Kofta Kebabs over Blueberry Mint Couscous

Page 269 – Kofta Kebabs over Blueberry Mint Couscous

Alterations: Brushed olive oil on kebabs rather than spraying grill. Less oregano. Doubled blueberries.

The Boy

Rating: 4 cracked pipes

Assessment: Really love the meatballs, but not a fan of the blueberry mint couscous. If rating separately, meatballs would be a seven and couscous a two overall, a four without blueberries.  Kebab meat reminds him of taco meat. Meat could be a little juicer. Mostly blueberries that make couscous undesirable. 

Ideas for Next Time:  More olive oil, everywhere. Take out mint.  Try lemon juice instead of lemon zest.

The Step-Mama

Rating: 6 stars, delicious goodness. Would eat once a month.

Assessment: Lamb is one of my favorite meats, worked well with the dill. The couscous was a little bland for me, although I loved the blueberries, olive oil, mint and lemon zest flavors together.

Ideas for Next Time: Use metal skewers so that the wooden ones don’t burn and have to be extracted from the meats. (And yes, I soaked them. Ri said “We may as well have soaked them in kerosene.”) Add orange zest to couscous, along with some orange juice in the cooking liquid to give it more depth. Replace cumin in kebab mixture with Greek seasoning. 

Guest Reviewer (ShonnaPants)

Rating: Enthusiastic two thumbs up – very good

Assessment: Couscous and lamb complement each other well since the lamb has such a bold flavor and the couscous has a milder flavor. Loved the couscous a lot, did not think it bland. Combination of lemon and mint was almost like a mojito. Sweetness of blueberries was good because it added contrast to tart lemon.

Ideas for Next Time: Add feta cheese in the kebab mixture or couscous mixture.

 

(It was so pretty before I dumped the couscous on the top that I had to take a picture.)

(Riley was making fun of my plating, so he added a carnation to prove his point. But his plan backfired when I took the picture anyway because it looked so very, very pretty.)

Bolognese Sauce with Bacon and Fennel

Page 45 – Bolognese Sauce with Bacon and Fennel

Alterations: Mixed ricotta cheese into sauce rather than putting it on the top of the noodles. Used regular fettuccine noodles rather than whole wheat. Used real bacon instead of abomination that is bacon flavored turkey. Added one more slice of real bacon because there is no such thing as too much. Added an additional garlic clove. Sprinkled with Parmesan in addition to mint.

The Boy

Rating: Seven crack pipes

Assessment: Likes the taste and the noodles. “It’s just good”, like a sweeter, less tomato-y spaghetti. 

Ideas for Next Time: No to sprinkling fresh mint on top. Use tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes to avoid chunks of tomatoes. Add broccoli. Use egg noodles instead of fettuccine.

The Step-Mama

Rating: 4 stars, would make again upon request

Assessment: Tasty, much better than regular red sauce and almost as easy to make as dumping a jar of red sauce into a pan to heat up. Loves the freshness the mint added over the smoky flavor of the bacon.

Ideas for Next Time: Cook bacon first to make crisp (instead of putting ground beef in first). Do not mix in ricotta, but add dollop on top instead.  

Spiced Chicken with Spinach – Almond Couscous

Page 144 – Spiced Chicken with Spinach – Almond Couscous

Alterations:  We regular couscous instead of spinach couscous & chicken breast instead of chicken thighs.

The Boy

Rating: Five pipes worth of crack

Assessment:  Orange flavor was just right. 

Ideas for Next Time:  More couscous, no raisins, replace peppers with small chunks of tomatoes.

The Step-Mama

Rating: 7 stars, would eat once a week

Assessment:  Loved the complexity of the flavors together, golden raisins made it perfect.  Yummy in my tummy.

Ideas for Next Time:  Would prefer this with tofu so that I could reheat the leftovers without having to pick chicken out (because leftover chicken is icky).  Other than that, I would leave it exactly as is.  

The Setup

Riley and I are cooking through the Weight Watchers One Pot cookbook together and decided that we should chronicle our progress, rejoice in our delicious success and document our miserable failures for prosperity.  

So...here we go!