Moroccan Cous Cous and Vegetables

Food magazines are just like movies---they represent fantasy. But when you splurge on the $90 grocery cart, gather a little patience and focus a creative eye, you can cook up something even better than what you see on the pages of Bon Appetit, and fantasy can happen in your very own house.

Take this Moroccan Vegetables and Cous Cous recipe, the closest thing I've found to food heaven since I started the site. It turned out even better than the magazine I got it from. And all the ingredients were already in my fridge!

1. To make the special Moroccan seasoning, Ras El Hanout you need:

• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and seal in a small airtight tupperware container until ready to use. It keeps for up to a year.

2. To make the dish itself, you need:

• 3 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp Ras El Hanout
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 head cabbage, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 red bell pepper cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in 2 or 3 tbsp warm water for 10 minutes, drained
• 1/2 to 1 tsp hot sauce
  
• 3/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 12 oz. white fish cut into chunks
• 1 1/3 cup whole wheat couscous or quinoa
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  

* Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and Ras El Hanout. Quickly stir until brown, about 1 minute. Add sweet potato, carrots and cabbage. Add enough water so vegetables are covered. Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes until veggies are soft but not cooked through. Add pepper and hot sauce. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes until tender.

* Mix in raisins and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and place fish on top of mixture (don't stir it in, it will break up) Cook, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish is easily forked. The fish will steam on top.

*While fish is cooking, boil 1 1/3 cup water in small saucepan over high heat. Add quinoa or cous cous. Cook according to instructions. Remove from heat and set aside. Fluff.

*To serve, place 1/2 cup cous cous in bowl and pour 1 cup of the mixture over the top. Sprinkle with cilantro.

The Best Moussaka

It's important to keep in mind how rare it is that what you actually make when following a recipe turns out looking like the pristine image in the magazine.....



So went the story of Me Making Moussaka, from a recipe in the glossy Clean Eating.

But there's good news: it still turned out tasting GREAT.

For this recipe, you will need about 40 minutes for prep, and another half hour waiting for it to bake.

Ingredients: (serves 8)

• 1 large eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/3 inch slices
• 2 lbs (or about 6) white potatoes, peeled
• 12 oz. lean ground beef or turkey (or you can just skip the meat if you're veg.)
• 2 cups tomato puree (fresh tomatoes blended in a blender, or diced tomatoes from a can blended in a blender)
• 1/4 cup skim evaporated milk
• 1 cup low-fat sour cream
• 1 egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 white onion, diced
  
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• oregano at your discretion
• black pepper
• cooking spray

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Boil water in a big hot (enough to cover the potatoes when they're in there) and once the water boils, put the potatoes in, lower heat, and let them cook for 15 minutes until firm but not completely cooked through.

2. Meanwhile, heat meat, garlic and onions together in a medium pot. Stir and make sure meat is being broken down into smaller bits. Cook for about 5 minutes until meat is all brown and vegetables are soft. Add 2 cups tomato puree and 1 cup water to the pot. Then add cinnamon, bay leaf, black pepper and oregano. Stir, cover, and simmer for 20 min. on low to medium heat. When 20 mins is up, remove from heat and set sauce aside.

3. Check on potatoes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside to cool. Once they're cool enough to touch (I actually didn't wait, and handled them while hot, it's up to you and your tolerance) slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch slices.

4. Cover 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil, spray the foil with cooking spray, then place eggplant slices on the trays and spray again. Put eggplant in oven for 8 minutes at 350 F.

5. When eggplant is done, transfer to a plate and raise the oven heat to 400 F. Then lay the potato slices on the trays, spray again and cook for 8 minutes.

6. While potatoes are cooking, mix the sour cream, egg and milk until thick.

7. Spray a 12x9 casserole dish with cooking spray. When potatoes are done, remove from oven and place one layer in the casserole dish, reserving some for another layer later.

8. On top of first potato layer, make an eggplant layer. Then pour all the tomato sauce mixture on top. Add another layer of potato, then eggplant. Pour the sour cream mixture on top of that. Dust with 2 tbsp parmesan cheese and bake at 400 F for 30-40 minutes, or until browned a little on top.

Delish, and DAD APPROVED!

Basil and Lemon Smoothie

I am given, on the weekends, to doing chores around the house while the Food Network is on in the background. This past weekend, I tuned to Giada de Laurentiis, and put the volume loud enough that wherever I was, I could hear her talking and preparing food in her immaculate, granite-countered Los Angeles kitchen, while her Anthropologie fashion designer husband, Todd Thompson, was out fashion designing and stuff, and, I kept imagining, totally missing the fun.

