Three Recipes, One Day

Friday was a very ambitious day as far as cooking is concerned.  With school starting soon, and a dinner party coming up, I was dying to try out a few recipes while I still had so much time on my hands.

I started out making a Mediterranean Couscous Salad   which included chickpeas, tomatoes, green onions, and feta.  It tasted entirely Mediterranean from the red wine vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil tossed in at the end.  After a few bites of that, I fancied myself a very good cook indeed.  Even though it was super simple to make, I never would have come up with it on my own, or would have risked trying it if not for previous successes with CL recipes.  It will go on my list of school lunch staples.

Next, I made a Roasted Banana Pudding for Wine & Dine on Saturday.  It was mentioned in the magazine that it is better the next day when the cookies have softened and soaked up all of the flavors.  This recipe I was especially nervous about.  I've never made a custard before, and I really wasn't sure how I'd like the banana part of the banana pudding.  But the pictures in CL looked amazing, and I love banana bread so I went for it!  Plus, Wine & Dine provided me with an audience to test it out on.

From what I understand, the secret to making it "light" is roasting the bananas which makes them sweeter so in turn you can reduce the amount of sugar you add to the recipe.  Plus using 2% milk instead of whipping cream, and using fat-free CoolWhip instead of regular.  The result was amazing beyond expectation.  I waited a few hours before I took my first nervous bite, then exclaimed to Bryann, "Ohmygod you HAVE to try this!" His bite was just as nervous as mine, but he loved it.  The entire desert didn't make it all the way to Wine & Dine...  We may have eaten a third of it after dinner that night!

Which brings me to dinner.  I made Spanish Pork with Apple-Citrus Salsa for Bryann, John, and myself.  I had Bryann do some grocery shopping for me on his way home from work so I could make dinner.  I asked for green apples thinking he'd bring a couple home.  He brought a full 10-lb. bag...  Now I'm going to have to make apple pie in order to use them all!

The pork and apple salsa was pretty good.  John liked it a little better than I do because he's a green apple fanatic.  But the apple paired really well with the pork, so I've been inspired to try thet apple stuffed pork recipe I found.  When I served dinner, I made a nice presentation of a slice of pork covered in the apple salsa that ran across the plate, but when Bryann received his dinner he said "This is it?  Where's the potatoes? Where's the rice? What about bread?"  He's not quite used to low-carb dinners with sensible portions, but he's getting better about recognizing when he's full and not just eating food because it's in front of him.  He ate his dinner, made yum sounds while eating, and even left a few bites on his plate (which John gobbled up immediately.)

Then we dug into the banana pudding... we couldn't help ourselves!!  It got good reviews from my friends at Wine & Dine, too. I'm looking forward to another occasion/excuse to make it already!