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Roasted Vegetables with Couscous: Cheap & Easy

Cut Grocery Bills with Vegetables In Season Served with Couscous

Oct 11, 2008 Elaine Walker

This easy vegetarian recipe for chickpeas and roasted vegetables is proof that a meal without meat or fish can be tasty, nutritious and money saving.

Just 2 vegetarian meals each week would soon cut grocery bills. Make sure protein is included and that the combinations of veggies work well together.

Chickpeas are a good source of protein, especially when served with rice as a spicy chickpea stew. They can also be added to a dish of delicious roasted vegetables and served with couscous. This is so easy that the children can help with the preparation. The colours are rich and warming and the aroma of roasting vegetables is mouth-watering.

Roast Vegetables with Couscous

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
2 onions, peeled and chopped into quarters
2 apples, washed and cut into wedges
I red bell pepper, washed and sliced thickly
1 zucchini (courgette) washed and cut into fat chunks
1 sweet potato or yam, peeled and cut into large bite sized pieces
8 large cloves of garlic still in papery skins
2 tsp dried mixed herbs
salt and pepper
2 tbs sunflower oil
1 can cooked chickpeas
2 cups dry couscous
I cup plain yogurt (make it at home)

Method

Place a little oil in the bottom of a large shallow oven dish, to stop the vegetables sticking.
Place potatoes, onions, sweet potato and garlic in the dish and distribute evenly.
Add the remaining vegetables except the apple and red bell pepper.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mixed herbs.
Drizzle with remaining oil and place in oven at 180C / 360F for an hour.
After half an hour, turn vegetables and make sure they are not drying out.
Add the apple and red bell pepper.
After an hour test to see that vegetables are tender in the middle.
Turn oven off.
Boil 2 1/2 cups of water. Place couscous in a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and pour on the boiling water. Cover bowl with a plate and put aside for 5 minutes.
Heat the chickpeas, drain well and stir into the roasted vegetables, gently.
Remove the plate from the couscous and stir with a fork to fluff it up. All the water should have been absorbed by the grains.
Place the yoghurt in a dish to to accompany the meal.

The garlic cloves can be peeled from their paper skins and will be sweet and soft.

Variations on Roast Vegetables Recipe

To continue cutting grocery bills, buy vegetables that are plentiful and in season. Most root vegetables will roast well. Try parsnips and carrots with Butternut (Acorn) squash. No need to peel the squash, simply scrub and cut into chunks about an inch square. Be sure to remove the seeds and stringy bits.

The copyright of the article Roasted Vegetables with Couscous: Cheap & Easy in Vegetarian Cuisine is owned by Elaine Walker. Permission to republish Roasted Vegetables with Couscous: Cheap & Easy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Recipe for Roasted Vegetables