Behold, my raw materials

This is what I'm working with this week, in terms of fruits and veggies. Of course I'm filling in the blanks with quality proteins and carbs where applicable.

If I write down what I have to work with, it helps me remember what's lying around and prevents me from finding limp brown celery at the bottom of the crisper in a month. So far, we've only completely crossed off "kale" because I made a batch of my one true love for lunches. The little guy and I made great progress on the green beans, onion, mushrooms, and cucumber tonight, but haven't completely wiped them out yet. Our oven stopped working--it doesn't come up to temperature and smells like gas when it's on--so I'm trying my best to work with stovetop, slow cooker, Foreman grill, and microwave (last resort_ as much as possible. Lucky for me, little man prefers his veggies raw.

Tomorrow I plan to use the celery, remaining bit of onion, carrot, brussels, and last few mushrooms to make chicken noodle soup with some leftover frozen rotisserie chicken. The forecast shows more rain and the potential for my least-favorite weather EVER (hint: it rhymes with NO!) for the next few days, so it'll be a nice addition to the menu.

Got any brilliant ideas for sweet potatoes? My preferred prep is thinly sliced and baked/broiled, but that's obviously out.

Tuna Nicoise Stovetop Casserole

This recipe is one of the first on my "to make" list from the March/April 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine. It looked colorful and easy to make--i.e., very short--and the ingredients are things I usually have lying around anyway. I made it for lunch today because The H is out of town (again, I know!) so he and his fish allergy would not be endangered. I'm nice like that.

Tuna Nicoise Stovetop Casserole

from Clean Eating Magazine

serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups couscous

8 small red potatoes, cut into halves, or 4 large red potatoes, quartered

2 6-oz cans or pouches water-packed tuna

1/2 lb frozen green beans, thawed

1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced

Juice and zest of one lemon

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp white onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced

Sea salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Olive oil cooking spray

Instructions:

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.

2. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil; cook potatoes 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a large bowl, mix tuna, green beans, olives, and potatoes. Add couscous once it is cooked.

3. In a small bowl, whisk lemon juice and zest, Dijon, onion, garlic, vinegar, oil, parsley, salt, and pepper. Pour over tuna-couscous mixture.

4. Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat and spritz with olive oil spray. Saute the tuna-couscous mixture about 5 minutes, or until heated through. Serve immediately.

My changes:

Quinoa for the couscous

Used a rice cooker for the quinoa

Lime instead of lemon

Shallot instead of onion

Doubled the garlic, even though I halved the recipe

Did not mix ingredients in bowl before heating in the skillet

I could have done without the potatoes, or at least made them much smaller. The flavor of the quinoa/beans/olives was fantastic, but getting a mouthful of plain, blah potato kind of killed the moment. Everything else had a delightful, well-rounded flavor and texture.

I'd say this would be good with chicken, or at least without the tuna, but I really think the tuna adds a subtle (very subtle, if you use canned like I did, since it breaks up so small) extra touch that would be missed if you subbed another protein. The magazine lists the cost of this recipe at $10.00 for the whole shebang, which comes out to $1.25 per serving. Not bad, especially for something so flavorful, fresh, and clean. Tell your friends--clean eating doesn't have to be expensive!