Roasted Vegetables Couscous Salad

Don’t you love friends who make good food and then bring it to your house, thus introducing you to good eats and new recipes? I do. I first sampled this dish when Mrs. Jenks brought it to a ladies potluck dinner. It was super yummy and fresh with lemon and mint lingering amongst perfectly roasted vegetables.

This past weekend I made grilled lamb chops and thought it would be the perfect accompaniment and Mrs. Jenks graciously shared the recipe (via text photo – got to love technology).

Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

1 ½ mixed bell peppers, chopped into bite size pieces

1 large red onion, chopped into bite size pieces

1 large zucchini, chopped into bite size pieces

1 small eggplant, chopped into bite size pieces

12 cherry tomatoes (I omitted – yuck tomatoes)

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cups chicken stock

Salt and pepper

Juice and zest of one lemon

4 tsp chopped fresh mint

4 tsp Basil Pesto

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange chopped vegetables on a baking tray scatter the cherry tomatoes on top (like I said, I omitted the tomatoes) and drizzle with some of the olive oil. I also seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes and then allow to cool.

Place the couscous in a heatproof bowl. Bring the stock to boil in a saucepan and pour over the couscous. Cover the bowl and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

Use a fork to shake the couscous then add the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the lemon zest and juice, mint and remaining olive oil. Add the pesto and mix to bind all together.

Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly, then either serve immediately or chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Since it is a great recipe hot or cold it makes for awesome leftovers. We had what was left from the lamb chop dinner last night with salmon. Good times two.

Camp Fire Sausage and Bean Dutch-Oven Stew

I’m back from a weekend camping extravaganza. I wanted to try something in the dutch oven over the fire and I found a recipe that seemed easy enough for a first go round. The key for me was simple, packable ingredients and painless enough preparations. The recipe was heavy on canned beans that travel well and just a few ingredients that needed cooling.

I LOVED the end result. I doubled the recipe because I was cooking for eight (which resulted in needing two pots). I used some leftover stock rather than water to moisten the stew while over the coals. I also used dried rosemary and put it in the olive oil I measured out into a plastic container for easy travel. I’ve posted the original recipe (minus the garlic as I always remove that) but I didn’t use the oregano or rinse the beans (primitive people). The beans creamed beautifully and the peppers slow cook and melted into deliciousness. It was a big hit in which everyone talked about even making at home, minus the camp fire I suspect.

Get your camp on and enjoy this one!

Sausage and Bean Dutch-Oven Stew

Ingredients:

2 cans (15.5 oz. size) each cannellini beans and chickpeas (garbanzos), drained and rinsed

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1/2 red bell pepper, sliced 

1/2 yellow bell pepper, sliced

1 poblano chile, sliced

1 1/2 pounds cooked Italian sausages cut into 1-in. chunks 

1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves

Directions:

Prepare fire as directed below. Mix ingredients except for oregano with 3/4 cup water in a 4- to 6-qt. cast-iron camp dutch oven. Cover.

Arrange coals for bottom heat cooking and cook, checking pot and stirring every 10 to 15 minutes, and adding more water if stew gets dry, until peppers soften and sausages swell, 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with oregano sprinkled on top.

How to Use a Dutch Oven:

Prepare the fire. If you have a campfire going, move any large pieces of still-burning wood to the side and level out your hot coals to fit the size of the dutch oven. If the campground doesn't allow wood fires, burn 50 charcoal briquets till they're mostly gray, 10 to 15 minutes, and spread into an even layer the size of the dutch oven.

Set up the oven. For many recipes, you just set the dutch oven on top of the hot coals ("bottom heat cooking"). But there are times when you'll need to heat both the top and bottom of the oven. Just scrape about half the coals to the side and arrange the rest in a circle the size of the dutch oven's outer edge. Set the oven on top of the circle of coals, and then pile the rest of the coals on top of the lid.

