Redemption: The Newlywed Cookbook

Okay, this book needs another shot in my life.

1- Oatmeal is hardly the best way to give a book a comeback that I have been ignoring for 4 years.

2- Will gave the oatmeal a 2 out of 5 stars.

So. Let’s try and actually cook something out of this book shall we? I decided to give myself a better head start on this one and make Will decide what we will be cooking for dinner. He chose lamb skewers with tomato couscous.

Now, I always consider myself to be one of the “glass half full” people of this world. But my husband doesn’t eat tomatoes and I would bet ANYONE $1,000 he has never had couscous. Needless to say I’m not entirely optimistic that this will go better than yesterday morning. But, he picked. And I am determined not to start my year-long experiment off with a recipe that got 2 out of 5 stars from the hubs. So cooking away I will go.

If everyone reading this could have been in my head this morning, you would have appreciated it. The very first thing when he chose the dish was “can I even get lamb steak at Publix?” Luckily, The Austell International Farmer’s Market is an easy 10 minutes from my house. And ya’ll. If you haven’t been there, love cooking, and don’t get sick at the smell of fish, you MUST try this place out. It opened in the Summer of 2016 which in my house is known as “The Summer of Architectural exams” (My husband is an architect. They have to take more exams than astronauts. And it doesn’t make them automatically qualified to go to the moon). Anyway, I was making myself scarce a lot that summer as if he was not at work he was studying. This place became a weekly outing for me. The prices are fantastic and they have never not had something I was looking for. If you ever want to try it out, hit me up I will go with you.

Anyway, acquired the lamb. Like I said, they never let me down. Makes me think of My Big Fat Greek Wedding

“He’s a vegetarian”

“Oh. Then I serve the lamb”

Okay so we started cooking. Guys. This has made my kitchen smell SOOOOO GOOOODDD.

It starts with the lamb. You need to cut it into chunks, mix it with lemon, S&P, and olive oil and have the lamb soak for a bit. While you are doing that, you take some halved tomatoes, garlic, S&P and sauté all of that in a pan. THIS IS WHEN THE OVEN STARTS SMELLING UNREASONABLY AMAZING. Anyway, once the tomatoes get going, put the lamb pieces onto skewers, with each skewer having a lemon.

Then, heat up 1/3 a cup of half chicken stock half water. Bring it to a boil. Once boiling, add the couscous (I used whole wheat). Then put the lamb skewers onto a heated skillet and cook until done. Serve with the tomatoes on top of the couscous. And enjoy, because if you are anything like me this is the best your kitchen has smelled in a hot minute.

Dinner was delicious. My sister-in-law and I both LOVED it. Will gave it 4 out of 5 starts, so I completely accomplished my goal of starting out better than I did with the oatmeal (YAASSSS).

Anyway, until next time. All I have to do now is decide which book will come next. This has been a great weekend. Only 60 books to go! Cannot wait.

Side note: if anyone is curious about the conversation I have at dinners. Here is what it is like:

Sister in law (she lives with us): “My friend’s dad works at one of those… you know… airplane take off landing place.

Will: (completely straight faced) “That is called an airport”.

#TheNewlywedCookbook