 |
| The final product |
Lime Couscous and Cannellini Beans with Salsa Verde
Serves 3
Ingredients
1 cup whole-wheat couscous
1½ cups chicken or vegetable broth
The juice of 1 lime
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¼ cup Italian parsley, finely chopped
1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
¼ of a large yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp dried oregano
2 cups pre-washed baby spinach, loosely packed
9 tbsp organic Mexican cheese blend
Salt and pepper, to taste
For salsa verde:
3 medium-sized tomatillos
½ of a jalapeño pepper, all seeds and membrane removed*
3 tbsp. julienned basil
3 tbsp. chives, finely chopped
The juice of ½ of a lime
Salt and pepper, to taste
 |
| Salsa verde |
*If you have a low tolerance for spice, then add ¼ of a jalapeño to make the salsa milder.
Preparation
1. Finely dice the tomatillos and the jalapeño. Combine them with the rest of the salsa verde ingredients in a small bowl. Adjust seasonings if needed.
2. Bring the chicken/vegetable broth to a boil. Remove from heat and add the couscous. Stir well. Cover and let sit for about ten minutes. If the couscous doesn't absorb the broth in that amount of time, give it a few more minutes. Fluff with a fork and stir in the lime juice, parsley, salt, pepper, and 3 tbsp of the olive oil. Cover again and set aside to keep the couscous warm while you finish the dish.
3. Heat the remaining olive oil on medium-high heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add the garlic and onions. Sautee until the onions are slightly translucent (about three to five minutes). Add the cannellini beans, tomatoes, red bell pepper, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well and sauté for about four minutes, or until tomatoes are soft. Stir in the spinach and sauté until spinach is wilted.
4. To plate, make a bed of couscous for each person. Top with the beans and vegetables. Sprinkle 3 tbsp of Mexican cheese on each plate and top everything with a generous amount of salsa verde. Serve and enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this recipe! I loved making and eating it last night. Please share your recreations with me using #teenscancooktoo!
I'm going to end this post with some thoughts I've been having recently. In English class on Thursday, we read two editorials about why Americans are so obese. I (obviously) was very excited about that activity, because I know so much about the topic and am trying to educate my peers through this blog. Anyway, the editorials basically criticized the government for forcing health upon us and our youth through the health care system, through initiatives to remove junk food from school vending machines, and more. The authors said that they think it all depends on personal choices and lifestyles. Yes, it's sad that so many people are overweight, but let them choose what they want. I happen to disagree with this point. I would say that I'm more in the middle of this argument. I don't agree that forcing kids to eat healthy by taking away their junk food is a good idea. However, I think that we need to educate them to make the right choice and present the healthy options. If they choose the bad ones, that's their problem, but if we get them excited about choosing the healthy snacks, then we've done our job. Forcing people to be healthy in any way will cause them to retaliate, but we can show them that being healthy is tasty and simple, which will hopefully inspire them to choose a better lifestyle. I hope that my blog can inspire kids, teens and adults alike to choose healthy options and cook healthy foods. I'm starting small, but my message branches out more and more every day, and it's because of my awesome readers. So thanks to everyone who reads my blog! I have now reached 200 followers on Instagram and over 100 likes on the Facebook page (yay!), which is great progress if you look at where I was at the beginning of the school year. Please keep up the support so I can reach more kids. Hopefully I'll meet some new milestones before 2013 is over!
And on that note, please follow Teens Can Cook, Too at all the social media handles below! Make sure you like the blog, too; just click the button on the right-hand side and you're done! If you have a Gmail account, a Google+ account, or a YouTube account, then you can follow this blog. It's super easy!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/teenscancooktoo
Instagram: http://instagram.com/teenscancooktoo (@teenscancooktoo)
Stay healthy!
- Madeline
No comments:
Post a Comment