Something Different

Here’s another recipe I pulled out of an old issue of Real Simple. We were really pleased with it, I was surprised by how flavorful the mini-burgers were, and of course I loved the salad since I am a lover of all things couscous! This was such an easy meal to whip up, Tyler made the burgers and I made the salad. It was different than any other meal we’ve had before but it was so delicious! Definitely recommend it, make it with some fresh summer tomatoes and cucumbers!

Spiced Mini Burgers with Couscous Salad (from realsimple)

1 10-ounce box couscous (we used whole wheat)
1 pound ground beef
Kosher salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 scallions, trimmed and sliced
4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
1 seedless cucumber, sliced into half-moons
3 tablespoons tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 8-ounce container hummus (optional)

Place the couscous in a medium bowl and pour 1 1/2 cups hot tap water over the top. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork.

Form the beef into 12 small 1/2-inch-thick patties. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the cumin, and oregano.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook to desired doneness, 4 minutes per side for medium.

Combine the couscous, scallions, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the remaining oil in a large bowl.

Divide among individual plates. Serve with the burgers and hummus, if desired.

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A Simple Salad

This weekend we gave our apartment a thorough cleaning, weeding out old clothes, shoes, books, and magazines we don’t need anymore. I decided to flip through my old issues of Real Simple and tore out quite a few recipes that appealed to me but that I had yet to try. It made meal planning for this week really easy! I’m hoping to try 3 new recipes this week to share with you. Here is the first! This salad was easy to whip up with the help of a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. All I had to do was chop up the onion, grapes, and celery, and mix up the dressing. Prep took less than 20 minutes which was just the kind of time I had after coming home from my first graduate school class! Tyler and I really enjoyed this salad, the grapes offer a nice sweetness to offset the saltiness of the blue cheese. I served this salad with sliced of french baguette, yum! Can’t wait to have more for lunch tomorrow!

Roast Chicken with Grape and Blue Cheese Salad (from realsimple.com)

serves 4-6

2 small heads Boston or Bibb lettuce, torn into pieces (I used bagged lettuce)
4 stalks celery, sliced on the diagonal
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 cups (about 1/2 pound) green grapes, halved
3 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
1 3 1/2- to 4-pound rotisserie chicken, meat thickly sliced

In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, celery, onion, grapes, and blue cheese.

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Divide the salad and chicken among individual plates. Serve with the vinaigrette.

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Summer Garden Pasta

Thanks so much to everyone who answered my cry for help with simple summer recipe suggestions. I’m proud to say that we’ve only eaten at Chick-fil-a once in the last 3 weeks I’ve been cooking more and that makes both Tyler and I very happy. This pasta recipe was a great use for my basil. I only got small leaves off my plant this year, not sure what went wrong, maybe the pot was too small? Maybe it was the kind of basil that doesn’t produce tall plants and big leaves? It still tastes like basil so whatever! I marinated the tomatoes overnight and then just threw it all together at dinner the next day, very delicious, and makes a great cold leftover pasta salad. This is an Ina Garten recipe, recommended to me by Megan, thanks so much for coming to the rescue!

Summer Garden Pasta (adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa at Home)

Ingredients:

2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
good olive oil
1 TB minced garlic (6 cloves)
9 large basil leaves, julienned, plus more for serving
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 pound dried angel hair pasta
3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving (she
suggests grinding cheese in a food processor fitted with a metal
blade, instead of grating – gives it a nice texture)

Directions:

Combine cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, basil leaves, red
pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the pepper in a large bowl. Cover
with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature for about 4
hours.

Just before you’re ready to serve, bring a large pot of water with a
splash of olive oil and 2 TB salt to a boil and add the pasta. Cook al
dente according to package directions (about 2-3 minutes). Drain pasta
well and add to the bowl with the cherry tomatoes. Add the cheese and
some extra fresh basil leaves and toss well. Serve in big bowls with
extra cheese on each serving.

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A Spinach Salad

I know I said we weren’t really trying any new recipes this week but I lied!  Tyler requested I buy a bag of spinach last weekend and since we’d gone 4 days without using it I figured it was time I took matters into my own hands.  So I got a recommendation for what to do with this salad from another blogger and was led to this tasty looking recipe!  I made a few changes to lighten it up (removed the bacon grease from the dressing) and Tyler and I think it’s a winner!

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing (original recipe courtesy of Alton Brown)

8 ounces baby spinach
2 large eggs, hardboiled
4 pieces bacon cooked and chopped
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 T EVOO
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 large white mushrooms, sliced
3 ounces red onion (1 small), very thinly sliced
1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese

Remove the stems from the spinach and wash, drain and pat dry thoroughly. Place into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, EVOO, sugar and Dijon mustard. Season with a small pinch each of kosher salt and black pepper.

