Greek-Style Stew over Couscous

What? A new post? YEP!

I am feeling better most days now...baby is giving mommy a bit of a rest.

I've been in the mood to cook real meals...and not just something frozen. We are sitting as a family at the table again, I didn't realize how much I missed that! Cooper has started getting stubborn with his eating and I am convinced it's because we haven't been sitting at the table. We'll see how he starts doing now.

The first recipe I tried that was blog worthy was this Greek-style stew. It was good and very good for us! It's also super quick, 10-15 minutes. We had ours over plain couscous but it could be served over rice or orzo.

Anyway...hope you enjoy it!

And yes...it's in a paper bowl...I didn't think about that until after we ate. Oh pregnancy brain.

Greek-Style Stew over Couscous

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 can diced tomatoes with onions and garlic

1 cup water

1/8 tsp or more to taste cayenne pepper

1 bag baby fresh baby spinach

2 cups cooked couscous

feta cheese

Combine chickpeas, tomatoes, water and cayenne in a pot and bring to a low boil. Pour bag of spinach over the top and cover to wilt. Stir into mixture and continue to heat until spinach is wilted completely and mixture is hot. 

Serve over couscous topped with feta!

Dig in!

Mandy Pie's Sew Cute

Good Monday Afternoon!

I was feeling motivated to this morning so I decided to break out the sewing machine and finish up a few projects for my Etsy shop.

I am small time still....only had about a dozen orders. I was going full force with it until January, and we got busy life got in the way etc. And then the great sickness of this pregnancy hit. Yada yada. So now I'm back. I wanted to share..ok pimp out...a few of my creations with you today...

Holy Crap on a Cracker and Thugs

So I stopped on by at 6AM to share my new favorite food site with you, cuz momma still doesn't feel like cookin' new things and I also have had a continuous sink full of dishes. Anyway. I had 30 page views yesterday...and I'm not even posting. To me, that's a lot. I am a small blog. Anyway.

I came across this website this morning...it's awesome. I love it. You'll love it. It seems to be vegetarian. If the cuss words offend you, stay away. :)

http://thugkitchen.com

Big News...

I know I have been absent for a very long time. Well...there's a reason...

I know it's not the best picture...but you get what's happening. :)

That's our new baby! Due late January 2014! This pregnancy has been SUPER rough. I've been really sick. I am in my 2nd trimester and I am still experiencing crazy nausea so the thought of looking at food and taking pictures of it and blogging about food or pinteresting food...isn't fun. I've been living off of potatoes or whatever else sounds ok at that moment. OH it's not fun. I am hoping it goes away soon. The doctor gave me a couple of prescriptions to try to help, but it's hit or miss. :(

And gardening has even been out of the question....and it doesn't even matter anyway, the raccoon's keep eating everything that grows! About 10 tomatoes, an eggplant an who knows what else..sigh. 

Anyway, I am hoping to be back soon! I'm still getting a lot of page views, so welcome! I hope you enjoy what's here!

Until next time....

Andrea

We currently have a tropical storm over us. Her name is Andrea. She's really raining down. My poor boy is so stir crazy. It's been rainy all week so he's had NO outside time. Bless his little energetic bored heart.

We do have some tornado watches going on and some possible lightning later today. OH..and the flooding. We live on the down side of our street so all of the rain runs into our yard...but LUCKILY..we have excellent drainage in our 1950's neighborhood. We have a drainage canal behind our house and really does it's job. It's full right now and rushing like a heavy river. Where's my raft...?

Tex-Mex Quinoa and Shrimp Salad

My little container garden has grown since the last time I shared pictures. There are now 5 or 6 tomato plants, 2 bell pepper, a zucchini, eggplant and several herbs.

These pictures were taken last week and everything is twice the size now. We've had a lot of rain lately and I am sure that's helped!

Now onto today's recipe...

This was SO good. SO SO good. 

The most 'complicated' part to me was precooking and chilling the quinoa. It took forever to chill the quinoa..we were hungry. 

Tex-Mex Quinoa Shrimp Salad

Dressing:

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/3 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon honey

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad:

1 tomato, chopped and seeded

1 1/2 cups (1 can) cooked black beans, drained and rinsed if canned

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa

1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed

1/4 cup crumbled feta

1/4 cup shredded fiesta style cheese

2 Haas avocados, diced

1/2 pound peeled, deveined and cooked shrimp (I sauteed mine in live oil and little bit of Cajun seasoning)

Whisk together garlic, salt, pepper, sour cream, lime juice, vinegar and honey. Now whisk in olive oil until well incorporated. 

In a large bowl, combine tomato, beans, quinoa, corn, feta, shredded cheese and shrimp. Mix in dressing and chill for 2 hours. Before serving, mix in diced avocados. 

Dig in!!

PS...this makes A LOT!

Ranch Potato Salad

We had a fun little picnic last night at a park with my brother and grandparents. Coop LOVES having a picnic at the park. He'll talk about it for days before and after.



I made a couple classics and a new recipe for our meal.

Black eyed pea salad, cucumber sandwiches, creamy crunchy coleslaw and Ranch House potato salad. Everyone always goes nuts over the coleslaw. The potato salad was super easy. The hardest part is just peeling the potatoes for me. I do not like peeling potatoes!

Enjoy!

Ranch House Potato Salad

2 pounds white potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup Ranch dressing, or a little more if your potatoes seem dry

2 to 3 green onions, green and white parts, sliced

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup bacon bits or real bacon if that's your thang

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

Boil potatoes until tender. Drain and cool for 5 minutes. 

Mix with Ranch, green onions, bacon and cheddar.

This is really good served hot or cold!

Dig in!