After catching up on posts from November and December, it was clear we haven't been putting as much energy into cooking great meals and eating healthy food. Between the holidays, and the weather, it's been harder to get to the Farmer's Market (and there isn't as much to choose from this time of year), and we've been too busy many nights to take time to make a good meal. So we decided to sit down and make a meal plan for this last week of 2008 that focuses on healthier, whole food meals.
We pulled out some cookbooks focused on healthy meals, and each flipped through one. Amidst the pages we found lots of great ideas, and filled our week with many of them.
To start off the week (our meal week goes Sat-Fri), we decided to use up a bunch of the vegetable broth I made recently using what was left of a veggie tray, and make two recipes. First was a orange ginger carrot soup pulled from
Quick and Easy Healthy Eating, and the second is a Moroccan chickpea & couscous 'salad' taken from the Prevention Diabetes Diet Cookbook. Both recipes turned out great, made use of our fresh herb garden, and tasted delicous and healthy. We marveled that the recipe was vegan (something we hadn't aimed for) and that the only non-fresh ingredients were the frozen peas and the canned chickpeas. Both recipes also ended up very orange.
It was nice to help more with the meal planning (I'm usually stumped for ideas, and Dan has a gift for it), and it was fun to make use of more of my cookbook collection.
We also had some of our new favorite local wine - a 100% cranberry wine from Pasek Cellars in Mount Vernon, WA. I like that it's not too sweet, not too tart, but still very fruity. They also do Passion Fruit, Pineapple, Blackberry, Coffee, Loganberry, Guava, Raspberry, and more traditional wines like Chardonnay and Merlot.
Orange, Carrot, & Ginger Soup
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled and finely sliced
1 1/3 cups vegetable broth
2 inches ginger root, peeled & finely grated
1 1/3 cups water
zest of 1/2 orange
juice of 1 orange
sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
chopped chives, to garnish
Place onions, carrots, and broth in a large saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Gather the grated ginger root into your hand and squeeze the juice into the soup. Discard the ginger root fiber. Add the water, orange juice and zest to the pan, bring back to a boil, and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the soup to cool slightly before blending until smooth. Reheat and serve garnished with chives.
Moroccan Chickpeas and Vegetables with Couscous
1 Tbspn extra virgin olive oil
1 cup 1/2" cubed sweet potato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (any color)
1 1/2 tspn ground cumin
1/4 tspn salt
1 cup canned chickpeas
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup whole wheat couscous
2 Tbspn chopped fresh mint
Set a large skillet over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and swirl to coat the pan bottom. Heat for 30 seconds. Add the sweet potato, onion, pepper, cumin, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, or until onion is sizzling. Add the chickpeas. Stir to coat with the seasonings. Add the broth and bring to almost a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Add the peas. Bring mixture to a boil. Add couscous and stir. Turn off the heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve, garnished with mint.
No comments:
Post a Comment