20 minute meal

Israeli Couscous with pan grilled veggies

A delicious 20 minute meal? YES! I love Israeli couscous. It has got a great texture and goes well with so many things.  If you haven't tried it, this is a great way to start.  I like to do vegetarian meals once a week or so (mostly when I forget to set meat out to thaw) and this was an impromptu delicious dish.  You can choose whatever veggies you have on hand, this time I threw in some potatoes to try something new.  I used the fajita seasoning that I posted in my chicken saltados recipe from January.  A side note: Chicken Saltados have become a favorite here at the Martin house and I made a huge batch of the fajita seasoning to keep on hand- saves time for me.  The ingredients I used are staples in my kitchen so you will probably see these ingredients often but feel free to jazz it up and let us know what you did.  This makes 3 servings, 2 good sized dinners and a lunch portion.

What you need:
1/4 onion - sliced thinly
1/4 green bell pepper - sliced thinly
 5 mushrooms - sliced
1 small to medium zuchinni - sliced
2 red potatoes- chopped into small cubes
Israeli couscous
Fajita Seasoning
Veggie Oil - about 1 tablespoon

Fajita seasoning - this is the base recipe for a small batch.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon each L dried crushed oregano, salt, ground red pepper, ground black pepper
dash of garlic and dash of onion powders

What you do:
Cook the Israeli couscous in a pot as directed, adding in a teaspoon of Fajita seasoning at the end.  While the couscous is cooking, heat a pan (we used cast iron- I love them) over medium-high heat and toss the potatoes in (side note, I cut the potatoes first, then while the potatoes and the couscous were cooking, I cut the rest of the veggies).  Stir the potatoes frequently to avoid sticking to the pan, and once they are almost done - about 10 minutes (depending on the size of the cube, small is good)  add in the rest of the veggies and cook them stirfry style until done- I like mine a little crisp still so it didn't take long at all.  In the end, add as much fajita seasoning as you like and add veggie mixture on top of couscous. Dinner is served.  Yum Yum.  All in 20 minutes, how can you resist?  We even had time to enjoy dinner out on the patio while it was still light out!
Glenn gave it his seal of approval.

Enjoy!
-Hayden

Pass that guacamole!

Guacamole is one of our favorite random things to whip up in Casa de Sharp.  Ryan knows my recipe by heart now, and will even volunteer to make it...which is nice when I don't feel like getting green goo all in my cuticles.  Pretty much every time we have guac, I think of this commercial...  "Pass that guacamoleee!"  (You have to wait until the very end for the big pay-off!)

ANYHOW...this is definitely a recipe that I never use measurements in, so I'm going to do my best to guesstimate how much of everything I use (but just a warning, I could be way off...or even just way off for your own personal tastes).  According to other recipes I've been looking at, I think this recipe would be considered to be about 8 servings (sure seems like a lot less than 8 in our house, though!).

Guacamole
Ingredients:
6 avocados, mashed
1 - 2 limes, juiced
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
1/3 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
3/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped

Instructions:
Combine all your ingredients in a bowl, and stir!  Serve with tortilla chips (Tostitos "hint of lime" are our personal favorite with guacamole).

enjoy!
 ~ j