There is a go-to dish in my household that we refer to as Kitchen Something. We eat it often, but each time we do, it’s unique. The way you make it is to start with some grain dish and add anything that happens to be in the kitchen that will work together. It’s usually Kitchen Pasta or Kitchen Rice. You may have noticed a Kitchen Rice dish in the pictures of Mango Curried Pork Chops, and my Quinoa Salad was also a Kitchen dish.

Today it was Kitchen Couscous because when I was scrounging in the pantry, the most inspiring grain I ran across was a box of Pereg Israeli Couscous with Pumpkin Seeds that I discovered recently at Wegman’s. I don’t often buy boxed mixes because they usually have gobs of sodium. But this one only has 5 mg per serving. The one with Mushrooms that I bought at the same time had only 10 mg per serving. Imagine a boxed mix that lets you add the amount of salt that you want instead of imposing a huge amount on you. Kudos to Pereg for letting consumers control their salt consumption!

Scrounging in the fridge, I found mushrooms, carrots, rice wine, and ground ginger. In the freezer were packs of frozen shrimp (shelled, tail off, uncooked), broccoli, and butternut squash. And from the spice rack, I selected curry powder, garlic, and a salt-free seasoning mix. Lunch was on its way!

Today’s Kitchen Couscous consisted of:

• Pereg Israeli Couscous with Pumpkin Seeds, prepared according to package directions.
  
• 4 oz frozen Shrimp, cut in chunks, stir fried in
• 1 tbsp olive oil, along with
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced, till shrimp is pink (about 5 minutes — 3 if shrimp is thawed). Remove cooked Shrimp from pan and set aside.
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots,
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms, and
• 2 more sliced garlic cloves, stir fried in the juices from the shrimp until soft.
• 1 cup of frozen butternut squash and
• 1 cup of frozen broccoli, mixed into the vegetable stir fried, and heated through. Add
• 1 tbsp curry powder,
• a splash of Mirin rice cooking wine (about 1 tsp),
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger or Spice World Ground Ginger
• 1 tsp Frontier All-Purpose Seasoning, salt-free blend.

Mix the cooked shrimp back in along with the prepared couscous. Eat.

The great thing with Kitchen Something recipes is that the ingredient list is pretty much the recipe.

Makes 2 very filling servings, each with:
Sodium: 223 mg
Calories: 467
DASH food groups: 1 1/2 grains; 3 1/2 vegetables; 2 meats; 1/2 nuts and seeds; 1/2 oils and fats.

Françoise