Thursday, February 7, 2013

Couscous Salad


In an effort to be healthy (and get rid of a TON of cilantro), I present: couscous salad.

Measurements are approximate!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup couscous
  • 2 3/4 cups water
  • 1/2 tbsp lemon zest
  • Lemon juice to taste
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tomato, diced
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • splash of olive oil
  • salt to taste

Let's do it!

  1. Boil water and add in couscous. Stir and let it soak up the water.
  2. Add everything else and mix well.
  3. Stick in the fridge and let the flavours meld for at least half an hour.
  4. Taste and season as needed.
  5. For a balanced meal, add some kind of protein. I added a delicious canned salmon that my friend made. The Hubster added hard boiled eggs.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Vegan enchilladas


Alright, the way I did this wasn't vegan, but it can easily be vegan. These are nowhere near authentic, it's just how I make them. They are stuffed with refried beans and rice, and covered with a spicy tomato sauce.

Ingredients
  • 1 can black beans
  • 1 tbsp cooking oil
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • Salt to taste
  • Water
  • 1/2 cup rice
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • Enough broth to cook the rice (sorry, I don't measure when I cook rice. I just let my Chinese ancestry guide me. Maybe there's directions in the package or something.)
  • 1/2 can crushed tomatoes
  • 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
  • Flour tortillas
  • Cheese (vegan or otherwise)
  • Avocado


Let's do it!
  1. In a small sauce pot, heat up the cooking oil (I used bacon grease, but you can use whatever you like.) Drain and rinse the black beans and add to the pot. Stir often. Mash with a potato masher. If it starts sticking to the bottom, add a bit of water. I find that I need to add water quite a bit during the process.
  2. Add cumin and salt to taste. Stir until the consistency is like very creamy mashed potatoes. Refried beans: DONE
  3. Rinse the rice very well in a sieve to get rid of the starch, otherwise, you won't have the nice, separated grains that I like.
  4. Put the rice, broth and garlic in a rice cooker. If you don't have a rice cooker, do whatever it is you do to make rice. Honestly, I can't make rice without a rice cooker. Rice: DONE!
  5. Put the crushed tomatoes in a small sauce pot with the chipotle peppers. If you don't like spice, add less peppers. Then.. give the rest of them to a friend? I don't know.
  6. Simmer this while the rice is cooking. Sauce: DONE!
  7. Put this all in the fridge if you're like me and prefer to assemble the next day

Lunch it up!
  1. I didn't want this to be soggy, so I assembled it before work.
  2. On a flour tortilla, lay down some refried beans, then rice. 
  3. Roll it up and place in a microwavable lunch container, seam side down.
  4. Repeat for as many as you'd like.
  5. Cover with as much sauce as you'd like and sprinkle with cheese.
  6. Take it to work with an avocado and try not to let either get bashed up too much.
  7. At work, heat this up in a microwave until hot. Cut up the avocado and place on top (Avocados get brown really easily, which is why I prefer to take them to work whole.)
  8. Enjoy!

I ended up with a lot of leftover rice and beans. This is probably good for a maybe 3 or four meals. If you're not into eating the same thing every day, you can place the beans in a freezer bag, squeeze out the air and place it in the freezer. Same thing with the sauce. I've heard that you can freeze rice, but I've never tried it. It's a pretty mild flavour, though, so you can use it as a side in another dish.