Giada was getting ready to have "the girls" over (some paid actresses) to enjoy a spa day with her when I took a break from cleaning and sat down to watch. The first thing she started making was this Basil Lemon smoothie, which looked delicious.

Today, with the sun finally showing its face, I made my own version, as I thought hers had too much sugar. It's a nice blend, lemon and basil. The end effect is a clean-tasting and healthy summer beverage.

You will need

For the smoothie:

• 1 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 2 scoops vanilla bean protein powder (I use Designer Whey, as I am personally dubious about the side effects of soy. Also, there are 12 solid grams of protein in 2 scoops, that's 1/5 of my daily protein needs.)
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup ice

For the simple syrup:

• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 3 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 cup water

Mix the simple syrup ingredients together to make the less caloric simple syrup. Boil over medium heat then simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool 20 minutes.

Once syrup is cooled, blend all ingredients together in the blender, serve immediately. Makes about 12 oz.

How to Cook Rice Spring Roll Wrappers

It would have been smart of me to Google "cooking rice wrappers" before I tried it myself. But after looking through about a dozen cooking forums, it turns out nobody really knows how to cook these things, and what I tried for improvisation was mostly right.

Except I didn't cut the wrappers in half (which would have made them easier to work with, the smaller the better) and I put them over medium heat in a skillet for a little too long, instead of just dipping them into a bowl of hot water.

To read a recipe on Spring Rolls that gives you a clear overview of how to cook rice wrappers, this site helped.

Spring Rolls (i.e. just order in)

I must preempt this recipe by saying that it took me about 2.5 hours to make 5 or 6 spring rolls, which turned out looking ridiculous. And of the 2.5 hours, the first was me just dealing with the wrappers. In the chaos, I would say as many as 7 of those noodly suckers ended in casualties.

Luckily, it is Mother's Day! So I can justify this painstaking kitchen effort as part of my big plan to please Mom. I was even so good as to make sure she was not in the house while I went about the business of seriously messing up her kitchen, so she still has NO CLUE how many of the torn, mushy wrappers ended up gooped on her floor and down the front of her stove (Mom don't read this!)

Nevertheless, if you have a few hours to kill and would like to learn more about Asian cooking, you will need the following ingredients (though I am ultimately imploring you to call your local Vietnamese restaurant--or Thai, or Korean, or whatever and just order them in!)

• 18 to 20 spring roll tapioca wrappers (found at an Asian specialty foods store)
• 1 head Boston Bibb lettuce, leaves separated and largest leaves cut in half
• 1/2 cup cooked shrimp, tails and shells removed, then diced
• 1/4 lb cooked skinless, boneless chicken breast, diced fine
• 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup bean sprouts
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 egg white

* Cook one spring roll wrapper at a time in a large (10 inch or larger) skillet over medium heat. Translation: carefully remove one very delicate wrapper from the pack of wrappers and just see if you can get it to the skillet before it breaks.

*If you can, place it in the skillet, slowly shifting it around with a spatula until the whole thing has been wetted. Let it stay on medium heat for no more than 30 seconds.

*To remove the wrapper from the pan, my advice (the method that produced the best results) is to take the pan off the heat and just use your fingers. Then transfer quickly to hard countertop and try not to drag half the water from the pan with you. If you do, the wrapper will be too slippery to stay together and hold the stuff inside of it.

*If you fail at leaving the water in the pan when removing the wrapper, attempt to dab the wrapper very very lightly with paper towel. It still probably won't work, though, so plan on throwing this sucker out.

*Try again.

*If you manage to get one of the wrappers out, and it remains intact, lay it across the hard counter surface and place one Bibb lettuce leaf on top, then a little chicken, shrimp, green onions, carrots, and sprouts. Top with 1 slice avocado.

*Roll wrapper from right to left (or like a burrito) folding the sides in as you go. The wrapper should be sticky enough that it's sticking together (and to your hand)

*If it doesn't stick together once it's wrapped up, you can swipe the lip with a little egg white and it should hold

For Spicy Peanut Satay Sauce ( if you still have the patience to make this, do. But I used the store bought kind from a jar):

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/8 cup creamy natural peanut butter, unsalted
• 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp low-sodium tamari soy sauce
• 2 tsp agave syrup
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 2 drops chile sesame oil

Whisk all ingredients together in big bowl.

