After getting back my last cholesterol test, I've decided to go vegetarian Monday through Thursday for lunch at work. So I've been scouting out recipes and just making some things up as I go along. The scary thing is that I think I've doubled my protein intake by going vegetarian. Each week, I'm putting together a new dish that I'm taking in to eat for those 4 days.
Week One: I had wheat couscous with great northern beans, light red kidney beans, and zucchini sauteed in olive oil with black pepper. It was incredibly simple and quick to make. I think dicing the zucchini took the longest.
1 box of Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Wheat Couscous
1 can Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Light Red Kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 zucchini
2 tsp olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper
Prepare couscous according to box directions. It takes about 5 minutes total. Wash and dice the zucchini. Add olive oil to skillet over medium high heat and toss in zucchini. Crack pepper over zucchini and saute until preferred doneness. I like mine still a little crispy since they'll soften in the leftovers. When the zucchini is done, toss everything together in a container with a lid. It's good warm or cold and will keep for several days.
Week Two: I tried a Giada de Laurentis recipe from the Food Network for the second week. It was Zucchini and Garbanzo bean salad (the picture with the recipe is the wrong one). I served it with a hunk of pumpernickel each time that I had gotten from the Publix bakery. Bless the Publix bakery. They make some damned fine eats. The salad was light and tasty but started to go off by the third day so I'm not going to plan on it for 4 days of eating again.
Week Three: This is the current week. I had leftovers of chicken fried rice from Sunday for the first night but beyond that I have Roasted Sweet Potato and Carrot couscous. I made this one up because I haven't been finding good zucchini at the store. Sweet potatoes are in season though and I love them as much as I do zucchini. Uncooked sweet potatoes would have been unappetizing so I decided to go with roasting.
1 box Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil couscous
2 small sweet potatoes
3 carrots
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 can Great Northern beans
1 can Light Red Kidney beans
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the couscous according to box directions.
Peel and chop the sweet potatoes and carrots into similar sized pieced to ensure even cooking. Place the pieces on a foil lined cookie sheet (hey, I like easy clean up). Drizzle the olive oil over the carrots and sweet potatoes and then sprinkle on the cinnamon and coriander. Toss to coat. Bake for about 10 minutes with regular checks for doneness stirring once in the middle of baking.
Once you pull the sweet potatoes and carrots out of the oven, toss them with the couscous and beans. It's gotten rave reviews both warm and cold. I'm thinking of taking it to our Halloween luncheon at work next week because of that.
Hopefully when I have new blood work done before Thanksgiving, all this will have made a difference. At the very least, it should make a difference in my waistline. If you've got any suggestions for quick, high protein and fiber vegetarian dishes that are good as leftovers, I'm all ears.