Moroccan Couscous with Roasted Veggies

I love everything about this dish. 

Honestly. 

I am going to type up this recipe as we made it (based on a recipe we found on a website which was based on a recipe that was seen in a magazine). As my sister or brother might say, it's Recipeception. If we made it again, I'd love to add golden raisins, maybe adding them to the vegetable broth mixture when it is reheated. 

Ingredients: 

You can never have too much

Roughly 2 cups peeled butternut squash, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

2 cups of yello onion, diced large

1.5 cups baby carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 zucchini, cut into 3/4 inch pieces

Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1.5 cups vegetable broth

2 TBSP butter

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp saffron threads

1 cup uncooked couscous

Green onion...we love green onion and probably used about five (green part only)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the squash, onion, carrots and zucchini on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, turning once with a spatula about midway through.
While the vegetables roast, bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the butter, salt and pepper to taste, cumin, and saffron threads. Cover the pan and steep for 15 minutes.

Cook the couscous.
When veggies are roasted, scrape the vegetables and their juices into a large bowl, and add the couscous.

The tastiness.

Bring the vegetable broth back to a boil, and pour over the couscous mixture all at once.
Cover tightly and allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Add the green onions, toss the couscous and vegetables, and serve.

The chef.

 

 

Eight Days Off: Chicago, San Antonio, New Orleans, and Back to Chicago

J and I worked nonstop earlier this month so that we could hang out with friends and family during a week we scheduled off. It all started out with grilling with great friends in Chicago, then we went to San Antonio and had many adventures there (as well as grilled with great friends), headed over to New Orleans to visit family (and - a change of pace - boiled crawfish), and brought it all back together by grilling in the Chicago 'burbs.

Gorgeous people grilling some tasty food on a beautiful Chicago day. Life is good.

Japanese Tea Garden, San Antonio
This is a wonderful, free trip. It is a registered historical landmark and has some
neat history behind it.

Koi, Japanese Tea Garden, San Antonio

Decor at a fantastic vegan tex-mex restaurant (Vegeria) in San Antonio

Visiting our new cousin, Kennedy, in Mississippi

Crawfish Boil in Louisiana!

Decor at a restaurant in Covington.
I want to go to all these islands, especially after reading The Spice Necklace.
I really need to write a blog about some of my favorite recent reads.

Back in Chicago summer days = catch with the hubby.

...it also means grilling and white wine.

San Fran.

Who says work can't be a ton of fun? J and I worked a trip together with enough time in the great city of San Fransisco to take the train into town, enjoy the cable cars, the famous Boudin bakery and their sourdough bread, Ghirardelli chocolate, a fun little eatery called Nook, a beer and baseball spot, and lots of gorgeous views. :)

San Francisco, open your Golden Gate
You'll let nobody wait outside your door
San Francisco, here is your wanderin' one
Saying I'll wander no more

The Golden Gate in the fog.

A gator made out of bread. A bread made into a gator! Crazy! Go Gators!

At Boudin Bakery...clam chowder and tomato bisque in sourdough bread bowls. Mmmm...

Jeremy trying some nice, fresh crab meat.

Chocolate!

We had to sample some of the Ghirardelli goodness. Beyond what they already let us sample coming through the door... ;)

Alcatraz.

Cable car, steep street.

Bridge peeking through the city.

The Sir Francis Drake Hotel! Just fun because of our Uncharted obsession.

Lefty O'Doul's. J had to stop here...something to do with baseball. :P

-TJ