I don’t know where I get the idea that I have the kind of life that enables me to spend hours making dinner. Today, I got overly ambitious and made a simple but very time consuming dish, Winter Vegetable Couscous, from the Bon Appetit Cleanse. I took the nutritionists advice and made it using bulgur wheat instead of the couscous, and I tripled the quantity of veggies and added a few that weren’t on the list since I happened to have them. It took hours. And after he spent half an hour cleaning the kitchen afterwards, Kevin suggested I write a cookbook where I rate recipes based on cleanup time. Ha ha ha… (I am so grateful to have a husband who does the dinner dishes!) I also made an egg white omelet (and spilled egg white all over my cooktop!) for breakfast, oatmeal for the girls for breakfast, and risotto and peas in organic veggie broth witfor my girls and their friends during a playdate. I also made avocado tartines for me and my friend Ashley. For someone who usually just grabs a piece of bread on her way out the door, that’s a LOT of cooking. Fortunately, the quanity of the dish that I made enabled me to freeze another couple of meals worth, so it wasn’t like I spent hours on dinner for only one night. : ) That said, I can’t do this every night. I am exhausted! Tomorrow, we are having chicken sausage and a side of veggies!
I also made a very simple sauce, harissa, in my new mini food processor, but even that took lots of prep. Soaking dried chilis for half an hour, then taking the seeds out and trying not to inhale the fumes, then blending them with olive oil, garlic and seasonings. Whew! Fortunately, it was yummy, and if you’re not daunted by my description, I definitely recommend you try it. It was completely vegetarian, vegan actually, and after initially joking and saying “Where’s the beef?” he went on to finish it and enjoy it. It’s basically roasted vegetables served over a grain, so you can adapt it however you want, but the seasonings make it special and delicious!
Another idea, this one from Ashley. Since I haven’t, for various reasons, found a way to juice since Monday, I have decided I am only going to juice a couple of times a week and make enough juice to last a few days. It’s not as ideal as having freshly made juice, but it’s still superhealthy and much more practical for a busy mom.
So, here’s a link to the recipe for Winter Vegetable Couscous (or Bulgur). Enjoy!
http://www.bonappetit.com/pdfs/food_lovers_cleanse_meal_plan.pdf
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