I made Cranberry Couscous the other day. Not from a recipe. From my head. I don’t like recipes. Unless I make them up. If you want to know what other dishes I’ve made up and blogged about, just click here.

(In fact, if you want to read up on anything I’ve posted about before, from camera info to photography posts, from cloth diapering to posts about marriage, just click on the “Search my blog by topic” button in my lower left sidebar. I made that button just for you. I am here to serve. Oh, and also you can type any words like “camera lens” or “discipline” or “indoor activities” or “tantrums” or “Photoshop” into the “Search Blog” bar at the very top of my blog in the upper left corner, above my header, to find any posts in which I’ve mentioned any word of phrase. Happy searching!)

After I made Cranberry Couscous, I Tweeted about it. Many of you who follow me on Twitter asked me to post the recipe. I aim to please. I am here to serve. I am at your beckon call. Also, it’s Friday night and I am not out on the town and have nothing really better to do that post about food since my husband is working in the garage and our children are all sleeping.

Ahem.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

Cranberry Couscous

2 cups instant couscous
1 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or toasted halved almonds)
2 teaspoons white onion, very finely chopped
1 32 oz. can chicken broth
dash salt
dash black pepper

In a medium bowl, combine couscous, dried cranberries, onions, salt and pepper.

Bring chicken broth to a boil. Pour in couscous mixture. Allow to sit, covered, for 10 minutes, or until the couscous has absorbed all the broth.

Once broth has been absorbed, fluff with a fork. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over couscous. Serve immediately.

Subsequent blogging about Cranberry Couscous is optional. Forgetting that your bet friend Brittney is deathly allergic to nuts and attempting to serve it to her for lunch when she visits you is not recommended. Refrigerate leftovers and eat Cranberry Couscous again later, cold and scooped over lettuce.

Groundnut Stew (Hkatenkwan)

Bake a 2-3 pound chicken in the oven. Remove and discard skin. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

Pour the drippings–and sufficient commercial chicken stock or water to make two cups–into large pot over moderate heat.

Add:

1 diced and sauteed yellow onion

1 can undiluted condensed tomato soup

1 tsp. powdered ginger

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 cup peanut butter

hot pepper flakes, salt and black pepper to taste

Use a whisk to blend all that. Add chicken. Add 1 large cooked, cubed yam. Add 1 sliced ripe banana, peeled. Add 1 cup cooked black eyed peas or other legume. Too thick? Stir in more broth or water. Serve over brown rice. Top with fresh cilantro.

Enjoy!

Give it a shot and let me know how you like it!

I guess I don’t hate to cook as much as I thought.