Couscous Salad with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Mushroom

Couscous is one of my favorite variety of starchy food, and I love to incorporate it mostly in my salads -It is also known that couscous is among the healthiest grain-based products!-.

Here is what you will need to prepare this salad:

- A drizzle of olive oil

- A pinch of garlic powder

- 1/4 cup of couscous

- 1/3 cup or about less than a half cup of water

- 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes (Halved)

- 3 mushrooms (Halved)

- A small bunch of spinach

- Drizzle the cherry tomatoes and mushrooms with some olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper and pop them into the oven for about 10 minutes 180 c.

- Until they get roasted, in a saucepan, bring water to boil. Add salt and stir, then add couscous and directly remove from heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Couscous should absorb all the water, fluf with fork and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Little Tip: You can add vegetable stock instead of  water to add more flavor to the couscous!

- Mix the spinach leaves along with couscous, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and serve immediately.

Enjoy your warm salad! 

Oven Roasted Baby Potatoes

This is a very easy and a quick side dish post; oven backed baby potatoes. It can be served as a side dish to pretty much all kind of dishes you like; soups, meat and poultry entrees, fish entrees, and vegan dishes.

Ingredients:

• 6 small white/red baby potatoes, scrubbed and halved
• 1 tablespoon Italian herbes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup fresh dill

Directions:

1. Boil the baby potatoes for 10 minutes only, then drain them well.
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.
3. Put the potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle the herbs, garlic, salt and pepper, and oil, mix till the potatoes are well coated.
4. Transfer the potatoes to a baking dish and into the oven.
5. Turn the potatoes occasionally. In the first 30 minutes, add the fresh dill to the potatoes, and put them back in the oven for another 30 minutes or until golden and tender. -So the whole process may take approx one hour-. 
6. Finally, serve the potatoes hot or warm, and enjoy.