Couscous - five mistakes to avoid

Perhaps it is because I haven't eaten lunch yet but I am hungry and found this link to couscous.  I love the stuff.  Here are five things to avoid when cooking with it.

http://shine.yahoo.com/shine-food/5-couscous-cooking-mistakes-avoid-170800355.html

Heart Healthy Walnut Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

It's been awhile since I have posted a recipe so thought I'd post a Heart Healthy chocolate cookie recipe.  Since Tony died from a heart attack and was waiting for bypass surgery, it seems like a good time to post it.  Actually I am just posting the nutritionals for it and the link on where to find it.  It is from another blog site so this way you can check out what else they have.

Nutrition Information:
Calories 132.7
Calories from Fat 63 47%
Total Fat 7.0 g 10%
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Potassium 113.8 mg 3%
Saturated Fat 0.6 g 3%
Sodium 123.3 mg 5%
Magnesium 37.5 mg 1%
Monounsaturated Fat 1.6 g 8%
Total Carbohydrate 16.1 g 5%
Polyunsaturated Fat 4.2 g 21%
Dietary Fiber 1.6 g 6%
Trans Fat 0.0 g 0%
Sugars 7.5 g 30% (Use Splenda, sugar is cut down to 4.9g)
Protein 2.8 g 5%

http://www.themotherhuddle.com/heart-healthy-walnut-chocolate-chip-oat-cookies/ 

Pasta Fagioli Soup Mix Recipe

Photo by: Taste of Home Pasta Fagioli Soup Mix Recipe

100% would make again

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This meatless soup is both economical and flavorful. Church groups could buy the ingredients in bulk and assemble mixes to give to shut-ins.—Taste of Home Test Kitchen

This recipe is:

Diabetic Friendly

1

• 14 Servings
• Prep: 20 min. + soaking Cook: 1-3/4 hours

20 105 125

Ingredients

• 1 cup small pasta shells
• 3/4 cup dried great northern beans
• 3/4 cup dried pinto beans
• 3/4 cup dried kidney beans
• 1/4 cup dried minced onion
• 3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried minced garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• Dash crushed red pepper flakes
• 
  ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS:
• 14 cups water, divided
• 1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions

• Place pasta in a small resealable plastic bag; place in a 1-qt. glass jar. Layer with beans. Place seasonings in another plastic bag; place in jar. Cover and store in a cool dry place for up to 3 months. Yield: 1 batch.
• To prepare soup: Remove seasoning packet from jar. Remove beans; sort and rinse. Set pasta aside.
• Place beans in a Dutch oven; add 6 cups water. Bring to a boil; boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; cover and let stand for 1 to 4 hours or until beans are softened. Drain and discard liquid.
• Return beans to the pan. Add contents of seasoning packet and remaining water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour or until beans are tender. Add the tomatoes, carrots, celery and salt; cover and simmer 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in pasta. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes or until pasta and carrots are tender, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf before serving. Garnish with cheese if desired. Yield: 14 servings (3-1/2 quarts).

Nutrition Facts: 1 cup (calculated without cheese) equals 148 calories, trace fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 256 mg sodium, 29 g carbohydrate, 7 g fiber, 8 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1-1/2 starch, 1 lean meat, 1 vegetable.

Originally published as Pasta Fagioli Soup Mix in Taste of Home Christmas Annual Annual 2009, p105

Cooking Dried Beans

When cooking dried navy or lima beans in a recipe with tomatoes, the acidity of the tomatoes slows down the cooking of dry beans. So tomato or tomato products should be added after the beans are nearly tender. Salt can also inhibit the cooking and should be added at the same time as the tomatoes.

sesame chicken couscous salad

This looked and sounded good to me.

sesame chicken couscous salad

1 1/2 cups reduce sodium chicken broth
3 teaspoons reduced sodium soy sauce, divided
2 teaspoons teaspoons sesame oil, divided
1 cup uncooked couscous
2 green onions, sliced
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen sugar snap peas
3/4 cup fresh broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 large sweet re pepper, chopped
3/4 cup diced zucchini
2 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 tablespoon apple juice concentrate
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons sliveredmonds, toasted
2 teaspoons sesame seeds, toasted

In a saucepan, combine the broth, 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sesame oil; bring to a boil.  Stir in the couscous.  Cover and remove from the heat.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork.  Stir in green onions.  Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Place pea pods in a steamer basket in a saucepan over 1 in of water; bring to a boil.  Cover and steam for 1 minute.  Add broccoli; cover and steam 2 minutes longer or until crisp-tender.  Rinse in cold water; drain.  Transfer to a serving bowl; add chicken, red pepper and zucchini.

