Coles Vegie Fix - Mexican Sweet Potato

Now throughout this blog you will most likely come to the realization that I have a love for anything that is spicy with tomato's, capsicum and corn. Mexican food is probably my favourite, if i had to live off one style of food ever it would be Mexican.

So when I was perusing around the salad section in coles for something quick a semi healthy to eat I noticed these new Vegie fix pot's the have on sale. The other to flavours they had either contained pasta or couscous in the mix so that was off the menu. Luckily enough after checking the ingredients the Mexican Sweet potato which comes with brown rice, kidney beans, capsicum, corn and chili is gluten free! Something that has not been noted on the packaging 

retailing at $5.98 and boasting the fact it contains 3 serves of vegetables I was hoping this could be substantial enough to suffice for a decent whole meal.

Tick off source of fibre which is always an important thing to make sure you get enough off when living Gluten Free.

It takes just 3 and a half mins to heat up in the microwave, so is perfect for a fast, easy and mess free meal for those who can be lazy after work like me! 

After letting it stand and mixing all the vegies up it's delightfully warm on a cold winter night like tonight. The brown rice has that nice little 'chew' to it which is something I did not expect and the flavours work really well together with a subtle little spicy kick. My only qualm with it is that the sweet potato is a little under cooked for my liking, but I think that's just my personal preference.

I would defiantly recommend this product, it would also be perfect as a side to a meal, the packaging recommending the addition of meat or seafood. It's only a shame that the Gluten Intolerant can't enjoy the other flavours in this range.

Freelicious Corn Couscous

The food so nice they named it twice.

Now I have never eaten cous cous before as it only really became popular and common after I found out that I had Coeliac disease, so this review is purely based on the product alone as I have nothing to compare it to.

As cous cous is essentially the germ of the wheat grain where all the gluten is found, pure gluten delicious! So making a GF substitute of gluten should be interesting and my expectations of this product are not high.

I found this at a Coles supermarket retailing at $3.25 for 375g it's not going to break the bank for something that will keep well and can be used for several different servings. 

 

Now as I have never eaten cous cous before, let alone have ever cooked it I decided to follow the suggested recipe on the back of the box to be safe.

It is actually dead simple to make. Boil a cup of stock

I used Massel Liquid Chicken Stock it's about $2 for a litre. It can be bought at most supermarkets and in powder form as well, it's also vegan!

  Opening the packet the cous cous looks a lot like polenta and yellow sugar. Kinda like jelly crystals, leaving me unsure what to expect.

Once the water has boiled add about 1 1/3 cups of cous cous and remove from the heat imediately, stir and let rest for 2 mins. Add some butter and stir and leave to cool. Then add oil (1/4 cup, I think this is a little excessive and you probably don't need that much since there is butter also in it).

It should look like this.

 I had a little taste before adding anything else. It's strange taste, I can't think of anything else that is like it, the butter definitely has given it most of it's flavor. It's not disgusting and is pleasantly light and fluffy. Most importantly it's not gluggy as I was fearing it would be. The texture is still 'grainy' as you can feel each 'cous' as you eat it.

I added some nice fresh basil straight from the parents garden, home grown tomato, finely diced onion and feta.

   Taa Daa!

Chuck all the stuff in raw and stir.

Wow this is actually quite nice, as there is next to no cooking involved it is really quick and easy to make. With the raw tomato and onion it tastes so fresh. Perfect side dish! I wouldn't say this is main meal worthy.

My lovely mother cooked BBQ Lamb (a cut of some description, I don't know and neither does she). Perfect accompaniment, would be absolutely perfect in summer. Yummo 

The rest of my Gluten eating family even loved it. I had seconds.

I'm not sure if this is as healthy as regular cous cous due to the large amount of butter and oil in it. I would still definitely recommend trying this, and can't wait to try it in other ways.

What's your favorite way to eat and serve Cous cous?