Slightly Spicy Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes

Another Hallee the Homemaker dish. I would have never thought up this flavor combination. It's delicious. If you don't like it spicy, omit or reduce the Tabasco sauce. I ate this all the time when I was pregnant with Babyzilla.

Slightly Spicy Couscous Stuffed Tomatoes
This dish works great as a side dish or a lunch entrée.
1 cup regular couscous
6 large firm ripe red tomatoes
dash Kosher or Sea salt
1 tablespoon cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon hot sauce (Tabasco or similar)
1 clove garlic — peeled and minced

Filling:
¼ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
¼ cup finely chopped orange bell pepper
¼ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
6 green onions — finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
⅓ cup finely chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (fresh squeezed is best)
Kosher or Sea Salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Prep:
(Can all be done while couscous is boiling and cooling)
Chop, slice, dice vegetables
Top and carefully scoop out tomatoes
Brush the inside of the tomatoes with hot sauce

Directions:
Bring to a boil 2 cups water in a medium-size saucepan. Add couscous and stir. Boil again, lower beat and cover. Simmer until all water has been absorbed. Stir to fluff, remove from heat and allow to stand 5 minutes. Cool in refrigerator.
Cut a ½ inch slice off the top of each tomato from the stem end. Discard seeds, remove pulp with a spoon, and chop pulp into small pieces. Set pulp aside for the filling. Lightly sprinkle tomato shell with salt and place upside down on a cookie sheet for approximately 10 minutes to drain its liquid. Mix together olive oil, hot sauce, and garlic. Turn tomato shells upright and drizzle them with olive oil mixture.
When couscous is cold, toss green, orange and red peppers, green onions, parsley, and mint together with couscous. Add reserved tomato pulp, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss again and taste for seasoning. Cut a thin slice off the bottom of each tomato to keep them from rolling.
Spoon filling into each prepared tomato shell. Garnish with a sprig of parsley and serve

Zuccini Ribbons with Parmesan Sauce

The original recipe can be found here: http://www.halleethehomemaker.com/2011/02/zucchini-ribbons-with-parmesan-sauce/ . I've tweaked it a bit.

Summer is squash season in our neck of the woods. It's cheap and delicious, not to mention healthy. However, squash can get boring. Try this for something different.

4-5 good sized zucchini
3 cloves of garlic (more if you really like garlic)
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
S&P (salt and pepper)

1. Using a veggie peeler, peel zucchini into ribbons. Go all the way around the zucchini, down to the seeds. Mince garlic or use a garlic press.
2. In a medium pan, heat 1 Tbsp of the olive oil and add the garlic.
3. When you can smell the cooked garlic, add the milk and S&P. Turn heat to high and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly.  Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. While the sauce is simmering, heat the rest of the oil over medium heat in a medium pan (large enough to hold all of your zucchini ribbons). Add zucchini and sauté for a 2-3 minutes. Don't let it cook through or it will get soggy. Remove pan from the heat.
5. After the sauce done simmering, remove it from the heat and wisk in the cheese. Toss with the zucchini ribbons.

The first time I made this, we put the zucchini over couscous and it soaked up the sauce! Delicious! We had some left over, so I heated it up the next night and added sliced chicken breasts (also a left over) and poured it over fettucchini. It was even better than the night before! Hubby insisted that I add this into our rotation.

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

When I was growing up, my family ate this at least 2 nights a week in the summer. My grandfather grew the best tomatoes ever! Lucky for me, I married a guy that grows awesome tomatoes AND cucumbers.

Cucumber and tomato salad

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch rounds or half-moons
2 plum tomatoes cut into 1/2 inch half-moons
1 & 1/2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar ... add an extra tsp if you love vinegar like I do :)
1/8 tsp black pepper (fresh ground is best)
Pinch of salt

Stir together all ingredients and chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.