Magazine Mondays: Modern Girls Lunch Bag

When Ivonne started posting recipes for Magazine Monday, she was inspired by the pile of food magazines she'd collected, with wonderful recipes in them, that had never been used. I can relate to that, I have a similar mountain of my own, even though I seriously downsized my pile, with dog eared corners and post it notes marking pages.

Which is why she tries to make a recipe from one of those magazines each week, and why I've been inspired to join her as often as I can.

This week, however, marks a transition for my own mountain of magazines. Inspired by I'm an Organizing Junkie, and Sara of I Like to Cook, with her notebooks, and a ever growing pile of recipe printouts and cut outs from that mountain of magazine, it is past time I reorganized my recipe binders. I'm not doing anything haven't done before, separating and organizing my recipes by type in a divided binder, but the last time I did this, I ended up with one neat binder. This time I bought a few extras and am leaving room for growth.

I'll show how it went in a few days, when it past the stage it is at now, with labeled binders and stacks of recipes on the floor at my feet.

Now back to the recipe!

I pulled this one from the December 2001 issue of Cooking Light. I used to regularly subscribe to this magazine, but stopped when I was fed up with half the magazine being used for things like make up tips and clothing advice. I picked a copy up before Christmas and found that it was still like that, so doubt I will restart a subscription with them any time soon. (As it is, I am likely going to let my subscription to Canadian Living lapse, not because it does not have good recipes, but because the recipes are only 1/5th of the magazine, and I don't want make up and clothing and raising my pets advice, since I neither wear makeup, am a fashionista or own a pet!)

Sidetracked again! (Can you tell it is Monday morning?)

I like couscous, but, like a few other yummy food items, I am the only member of my household who will eat it. So I was looking for an excuse to make this salad, and found two. First, my mom was coming to visit and has been trying to eat healthier. Second, Emily from Modern Girls Kitchen invited me to be part of a Modern Girls Brown bagging lunch round-up. While I was too late even making this to join in on the round-up (and eat lunch at home most of the time), I'm still going to give credit where credit is due. This salad is quick, simple to make, and takes very little time at all. And makes a great brown bag lunch, healthy, easy to eat, portable and is good at room temperature.

I'm submitting it today for Magazine Monday, and forwarding the post on to my mother, who asked me last night for the recipe so she could make it for herself, and linking to Modern Girls Kitchen.

I've made a few minor changes from the original, using a bit less couscous than originally called for, and doubling the dressing. I'm including the recipe with the single measurements of the dressing, but as I said, I doubled it, after tasting and finding I couldn't taste anything.


Grilled Fennel-Couscous Salad
from Cooking Light, December 2001

half a fennel bulb
1/4 cup dry roasted cashews (we still have a child who isn't supposed to eat these yet, so while I used the cashews, on hand from when we had to cancel his allergy challenge to clear him of the allergy, I kept these separate until I plated mine, just in case he wanted to eat any - he didn't.)
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp fresh black pepper
1 naval orange, peeled and cut into cubes
2 cups water (I used 1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups uncooked couscous (I used only 1 cup)

Grill the fennel until crisp tender, then cut into cubes the same size as the orange pieces. Bring the water to a boil, the pour over the couscous in a large bowl. Cover the bowl and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork then add everything else into the same bowl. Mix well, to be sure the lemon and oil covers everything, then taste. Adjust the seasonings as necessary (I found the dressing needed doubling, and that is with my having reduced the couscous by 1/3.)