Last weekend, I was a cooking machine. I'm not really sure what got into me -- actually, I'm pretty sure it was just the combo of a clean kitchen and a freshly-stocked pantry -- but I ended up making all KINDS of food. I thought I'd give you a quick recap of the stuff I made, along with semi-complete instructions.
Moroccan Couscous
I stole this idea from Mediterranean Deli in Chapel Hill. Sauté some onions in a pot, add water and chicken bullion, add raisins, roasted red pepper (you can sauté red pepper with the onions if you'd rather not roast them), lots of curry, and garbanzo beans if you want them. I decided I won't be using the garbanzos next time. Stir it up, bring it to a boil, add your couscous and cook according to package. Stir eat enjoy.
Spicy Sausage Dip (Dippity Do-Da, as Shari calls it)
This one came from a friend at school. Simply cook up some hot country sausage (the ground kind), add in two cans original Rotel, and two packs cream cheese. Feel free to add milk if it's too thick, more cheese if it's too chunky, or less Rotel/mild sausage if it's too hot, red pepper flakes if you want it hotter. SO GOOD.
Spanish Rice
Not really sure if it's legitimately Spanish, but I'm pretending like it is. Cook up some rice with a packet of saffron (I use Goya saffron) and some garlic, add in black beans and Rotel. That's it. Add onions if you want (I ALWAYS want) and that's good too. This with some garlic-y chicken, SON.
Apple-Baked Pork
I made this up. I win. Mix up some cracked black pepper, the coarser the better in my opinion, with a fair amount of ground mustard, dried rosemary, salt, and a little bit of apple cider vinegar. When that's had time to get all happy and matrimonious, rub a little olive oil on your pork chops, then rub the rub into them. Let them sit while you cut up some apples (I used ones well past their peak so as not to waste them, and it was a success). Dump the apples in a baking dish or dutch oven. Brown your pork on both sides, not cooking through (it's not necessary), then put them in the dutch oven, too, mixing them in among the apples. Bake half an hour at 350, or really whatever time and temp you want, as long as the pork cooks through. Eat it up and lick the dish, no lie.
Vegetable Soup
Mom's invention. Get a bag of frozen veggies (I got the California blend, but basically anything with broccoli or cauliflower or carrots or squash will be fine), cover them with water in a big pot, and boil them with a couple doses of chicken or veggie bullion in there. I happen to use both bullion types. When they're well done, blend the mixture (immersion blenders are the BIZNAZ) and add two cans of fat-free evaporated milk, and I add a liberal amount of cracked pepper as well. Party in my mouuuuuth. If you prefer not to feel like you're in a home for those with soft minds and plenteous gingiva, you can chop your veggies ahead of time and not blend anything. By the way, cheese with this will blow your mind.
Berry Smoothie
This is not for the faint of texture. I start my smoothies normally -- yogurt, frozen raspberries and blueberries, milk -- but then I add oatmeal. Uncooked quick oats, to be exact. I think it's the best thing in the whole entire world; however, there are those out there who think it looks gross and the oatmeal gives it a strange raw-almond taste. Which I LOVE. Note: if you don't like super-thick smoothies, this one gets thicker with time. You might want to add more milk later. Also, if it's not sweet enough for you, honey is a great combo with this!
There you have it. Six things in one weekend, enough to share, and freeze some as well. I am one happy camper.
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