Orange Scented Vegetable Couscous

The South Arm Community Kitchen met up for another fun time in the kitchen.

Minoo prepared three recipes for the kitchen. The main course is an Orange Scented Vegetable Couscous.

We served the couscous with a Noodle Vegetable Soup which I had blogged about here.

Minoo also shared with us some useful soup tips in the kitchen.

For dessert, we made a Deep Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Zucchini Cake which I had also blogged about before. You can click on this link to check out the recipe.

Here is the recipe for the Orange Scented Vegetable Couscous.

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 1/2 cup seedless raisins
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup uncooked couscous
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 small zucchini, diced
  • 1 small carrot, diced
  • few stalks of celery, diced
  • 1/2 cup frozen green peas, thawed
  • 2 tablespoons sliced almonds

P/S: the celery stalks were left out from the photo.

Source: This recipe is adapted from weight watchers

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Easy Pasta with Broccoli

The main dish that we made at the South Arm Community Kitchen is an easy pasta dish.

This is one of the easiest pasta dishes that is quick to make with only a few ingredients in a pot.

Ingredients

  • 12 oz uncooked pasta (we used macaroni)
  • 6 1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets, no stems
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • red pepper flakes, optional

This recipe is adapted from Skinnytaste.com

You can learn more about broccoli from Thrive Cuisine here.

For dessert, we made the Classic Carrot Cake with reduced sugar.

You can click on the link here for the recipe. We reduced the sugar to 1 cup and it is still moist and sweet. We reckoned that the sugar can be further reduced to 3/4 cup.

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Spinach Salad with Mushrooms and Feta

The South Arm Community Kitchen met up for another session.

We made three dishes; a salad, a pasta and a cake.

The salad we made is Spinach Salad with Mushrooms and Feta

Ingredients

  • 1 pound baby spinach
  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • 2 hard boil eggs, sliced
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • feta cheese
  • olives, optional

Dressing

  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • pinch of sugar

Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

Serves 4 to 6

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Easy, Vegan Chocolate Cake

We made an Easy, Low-fat Chocolate Cake in the South Arm Community Kitchen for dessert.

The flavour of orange complements the chocolate cake well.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 cup brewed coffee or cold water
  • zest from 1 orange

Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

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Fettuccine with Roasted Red Pepper & Sun-dried Tomato Sauce

We made a pasta for the main course in the South Arm Community Kitchen.

This is a vegetarian pasta with roasted red pepper and sun-dried tomato sauce .

Ingredients

  • 4 large red bell peppers
  • 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes ( we used the oil packed one)
  • 1/2 bunch of parsley, chopped
  • 1 pound fettuccine pasta
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 3/4 cup half & half
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste

Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

Serves 4

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Carrot Cumin Slaw

I returned to the South Arm Community Kitchen after a long break. As usual, we whipped up three recipes for this meeting.

The first recipe is a Carrot Cumin Slaw. It is crunchy with a refreshing dressing with a spicy kick.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups shredded cored green cabbage
  • 1 cup shredded cored purple cabbage
  • 3 carrots, peeled and coarsely grated (about 1 3/4 cups)
  • 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • a large pinch of sugar

Source: this recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart

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Hasselback Apples

For dessert, the South Arm Community Kitchen made some Hasselback Apples.

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Choose firm apples with sweet-tart flavour for this Hasselback Apples recipe. Pink Lady or Honeycrisp works well while Fuji and Granny Smith falls apart.

Ingredients

  • 2 large firm apples, peeled, halved vertically and cored
  • butter to grease pan or lined pan with parchment paper
  • 4 tablespoons brown sugar, divided
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, divided
  • 2 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2  cups vanilla ice-cream (optional)

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Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

Serves 4

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Spinach and Mushroom Pasta

It was a very cold morning during the last kitchen of the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen in 2016. We made a comfort soup to battle the cold.

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The soup we made was Salmon and Potato Chowder which I had blogged before here.

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For the main dish, we made a Spinach and Mushroom Pasta.

Ingredients

  • 12 ounces penne noddles (you can use any type of pasta of your choice)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)
  • 4 cups mixed fresh mushrooms, sliced (oyster, shiitake, cemini, portobello, etc…)
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2 cups fresh spinach, rinsed well & chopped
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil or parsley, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • fresh ground pepper
  • grated Parmesan cheese

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Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

Serves 4

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Tropical Baked Bananas

For dessert, the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen made a Tropical Baked Bananas.

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The aroma of the toasted coconut flakes and warm bananas was wonderful.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cups butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons orange juice
  • 6 bananas, peeled and halved lengthwise
  • 1/3 cup shredded coconut

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Source: Allrecipes.com

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