Happy Sunday Morning!!!! I’ve got a busy day but I wanted to pop in with a quick and easy “recipe” and share why i’ve been a little MIA with the posts this week. The recipe i’m sharing with you today is a “Jazzed Up” Boxed Couscous dish. Yup, even I go for convenience sometimes and in this case it meant a box of Near East Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Couscous. On its own I love this stuff as a go to side dish to grilled chicken and veggies.
Quick back track… I don’t know about you but I tend to forget about the meats i’ve saved for another day in the freezer and the pantry seems to be neglected sometimes too. This week I wanted to make an effort to not hit up the grocery store and really use up a lot of what we had stocked in the house already. I definitely hate waste and it pains me to throw piles of frost bitten meat away because I simply forgot it was there
While the meals might not be so “fancy” when using up whats on hand, they work and maybe you have to be just a little more creative. That brings me back to the couscous! I had found a box from a while back that was behind my pasta stash. I also had some veggies that needed to be used, like kale that there really was just a few leaves left. I figured lets jazz up this couscous up!
{Check out some ideas on how to use up on hand items after the recipe card}
Ingredients
- 1 box Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil Couscous
- 1- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1 carrot, small dice
- 1 celery stalk, small dice
- 2 Tbsp small diced red onion
- 3 leaves kale, stem removed, rough chop
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, small dice
- fresh cracked pepper
Instructions
- In a large saute pan, over medium low heat, add in the olive oil and cut veggies. Season with pepper {I don't add salt because there is plenty in the seasoning pack}. Cook until softened, about 8 minutes.
- Add the couscous along with the seasoning and stir to incorporate with the veggies. Add in the 1 1/2 cups of boiling water and stir.
- Lower the heat and cook according to the packaging.
~Here are some things that I made up to use some freezer items~
*I had shredded pork carnitas and cajun black eyed peas {from NYE} that I defrosted. I sautéed some peppers and onions and added the pork. I made some plain brown rice and served the beans and pork overtop.
*I had a small package of boneless skinless chicken thighs I defrosted. This one is super simple! I had some Annie Organic Ranch Dressing {I don’t use bottled dressing often and almost always end up throwing out half the bottle} so decided to coat the chicken in the ranch dressing and then into some Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. A little drizzle of olive oil and baked in the oven until golden brown… it was SO good!!!!
*This next one used up some frozen veggies I had on hand. I made a healthy creamy sauce to go over ravioli. Melted some herbed butter in a saucepan. Whisk in equal amount of flour until relatively smooth. Add in a cup of fat free milk and whisk until combined {yes like the base to a béchamel}. Shut off the heat. I added a bag of Steamfresh garlic cauliflower that I cooked according to the package as well as some frozen peas. After the ravioli were cooked I added in some pasta water. Using my immersion blender and blended the sauce until nice and smooth. Stirred in some grated pecorino and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. I told the kids it was a green sauce for St Patricks Day and they gobbled it up!
Leslie
What a great idea.. Couscous is so good but I don’t make it often. Thanks for sharing!
Angela LeMoine
Thank you Leslie!!! Funny enough, I went grocery shopping today and picked up 3 boxes! Def going to start making it more often!