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the vinegar, apple juice concentrate, water, canola oil, ginger, pepper and remaining soy sauce and sesame oil.  Shake well.  Pour over chicken mixture and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chilled.  Serve over couscous.  Spring with almonds and sesame seeds.

Yields 4 servings
Nutrition facts:
1 cup chicken mixture with 3/4 cup couscous equals:

382 calories
9 g fat (1 g sat fat)
45 mg cholesterol
451 mg sodium
45 g carb
6 g fiber
26 g protein

Diabetic exchanges:  3 lean meat, 2 starch, 2 veg

from The Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.

PS:  I think with careful planning you might be able to reduce that sodium content. You could at least reduce the chicken broth content.  :)

Pear Honey Cranberry Sauce

PEAR HONEY CRANBERRY SAUCE

 

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

2 pears, peeled, cored, and diced

12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup honey

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

 

1.  Stir together water and sugar over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.

2.  Stir in pears, and reduce heat to medium. 

3.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes.

4.  Stir in cranberries and honey. 

5.  Cook until cranberries pop and mixture thickens slightly (roughly 5 minutes).

6.  Remove from heat and add lemon and lemon peel.

7.  Cool to room temperature.  Can be stored in refrigerator for up to one week.

7 stress busters

Everybody has stress and with the holidays coming up more and more stress seems to be threatening to overwhelm us.  Eat Well had 7 Stress Bsuters

1.   Inhale lavender

2.  Cut into a coconut - the scent of coconut may reduce your natural fight or flight response.  It might help to slow your heart rate.

3.  The smell of green apples is said to help alleviate headaches.

4.  Drinking caffeinated black, green or oolong tea.  It is suppose to improve attention and focus.  They say five to six 8 oz. cups of tea daily.

5.  Peppermint is suppose to stop the urge to overdo it.  If you're like my friend Shelley and allergic to it...this one isn't for you.  The article said that everyone who "wafted" (who uses that word anymore?) peppermint oil under their nose every two hours rated their hunger level lower, experienced fewer cravings and ate significantly less.  Who has time to do this every two hours?!

6.  Chocolate!  Yep it's back.  Eating dark chocolate can help reduce levels of cortisol and hormones associated with stress.

7.  Eat carbs can stimulate the release of serotonin which is the feel good brain chemical.  Woo hoo!  I like carbs.  Of course they want you to opt for whole grains (quinoa and oatmeal for instance) so that you get more fiber and nutrients.

Chocolate

In the current issue of Eating Well there is an article about "Is Chocoalte a Cure-All?  I would say no because while I like chocoalte I'm not one of the women who go ga ga over it.  Give me meat and/or potatoes over it any day.

They did have some cute facts though.  According to them 60% of women ranked chocolate as the most smile-worthy experience edging out other people smiling and loved one.  Men's top picks were a Sunday roast.  YAY.  I vote with men this time.

It is also suppose to help you see better.  In fact if people have trouble seeing movement and direction of movement at night it might be improved with some dark chocolate (over time of course).

The third thing it said was that it's a diet food.  Now mind you the "preliminary findings" were from Hershey (can we say a biased point of view?).  Hershey research says that natural cocoa has more flavanols than dutch processed cocoa which may prevent some fats and starches in other foods from being absorbed. 

So the recipe they give for making your own cocoa is:

Combine 1 tablespoon natural cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon sugar in a mug.  Swril in 1 cup steaming low fat milk.  Spice it up with an add in. 

Possible add ins:

orange peel and ground coves
ground cardamon and vanilla
chili pwder and cinnamon

I might have to check it out.  Not sure on the cardamon part but vanilla sounds good.