Coucous Soup and Simple Oat Bread (Meatless Monday)

It's my second official Meatless Monday of 2012, and I'm fairly healthy in my choices today.  Blackberries, leftover pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and coffee early morning; a homemade egg and cheese McMuffin for brunch ("Mc" as in McOwen, not McDonald's.... can't get organic eggs or triple health Thomas English muffins from Ronald); a cherry blueberry almond smoothie for a late lunch; and this Ten Minute Couscous Soup, Easy Little Bread, and some grapes for dinner.  I made it to yoga this morning too -- Woo Hoo!

The soup and bread recipes come (slightly adapted) courtesy of 101 Cookbooks Blog (found at http://www.101cookbooks.com/) can easily be a pantry/freezer staple meal because even though this is a yeasted bread, the meal can be thrown together, probably without a trip to the grocery, in about an hour.  Much of that is hands-off time!  The broth, seasonings, couscous, sun-dried tomatoes, yeast, flours, honey, and oats are all shelf-stable items from your pantry.  This time of year, frozen veggies tend to have more nutrients locked in, so a 12 oz. frozen package of broccoli and cauliflower mixture can be kept in the freezer until needed.

The soup is simple yet satisfying, and I cannot say enough about this bread.  I'm not a girl to just whip up a hand-kneaded, takes 2-3 hours to prepare, artisan loaf of bread in my kitchen.  Although I'd like to get better at "real" bread, this recipe is about as simple as it gets.  I usually don't like the crusts, even of my quick breads, but I happily ate an end piece, about 5 minutes after this loaf came out of the oven, slathered in butter and honey.  Um. Wow.  I can't believe I made bread in under an hour that tastes so heavenly.  And the best part is I can tell it's going to make fabulous toast in the morning as well.  Happy Monday!

Ten Minute Couscous Soup

4 c. vegetable stock/broth

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 t. salt

3/4 c. couscous

12 oz. pkg. frozen broccoli and cauliflower mix

4 T. oil packed sundried tomatoes, finely chopped 

(I used Delallo Sun Dried Tomato Bruschetta - no chopping required)

White Cheese (optional)

(use what you have on hand as a topping for this soup... crumbled goat or feta, shredded provolone, mozzarella, or even monterey jack) 

Combine stock/broth, red pepper flakes, and salt in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Add frozen vegetable and bring back to a boil.  Add couscous, immediately take off heat, and cover tightly with a lid.  Leave it alone for 5 minutes, then take off the lid, give it a quick stir, and it's ready to serve.

Top each of four servings with 1 tablespoon of sundried tomatoes and cheese.

Easy Little Bread

1 1/4 c. warm water (105-115 degrees)

2 t. (one packet) of rapid rise yeast

1 T. honey

1 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. whole wheat flour

1 c. rolled or old fashioned oats (do not use instant)

1 1/2 t. salt

2 T. melted butter for coating bread pan

In medium bowl, sprinkle yeast onto the warm water and stir until yeast dissolves.  Stir in honey and set aside until yeast swells a bit, about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, and salt in a large bowl.  Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir well.

Brush 9x5 loaf pan with melted butter and turn dough into the pan.  Cover with a clean, damp cloth and set in a warm place for 30 minutes to rise.  It's cold in our house today, so I turned my oven on, then turned it off as soon as it reached 200 degrees.  This is where I let the bread rise.

Remove bread and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake bread on middle rack for 35-40 minutes, or until pulling away from sides of pan.   Remove from oven and immediatly turn bread out of pan.  Serve warm, with butter and honey.  Toast leftovers in the morning and top with peanut butter.