Two nights in my kitchen

Oh, readers.

As many of you know, the road to my kitchen is paved with good intentions, tears and the smell of burning.

(I promise I will share the pesto story soon, Metacognitive Musings.)

So when I announced last week that I intended to make something with artichokes over the weekend, I absolutely intended to do that. And you responded with encouragement and some truly amazing- and scary-looking recipes, most of which required me to work with actual, whole artichokes.

Friends, I'm a wuss.

So my first confession is that I drifted RIGHT by the produce section and snagged a jar of marinated artichoke hearts. But even if it's cheating, I'm still trying something new, right?

And then I found this recipe on CookingLight.com:

And I thought, "Perfect! It sounds easy, it includes nothing but things I like, it's relatively healthy..."

So. Sunday was the day. We spent the morning and early afternoon lounging around, then at 6:30 (when it finally dropped below 90 degrees) I realized my flowerbeds were in desperate need of weeding... Two and a half hours later, dirty and exhausted, I realized I didn't have any feta cheese. So I collapsed on the floor and whined until T made me a Lean Cuisine.

Yesterday at work, I felt guilty all day. Here I promised all two of you who read this blog a triumphant recipe reveal! So I left work, hit Le Krog and snagged the requisite feta.

And it was ON.

Then I realized, as I do EVERY TIME I COOK ANYTHING, that I was still missing a few things because I hadn't read the recipe closely enough:

• Israeli couscous (substitute: regular old Near East couscous; this one wasn't as tragic, as the larger Israeli couscous looked like dried tapioca and/or fish eggs and kind of creeped me out)
• Vegetable broth (substitute: chicken broth; there's already chicken in it, no bigs, right?)
• Two jars of artichoke hearts (substitute: one jar of artichoke hearts; I briefly considered halving the entire recipe, but then I remembered who I was and that this would involve math)
• Not onions (substitute: onions; for some reason I thought there were onions in this recipe, and then I didn't want to waste the ones T had already lovingly chopped for me)

It all looked so innocent, just sitting there on my counter:


Something else I didn't anticipate -- sundried tomatoes need to be rehydrated. If you think this should be a no-brainer, you're probably right -- especially because it's STEP ONE OF THE RECIPE I had sitting RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I somehow missed it and had to stop sauteing the onions.

Yes, I sauteed the onions that weren't supposed to be there. And then, in a fit of inspiration (otherwise known as "where things usually go awry"), I sauteed them and the chicken in the marinade from the jar of artichoke hearts, chopped up the hearts themselves and threw them in the pan for good measure. Sure! Why not?

So. Tomatoes: Rehydrated. Parsley: Harvested from my herb garden (yay!) and chopped. Onions, artichokes and chicken: Sauteed, apparently. Couscous: Couscoused. Feta: Feta-y.

Mix all, say a little prayer and serve:


T came to the table while I was eating (he would eat NOTHING in this recipe except maybe the chicken and onions):

T: "So? Good?" (He's a man of few words.)

WP: "The fact that I'm eating it with a serving spoon should tell you all you need to know."

It was, in fact, sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

For once, my kitchen "innovation" (and apparent lack of attention to detail) paid off!

Next up (well, sometime): WP tries to stuff...something. Probably chicken breasts. Stay tuned. I'm sure it'll be a disaster.

Artichoke recipes: You gots 'em? I wants 'em.

I'm tired of staring longingly at these beauts in the produce section, blushing and then running away quickly because I have NO idea what to do with them.

I mean...this thing is gorgeous, green and pointy, but...it doesn't look edible, people. I've had artichoke hearts, of course, and I hear tell you can do...something...with the leaves, but for the life of me I couldn't tell you what.

And I certainly, in all my kitchen-challenged glory, have never tried to do anything with them myself. Not even the old standby spinach-artichoke dip.

Now is the time. I'm facing my fears. This weekend? I'm trying to make something with artichokes. And I want to make one of your recipes.

The rules:

• It has to include artichokes (duh), either fresh whole ones or canned hearts (the latter is probably cheating, but...baby steps)
• It can't include celery (Why would an artichoke recipe include celery? I don't know. But if there are any, I shan't be making them. Celery tastes like crying)
• It can't be too complicated (due to aforementioned kitchen-challenged-ness; this includes any recipes that require me to strain anything through a cheesecloth and/or use a candy thermometer)

Got a recipe? Lay it on me. I'll post pictures of the results (and any limbs lost in the process) next week.

Have a great weekend, y'all!

Uber-quick and easy recipe. Also, hi!

I'm working my way back to the idea of blogging regularly (work has become more manageable, so now it's just getting out of the mindset of Not! One! More! Thing!), so I figured I'd start out small with a quick recipe that I have been eating the hell out of recently.

I love black beans. I love couscous. I love spicy. Three great tastes that go great together.

I know a lot of people love couscous either cold or at room temperature. To me, this makes it seem as though I am eating dirt. So I always eat couscous hot. You, however, are welcome to eat this at whatever temperature you like (but you HAVE to eat it. Oh, all right, no you don't). And, it's pretty darn healthy, so you know. Added bonus.

(This is also great for those "Oh, crap, it's time for dinner and I have nothing in the house" nights, because I always seem to have a couple cans of beans and a box of couscous lying around.)

Shannon's Spicy Black Bean Couscous

• 2 cans black beans (you can soak (and soak and soak) dry beans if you want, but I lose patience with this quickly)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 red pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• Spices to taste (I use cayenne pepper and a teensy pinch of garlic salt)
• 1 box whole wheat couscous

Prepare the couscous and set it aside (but don't forget that whole fluffing-it-with-a-fork thing. I learned this the hard way when one batch took on the shape of the pot it was cooked in and refused to relent).

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion, red pepper and garlic with the spices.

Add the black beans to the skillet and cook for five minutes or so, to allow all the spicy goodness to cook in.

Dump the (fluffed) couscous into a large bowl (or storage container, if you aren't eating it immediately) and stir in the black bean mixture.

Eat or store. Or both. Makes a TON (at least 6 servings).

YUM.