Spicy Couscous and Vegetables

I got this recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/. This side dish is healthy, quick, and easy to make and the delicious combined flavors gravitate you to a second serving or more. The dish gets cold quick so I would put it together at the last minute to complete your meal. I made a few changes to the recipe that I acknowledged below. Also, the original recipe called for 1 small eggplant, quartered and sliced that I did not include. Even though the title says "spicy," it is not spicy hot, it just has various spices in it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:
- 1 zucchini, quartered and then cut into slices (the original call for 1 small zucchini, halved and cut into slices. i used a regular size zucchini since I was leaving out the eggplant and I cut mine smaller to adapt to my toddler.)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced (original recipe called for 2 small red peppers, large dice)
- Olive oil to drizzle over veggies
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups couscous (I used one 10 oz box of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Couscous.)
- 2 cups chicken stock (I used 2 chicken bouillion cubes. The original recipe called for 2 cups of vegetable stock, but I didn't have any. The chicken bouillion cubes turned out just fine especially since I served this with Italian baked chicken.)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 Tbsp roughly chopped parsley (I used dried)
- 2 Tbsp roughly chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juice (original recipe calls for grated lemon zest as well. since my lemon was a bit old and hard, I did not use any zest, just more of the juice)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place cut vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and roast for about 10 minutes. Place uncooked couscous in a heat proof bowl and stir in all the spices and orange juice. Bring the chicken stock to a boil and pour over the couscous making sure it covers the couscous mixture completely. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap and leave for 5 to 10 minutes or until all the stock is absorbed. Stir in herbs, olive oil, lemon juice (and zest if zested). Fluff the couscous with a fork and toss with roasted vegetables. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.

Cake Balls

A friend told me about cake balls recently so I went online to retrieve a recipe and found this one at http://www.allrecipes.com/. I included tips I found online along with my own in the recipe below to allow for more details and helps along the way. This recipe is very versatile. You can mix and match cake and icing flavors as well as the chocolate coatings. If you want to go the extra mile, cake balls can be rolled in nuts, sprinkles, coconut, etc. or double dipped in white and dark chocolates. I chose strawberry cake mix for Valentine's Day as I wanted the pink center. These were very pretty (pic doesn't do justice), but I'd like to try my favorite cake/frosting flavors in the future. These were yummy desserts/candy and a hit with others, but know they are very sweet! Cake balls are great for parties, showers, bagged for gifts, etc...

Ingredients:

1 package strawberry cake mix (or your choice of flavoring)

1 container prepared vanilla frosting (or your choice of flavoring)

1 11.5 oz package of milk chocolate baking chips (I used Ghirardelli)

1 4 oz bar of white chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended. [I used a 9x13 pan and broke the cake into pieces (after cooling for 30 mins) to get it into my food processor where I blended the frosting with it. The processor was full, but it blended down quickly (pic below). A handmixer should work well, too.]

2. Put this mixture in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 3 hours. (I let them refrigerate for about 6 hrs.)

3. Use a melon baller, small scoop or your hands to form bite size balls of the cake mixture. Place on cookie sheet(s) covered with wax paper. (I used a melon baller to help shape my balls. After doing half of them with this, I realized I still had tons of mix left so I started almost doubling the ball sizes. I made 58 cake balls of various sizes.)

4. Stick the balls in the freezer for an hour (no need to cover).

5. Melt chocolate coating in a glass or metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring occassionally until smooth (pic below). If you have an official double boiler, use that.

6. Dip the balls in melted milk chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. (For me, this was the hardest step. The frozen balls tended to hold too much chocolate and not spread evenly without my help of a spoon or brush as the chocolate started to harden quickly. However, if your balls fall off the toothpick into the chocolate, they are not frozen enough. So, I found a small window of time when the balls received the chocolate best. I worked amidst all extremes and coated the balls the best I could with the help of a spoon or brush when needed.

7. Place on wax paper and put in refrigerator to set.

8. Melt white chocolate the same way as milk chocolate.

9. Decorate balls with melted white chocolate. (I used a fork to zig zag designs on the balls. You can be more precise and use a bakers bag and tip.)

More Tips:
* I made 58 cake balls, but did not have enough chocolate to cover about 20 of them. Buy more chocolate or use less. I plan to buy more next time. I had some left over white chocolate from decorating that allowed me to cover some balls.

* If you use the microwave to melt your chocolate, check the chocolate every 15-30 seconds as it will burn very quickly! I recommend the double boiler method for best results.

Cooked strawberry cake and vanilla frosting mixed together in food processor

Cake balls without chocolate coating

Homemade double boiler to melt chocolate. I also melted my white chocolate this way.

Some of the completed cake balls