Mmmm - a very French dinner... almost

Made some roasted ratatouille tonight with some chicken breast seasoned with some herbes de provence and served it alongside couscous. But not the French style couscous, the Israeli style. It was still quite tasty, though not (quite) 100% French. I do like the extra flavor you can get from the larger grains and the ability to toast them up in some butter before cooking them in stock. (Chicken tonight since it was served with chicken, but I've made it with beef stock when serving it with a beef entree.)

Plans for tomorrow night - not sure. It's Friday so that means it's most likely leftovers since Bryan works so late. Oh well. My new quest - perfecting a recipe for a 'golden butter' cupcake that I can divide up so that I can make a normal amount at once rather than 2 dozen cupcakes at a time. (I can't eat that many at once so it's silly to make a whole cake-sized batch when I'm not bringing them to a party.) That combo with the awesome coconut-blue agave ganache was so awesome I want to make it again and again and again. (While working out in between.)

Prep work...

Getting all the details ironed out for the graduations this summer - both my mom and my sister are graduating! With mom's graduation on Saturday morning and a large gap followed by Saturday afternoon mass for my sister's graduation, my family will have a few hours to waste in between the two events. And driving from Tiverton to Providence for graduation, back to Tiverton to spend time, then back to Providence for mass, I figure we can eat and relax at my house - between the two colleges.

I'm planning on my wine-free porc alentejana (or something like that, which I just call Portuguese Pork & Little Necks) and something with chicken. If we eat some veggies and non-hot appetizers or salad first, it gives me enough time to reheat whatever the hot dishes are going to be and I won't be limited to room temp food or crock pot dishes. (Though I do make the porc alentejana in the crock pot... it just tastes better and is SOOOOOOOOOO tender that way!!!)

Anyway, I already ate lunch early today and I'm making myself even hungrier writing about this. Maybe I'll grab a soda and hope that takes the edge off at least until after my meeting!

:) Happy eating!