After Dinner Thoughts

YUM!!! I really have nothing more to say. Dinner was terrific and everything was truly tasty. I am thankful to be able to share refreshment and most especially time with Mom, Dad, and Michael.

Salmon, Baked Potatoes, Roasted Asparagus, and...

Today's dinner is being prepared as I type this. We are having Simple Salmon, one of our favorite Weber Grill recipes, Perfect Baked Potatoes, roasted asparagus, and deviled eggs. Mom made the eggs for us as well as a lemon cake. I also picked up some Kumato and Sunburst tomatoes that we will slice for a fresh taste; I tasted these in the grocery and they were so yummy I thought they would work perfectly with today's dinner.

To roast the asparagus, I put the spears into a casserole, drizzled extra virgin olive oil over them and then sprinkled fresh ground black pepper and coarse kosher salt on top. I baked them for about the last half hour with the potatoes. Before I put them in the casserole I washed them and peeled the bottom third before cutting any woody ends off. I never peeled asparagus before, but Mom has told me about doing this for some time now. I figured I would try it today since the asparagus spears are fairly fat.

It smells really good. I'll let you know how it all turns out after dinner.

After Dinner Thoughts

MMMMmmmmm...that was a taste sensation! I ended up not going to the grocery, so I prepared items I found in my pantry. We had the Chickpea Picatta, Couscous with tomato and Parmesean, and green beans with almonds; I also made a Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownie from a mix.

The Chickpea Piccata was a little tart, but once we ate it over and mixed with the couscous it was just perfect. I didn't have shallots, so I used a little yellow onion sliced very thin in the piccata. I also didn't have arugula.

For the couscous I followed a recipe on the box - kind of - the recipe called for asparagus and I didn't have any in the house so I just left that ingredient out. Here's the couscous recipe:

Tomato Parmesan Couscous
Serves 3 1/2

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/4 cups fat free & reduced sodium chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)
1 package Near East couscous toasted pine nut
10 fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 large plum tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used a can of diced tomatoes that I drained a little)
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook garlic for 2 minutes. Add broth and contents of spice sack. Bring just to a boil. Stir in asparagus. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 1 minute.
2- Stir in Near East couscous; cover and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.
3- Stir in tomatoes and Parmesan cheese.

It was all very good. And, very easy.