If you're like me, and enjoy hotter sauces, add 1 or more tablespoons of basic hot sauce to it and mix it around. Dip the spring rolls in and enjoy.

Bottom line: The saving grace of all this hardship was that it's all really very good.

Allergen-Free Brownies

PREMIUM chocolate jones this week, you know what I mean?

I tried this new recipe, which comes allergen-free and bite-sized!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup garbanzo bean flour
10 tbsp. agave nectar
2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 tsp. baking soda
4 oz. unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup coffee
2 cups vegan chocolate chips

1. Set oven to 325 F. Place mini cupcake papers in mini cupcake pans.
2. Whisk together first 7 ingredients. Set aside.
3. Mix vanilla and oil together, then add to flour mixture
4. Add coffee until batter forms.
5. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Scoop batter into cupcake cups. Bake for 12-15 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes 3 dozen mini brownies.

A little frittata?

Leftover spinach? (Hey, Popeye!)

Serves 3.

You need:

6 egg whites
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup low-fat or skim milk
1 tsp olive oil
as much or as little spinach as you want (either cooked or fresh leaves)
1/4 cup grated or shredded Parm or Romano (or Parm-Romano) cheese

1. Beat egg whites vigorously until very frothy. Whip in egg yolk and milk. Set aside
2. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet. Add spinach when the oil is hot. Add egg mixture and lower heat. Sprinkle cheese over top.
3. Cook slowly on low heat (about 12-15 mins) until the frittata is firm around edges and the center isn't jiggly.

Serve!

Guacamole for Cinco de Mayo

The canceled parade in Puebla will be held at my house!

Actually, we're just having guacamole and beer, but it may as well be a parade.

This recipe will go down in family history because of how easy, good, and often I make it. Today, though, it's totally in honor of Mexico.

You will need:

3 medium avocados
1/2 small white onion
cilantro
1 tsp lime juice
sea salt and pepper

*Mash the avocados in a bowl.
*Chop the white onion and mix it in with the mash.
*Add 1 tsp lime juice and ground salt to taste.
*Add pepper (optional).
*Mix a small handful of chopped cilantro into the mush.

Eat on anything (triscuits, tortilla chips, goldfish crackers, or my personal favorite, matzo)

*Note that avocados are full of good fats. They contain high fiber and no cholesterol (my mother was under the mistaken impression that avocados were extremely high in cholesterol, and so she'd been avoiding them for years~such a shame)

Doldrums Soup

It's cold and rainy in Harrisburg today. Whatever desire I have to eat anything is bound to hot food. Since the Derby party Saturday consisted mostly of summery, picnicy foods, I had to rummage through the forest of leftovers to procure the untouched: a sweet potato, some scallions, and a bag of ready-to-eat Uncle Ben's brown rice (why this was in the fridge I don't know)


This is what I ended up calling Doldrums Soup:

*Cut 1 medium sweet potato into 1 inch chunks.
*Bring 1 cup of water to a boil, and add 1 bouillon vegetable cube. (Or use 1 cup of low-sodium vegetable broth instead)
*Bring broth to a boil in a small saucepan, and add sweet potatoes, cooking until fork inserts into them easily (but not too easily, we don't want mush)
*In a larger pot, heat chopped scallions and 1 tbsp water over medium heat
*Add rice after about a minute and stir briefly
*When potatoes are cooked, pour the contents of that pan in with the rice and scallions. Stir and season as desired (sea salt, pepper)

Mixture will be more like a stew than a soup. Serves 1. Fuels well for a night of book-reading and floor-sprawling.

"Real" Mint Juleps

Mint Syrup in a jar:

2 cups sugar
2 cups water
6 mint leaves (fresh from the yard!)

Julep:

2 ounces bourbon, premium Kentucky
1 tbsp mint syrup
1 mint leaf
ice, crushed

*To make the syrup, mix sugar and water in a saucepan. Boil, while stirring, for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.

Bruise 6 mint leaves to release the oil. Place them in a glass pitcher or jar.

Pour cooled syrup over mint leaves, cap tightly and store in the refrigerator overnight.

*To make the julep, when ready to partake, strain syrup from the jar to remove the leaves (or put it in a container with a lid small enough that the leaves can't escape when you pour. You can use a syrup bottle for this, or a salad dressing bottle)

Into your cocktail shaker, add bourbon, mint syrup and 1/2 cup ice. Shake, shake shake your julep

Pour mixture into a tumbler. Serve with short straw and mint leaf garnish.