Recipes, Food Tips, Healthy Eating & More

@margieinia
Heaven help me, maybe cooking isn’t so bad after all!!!

Good morning everyone. I don't know about any of you but it is very very hot and humid to day (and the air has a lot of pollutants too.
Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Roasted Vegetable Couscous is an easy side dish with complex flavor, with sweet roasted vegetables mixed with savory, fluffy couscous.
Keyword: easy, Side Dish, Vegan
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 45 mins
Total Time: 55 mins
Servings: about 1 cup each
Ingredients

4 Roma tomatoes ($1.69)
2 zucchini ($1.23)
1 bell pepper ($1.00)
1 red onion ($0.69)
4 cloves garlic ($0.24)
2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
2 pinches salt and pepper ($0.05)
2 cups couscous ($1.97)
3 cups vegetable broth ($0.39)
1/4 bunch parsley ($0.24)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash and chop the tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, and red onion into 1 to 1.5-inch pieces. Peel four cloves of garlic but leave them whole.
Toss the chopped vegetables and garlic with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet so they are in a single layer. Sprinkle a couple pinches of salt and pepper over the vegetables
Place the vegetables in the oven and roast at 400ºF for about 45 minutes, stirring twice throughout, until the vegetables are wilted and browned on the edges.
While the vegetables are roasting, cook the couscous. Add the vegetable broth to a sauce pot, place a lid on top, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the couscous, turn off the heat, and cover the pot with the lid once again. Let the couscous sit, undisturbed, for ten minutes. Then, fluff with a fork.
After the vegetables are finished roasting, collect the four garlic cloves, and chop them well. They will be quite soft. Also roughly chop the fresh parsley.
Combine the couscous, roasted vegetables (including garlic), and parsley in a bowl, and stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. Serve warm or cold!

What would you add or subtract from this recipe to make it more to your liking?

@merpreb. This sounds delicious. I would eliminate the garlic, and minimize the salt. I wish there were sweet potatoes in it as @jakedduck mentioned. I do like all of the vegetables he mentioned but I think sweet potatoes, carrots and squash would be too orange, even redundant.
JK

@merpreb. This sounds delicious. I would eliminate the garlic, and minimize the salt. I wish there were sweet potatoes in it as @jakedduck mentioned. I do like all of the vegetables he mentioned but I think sweet potatoes, carrots and squash would be too orange, even redundant.
JK

@contentandwell
Hi JK,
If presentation is an issue use purple, yellow, red, carrots and bell peppers come in six colors that I know of. Sweet potatoes that I like are more beige. I was thinking of butternut squash which also comes in yellow. Asparagus comes in purple too. No redundancy in my version.
Bon appétit,
Jake

Yum, @parus, the apple/plum bake does sound good! Do you come up with these ideas on your own or do you learn them from reading recipes?

Seems our heat wave is past. Whew, I am exhausted from keeping fresh water in the birdbath-Of course I put ice in too-seriously!! Grateful for the entertainment my feathers friends provide.

@contentandwell- You both sound more like Yankees than me. My husband loves hearty veggies, and he's a true Yankee. Sweet potatoes I would think be redundant with squash. I love the "summer" lightness of this recipes. Could you use shallots instead of garlic? There are also summer squashes too. I also added basil, lemon balm , 2 types of parsley.
@jakedduck1- Well you surprised me with your comments about colors! My my Jake. I almost put cabbage in it too but I thought to keep it simpler. I added chick peas and fresh out of the garden pea pods.
I took pictures but don't know how to post them from google photos.