A New Challenge & Pearl Cous Cous

I mentioned in my post on Sunday that I was going to start feeding us out of what we have here.  I said it like this:

Every now and then I decide that we need to try and eat out of our pantry, freezer, fridge and garden. There are often a few factors that go into my deciding this. One is that sometimes when we are extremely busy, I feel like planning a menu and then going to the grocery store could send me over some sort of imaginary 'edge' ! Two is when we've made a large purchase (like putting solar panels on our house!) and not shopping for a week would help pay for them. Three is when I look into my pantry and freezer and see that what's in there could probably feed a family in Africa for a month. And so, I get creative .... 

Then yesterday I was looking around on the internet and I stumbled upon this challenge ! It starts Monday and I'm going to join them !  It goes for four weeks and basically it's about eating out of your freezer and pantry in an effort to save money.  Tomorrow I will make an inventory of what I have in the house ... I will share that with you.  At the end of each of the weeks (I'm going to do the whole four week challenge) I will share with you what we ate (as per usual) but I will also share with you what I had to buy (I do plan to keep feeding my family fresh fruit, veg, milk etc ...)  and how much I spent each week.  My grocery budget, including toiletries, is $350 a week.  I do pretty well keeping within that most weeks.  I'm very interested to see how much I can save over the four week challenge !  And also what interesting meals we will come up with ...

Tonight's meal was just something I threw together in a hurry.  It was nice.  Simple. Easy.  I had all of the things in my fridge, pantry and garden.  I made it in the afternoon and refrigerated til we were ready to eat.  It was only the kids and me tonight.  Had Rory been here, I probably would have grilled some chicken to go with it.

Pearl (Israeli) Cous Cous

1 Roasted Red Bell Pepper, chopped small

1 Tomato, chopped small

1 Spring Onion, sliced

A couple spoonfuls of sliced black olives

A small handful of salted capers

Garlic, chopped,  to taste

Juice of 1/2 a lemon (or more to taste)

Boil cous cous according to package instructions.

Sautee garlic in olive oil til golden brown. (maybe 1/2 tablespoon of oil)

Drain cous cous.  Mix cous cous with other ingredients, including oil you cooked the garlic in.  Squeeze lemon juice on top and mix. 

Can be served hot or cold.

PS ... If I'd had feta in the house, I would have put that in too ...