Garden Couscous Salad with Grilled Chicken

I made this for my husband's lunches last week.  I kept the chicken/couscous mixture separate from the vegetables and the dressing in small containers, so that each morning before work, he just had to mix the chicken/couscous mixture with the vegetables in a larger container and then keep the dressing separate until right before he ate.  This was a big hit!

Ingredients:

• 2 cup plain couscous
• 4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 medium cucumber, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh scallions, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
• 2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 teaspoon sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 chicken breasts, grilled, chilled, and shredded

Directions:

1. Cook couscous according to the directions on the package; fluff with fork.
2. Combine tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, chives, chicken, and parsley in a large bowl. Fold in couscous.
3. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and sugar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Pour mixture over couscous and vegetables and toss to coat.

Protein Pancakes and Other Deliciousness

Well, as usual, I am always trying to come up with ways to incorporate more protein in to my diet while avoiding protein powders whenever I can.  My old friend Amie gave me a recipe for a protein pancake that turned out just delicious, and I am of course adapting the recipe to make new and exciting versions.

Here is the traditional version:  3/4 cup liquid egg whites, 1/2 cup old fashioned oats, 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed, 1/2 cup blueberries, lots of cinnamon.  Mix it all together, spray a pan with nonstick spray, pour, flip, and eat!

Ridiculously Huge and Ridiculously Filling

Last night, I decided to put a little Fall twist on the protein pancake.  I upped the protein to 1 cup of liquid egg whites, upped the oats to 3/4 cup, added 1/2 c. pureed pumpkin, lots of cinnamon, and 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed.  It was autumnal and delicious.  I didn't photograph the finished product, but here it is while it was cooking

Last Sunday, I spent all day in the kitchen making all kinds of good food for the week.  Now that I have given up my vegetarianism, I'm trying to find ways to make poultry appealing.  Jamie Eason has a recipe for "Turkey Meatloaf Muffins."  This just makes me want to gag on so many levels.  First...meatloaf...ew.  Second....meatloaf in muffin form...double ew.  Nonetheless, these are a great source of protein and easy to eat on the go, so I decided to use the recipe (but use ground chicken instead of turkey) and to make them into patty form instead of muffin form.  They came out really delicious.  Her recipe makes 12 muffins, with a serving being 2.  I made 6 burgers, so still same serving size.  Here is her recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground turkey (or chicken)
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp dry yellow mustard (I didn't have any, so I used 2 tsp. of spicy brown mustard)
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp chipotle pepper spice
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp garlic powder (2 cloves minced)
• 1 small onion (finely chopped)
• 2 celery stalks (finely chopped)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray baking sheet with canola or olive oil.
3. Mix all your ingredients together in one large bowl.
4. Form the mixture into 6 fairly similarly sized patties
5. Bake for 40 minutes.

When I heated these up throughout the week, I put a teaspoon of Lawry's Buffalo Barbeque Sauce on them.  SO GOOD

Many of you may not know this about me, but I ABSOLUTELY DESPISE RAW TOMATOES.  They gross me out beyond anything.  I non-affectionately refer to the disgusting insides as "the goopies" and will not even kiss my fiance if he's had a tomato in the last hour or so.  However, since they happen to be one of his favorites, I suck it up in the name of domesticity and this past weekend, I made him a lovely fresh bruschetta.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium sized roma tomatoes, seeded and diced (REMEMBER TO THROW THE GOOPIES AWAY WHEN MAKING BRUSCHETTA)
• A handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• fresh ground pepper and celtic sea salt to taste
• fresh bread, toasted with a bit of olive oil brushed on top

To go along with the bruschetta, I made him a healthier version of chicken parm using fresh mozzarella (unsalted) and whole wheat bread crumbs, and baking the chicken instead of frying it.  For myself, I used un-breaded chicken, rubbed with garlic and oregano and topped with spinach leaves and fresh mozzarrella.  I served both over pasta

Lastly, I made vegetarian chili this week, similar to the recipes I've posted previously, but this time I added a new ingredient....Textured Vegetable Protein.  I'm still not sure how I feel about it.  It smells kind of like dog food before you add it in to the recipe, and the texture is kind of weird.  I'll try it in other recipes before I make my final decision though.

Well friends, that's all for now.  I think I'm going to try to do weekly posts to summarize the things I make throughout the week.  I find a lot of what I make is repetitive, but we'll see how it goes :)  Happy eating!