Tasty Eats
Cous cous are tiny pieces of semolina flour, the same flour used to make pasta. You could say that cous cous is a Middle Eastern pasta dish. Besides the shape, the difference is that you don’t boil it; simply soak it in boiling water.
What You'll Need:
1 cup quick-cooking cous cous, whole wheat
1/2 cup frozen baby peas, defrosted
1/2 sweet red pepper
2 green onions
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon grated orange rind
2 tablespoons each: extra-virgin olive oil, orange juice
Optional: A dash or 2 of hot sauce
What You'll Do:
1. Heat 1 cup of water in a medium saucepan until it boils. Turn off the heat and add the cous cous. Stir until all of the grain is wet. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the lid and fluff it with a fork. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the pine nuts, stirring every few seconds, until they’re light brown. (Watch carefully, they burn fast.)
2. Slice the pepper into thin strips and then dice. Slice the green onions into small circles. Finely chop the parsley. Add all the ingredients to the cous cous pot and stir. Eat or refrigerate until lunch packing time.
Other Ideas: Top the salad with crumbled feta cheese. (Buy a hunk and crumble it yourself – it tastes fresher.) For more protein, add 1 cup of canned chick peas, drained and rinsed.
By: Anne Vassal
BY JIAE K. ON 11/7/2009 7:01:00 AM 7 COMMENTS
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Just about anything can be transformed into a pizza crust. Besides packaged baked pizza crusts, you could use pita bread.
What You'll Need:
Olive oil
1 six, eight, or 10-inch baked pizza crust, pita bread
Thick spaghetti sauce (such as “Newman’s Own Pasta Sauce”)
8-ounces mozzarella or provolone (Buy it grated or you can grate.)
Optional: grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (not that canned stuff)
Easy Topping Ideas: Chopped broccoli or spinach, red, yellow, green peppers, very thinly sliced onions, sliced olives, quartered bottled artichokes, mushrooms, thickly sliced tomatoes, corn, etc.
What You'll Do:
1. Preheat the oven to 400. Cover the baking sheet with foil. Spread some olive oil onto the foil with a piece of paper towel. Put the crust onto the greased foil.
2. Spoon the sauce onto the crust, spreading a thin layer of sauce almost up to the edges. Sprinkle the grated cheese over the pizza; about one cup for an 8-inch pizza. Sprinkle on a little Parmesan cheese if you like. Make it a basic cheese or put on toppings.
3. Put into the oven and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese starts to brown. (You can use a toaster oven but you may have to cut the pizza in half to make it fit. Oil the foil and proceed. Watch it carefully – it’s easy to burn a pizza in the toaster oven.) Remove from the oven and slice into wedges.
You Decide: You’re the chef, create your own pizza. Maybe you like feta cheese and spinach or a pizza with sautéed mushrooms and smoked Gouda cheese. I know two girls who like frozen corn and pepper-jack cheese on their pizza. (Call it Tex-Mex Pizza.) If you’re in a hurry, use chopped, frozen vegetables. (They aren’t quite as nutritious as fresh veggies but they’re still veggies.)
Tools:
Large baking sheet
Aluminum foil
Pizza cutter or chef’s knife
Possibly, a cutting board
By: Anne Vassal
BY JIAE K. ON 10/31/2009 7:01:00 AM 33 COMMENTS
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Muffins are for anytime; they freeze well in plastic baggies and they're backpack portable. In case anyone ever told you that black bananas are great for banana bread (or muffins), forget it. When bananas turn black, they’re rotten.
What You'll Need: Makes 12 Muffins
1 cup mashed banana, about 2 ripe bananas
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
2/3 cup reduced fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup rolled oats (thick “old-fashioned” oats)
1 1/2 cup sifted whole wheat pastry flour* or unbleached white flour
What You'll Do:
1. Preheat oven to 375. Place the paper liners into the muffin pan. Try not to use non-stick muffin pans; they cause the muffins to get too brown. If that’s all that you have, it’s OK, the paper liners will help insulate the sides and bottom from burning.
