Week 5 Mazie

Mazie
Meatless Monday 5
                Today I cooked more than I usually do during the week, but it was well worth it.  I used the Israeli Couscous that I got at Lexington Food CO-OP last week for the base of my main dinner meal.  My dinner was based off a recipe called Company Couscous I found online.  It included couscous, garlic, red bell pepper, olive oil, green onion, and parmesan cheese.  I added a sliced up jalapeño pepper, and some extra red bell pepper and parmesan cheese to the recipe as well.  To make my meal I cooked the couscous and sautéed the peppers, olive oil, green onion and garlic.  To top it all off I mixed it all together topped it with fresh parmesan cheese and a dash of balsamic vinaigrette and baked it for 20 minutes.  I was very happy with how it turned out ( I think my roommates were too!) and I definitely plan to make it again.  Here’s a picture of it below!
                For my other meals today I had plain Greek yogurt with craisins mixed in and two Clementine’s and maple oatmeal for breakfast. And then for lunch I had some pretzel crisps with hummus and a salad of mixed greens, garbanzo beans, Gouda cheese, pepper and Italian dressing.  And my snacks through the day were Clementine’s and strawberries.  Overall, today it wasn’t difficult to not eat meat all day, and my dinner was so good that I didn’t miss meat at all.  I think that I may have spent a little more money today initially because I went out and bought the ingredients for the recipe but I think it will equal out because now I have left over veggies and garlic that I will use throughout the week.  Also, today unlike most of my Meatless Monday’s affected others because I shared my meal I made with two of my roommates.  Today, I learned that it is very rewarding to put more effort into cooking meals and that although there isn’t always time to cook complicated meals it’s worth it when I do have the time.  I can’t wait until next Monday to try another recipe!


2 comments:

  1. Mazie,

    Sounds like you had a very successful Meatless Monday this week! The couscous dish you made looks awesome. I’m not surprised that your roommates loved it! It’s great that you were able to cook for them – maybe they will see how rewarding it is to do Meatless Mondays and they will make an effort too! Also, glad to see I’m not the only one that’s eating multiple clementines throughout the day ☺ I’m happy for you that you felt your efforts taught you that cooking for yourself can totally be worth it. I honestly felt like a completely different person when I started cooking everything and avoiding eating out / eating on the run. I saved a lot of money too. That’s the thing – I used to feel like groceries were so expensive (I still do though, some of foods are definitely still expensive to buy at the grocery store), but once I compared how much I was spending on groceries versus how much I had been throwing away on quick meals and snacks I was shocked! I feel like as students, our money goes a lot farther when we use it the right way to buy lots of groceries that are versatile and healthy. I would love to try that couscous recipe next week! It has all of my favorites in it. I’ll have to try to find it online! If not, maybe I can get the link from you. Anyways, I’m glad you were able to make a successful meal from your co-op purchase! See you in class!

    -Ally

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  2. Mazie,

    I’m so glad to see you incorporated the Israeli couscous along with your meals as well! I was anxious to see what you were going to make since we both bought the same ingredient from the Lexington Co-op. I might have to steal your recipe sometimes since I have left over couscous that I want to use up sometime this week. I’m surprised I didn’t find the Company Couscous recipes online since I searched all over for a perfect recipe, but yours looked great! How good was it with the jalapeno peppers? I’m all for spice but I feel like it would’ve been an odd combination to mix with couscous. Like I said, I’m curious how it tastes so I will have to make your meal ASAP (especially because it had parmesan cheese and balsamic dressing).

    I maybe spent $7-10 over my usual money spent on groceries weekly. However like you said, I did have left over ingredients from the meals that I can definitely use for other meals throughout the week. And you’re right; it is very rewarding to cook something so filling, nutritious, and meatless at the same time! I also envy you for sharing your meal with your roommates. I offered my roommates to eat some (just to try at least) and 2/3 refused to because they thought it was “abnormal looking.” But at least I tried! Can’t wait to see what you make next week, nice job :)

    - Kara

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