Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Couscous and Tempos

When it comes to cooking, I'm pretty lazy. Lately, however, I've been trying to be better about cooking meals for me and Toph to try to get into some good habits before we start a family. It is definitely challenging while working full time, studying, and running. Whenever I find a recipe that is easy and not too bad for you, I put it into the (very small) rotation. A friend had made a couscous salad once for a barbecue and when I finally replicated it, I was amazed at how easy it was! I'm sure there are lots of variations that you could come up with, but this is the base and what I made for me and Toph.

Ingredients:
Couscous
Olive oil
Tomatoes
Almonds
Feta cheese
Fake chicken (but I'm sure you could use real chicken instead)
Green onions (optional)
Avocado (optional)






Couscous has to be one of the easiest things to make. Do you know how to boil water? If the answer is yes, you know how to make couscous. (I'm not joking.)

After cooking the couscous (with the olive oil) and fake chicken, I put all the ingredients in a bowl together after chopping up the (already oven roasted) almonds and tomatoes.
Clockwise from Top: tomatoes from our garden, fluffed couscous, fake chicken and diced almonds, 
Mix ingredients in a bowl, chill for 15-30 minutes in the freezer (if desired), and serve. It is such an easy, easy dinner that is tasty and not too bad for you! I only seasoned with pepper as I know the fake chicken already contains a lot of sodium, but feel free to salt and pepper to your heart's desire! We had a few avocados that needed to be used yesterday so I sliced them up and put them on top. They added a buttery texture that only made the recipe better! Toph and I also despise onions so I left those out of the recipe as well. To those onion lovers, feel free to add them in!


After eating dinner and letting my stomach settle, I went out for a tempo run. With vacations and weddings, I haven't been able to get in as much speedwork as I would have liked in recent weeks, so I was a little apprehensive to go after it last night. The plan was to do 5 miles with 3 of them at tempo. When I was approaching mile 3, self-doubt started to creep in and I wanted to stop. My legs thought I could do it and so I pushed on for one more tempo mile. I completed the workout (tempo splits were 7:57, 7:54, 7:51), and I felt exhausted and accomplished at the same time. It was obvious during the workout that some of my fitness has dropped off since I was working with Coach Britt, but I knew this would happen. I'm just happy that I'm able to get out there and get these legs moving again! I think my next goal race is going to be the F^3 Half Marathon on Saturday, January 26. I'm going to be able to focus much more on my workouts after the exam on December 1. The temps last night were a little warmer than I had anticipated so I came back pretty sweaty from my workout.
Just a little sweaty

Do you like the recipes I occasionally post on my blog? Have any of you made any of the things I've posted?  Obviously I'm no chef, but I like to share when I find things that are easy and delicious! If you've made something I suggested, please let me know! :)

9 comments:

  1. I love recipes, as is evident by my insane Pinterest boards.

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  2. Ooo! I should suggest this to Steven. We love couscous and have a couscous recipe with greenbeans, tomatoes and chickpeas that we make ALL THE TIME. I love how easy couscous is and how good it tastes!!!

    WTG on that tempo!!! That half in January sounds fun. Will that be a PR goal race?

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  3. I love green beans! Your couscous recipe sounds good too! Can you send it to me?

    Thanks! I think I'm going to make it a PR goal race!

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  4. I'm bookmarking this so I can make the recipe this week or next :) it looks easy and delicious as promised!

    Nice tempo run! The half in January sounds like fun! While I'm thinking about other races, I can't commit to any until the crAnkle heals.

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  5. I love this! Please share more! I'm on a serious hunt for quick weeknight recipes. :)

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  6. Irina @ Chocolatea TimeSeptember 27, 2012 at 9:55 PM

    Couscous always reminds me of high school - I used to buy those pre-mixed, flavored couscous boxes and would devour the entire thing. Your recipe is soo much better (and probably MUCH tastier too :) )

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