2. In a glass measuring cup, mash the bananas with a fork. In a large mixing bowl, add the egg, oil, sugar, and molasses. Mix well, using a mixer. Mix in the banana and buttermilk.
3. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. (cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, oats, flour) Add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and mix slowly just until blended. Pour into the muffin pan, filling each muffin liner almost to the top.
Tip: If you want to fill the holes easily, without globs of batter everywhere, use a glass measuring cup with a pour spout or use a small soup ladle.
4. Bake 20 minutes until they're lightly browned. Pull out the oven shelf and stick a toothpick into the center of a muffin to see if it comes out clean or without wet dough. Muffins get tough if they’re over cooked, so watch carefully. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack or on top of the stove. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.
Other Ideas: Add 1/4 cup currents, raisins, or golden raisins.
Tools:
Muffin pan(s)
Paper muffin liners
Glass measuring cup
Electric mixer
Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Small mixing bowl
By: Anne Vassal
BY JIAE K. ON 10/24/2009 7:01:00 AM 17 COMMENTS
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Lazy Saturday mornings are perf for trying something a little different for breakfast. Break free from your frozen waffle routine and try some freshly made pancakes!
This recipe makes about 25 pancakes (you can split the recipe in half if you’re serving just 1 to 3 people. Or, freeze the rest—when you’re ready to eat ’em up, you just have to pop them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and voila!). You’ll flip for this easy to follow recipe (just be careful while flipping the pancakes!).
What You'll Need:
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour or whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon each: cinnamon, ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
A dash of salt
2 eggs
2 tablespoons each: canola oil (or any mild oil)
2 tbsp Molasses (I used “Grandma’s Unsulphured Original”)
2 cups buttermilk
1. Spoon the flour into the measuring cups and level it off with the flat side of a knife. (Don’t pack it down.) In a small mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Set aside.
2. Put the eggs, oil, molasses, and buttermilk into a large mixing bowl. Using a wire whisk, whip until smooth. Put a large griddle pan or a 12-inch skillet on the stove. Place the oil near the stove along with a small soup ladle and a spatula. Have a platter ready for the pancakes.
3. Whisk the flour mixture into the egg mixture until smooth but don’t over beat. Turn the burner to medium and apply a non-stick cooking spray to the pan. After a minute or two, add a drop of pancake batter to see if it sizzles. If so, you can begin.
4. Put a ladle of batter into the skillet until you have a two-inch pancake. (It’s easier to flip smaller pancakes.) This will be a test pancake. After about a minute, you’ll start to see bubbles on the top of the pancake. Lift a corner of the pancake with the spatula to see if it’s a toasty brown color. If not, let it cook a little longer; otherwise, flip it over.
5. The pancake won’t cook as long on the second side. They’ll need to cook long enough to cook the inside of the pancake but not so long that they’ll burn. It does take some practice. (Because of the molasses, these pancakes will be browner than regular pancakes.) If the pancakes are burning, it means that the pan is too hot; turn the heat down a bit.
6. Remove the practice pancake and continue to make pancakes. Make sure that they’re far enough apart so that the cakes don’t run together; also, it’s easier to turn them over when you have enough room. Place the done pancakes on the platter and cover with foil. You will have to spray the pan with non-stick cooking spray every few batches. For an electric fry pan or griddle: Set the temperature to start at 350.
Apple Sauce Topping
What You'll Need:
1 cup bottled or homemade apple sauce
2 tablespoons real maple syrup
In a small saucepan, heat the apple sauce and maple syrup over low heat until just hot. Serve a spoonful over each pancake.
Tools:
Measuring cups and spoons
Small mixing bowl
Glass measuring cup
Large mixing bowl
Wire whisk
12-inch skillet or griddle
Small soup ladle, spatula
Small saucepan
BY JIAE K. ON 10/17/2009 7:01:00 AM 44 COMMENTS
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