cherry tomato couscous

i’ve decided to cook at least 3 times a week. i cooked a lot on sunday (with left overs for monday and tuesday), so i was determined to conjur up something in the kitchen on wednesday.

after getting home later than I intended, i knew that i was not in the mood to make a home-made pizza or pasta dish. But, i did know that i wanted something quick, delicious and something i had never tried before. on my ridiculous trip to TJ’s last week (i spent an inordiante amount of money), i had bought some couscous for the first time. I’ve eaten couscous before at restaurants and i really enjoy the texture, but I had never ventured to cook it on my own. i thought that now with my veggieventures in the kitchen, i would give it a whirl and see what all the fuss was about.

i looked up some recipes on my fav cooking websites (epicurious, allrecipes, smitten kitchen and 101 cookbooks) and thanks to heidi swanson (101 cookbooks), i found a couscous dish that encompassed a variety of things that i had in my fridge. the hardest part of this recipe was actually cooking the couscous and that was super easy in itself. I am glad, however, that I tamed down the amount of couscous that the recipe called for because i would have had couscous for weeks if i had made the 1 full cup (dry).

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup of Dry Couscous

1 1/4 Cup of Cherry/Grape Tomatoes

1/2 Cup of Feta

1 Can of Garbanzo Beans (Chickpeas)

1/4 cup of Olive Oil (more or less)

Lemon Juice

Lime Juice

Salt/Pepper to Taste

Basil/Parsley/Cilantro

Directions:

1 ) Cook couscous (I also used 2 tablespoons of butter/margarine)

2) While couscous is cooking, cut tomatoes into halves. Meanwhile boil garbanzo beans in a different pot.

3) When couscous is finished fluff with fork and switch to larger bowl and add cherry tomatoes, chickpeas, olive oil and feta.

4) Squeeze the juice from 1/2 lemon and 1/2 lime into the bowl and mix and stir well.

5) Season with salt and pepper to taste and add herb 1/4 cup of chopped herb of choice and mix well.

6) Enjoy & Share!

Additional Notes: I used cilantro of my herb of choice and i thought it went perfectly though Heidi recommended parsley or basil. In her recipe she also used cucumbers, however, i did not have any in my fridge (surprising because i had EVERY other vegetable imaginable) but it tasted equally delicious without them. maybe next time, i’ll have some cucumbers in house and try it that way. :-D