty, heavy, cheesy. So easy, and so guiltily good. I salute you, Ree, and your cowboy recipes.
And this cake. I cannot even talk about this cake. There are about 8 pieces left over in my fridge, so I suggest you come over and have some ASAP.
Fresh strawberry filling (you mash them with sugar and let them get all juicy) and cream cheese frosting. It's even better than what you're picturing in your head. Please make this recipe immediately. And bring your extra frosting over here.
This meal was so big that it prompted Brian to ask if he could just roll off his chair and sleep on the floor instead of having to walk the 5 steps to bed. Lesson: eating like a cowboy is hard work.
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