Couscous with Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, and Red Pepper

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

I made this side dish (which could also be eaten as a full meal) the other day before I went in to work.  I wanted to have something on my break that was more substantial than the graham crackers and pb that I normally grab when I have a free minute.  It turned out wonderfully.

Couscous with Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, and Red Pepper

Makes enough for plenty of sides, and probably about 4 main meals

Ingredients:

1 cup dry couscous

1 cup water

Approximately 3/4 can of chickpeas, rinsed (of a 14 oz can)

Approximately 1/2 of a cucumber, skin off, sliced in half coins

Approximately 12 cherry tomatoes, quartered or halved depending on size

Approximately 1/2 of a red pepper, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup Italian dressing (I used one with Parmesan cheese in it!)

Salt and pepper to taste

To make:

First prepare the couscous.  In a saucepan, place one cup of water and one cup of the couscous.  Bring the water to a boil.  Once boiling, remove pan from burner, cover, and let sit for five minutes.  Then remove cover and fluff couscous.

Now mix all ingredients together–the couscous, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, dressing and some s/p to taste.

Allow to sit in fridge for at least an hour for the flavors to meld.  The flavor only gets better with time.

Serve cold.

Very refreshing–the perfect dish for the hot days of August.

Today is another scorcher.  In fact there was a severe heat advisory issued.  Crazy.

I go into work tonight where thankfully there is some air conditioning.

I hope this heat wave breaks soon.  I feel so lethargic and lazy…

When it gets to be 88 degrees in your house…

Monday, August 17, 2009

…you head to somewhere with air conditioning!  Tonight we went to our favorite spot with AC–Barnes and Noble.  LOVE going there. There’s something so relaxing about looking at all the books, getting a drink at the cafe, reading.  Tonight I got an iced coffee with a flavor shot–toffee nut.  It was super yummy.  I only needed to add cream, no extra sugar.  And even though I was reluctant to spend the money, I did buy TWO books.

The first, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, I’ve read once and felt it really struck a chord with how people should be eating.  And then today I read an insightful blog by The Token Fat Girl, essentially a review of the book and she reminded me again how much I agreed with his food philosophy.  So when I saw it in softcover (meaning…considerably less expensive!) I snatched it up.

The second, is more of a fun read!  It’s Julie and Julia by Julie Powell, a cooking memoir that follows one woman’s quest to cook her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook–all in one year, and during that time writes a blog about her adventures.  Now of course it is made into a movie which I no doubt will see eventually.  But I wanted to read the book first.

So now I have two good reads for this week.  Sweet!

We never did get together with our friend tonight because it was TOO DARN HOT.  She is pregnant and we didn’t think that 88 degrees in the house would make for very nice visiting weather.  We rescheduled for next week, same time, same place!  Hopefully we’ll be able to do just a quick cleaning at that point.  So far I’ve been really good about cleaning the bathroom sink area each day…but then again, it’s only been two days 🙂

It’s cooling down slightly now.  Right now it’s only 83 degrees!  It feels nicer with all the fans on at least.

Back to work tomorrow night and then FINALLY I get two nights off in a row.  I won’t know what to do with myself.