Friday Night Dinner........

Roasted Vegetable Couscous

Grilled Salmon and Chicken

Individual lemon cakes with lemon cream cheese frosting

I love to cook!! My husband was planning on going out to dinner last night, but my daughter and I decided to make dinner and dessert and surprise him when he came home. We had a busy week of running around and thought a night at home with a good meal would fit the bill. I wanted to make something quick and easy, so I pulled out my roasted vegetable couscous recipe and decided to do a quick marinade for chicken (I had a piece of salmon left that I threw in there too!).
The couscous has a lot of ingredients, but goes together quick. Most of the prep is with the vegetables, but they are left in the oven to roast, so you can enjoy a glass of wine while they cook!! It is a recipe that I developed years ago and everytime I make it, people ask me for the recipe, so I thought I'd share.
For the lemon cake I used The Barefoot Contessa's lemon yogurt pound cake recipe and Martha Stewart's cream cheese frosting recipe with lemon juice and lemon zest added. I made the cake in a sheet pan and cut out hearts with a cookie cutter. I used 2 hearts with frosting inbetween and then frosted the whole little cake, 2 slices of strawberry on top completed it. Simple and delicious!!

Simple Marinade:

• 1 c ranch dressing
• 1/2 c red wine vinegar
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 c parmesan cheese

mix ingredients together and place in chicken (4 large breasts for the amounts above), cover and place in refridgerater. Bake or grill.

Roasted Vegetable Couscous:

Roasted Vegetables:

• 1 large sweet potato, cubed
• 1 red pepper, cubed
• 1 orange pepper, cubed
• 4 carrots peeled and sliced
• Place vegetables on roasting sheet, cover with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 350 deg. until tender

Couscous:

• 1 box couscous (about 4 c, I make the whole box because it keeps for a few days and is good served cold for lunches!!)
• 2 c chicken broth (or follow box directions)
• 1 can chick peas
• 3 tbls curry powder
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• In a sauce pan, place chicken broth, chick peas, curry powder and garlic. Bring to a boil. Turn off stove and pour in couscous, let sit for about 5 mins until broth is absorbed and couscous is tender.

Dressing and garnish:

• juice of 1/2 lemon
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1/4 redwine vinegar and oil dressing
• flat leaf parsley
• 1 avocado
• chopped green onion

Putting it together:

• combine roasted vegetables and couscous in bowl
• add lemon juice and zest
• add vinegar and oil
• black pepper to taste
• add green onion
• toss
• garnish with avocado and flat leaf parsley
• have a glass of wine and enjoy!!