Sunday, April 13, 2008

Weekend Cooking, Etc.

I'm still trying recipes from Cooking With Kids. Sticking with just one cookbook for a few weeks is helping me stay focused and I like it. This is the couscous salad--couscous, tomatoes, snap peas, green onions, carrots, and hard boiled eggs (or chicken, if you prefer). Yum! I actually made this twice this weekend because I like it and because I don't get out to the store much anymore. I'll post the recipe below. This is from the "Lunchbox" section of the book and would certainly make a nice packed lunch.
And just for fun I've really been wanting to try these chocolate-chocolate chip muffins too. One of the things I like about this particular children's cookbook is that the baking section is reasonably short--so many children's cookbooks (like this one, I noticed) feature dessert recipes almost to the exclusion of all other foods! I love baking and desserts, but nonetheless, that bugs me. This cookbook has a delightful "Baking Afternoon" chapter and then many other chapters that don't focus on desserts (Lunchbox, Little Snacks, Light Suppers, Real Meals, that sort of thing). Anyway, about the muffins, I decided to finally try them and they are good but they didn't knock anyone's socks off. They are definitely muffin-y and not cupcakes but personally I liked that (and they are super easy to mix up). Out of the whole family I love sweets the most so these were fine to me.

And one sweet moment from the weekend. Dieter is really into Sleeping Beauty at the moment. He got to watch the movie with Ken last weekend when they were up north at Ken's parents (Ken fast forwarded through the scary parts). Now Dieter is so into it: he's all, "let's talk about Sleeping Beauty" and he loves to pretend he's the evil fairy Maleficent. Ken dug out this old book for him; it's LONG but Dieter will sit for the whole thing. Jacob graciously read it to him cover to cover last night. Nice boys, those.

Now, here's the recipe, more or less.

Couscous Salad

Take 1 1/2 c. couscous and put it in a bowl. Pour over 1 1/2 c. boiling water, 2 T. olive oil, a good pinch or so of salt and Herbs de Provence, cover and let sit.

Prepare the vegetables: 4 scallions, 2 carrots (in strips), 12 cherry tomatoes, and 6 oz snap peas or similar. Cook in boiling water for 3 minutes (I didn't cook the tomatoes, but I did the others. They were good that way, more tender and flavorful). Drain, rinse.

Hard boil 4 eggs in the usual manner and cut into quaters (I sliced them instead, with the egg slicer. I tried to show Dieter--I'm sure he'd love that gadget--I certainly did as a girl--but he wouldn't come see).

Toss everything together and add the dressing:
Dressing:
1/4 c. olive oil
2 T. lemon juice
big pinch salt, to taste
big pinch of pepper, to taste

You can serve it warm or cold.

Oh, I just noticed that you can add toasted cashews as a variation. I'm all over that.

5 comments:

Sheila D. said...

Yummy! I'm going to stock up on springy/summery salad stuff today! I'm definitely going to try this one, thanks Mary Beth! I LOVE the picture of Jacob and Dieter! The Ramones (I think he has excellent taste in music!) t-shirt goes very well with sleeping Beauty! It made me giggle! Have a lovely week!

crunchy peas said...

This does sound yummy, quick too! I would be all about the cashews as well. Thanks for posting it.

Kelli said...

we have those old set of books and when I saw that picture, the first thing I thought was WOW those are long books. hehe Thanks for the recipes.

jessica said...

thanks for the recipe - looks delicious. A definite must try!

Gift of Green said...

Like Sheila d., I noticed the Ramones t-shirt too! Jacob is too cool! Thanks for the recipe...