Lemon Couscous

Lemon Couscous

This is a super simple dish to serve with the Moroccan stew. It’s good as a rice alternative and also rice served with chicken dishes such as chicken kabobs.

Turkey Stuffing with Sausage

Turkey Sausage with Breakfast Sausage

Turkey Stuffing with Breakfast Sausage. I like to cook my turkey stuffing on it's own, because the turkey cooks faster. Yeah! 

If you're looking for a classic stuffing  recipe with celery, onions and fennel to cook separately, give this a try!

This is an easy turkey stuffing recipe and sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Roasted Asparagus with Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese

Don't let the cold spring rain deter you from thinking that it's not spring yet.  Spring brings new produce to the fruit and vegetables stands and the first to appear is asparagus. If you haven't try roasting it, try it. You will not be disappointed.

Couscous with Fresh Mint and Parsley

 

If you are looking for a side dish to serve with your main meal, then look no further.  This is a fast couscous dish with cucumber, tomato, dried apricots, slivered almonds and a hint of cumin.  

Couscous with Pesto, Garbanzo Beans and Feta Cheese

If you love pesto, then you have to try this couscous recipe. There is a double punch of basil, both in the pesto and fresh pesto leaves. It is a quick and easy side dish to serve with fish or chicken.

Couscous Salad with Garbanzo Beans

Couscous salad with garbanzo beans and a hint of cumin

This healthy and delicious side dish has a hint of cumin that your family will love.

Carrot Coleslaw

Carrot Coleslaw

Everyone, I believe, should have a great coleslaw recipe in their arsenal. This one is super simple to make with apples, celery and sunflower seeds.

Spinach Salad With Feta Cheese

Spinach Salad With Feta Cheese

As a kid, I’d watch the cartoon character Popeye gobble down cans of spinach. Instantly, he transformed and became strong, flexing his mountainous bulging arms to prove it. Wow!  I was a believer…but it wasn’t enough to make me like spinach.  I never liked the flavour. It tasted metallic somehow.  

My mother would buy a frozen block of spinach, boil it forever and serve it to us. There it sat, like a sad lump of green moss with a blob of butter on top…thank goodness for butter! 

Today, I serve spinach but always fresh spinach.  It was a real game changer when stores started selling triple washed bags of spinach, because the bunched kind is often filled with dirt and needs to be thoroughly washed. Otherwise you end up with grit in your meals. 

If you do buy fresh spinach, look for leaves that are crisp, green and free of decay.  Unlike lettuce, washing spinach ahead of time is  not recommended  because the moisture causes it to spoil. Store fresh bunched spinach in a plastic bag in your refrigerator and it will last up to 3 days.

Spinach has a reputation for being good for your health because it’s rich in iron. But the iron is absorbed better when eaten with vitamin C.  Hence the reason spinach salads are often served with orange slices or strawberries.  

When cooking spinach be aware that it reduces in size by about 90%, so cook lots.  It’s good in soups, stews, in dips, and in egg dishes such as frittatas and of course, in salads.

Cauliflower Rice

Cauliflower

Cauliflower

When I was growing up vegetables were never the star attraction.  Don’t get me wrong…we ate our vegetables every night at dinner, but they were always the sideshow and never the main act. They were served to add colour to a plate of food.  Not unlike adding accent pillows to your living room couch!  As you might have guessed, the everyday home cook then was not so concerned about their nutritional merit because the knowledge wasn’t as abundant as it is today.  Vegetables were boiled for many minutes, leaching out all their colour, nutrition and taste.  Often a cheese sauce was spooned on top to cover up the anaemic-looking and tasteless veg.   And if not the sauce, then a hefty pad of butter was plopped on top along with multiple shakes of salt.

The one vegetable that was consistently smothered with an orange cheese sauce was cauliflower.  The thick velvety sauce would sit confidently on top of its bumpy, knobby, surface.  It was the perfect solution to a needed splash of colour for the white and bland-looking vegetable.

Life has changed a lot since then, thankfully!  Today, vegetables take a lead role on the food stage.  We cook vegetables to preserve their freshness, taste and vitamins. Cauliflower can be steamed, boiled, or even sautéed.  I particularly like it roasted. 

If you haven’t tried roasting cauliflower you must. Simply break up the florets and mix with 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in a 425° F oven for 20 minutes.  Toss, then roast for another 10-15 minutes until they look, well, roasted. 

Another trend today is to serve cauliflower rice…yes, I said rice.  It’s a fun side dish and a sneaky way to add more vegetables into your kids’ diet.  Here’s an easy recipe to try.  If you feel adventurous, spice it up by adding different herbs or spices such as curry, basil, or parsley.  Enjoy.

Cauliflower Rice

 Cauliflower Rice

1 head cauliflower, cut in half.  Grate the florets with a box grater using the large holes or in a food processor (working in small batches)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil on medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds, then add cauliflower.  Sauté for 8-10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Here is a video on Cauliflower Rice from the Minimalist Baker.

Looking for a way to get motivated in the kitchen?  Check out our FREE online course: How To Menu Plan For The Everyday Home Cook.  It includes a video, templates and recipes. 

Pasta with Fresh Basil and Asparagus