Herself's Recipes

1/2 cup cooked, diced mushrooms, I use baby portabella
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup diced, cooked, caramelized onions
1/2 cup diced, cooked red peppers
1/2 cup diced fresh tomato

1 cup couscous
1.5 cups water

Cook the couscous, while you cook your onions, red peppers mushrooms. I use olive oil and toss them each in separate skillets.

Combine the cooked couscous, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and tomato. Stir and let it cool before adding feta.

Serve at room temperature.

Serves 4 as a side dish, 2 as a main dish.

Couscous is made from grains of wheat that are moistened and rolled in dry wheat powder. Buy the larger size couscous that’s sold by itself and I think you’ll find you like it much more.

Couscous is a staple in Northern Africa and also popular in Mediterranean countries.

In some countries couscous is made from barely, millet or corn. So read the label to see what you are buying.

Couscous is made like rice, about 1 part couscous to 1.5 parts water, bring the water to a boil, add couscous and cook until water is absorbed and grains are tender. Usually about 5 minutes.

Pasta Carbonara

1 pound pasta – boil until firm but tender
1 egg
6 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Drain water from pasta when done and return pasta to cooking pot
Stir in the raw egg, cheese, cooked bacon and some bacon drippings from pan.

Serve.

This recipe serves 2-3 the daily fat recommendation for most people is to stay under 65 gms per person. ( Egg 5 gms fat, 6 slices bacon + some drippings ~60 gms, cheese 8 gms Total fat ~ 36->44 gms / serving) ( saturated fat = 6 gms bacon, 2 gms egg, 5 gms for the parmesan for a total of 15 gms for the whole dish, recommended intake per person is less than 20 gms ).

Originally known as coal miner’s spaghetti the carbon from the coal dust gave it a black color, hence carbonara pasta. The name is also claimed by the ‘Carbonara Restaurant’ who claim to have created the recipe.

Unknown before WWII it became a popular favorite until the low fat craze drove it from menus.

I had a dish similar to this at PF Changs, they used honey dew melon and honey crusted walnuts. I prefer it with mangoes and honey crusted pecans.

Sauce:
1 can coconut milk
2 Tablespoons lime juice

Heat over medium heat until reduced and thickened ~ 30 minutes, stir occasionally

Shrimp:
~ 12 good size shrimp ready for cooking
1 Tablespoon lime juice
2 Tablespoons olive oil
minced garlic to taste

Toss it all in a bowl and marinate for an hour before grilling or frying your shrimp

Fruit:
You can use 2 mangoes or ~ 1/3 of a cantaloupe or ~1/3 of a honey dew melon

Cut into 1″ cubes

Nuts:
1 cup honey coated walnuts or pecans

Rice:
1 cup rice + 2 cups water, cook until rice is tender

Combine:
Put rice on plates, top with shrimp, fruit, nuts and then 1/2 of the coconut sauce.

Serves 2
You’ll have enough coconut sauce for two meals.

Coconut trees are in constant bloom, but each coconut takes a year to mature. The Europeans first mention coconuts as food in the mid 1500s. On the Nicobar islands they were used as currency till the early 1900s. So for a while, money really did grow on trees.