Israeli Couscous with Cranberries

I needed to take a dish to a pool party and didn't want to have to go to the store to buy ingredients to make something. I had all of the ingredients and made slight modifications to accommodate not having a few items. The result was a great side dish that everyone enjoyed.


Israeli Couscous with Cranberries

adapted from

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped (or shallots finely chopped)
1 1/2 cups Israeli couscous (8 oz box from Trader Joes is perfect)
1/2 tsp of ground Cinnamon
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil for drizzling (if desired)
Pepper to taste

Add 3 tablespoons of oil to heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and cinnamon and saute until golden. Add couscous and stir often until couscous browns lightly, about 3 minutes. Add water and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cover and simmer until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add cilantro, cranberries, lemon juice. Season with a little salt to taste and drizzle with more olive oil if desired.

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast (Makes 6 Servings) adapted from Weelicious

1 1/4 Cup Milk
3 Large Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tbsp Honey or Agave
1/2 Loaf (4 Cups) French Bread, fresh or day old, cut into cubes
4 Oz Cream Cheese, cut into cubes (half a stick)
1/2 Cup Blueberries (Angie - I used Kroger Frozen Mixed Berries and used a little more than 1/2 cup)
Butter for greasing pan

Accompaniments: Maple syrup or honey

1. In a large bowl, whisk milk, eggs, vanilla and honey or agave.
2. Add the bread cubes and toss with the liquid mixture. Set aside for 10 minutes.
3. Add the cream cheese and blueberries and mix gently to combine.
4. Place in a buttered 8×8 inch baking dish or individual buttered 6 oz ramekins.
5. At this point you can refrigerate for up to 12 hours to bake in the morning or continue on with step 6 and 7.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. Cover the dish with foil that has been greased with butter or oil, greased side down. If using the 8×8 inch dish, bake for 25 minutes covered and 20-25 minutes uncovered. If using individual 6 oz. ramekins bake for 20 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered.
8. Top with desired accompaniments and serve.

Meatless Monday and PantryCleanerOuter - 3 Bean Soup

This post is in honor of my friend Cindy over at The reNOUNed Nest


Every few weeks, I go through the need to organize my pantry. There are a few reasons.

- my dear husband hates when I live at the grocery store every day of the week. If I know what I have, it could keep me from going (so I keep telling myself)

- I forget all the great ingredients I have which would be key to making a quick, easy meal.

- My pantry is the whole reason I like to cook - use what I have on hand for ease and for delicious meals.

That said, I bring you today a Meatless Monday soup compliments of my pantry.


1 can of each of black, garbanzo and cannellini beans (rinsed and drained)
1 can of stewed tomatoes (take a knife and kind of chop inside the can or use diced canned tomatoes)
1 small can of diced green chilies
½ cup of corn
2 cups of veggie broth (feel free to use chicken broth or beef)
1 TBS chili powder
1 tsp cumin
Handful of tortilla chips, crushed and tossed in

Put everything in a crockpot and simmer on low for 8 hours or high for 5.

Yum!

My food is good, my pictures stink!

Chex Mix Recipe

Here is a great Chex Mix recipe from one of my customers! Just thought I'd share it while I get my wares about me and get my posts going again :) Something you can snack on while you wait!

Julie's Chex Mix

1 bag pretzels
1 box each of rice chex, wheat chex and corn chex cereal
1 large can of cashew nuts or 2 smaller cans
1 box of cheese crackers

6 sticks of butter (divide into two pans I melt 3 sticks in each pan)
4 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce split this and add to the butter after melted


1 1/2 tablespoons garlic salt
1 1/2 tablespoons celery salt
1 1/2 tablespoons accent seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons onion salt
I use two small dishes and split the dry seasoning in half and mix

This makes a huge quantity. This is the reason I split the butter and all of the seasonings into two batches. I use two of those large foil baking pans which take up a whole rack in the oven. I buy these in bulk at Sams club. Split the cereal, pretzels, nuts and crackers into two separate pans. Sprinkle the dry seasoning over the cereal mixture, pour the butter over the cereal and mix.

