For part one of the challenge, click here.

After deciding upon the dishes for the 5 days at the beginning of the challenge, preparing the ingredients was easy. All I had to do was write down all the required ingredients, circle the ingredients I don’t have at home and walk down the aisles of the supermarket and collect my groceries.

I am shopping lately. I have always loved shopping, especially grocery shopping. Things are different now that I have to shop for the kitchen I’m responsible for and mom’s.

I have been doing things I didn’t think I’d do. I’m keeping the kitchen clean, the refrigerator organized and clean , I’m maintaining a somehow organized house, and I’m responsible for our meals. It’s my responsibility to keep fresh vegetables within reach washed and well stored, keep the pantry stocked, and buy chicken and meat from the butcher.

Speaking of chicken, I have to clean the chicken now. I used to rely on mom most of the times to do the dirty work for me, or just skip the chicken and use soy chunks. But not anymore. I had to use chicken in a recipe this time.

My second recipe is from the cookbook Cooking the Moroccan Way: Moroccan Couscous with Chicken.
I’m usually not very fond of sweet flavors in my food but a handful of raisins here didn’t upset me. I made a few changes to the original recipe to accommodate with the ingredients I had/like.

Moroccan Couscous with Chicken:

Recipe for 4 (not very hungry) persons (or 2 hungry fellows like ourselves)

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 large celery rib cut into 2 cm pieces (I skipped that)
• 400g skinless boneless chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 – 1 tsp salt (to taste)
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups water (replace half or all with vegetable or chicken stock)
• 1 medium zucchini cut into 2 cm slices
• 2/3 cups dry Couscous

Directions

• In a deep pan, add all the ingredients except water and Couscous. Stir well until chicken is cooked and coated
• Pour in water and stir well
• Bring to boil, then reduce heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes
• Add the zucchini. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes
• Remove from heat and stir in Couscous
• Keep it covered for 5 minutes
• Give it a stir before serving