Roasted Root Veggies and Cous Cous

Well, if money is the root of all evil. than the lack of money should be straight-up-bliss, right? It doesn't feel like it, exactly, but it does encourage a certain creativity with food. You look in your sad fridge, and think "well. what can I do with all this..." I had half a butternut squash, some zucchini, a yellow squash, and 5 yukon gold potatoes growing eyes in the corner next to the microwave. Okay, says I, I shall roast the lot of them.

My mom first showed me the easy way to prep roasted veggies, and it's still the way I do it today. Please forgive my lack of "measuring"- this is another cooking tendency inherited from my parents, and so I continue to season randomly, supplementing my meals with spices and such until it looks sufficient.

I cut all of my vegetables down to half-inch cubes, and put them in a plastic produce bag. I then poured in enough olive oil to liberally coat the cubes, followed by a smaller coating of balsamic vinegar. After that, I chopped some fresh sage and italian parsely (left over from the butternut squash soup earlier in the week), also shaking in dried basil, dried oregano, salt, pepper and a good tablespoon or two of honey. Shake the bag up well to mix up all the ingredients, then put into fridge for at least a half hour to allow the flavors to soak into the veggies.

Preheat oven to 350. I really cook everything at 350 degrees because it's the temperature my easy-bake oven seems to prefer.

Spread out veggie and herb mixture onto a cookie sheet, one with a lip to hold in the oil as they cook. Bake for about half an hour to 45 minutes, periodically turning the vegetables with a spatula to prevent blackening on just one side. They're done when the edges are a dark brown and the potatoes and squash are soft on the inside.

Instead of accompaning these yummy veggies with pasta or rice, I made up some israeli cous cous. This is the BIG cous cous, little round fat pearls that cook up so tasty. I boiled 2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup water (or you could use 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth- I just didn't want it too salty so I used both). Once boiling, I threw in 1 1/2 cups of cous cous, brought it back up to a boil, and then down to a simmer on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until cous cous is fully cooked and soft in the center.

And do I need to tell you how good this is, with a blanket of warm cous cous underneath the roasted veggies. AND, may I add, the butternut squash, when cooked up this way, caramelizes on the outside, leaving the inside tender and nutty and ohhhh so sweet.

Mmmm...