Couscous As Chicken Quesadilla

I love chicken quesadillas. The Caliente Cab on East 33rd Street should be my branch office. The problem is that quesadillas are fried, and no one ever kept their girlish figure by eating fried food.

Ever the food pioneer, today I took all the ingredients for a quesadilla and mixed them into my favorite medium, couscous. Just chicken, red peppers, chick peas and scallions. (I wanted cilantro, but it was oddly overpriced at Gristede's.) Then I sprinkled on some lemon juice and shredded cheese and voila! a seriously filling dinner. You can eat it hot or cold. I suppose you could make this with quinoa as well, if you insist on eating that overpriced chicken feed.

By the way, this is not cooking. This is boiling couscous, opening a can of beans and chopping some vegetables. Anyone can do this and it will feed you for at least two meals.

My Couscous Brings All The Boys To The Yard

Couscous came back onto my radar because everyone lately has been raving about quinoa. Quinoa, while great, is terribly overpriced in Manhattan, and I won't pay ten dollars for a bag of grains that Peruvian farmers use to feed their chickens.

Right next to the quinoa on the grocery shelf is couscous, which you can get for much less money.

I'm not into cooking, and yet I don't like processed foods either. Couscous becomes a perfect food since, once prepared -- which take less than ten minutes -- it can be eaten hot or cold. You can toss whatever you want into it and it will always always taste good. If you can make boxed mac and cheese, you can make couscous in the same amount of time.

The bowl above has peanuts, cranberries, pears and lemon juice in it. It was cooked in olive oil. Make yourself some and count all the money you're saving by not buying quinoa.

Source: thekitchn.com via Jillian on Pinterest

This is brand that I get for $1.99 at the Gristede's on 29th Street and Second Avenue. The price varies widely among grocery stores, which is why I'll make the trip for some. Also, right outside Gristede's is a great fruit and veggie cart where I can get fresh ingredients to put into my creation. Red peppers and scallions are solid choices.

A Pinterest Recipe I Actually Made

It's easy to make fun of Pinterest enthusiasts, such as myself, for idly wasting time pinning recipes and projects that you will never actually do.

But tonight -- I made a recipe that I found. And it was awesome.

As with any recipe, it required a bit of improvisation. Anyone who knows me knows that I have little to no interest in cooking, yet I don't like processed, Frankenfood at all. This may explain why hummus is such staple in my diet. I like easy, grab and go food. You will never find me braising anything. Ever.

Quinoa has been having a bit of a moment lately on the food blogs, and perhaps because of this it has become oddly expensive. Instead of quinoa, I made this dish with couscous, and it's great. Also: since I didn't have fresh corn from the cob I inadvertently used creamed corn and it gave the dish a smooth texture without having to use any butter.

I'm eager to see how this tastes after a few hours in the fridge. I have a feeling it may be my new go to recipe for pot lucks.

That said, if you've been randomly pinning recipes, make a few of them. This one took less than 20 minutes to make, prep and all.