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Saturday, June 28, 2008

a few things...


William finished art camp yesterday with a gallery showing of his art work. He had a great time and now I have some fun art to hang in the sun room. He also did art work at VBS but I've decided against hanging the edible goldfish glued on a page of construction paper with cake icing. Gotta remember to get rid of that one during naptime today. Just don't tell on me....

Here's a recipe worth passing along. My friend Anderson tore it out of her Real Simple magazine and sent it to me because she knows how much I love feta cheese. I buy it in the huginormous block at Sam's and then scramble to find recipes for it before it goes bad (which it never does). This was a wonderful lite summer meal and I say the more feta you add to the salad, the better.

Spiced Mini Burgers with Couscous Salad

1 10-ounce box couscous
1 pound ground beef
Kosher salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 scallions, trimmed and sliced
4 Roma (plum) tomatoes, quartered
1 seedless cucumber, sliced into half-moons
3 tablespoons tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 8-ounce container hummus (optional) (note: I say this shouldn't be optional because it made the meal!)

Place the couscous in a medium bowl and pour 1 1/2 cups hot tap water over the top. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes before fluffing with a fork. (or just follow the directions on the box).

Form the beef into 12 small 1/2-inch-thick patties. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the cumin, and oregano. (note: I took Anderson's advice and added the spices into the beef before forming patties, then sprinkled some more on each side before cooking).

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the patties and cook to desired doneness, 4 minutes per side for medium.

Combine the couscous, scallions, tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the remaining oil in a large bowl. (I then added feta...lots and lots of feta!)

Divide among individual plates. Serve with the burgers and hummus, if desired.

Yield: Makes 4 servings


~ One more thing ~ say a little prayer for our littlest guy. He has a staph infection on his leg and has been running fever the past couple of days. He's on heavy antibiotics and it's all just making him miserable.

3 comments:

Colored With Memories said...

Your art trashing secret is safe with us!

Sorry to hear about the youngin's fever and infection...it sounds like you are on top of it though which is good.

I buy feta in bulk at Costco...we love it around here...that recipe will be tried by weekend's end.

Thanks for sharing!

Kelly said...

Oh sweet Stuart! I hope that he is well again soon. Poor baby and poor mommy with those diapers that are to follow I bet!

Cindy said...

Sorry to hear about Stuart! Hope he's feeling better soon. We've been on a feta kick lately too! But he's a recipe I found several years ago in SL which I think is a winner!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=458961