Add the mushrooms, sliced onion, and blue cheese to the spinach and toss. Add the dressing and bacon and toss to combine. Divide the spinach between 4 plates or bowls and evenly divide the egg among them. Season with pepper, as desired. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Approx WW pts. per serving = 4

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Another Orzo Salad

My first issue of Cooking Light finally came this week! I was so excited to see my very own copy in the mailbox last weekend and quickly thumbed through it, then later sat down and bookmarked all the recipes I wanted to try. It is a fantastic issue, with a section about growing your own tomatoes and basil (two things I want to do this summer!) and a section about making your own pasta with K.C.’s own Lydia! I am trying to do a better job about bringing my lunch to work this week. I had been taking Lean Cuisines for the last couple of weeks, and although they are easy, pretty tasty, and easy to track w/WW, they aren’t that healthy with all that sodium and preservatives. So I chose this recipe so that I would have plenty of leftovers for lunches. Each serving is over a cup of salad which is more than enough! I really loved this recipe. It is easy on the dressing, and Tyler would prefer more so next time I might divide it and do double the dressing for him. I found the flavors that stood out the most were the red pepper, the goat cheese, and the arugula. This would be a great recipe to take to a summer picnic.

Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

2 cans fat free chicken broth
1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
3 cups chopped grilled chicken breast strips (such as Tyson)
1 1/2 cups trimmed arugula
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup prechopped red onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano (I used dried)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese

Preparation:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well. (I cooked mine in 2 cans of chicken broth instead of water for added flavor)

2. Combine pasta, chicken, and the next 6 ingredients (through oregano) in a large bowl; toss well.

3. Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinegar mixture over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.

Yield:6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups salad and 1 tablespoon cheese)

WW points per serving = 6

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chop chop, yum yum

Well this recipe has certainly been receiving rave reviews from many of my food blogging friends. Now that I’ve made it I understand why! Tyler and I were both raving about it as we gulped it down. Can’t wait to have leftovers at lunch tomorrow. Mmmm. I rarely make my own salad dressing but it’s a must for this salad, it truly makes the dish. I simplified the original recipe by using a bag of already washed and ready salad. I also made it as a side salad so I cut out the pasta and chicken so it would be lighter fare, I can’t wait to make it as a main dish though. This is definitely a salad I would serve company, in a heartbeat!

Ten Restaurant’s Signature Chopped Salad (original recipe from the wonderful Cast Sugar blog)

Ingredients:

1 bag green salad, with iceberg and romaine lettuce
6 bacon strips, fried and crumbled
1 c. diced tomatoes
1/2 c. green onions, chopped
4 oz. blue cheese crumbles

For the mustard vinaigrette:
1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. water
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 to 2 Tbsp. sugar, to taste
1/2 tsp. kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 c. salad oil
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Pinch of coarsely crushed black pepper

Combine the bag of salad, crumbled bacon, tomato, green onions and blue cheese crumbles in a large bowl.
For the mustard vinaigrette: In a small bowl, combine the vinegars, water, garlic, dry mustard, sugar and salt and whisk until blended. Pour in the oils slowly, whisking constantly until the mixture is emulsified. Whisk in the oregano, red pepper flakes and black pepper.

Pour as much of the Mustard Vinaigrette as desired over the salad. Toss to coat. Makes 4 main course salad meals, or 8 side salads.

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Two new recipes

I’m really pushing myself to try new recipes. Not necessarily “out there” recipes of things I never thought I’d try, but some new stuff. Tonight I made orzo for the first time and I broiled something for the first time. Also made my own dressing for the first time…I think. I don’t remember ever making salad dressing before so I’m pretty sure this was a first. It got the blender dirty, I hate cleaning that thing, good thing Tyler has to do the dishes tonight

Teriyaki Chicken Thighs (adapted from Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger)

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry (did not have, so left out)
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 garlic cloves, crushed with a garlic press or minced
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 pounds skinless chicken thighs (I used boneless, skinless thighs)
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
Combine the soy sauce, sugar, sherry, vinegar, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes and stir until the sugar dissolves. Transfer to a resealable plastic bag and add the chicken. Seal the bag and marinate the chicken in the refrigerator, turning once, for 1 hour. The chicken can be marinated for up to 4 hours. I only marinated for an hour, wish I had done it for longer though.

Heat the broiler to high. Arrange the chicken on a broiler pan skin side down and broil until brown and crispy, 8 to 10 minutes. Flip the chicken and broil until almost cooked through, about 8 minutes longer. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cook until the seeds turn golden brown and the chicken is done, 1 to 2 minutes longer.

Orzo Salad (adapted from Everyday Italian with Giada de Laurentis)

4 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups orzo
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups red and yellow teardrop tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved (I used grape tomatoes)
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (did not have so I omitted this ingredient)
About 3/4 cup Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pour the broth into a heavy large saucepan. Cover the pan and bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Stir in the orzo. Cover partially and cook until the orzo is tender but still firm to the bite, stirring frequently, about 7 minutes. Drain the orzo through a strainer. Transfer the orzo to a large wide bowl and toss until the orzo cools slightly. Set aside to cool completely.

Red Wine Vinaigrette
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender. With the machine running, gradually blend in the oil. Season the vinaigrette, to taste, with more salt and pepper, if desired.

Toss the orzo with the beans, tomatoes, onion, basil, mint, and enough vinaigrette to coat, be careful not to use too much like I did (I dumped it all in instead of measuring out 3/4 of a cup)! I found that the recipe made more dressing than needed. Season the salad, to taste, with salt and pepper, and serve at room temperature.

I’ll definitely make both of these recipes again, I’ll just make sure to marinate the chicken for a few hours and go easy on the dressing for the orzo salad! Overall trying new recipes and new cooking techniques paid off!

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