Preheat oven to 250 bake for 1 hour stir every 15 minutes. I bake both pans of chex mix at the same time. Every 15 minutes when I stir I alternate the pans on the lower and upper oven rack.

After 1 hour cool the mixture by pouring it out onto paper towels.

Broccoli Slaw Salad

What better to celebrate the return from my unplanned hiatus then to post something I've been making repeatedly for about as many weeks as I've been away from the site. I love, love, love this refreshing salad and its so easy but impresses so many people when you serve it. The vinegar breaks down the broccoli and makes it palatable even for the one person you know that really doesn't dig raw broccoli. Sorry for the lack of photo - I'll add one later! I was inspired by my friend Mahnaz who just makes delicious food, especially Persian food! Yum!

2 bags (3-ounce) Ramen Noodle Soup (I've used Beef and chicken, both work)
3 TBSP butter or the browning agent of your choice
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 bag broccoli slaw
1 bag of raw broccoli florets or 2 small heads of broccoli with the florets cut to bite size pieces but still somewhat large.
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Chopped green onions, for garnish

Dressing

3/4 cup olive oil
2 TBSP brown sugar
2 TBSP white sugar (you can use 1/4 of one kind or another if you prefer - I like mixing so its not too sweet)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 ramen noodle seasoning packet

Put the ramen noodles in a bag and crush them with a rolling pin while melting butter in a large skillet over low/medium heat. Add the crushed noodles and slivered almonds to the skillet and saute, stirring occasionally (keep temperature at low/medium heat). Meanwhile, whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Place the shredded broccoli into bowl and toss with the noodles, almonds, and sunflower seeds. Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. Garnish with chopped green onions.

OT - Stick Horse for Kindergarten Project

So my kindergarten son has a project to make a stick horse by the end of this coming week. I was freting so badly. I finish the mane last night which took me and a yarn needle over an hour (making it about a 3 hour and 20+ dollar project) only to wake up to Noah this morning telling me that his teacher said they could buy one. Well, that's fine and if I had known that I probably would have opted for that. However, with us making one ourselves, he gets to bask in all the glory of the attention he'll get for making the cutest stick horse every. I hope he enjoys every last minute.

Chicken Tortilla Soup in honor of my Knife Skills Class at Central Market

I feel really crappy about not posting anything in a month. Really crappy. The last post was the fruit salad that I made before leaving on a week long business/personal trip to the East coast. I came home Feb 13th and its been non stop ever since. Things are starting to normalize a little. I was able to go to a Central Market Cooking School class Monday night and the topic was "Knife Skills" and of course, taught by non other than chef Dean Liesenfelt.

During the class we learned the anatomy (snicker) of a knife, how to hold said anatomy in our hands (giggle) and how to make sweet knife love with our vegetables, herbs and fruit.

We cut, sliced and diced avacados, cilantro, onions, tomatos, carrots, celery, bell peppers, romaine and oranges. We tossed them together in to a lovely, delicious, fantastic, stud muffin, Fabio bowl of scrumptious guacamole; a magnificent, warming and comforting pot of chicken tortilla soup; a rainbow of goodness of a salad with Dean's "on hand refrigerator ingredients" dressing and a juicy orange for dessert.

So long story short - I made chicken tortilla soup today.

6 cups of chicken stock (I had homemade in the freezer) - if you guys use canned, scale back the salt and taste taste taste before you had too much.

1 1/2 cups of chicken peices (I had leftover roast chicken in the fridge)

3 fresh button mushrooms, stems removed - sliced

10 baby carrots, sliced in to round pieces

1/4 of a medium onion diced

1 cup of tortilla chips, hand crushed and tossed in to the broth (before you add salt below - taste first - chips = salt!)
about 1 TBSP of chili powder
about 1 TBSP of cumin
1/2 - 1 tsp of granulated garlic
1-2 tsp of salt (see above)
1 cup of fresh spinach
2 TBSP chopped cilantro

Simmer and taste - adjust seasoning as necessary. Enjoy!