Hey-o! I know this week will be filled with lots of turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes but before I go into a food coma, I wanted to get some cooking in.
This week’s recipe: Mediterranean Chicken Couscous from Myrecipes.com.
And then I realized as I was writing this post that I didn’t even use the right grain with this recipe. It called for couscous and I made it with quinoa, my new default grain. Clearly, I’m losing my mind.
But in spite of this fail, here’s how it turned out:
When I look at this, the phrase “grain fail” runs through my head
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 cups low-sodium fat-free chicken broth
- 1 (5.6-ounce) package toasted pine nut couscous mix
- 3 cups chopped cooked chicken
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1 (4-ounce) package crumbled feta cheese
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Preparation:
Heat broth and seasoning packet from couscous in the microwave on HIGH for 3 to 5 minutes or until broth begins to boil. Place couscous in a large bowl, and stir in broth mixture. Cover and let stand 5 minutes.
Fluff couscous with a fork; stir in chicken and next 6 ingredients. Serve warm or cold. Garnish, if desired.
Verdict: Holy h*ll this is TASTY (even with quinoa.) I added some spice to the chicken and combined with the quinoa and lemon juice, it just had SUCH a nice flavor. The Feta cheese was great too. Now, the quinoa did get a little clumpy on the chicken and Feta, but it was still really tasty. I used fresh basil from my plant too and it was even better. Just don’t over do it, like I did :) I would definitely make this again (with the right grain) and add some pine nuts for extra flavor too. Overall, two thumbs up!
What are you cooking this week before the big Thanksgiving feast?
Looks excellent. I’m not really cooking before Thanksgiving day. Ane even that day, its a toss up whether I’ll get me some turkey or not :)
yum this sounds great! I want to make it and add olives! Quinoa has more protein than cous cous anyways so that was a legit substitution :)
Yep, definitely making that for dinner tonight! I can’t WAIT!!! Thank you for sharing!
if i’m not mistaken, quinoa is quite healthy anyway, so go you!! Ellie Krieger has a new(er) cookbook out called So Easy and she has several easy, healthy quinoa recipes in there.
This is so not a fail! Now you’re REALLY a cook (as opposed to just following recipes word-for-word). It’s important to be able to take an idea (a recipe) and make it how you want and with the ingredients you have on hand (ex sub couscous for quinoa etc.) Recipes are infinitely adaptable and this looks YUM!
This sounds great. I definitely need to try it. I’ve already started preparing for Thanksgiving. I put a few pies together tonight and stuck them in the freezer. For dinner, I’m going with simple things like sandwiches or cereal.