Summer has definitely begun for us…though I know not officially on the calendar. The weather is hot, real hot, and the kids are out of school. We have had a busy week visiting with classmates and friends, not leaving me much time for cooking it seems.

Lucky for me, this week’s Barefoot Blogger recipe, chosen by Ellyn of Recipe Collector and Tester, was an easy one. I’m not kidding when I say easy. That’s what I love so much about couscous, it’s ridiculously simple to make and I love flavoring it up by adding veggies, nuts and currants to it…just like Ina did in this recipe.

I made a few adjustments and additions to the original recipe like adding chopped yellow bell pepper and substituting whole wheat couscous. I also decided to leave out the red onion…and as I’m writing this post am realizing that I apparently left out the sliced almonds…oops.

I loved the curry yogurt dressing called for in this recipe…though, next time I will probably double it and use a little extra to keep it from becoming too dry as it sits out. This dish is served at room temperature and would be a great side dish for any barbecue or summer get together.

 

I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy sweet potatoes. They aren’t just for Thanksgiving that’s for sure. We love them roasted or in my family’s favorite quick weeknight meal but grilling them was a fun way to change things up.

Enjoy the recipe and your weekend!

 

I’ll have to admit, when I first saw this recipe as a pick for our Craving Ellie in my Belly group, I was a little hesitant about making it. As much as I love to cook, I have hangups about cooking certain types of food (for example…roasts and anything with yeast!). Curry is not something I am very familiar with, though I know I’ve had a few curry dishes in the past that I absolutely loved. After a little self talking, I convinced myself that this was another great opportunity to cook out of my comfort zone. I get in my share of cooking ruts and know how important it is to for me keep things interesting in the kitchen.

The ingredient list of this recipe is fairly simple, you can most likely find red curry paste in the Asian aisle of your grocery store or easily find curry powder with the spices. I went for the red curry paste. I also used some frozen mahi-mahi that I had on hand.

What a delight!
This dish was so light and tasty, my husband and I really enjoyed it. The flavor combination was perfect, I’m always happy cooking with cilantro and lime!
I will definitely be making it again…
next time will be trying this recipe with some shrimp and a little extra heat!

A big thank you to Liz over at The Not So Skinny Kitchen for choosing a recipe that I might have normally skipped over. Visit her blog along with the other members of CEimB to see their versions and variations of this great recipe!

Cooking Light week continues! See Day 4 here!

This salad is officially a new favorite in my book. I had no idea it would be this good! I made this the other night for dinner for a friend of mine and I. We served it over fresh spinach leaves for a light weeknight dinner and it was perfect. Leftovers for lunch the next day were even better.

The salad was really easy to put together. I had roasted the chicken earlier in the day so that it was ready to be shredded. I also blanched the asparagus at the same time and kept them in the fridge to chill. The dressing was a breeze to throw together – I just love making my own fresh salad dressings. I originally thought about serving this salad over some cold sesame noodles or even in a pita, but the fresh spinach leaves worked out wonderfully to make this a great dinner salad.

Thank you to Kenzie over at Kenzie’s Kitchen for choosing this month’s recipe…go check her out along with the rest of the Ina Garten fans over at Barefoot Bloggers! The Barefoot Bloggers are a group of cookers and bakers brought together to test out the talented Ina Garten’s always fantastic recipes…come join us!

PS…I will be posting my Craving Ellie in my Belly recipe tomorrow…it’s dinner tonight!!

I’m really trying to make it a habit to have more salads for dinner. So far, thanks to the last couple of recipes chosen for the Craving Ellie in my Belly group, I’ve been able to do that. For me the key to a salad is lots of flavor. I can’t feel like a rabbit when I’m eating salad.

This week’s CEimB recipe is Buffalo Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing and was chosen by AJM of You Eat Now. It was really a nice weeknight recipe, the chicken cooks up quickly under the broiler and the salad dressing was whipped up in no time. We are big fans of buffalo chicken in our house so this was a great way to get our “hot wing” fix in a much healthier way.

The recipe calls for simply tossing the uncooked chicken strips in your favorite hot sauce (Frank’s is the way to go!). I decided to add another layer of flavor to the chicken by marinating it with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and chili powders before adding the hot sauce. Also, since we like it really hot, I tossed the broiled chicken in more hot sauce before topping it on the salad. I wasn’t sure if it would be filling enough for my husband, but he seemed pretty satisfied and said it was great. Oh…and I thought the dressing was really yummy. I poured all the ingredients in a small mason jar and just gave it a few shakes…and voila, homemade blue cheese dressing.

We had a pretty lazy New Year’s. I felt the urge to clean, and also nap. Lucky for us, the kids let us nap by taking a good long one of their own. Tomorrow though…I am hitting the gym, hard.

Dinner tonight was awesome. My neighbor told me about this shrimp recipe a couple of months ago and I couldn’t wait to make it. You gotta love the name too. The shrimp marinated in a mixture of garlic, cilantro, jalapenos, green onions, lime juice and olive oil, then were grilled.

Oh my…my year could not have started any better.