CousCous and Vegetable Stir Fry

This is an easy and healthy meal that takes less then 30 minutes to prep and prepare. It came into being one summer when my garden was overflowing with wonderful vegetables and we needed a quick dinner option. And nothing cooks more quickly than couscous! It recently made another blogger's "Top 25 in under 20 minutes" meal list. This is a versatile dish and can easily be tweaked to fit your taste preferences!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of any Couscous (Optional - preparing the couscous with chicken or vegetable stock to add flavor)
• 3 cups of cut up vegetables – whatever you have laying around that you need to use up. I like to use onions, green and yellow zucchini/squash, and red peppers – great color, but great flavor too!
• 3/4 cup frozen, shelled edamame
• 1/4 cup Pine Nuts, toasted
• olive oil
• 3-4 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Lightly toast Pine Nuts in toaster oven or in a dry skillet

Slice up your vegetables and set aside. Prepare Couscous by bringing water to a boil WITH your frozen edamame in the pot. Add CousCous (And flavor packet if there is one. If not, add 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp garlic powder if you have some) and stir. Pull off the heat and allow it to sit covered for the instructed amount of time.

Pre-heat a large skillet with about a TBSP of olive oil. Add your sliced vegetables, cover, and turn heat to low for about 3 minutes. This allows your vegetable to steam lightly. Uncover and finish stir-frying the vegetables on medium heat. Uncover and stir your Couscous and place into a large serving bowl (Optional: an extra drizzle of olive oil helps the couscous from sticking together in big clumps). Top with your stir-fried veggies, toasted pine nuts, and grated parmesan cheese.

**This is also a wonderful dish served cold, as a picnic dish or a side salad to a main dish. It can be made “vegan” by leaving out the parmesan cheese. You could also substitute the Couscous with wonderful, healthy Quinoa, or even a wheat pasta if you don’t keep Couscous in the pantry!