Skip to main content

Weekly Check In

Phew, am I glad that week is over! I'm happy to report in that we actually made everything on the plan this week. Here's the run down:


Meal 1: Carrot and Ginger Soup 
I made this Sunday night for us to eat through the week. It was really good - the right amount of spice and heat. I'll post the recipe soon.
Meal 2: Beef Stew & Cheese Rolls
We broke out the slow cooker for this one, the first time in a long time. Slow cooked beef, it doesn't get easier or more delicious. Craig made a ridiculous loaf of Cheese Bread. He's turning into quite the baker. My taste buds love it; my waist line, not so much.
Meal 3: Ravioli with Tomato Sauce
Over the 4th of July, Craig played a show in Asbury Park and we spent the weekend in NJ with some good friends. On our way back home, we stopped at the Red Bank, NJ Farmer's Market. It was a nice little market with a handful of farmers stands and some prepared food vendors. Once of the vendors had frozen ravioli - we picked up a tray of fontina and prosciutto ravioli and a tray of spinach and ricotta. The fontina ravioli are still in the freezer waiting to be enjoyed. The spinach ravioli we finished off this week with a simple tomato sauce made from the tomatoes we canned this summer. Quick, easy and delicious.
Meal 4: Beet and Couscous Salad
This was actually better as a warm dish rather than a cold salad and it's a nice way to highlight the sweetness of beets. Here's what I threw together:

1 1/2 C Isreali Couscous, uncooked
1 3/4 C Stock
1 Tbl Butter
5-6 Large Beets
1/4 C Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 C Olive Oil
1/2 C Feta Cheese, crumbled
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Scrub beets, keeping the skin on. Place in roasting pan (I used a glass 9x13 pan) and drizzle with olive oil. Place in oven and roast 25-60 minutes (depending on the size of the beets. We had pretty large beets and they took about 45 minutes). 

Remove from oven, cool slightly and peel and chop.

Meanwhile, you'll have wanted to get a start on your couscous. Place stock, butter and couscous in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover with a lid and bring to a simmer. After about 15 minutes, the couscous should have absorbed all of the stock. If the couscous isn't tender enough for your liking, add a little more water and cook a little longer. If the couscous is tender enough, but there's additional liquid, you can either drain the couscous or remove the lid and turn up the heat to cook off the liquid. If you do that, just be sure to stir frequently and keep an eye on it so you don't burn or overcook your couscous.

Once your couscous is done, place in a large bowl with the peeled and chopped beets.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together vinegar and oil. Stir into the couscous and beets. Add in feta. Give it a good stir and a taste. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.

Serves 6-8


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Planning Ahead Week of 2/12/12

Another busy week and another week of failing to follow our meal plan. It seems like I'm starting to get caught up in late hours at work and overextending myself again. It's time to review those resolutions I made and start taking better care of myself. So, with that in mind, below is what we plan on making this week. Meal 1 - Roasted Chicken, onions and potatoes Meal 2 - Stirfry with chinese broccoli and mushrooms Meal 3 - Roasted turnips, shredded carrots with tahini dressing, couscous Meal 4 - Veggie burgers, kohlrabi salad Meal 5 - Enchiladas!! We have some friends coming over for dinner on Thursday and Craig is making homemade enchiladas - complete with homemade tortillas and enchilada sauce. Hot damn! We have some posts planned for the week, so be sure to check back.

Using What You Can (or Freeze) - Radish and Corn Salad

Radish and Corn Salad A couple of weeks ago , I went a little nuts buying radishes. Thinking that they wouldn't be at the greenmarket too much longer, I bought quite a few bundles. Usually, I snack on radishes throughout the week, but given the amount I bought this time, I knew I was going to actually have to make something. I started flipping through Carol Gelles 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes . When Craig and I first moved in together, he was still a vegetarian. I bought this book then, to familiarize myself with some of the more common vegetarian recipes. I've used this book for years, but I don't think I've ever made a recipe from it exactly as specified. It's a great book to use for inspiration, and it seems to make it through every one of my annual cookbook purges. So, flipping through the book and looking at the frozen summer corn in my freezer, we put the following salad together. Radish and Corn Salad adapted from Carol Gelles "Red Radish Salad" serves...

Planning Ahead Week of 1/29/12

what a difference a week makes! This is the time of year that it's a serious challenge to eat locally. Even though last week's snow has melted, the sun was shining and the temperature was in the 50's yesterday, it is still winter. Which means slim pickings at the market. And with the damage caused by Hurricane Irene last fall, there are even less offerings than usual. There is one vendor at our local market that has a greenhouse, so they sell greens - they have lettuces, arugula, kale and more. But they are so expensive! The greens are $5 for 1/4 pound. I'll treat us for one meal a week, but it's too much to buy all our veggies from them. I also try to spread my dollars around and make sure that I buy something from each of the vendors. It seems even more important this year, seeing that every single farmer at our market suffered damage from the hurricane. So that means a lot of cabbage, onions and potatoes. To be honest, I'm having a hard time coming up wi...