Start cooking. Lift the dutch-oven lid occasionally to check the food and temperature. To decrease the heat, scrape away some fuel. To increase the heat, or to cook longer than 45 minutes, add 6 to 10 new briquets or more wood embers (from that still-burning wood you moved to the side of your fire pit) every 30 minutes.

On another note, for those looking for a cool camp ground in Virginia this is our second year we’ve been to Low Water Bridge Campground. They have nice large sites right on the river and actually have showers on-site for those days when you’ve flipped your canoe a time or two into a cold river.

Breakfast Protein Shake with Coffee and Banana

Seriously? I haven’t posted since the end of January. I keep saying life is too busy and I guess that alone proves it.

This recipe is too good not to share though. I got on this kick and few weeks ago and have made

modifications along the way to where I feel it is now the PERFECT breakfast protein shake. I generally haven’t been a fan of protein shakes; most I’ve sampled taste like fancy chalk. Not appealing. Plus, I’m a coffee drinker and it is unsafe for me (and you) to go about my day without a kick of caffeine. That is why this is perfect; it packs protein, coffee and tastes yummy!

8 ounces of brewed coffee

8 ounces of Almond milk

One frozen banana

One scoop of protein powder (I’ve been using banana crème, I’ve also used vanilla but the banana crème tastes better.)

Blend all ingredients together. I have a hand blender, which makes for very little clean up, another bonus to this shake, as I’m a slow mover in the morning. Add a few ice cubes to make sure it stays cold and sip away during your morning commute.

What we use. 

Keep it simple silly salmon

This recipe is so simple and so yummy that we’ve had it twice in two weeks. I originally got the recipe in September 2008 from my girlfriend Christine who titled it “yummy salmon recipe from my sister.” I kept the recipe for four years. Just sitting there in my recipe box waiting for the attention it deserves.

For those who work and eat late night meals (like us) this is going to be a keeper. I mean seriously easy to prepare and fast. We paired with brown rice and bok choy. For the bok choy, I sautéed in sesame oil (one tablespoon) and soy sauce (one tablespoon) and red pepper flakes (about a teaspoon).

Simple Salmon

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange marmalade

 1TBSP Dijon mustard

1/2 TSP salt

1/4 TSP black pepper

1/8 TSP ground ginger

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together. Brush half the mixture over 4-6 ounces of salmon filets. Broil fish for six minutes. Brush the remaining mixture over fish. Broil for an additional four minutes.

Collards and Apples

“The best collards I’ve EVER had.” Yes, this is a profound statement/quote. These words were uttered by man-love last night over our “soul food” dinner in which I made collards. I commented that the collards were so good that I would put them against my mom’s collards. My mom is the best southern cook and her fried chicken and collard greens are legit (too legit to quit) but these collards last night were “off the chains good.”

The recipe originated from Southern Living but has been tweaked to mastery. I made them first for Christmas dinner and ironically while trimming the leaves my MIL-to-be said she made the same recipe for Thanksgiving and that she didn’t think they called for them to be cooked long enough. You see, a true southerner likes collard green COOKED down. The original results in a crisp green. After making them at Christmas I thought them to be heavy on the vinegar so adapted last night with that memory. All the edits resulted in collard perfection. I may grow a full collard garden next fall just to accommodate more occasions for this recipe.

Collards and Apples

Short list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 lb. collard greens

1/4 cup vegetable oil

½ cup to one cup of chicken broth

1 tsp salt

3 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 to 2 Fuji apples, peeled and cut into matchsticks

Directions:

Separate collard greens into leaves. Trim and discard tough stalk from center of leaves; stack leaves, and roll up, starting at 1 long side. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices; rinse under cold running water. Drain well. Stir-fry collard greens in hot vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat two minutes or until greens begin to wilt. 

Add chicken broth, salt, vinegar, and dried crushed red pepper; cook for 10 to 15 minutes until greens are tender. Gently stir in apples; cook, stirring often, 5 to 10 minutes.

Oh yea, that's homemade mac and cheese too!