The Biggest Meal Ever!

Okay, it really isn't the biggest meal I've ever eaten, but it was fairly substantial. Regardless of its size, it was healthful and I am, therefore, void of any gluttonous guilt. What was this dish you ask? It was a Mediterranean feast fit for Zeus himself. A bed of spinach topped with falafel accompanied with baba ganoush. The side dishes were a fresh fruit salad and a fenugreek-curried couscous with pistachios and cranberries. It was extremely filling and filled me with beans, nuts, seeds, fruit and vegetables. It was low in fat as well! Here is a quick recipe for the couscous:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup couscous
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp fenugreek
• 1/2 tsp curry
• 1 tsp cumin, ground
• 2-3 tbsp dried cranberries
• 2 tbsp chopped pistachios
• salt (if needed)

Directions:

1. Bring to a boil in a medium saucepan the water, oil, spices and cranberries. 
2. Once to a boil, add the couscous.
3. Stir until well incorporated.
4. Take off heat, cover, and let sit for five minutes.
5. Stir in pistachios (they are salty and therefore should be used as the salt component, if not salty enough add some extra to taste).

Voila! Look how easy that was. A couple of simple ingredients and literally a 6-minute dish. And there are plenty of leftovers in order to have a quick lunch tomorrow.

As a dessert, I made a blueberry-peach crumble topped with an a praline almond ice cream. It is a perfect match for the cooling weather. Lately, there have been some beautiful peaches on sale at the grocery store. As an impulse-buy, I picked up a couple of peaches. I, however, had no idea what I was going to do with them. So, I picked up a pint of blueberries to go along with them. And then it struck me, it's getting cooler, why not make a crumble? I mean, it's easier than a pie, that's for sure. So, I made a quick crumb topping with some brown rice flour, brown sugar, oats, coconut, cinnamon and a small amount of oil. I baked it off for 40 minutes and then served it with Almond Dream Praline "Ice Cream". 

Tonight, for the first time in years, I am going to be eating popcorn!! I have not eaten popcorn since I've became a vegan. I could never find any that didn't have butter. Well, to be honest, I never looked hard enough, it was only when other people had popcorn that I could not have any. I recently came across whole-grain, low-sodium, butter-free popcorn. So, I decided to grab it up. Of course, I can't be as simple as just popping a bag (I'll leave that for later). I decided to make scratch-made vegan caramel corn. Again, I couldn't be simple and just make normal caramel corn. I had to make cardamom-spiced caramel corn with toasted coconut. It turned out great. Now, I have to really test it out with a bowl of my middle-east inspired caramel corn and a good movie. So, let me get a-watchin'!

I hope you enjoyed the dishes that satisfied la lengua de un vegan. Watch out for another post tomorrow. I have an original dinner planned. Hopefully it turns out well!