We're at the half way mark!

Only two more weeks left for "Off the Shelf" and then it's judgment day!

So last weekend we made two dinners. One was Beef and Caramelized Onion Couscous Salad. The beef was just beef. She suggested rump steak which turned out too chewy, even at medium rare. No matter, the feature of the recipe (from the "grains + lentils" section) was the couscous. Boy is couscous easy!! Just let it soak in hot water or chicken stock and in 5 minutes you have couscous magic. The onions took for-ever to cook - I recommend separating out all the rings and maybe using 2 pans. When the steak was done cooking we transferred half the onions to that pan (and consequently picked up all the yummy browned bits left behind). The couscous was good and we'll probably make it again because it's an all purpose side dish.
Rating: good

The second meal was just soup. And it was great! The Coconut Crab Soup had good textures and different flavors that somehow went together. I never would have thought to add green beans... Other recipes add cilantro (coriander) to soup as a garnish and don't actually cook it like she has you do. Just add the cilantro to your bowl at serve time and keep the rest in the fridge ready to toss on the leftovers.

This soup prompts me to add another rating category: Reheat Results (ta da!)

Some dishes are meant to be eaten once and once only. Some dishes are just as good reheated. And some...are even better after the flavors have more time to meld. Chili, spaghetti sauce, salsas, soups and dressings for example. See side bar for new reheat values. :)

The crab soup gets...
Rating: great
Reheat: same