Monday, September 29, 2014

Testing Out: Giada de Laurentiis' Mediterranean Israeli Cous Cous Salad from Food Network

So I've made this a few times already, but I still wanted to share how it turned out for y'all to know.

Here is the link to the recipe and directions and how THEY pictured it to look like: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/mediterranean-salad-recipe.html

I will show you a picture at the end of how it really looks like once you cook it all for yourself.

Cost for the ingredients for what I used:


  • 1/2 bag of Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pearl CousCous ($1.99 for the portion, $3.99 for the bag), but feel free the regular white couscous, it's what I prefer anyway which can be purchased from Whole Foods
    • NOTE: half of the bag feeds both me and my boyfriend. Adjust to how much you eat. I eat roughly 1 to 1.5 cups of the end product whereas my boyfriend eats around 2-3 cups of the end product (chicken and everything included)
  • 1 giant chicken breast from Sam's Club ($1.88/lb, 1 chicken breast is approx 1lb) 
  • Dry Basil in a jar from Target (approx $3 for the jar, and you only need a little bit, approx 10 cents worth max of the jar for this meal)
    • NOTE: Recipe calls for FRESH basil, but that's expensive! Feel free to use fresh if you wish. I chose dry to save money
  • Pre-minced garlic in a jar from Target (approx $2 for the jar, and you only need a spoonful, so it turns out to be like 10 cents worth max of the jar for this meal)
    • Recipe calls for fresh garlic you mince yourself. I'm too lazy and don't have time to peel garlic and all that, so instant-pre-minced it is for me! 
  • 1 TBSP Olive oil to fry the garlic as mentioned in the recipe. ($6 for a 16oz bottle but 1 TBSP is approx 18 cents)
    • NOTE: Recipe calls for 1/4 cup to be dumped into the couscous but I refuse to put it in to save calories and cost of using the expensive olive oil and it tastes just as good without the extra oil
  • Lemon Juice from the squeeze bottle rather than 2 fresh lemons, but feel free to buy the more expensive fresh lemons if you wish. (99 cents for the bottle, amount used for this meal is max 15 cents)
  • I omitted the lemon zest because I didn't use fresh lemons. Meal tastes just fine without it
  • Chicken Stock from the box, not home made ($3.98 for the box, 3 cups used, therefore $1.99)
  • Craisins brand used for the dried cranberries ($2.98, used 1/4 cup therefore 99 cents was used)
  • Slivered almonds ($2.98 for a pack, not much is used, so I'd be safe and estimate 50 cents used)
  • Salt and Pepper ($4.50 each bottle at Sam's Club, but for the small amount used, it's literally 2 cents IF that)


GRAND TOTAL: $7.90 to feed a man that's over 200lbs and me, weighing in at 114lbs at 5'1. That's literally $3.95 per person if you were to split the meal evenly between 2 people. BUT KEEP IN MIND that you are still going to be spending money on buying the bottles and things in bulk, so your bill will be bigger at the start if you don't already have these ingredients in your house/apartment, but you are investing in using the bottles and multiple pounds of chicken for other times!

Usually this kind of meal costs a lot more at a restaurant, so $7.90 for two people isn't that bad. Isn't super cheap but for what you eat it's a good price. 



WHAT I THINK OF THIS RECIPE:

Delicious and not only boyfriend approved, but one of his favorite dishes! I DON'T know the caloric intake of this dish. To be very honest, I don't think it's low calorie at all due to the couscous which is essentially tiny pasta balls. Therefore, we don't eat this often despite how easy it is to make and how delicious and budget friendly it is. Striving for lower calorie options here!

The taste of this dish is of course lemon-y from the lemon juice, but also bursts of tangy-ness from the craisins, and then you have the salt and pepper taste from the chicken breasts bits. Sounds like a weird combo but I to me it sure tastes great! The craisins really add that needed burst of flavor and make this dish interesting.

My picture below doesn't look fancy like the recipe's picture in that link I gave, but hey, not bad, and it tastes great!



 photo IMG_8288_zps011dbbbb.jpg

Thank y'all for stopping by my first blogpost review of the Giada de Laurentiis Mediterranean Salad recipe!

I'm new to cooking blogging, so forgive me if I am disorganized as I figure out the best way to communicate with you. I normally do beauty blogging, but figure that since I cook regularly, and test out recipes all the time, why not document it?

Okay, see you later!

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