Couscous with Roasted Veggies | Clean out the Pantry

Couscous and roasted veggies. This is another meal that I hope sparks some creativity within you! I generally make this in either the height of summer, when I have loads of fresh veggies from the market, or on a day like today, when I have a lot of sad vegetables that are days away from meeting their Maker. ;)

The beauty of this dish is that it is one million percent customizable. Have some chicken in the fridge? Add it in. Want to add a fried egg on top? Yum. A jammy egg? Maybe even better. No root veggies? No problem. You get my drift!

For this version, I chopped up three limp carrots, two yukon gold potatoes, and a half a red and yellow bell pepper. I threw some gorgeous red onion on the baking tray as well, and tossed in some frozen peas at the end. Delicious. My littlest had two heaping portions!

COUSCOUS WITH ROASTED VEGGIES

INGREDIENTS:

- Whatever vegetables you have on hand, particularly ones that are hearty enough to bake. I'd recommend two to three cups’ worth of chopped veg.
- 1 T balsamic vinegar
- 2 T olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 3 cloves smashed garlic
- 1 cup Israeli pearl couscous
- 1.5 cups water

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Preheat your oven to 400, and begin roughly chopping your veggies into one-inch chunks
2.) Coat veggies with olive oil, salt and pepper, and a hearty splash of balsamic.
3.) Add your smashed garlic, and toss together with your hands or a wooden spoon
4.) Bake vegetables on a sheet pan for 25-35 minutes, or until done
potatoes will take the longest to be cooked through. I like it when my veggies like carrots and peppers still have a little bite to them, so just be mindful of the total time
5.) Halfway through cooking time, start your couscous. Pour 1.5 cups of water into a sauce pan, and heat until boiling.
6.) Lightly salt the water, add 1 cup of couscous and stir
7.) Cover pot with a lid, and simmer on the lowest heat for 8-10 minutes until cooked through
8.) Mix your veggies and couscous together, and top with a nice italian vinaigrette. Shave some parmesan cheese on for good measure, and delight your family with this pantry-clean-out meal. It's fresh, light but still filling, and it's always good to use the food that we purchase!