My Israeli Couscous Almandine is a very popular dish for a potluck or large gathering. I designed this salad so that it would stand up to perhaps hours at room temperature—so no ingredients that would wilt, get mushy, or become unsafe to eat. Wife Jan is on the Noom Program, so she objects to dense starchy dishes. To please her, I make a salad that is mostly vegetables and fruit with just a bit of Israeli couscous.
Category Archives: Side Dishes
Karl’s Israeli Couscous Salad with Pine Nuts
My Israeli Couscous Almandine is a very popular dish for a potluck or large gathering. Today, however, I am making it just for the three of us. I cut my recipe in half, simplifies it slightly, and switched out pine nuts for the slivered almonds. Wife Jan is on the Noom Program, so she objects to dense starchy dishes. To please her, I make a salad that is mostly vegetables and fruit with just a bit of Israeli couscous.
Filed under Pasta, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan
Karl’s Israeli Couscous with Toasted Nuts
Adapted from a BBC recipe
I was making a Moroccan goat tagine and couscous is a natural go together with tagines. While regular small grain Moroccan couscous is fine, I prefer the more substantial chew of the larger grained Israeli couscous—which, despite its name, is actually a form of pasta. This dish went well with the goat stew and made a truly memorable dinner.
Filed under Pasta, Side Dishes
Karl’s Sudanese Onion Dinner Salad
When my wife and I watch television we frequently have our show end just a few minutes before we are ready to retire. Short podcasts on YouTube fills in these 20-30 minute gaps. Lately, Beryl Shereshewsky’s podcasts fill this time slot. These are generally short bits on how different countries prepare different ingredients or what foods they eat for various reasons—comfort foods, sandwiches, what to feed sick people, hangover foods, etc. People from around the world send her recipes and video clips and she prepares and eats the ones she has gathered together for each podcast. One recent show was “How the world eats onions.”
Filed under Chicken, Main Dishes, Salads
Karl’s Za’atar Orzo with Spinach and Almonds
When wife Jan went off to Burning Man I wanted to give her some quick, easy, and filling camp foods. Two conditions were that it would cook in a short time and not produce any waste water—throwing old pasta water onto the playa was strictly forbidden. I had settled on the idea of making “box” dishes—like RiceARoni®. A spice packet, pre-measured and mixed ingredients that you just add water to and simmer. My za’atar orzo was very popular with her camp.
Filed under Main Dishes, Pasta, Vegetarian
Karl’s Vegan Israeli Couscous Almandine
Wife Jan is on the Noom Program and I made an Israeli couscous salad packed full of vegetables and fruit for the Fourth of July. It was so popular with my family that wife Jan asked me to make some for her dance in the park potluck this Sunday. Last time, I listed a vegan option for the salad, but Jan thought some of her friends might be vegan, so I made a new, strictly Vegan salad. Of course in my ultimate need not to make the same dish the same way twice in a row, I made some changes.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan
Karl’s Israeli Couscous Almandine
I’m barbecuing a Nevis jerked chicken for the Fourth of July and I wanted some side dishes to go with the heavy meat main dish. With two vegetable dishes—corn and grilled vegetables—decided upon, I needed something with a bit of starch. Wife Jan is on the Noom Program, so she objects to dense starchy dishes. To please her, I chose to make a Israeli couscous salad packed full of vegetables and fruit.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan
Karl’s Za’atar Grilled Vegetables
I’m barbecuing a Nevis jerked chicken for the Fourth of July and I wanted some vegetables side dishes to go with the heavy meat main dish. The women of my family really like grilled squash and tomatoes, but I did not want to use the same Nevis spice blend on the vegetables. For the squash, I decided to use the Middle Eastern spice blend za’atar. To make it Noom friendly I reduced the amount of oil.
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Grilled Chili Corn II
I’m barbecuing a Nevis jerked chicken for the Fourth of July and I wanted some vegetables side dishes to go with the heavy meat main dish. My family really likes grilled corn, but I did not want to use the same Nevis spice blend on the vegetables. For the corn, I chose to use chili powder—kind of a go-together with corn.
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan
Karl’s Grilled Corn Salsa
I am making grilled shrimp tacos, so I thought I would grill some corn to make a grilled corn salsa to go with it. Wife Jan really likes corn salsa and when she logged it into the Noom app after dinner, so does Noom. Everything in the salsa was a “green” food.
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian