The Challenge pulled a 'fast one' on us

Looks enticing, no?

A meal that comforts on those cool autumn evenings?

Root vegetables with couscous...we've been excited about comparing this recipe from our Challenge cookbook...imagining the ultimate in comfort food...after all, every single recipe we have made from it has been awesome - fresh tomato basil soup, halibut pie, baked eggs with tarragon...even strange sounding ones like: salmon with cucumbers and creme fraiche have been surprisingly outstanding.

But Loving Boyfriend and I have compared this particular to the following:

We imagine that tree bark would have more flavor.
We would rather eat dirt.
We would rather eat anything but this (except, perhaps, liver).
Loving Boyfriend states that he would prefer to eat yellow snow.
...and further, gave him gas all night long, which was not nice for either one of us.

This is the end product of delicous ingredients. The smells from both the root veggies (parsnips, sweet potatoes, celery root, rutabaga, carrots and potatoes) and the spices (curry powder, saffron, ground ginger, and more) were incredible. We served it over whole wheat couscous with the recommended red sauce. It looked so yummy. It looks nice, but one taste was enough for both of us to look up from our plates, make crumpled up noses at eachother, and simultaneously say, "it's so bland!"

So, the recipe is NOT going in here. However, the dessert was much better. Inspired by Shauna at Gluten-free girl (again), and to save the watermelon still sitting on our counters from a CSA box from weeks ago from an uncertain moldy death, I had whipped up a watermelon granita the night before, and it was finally frozen and ready to be eaten. This treat made all the bad memories of tree bark instantly disappear.

See Gluten-free Girl's recipe for her Watermelon Sorbet (it's towards the bottom of her post, after that yummy-looking fritatta). And because I only own an old-fashioned ice-cream maker (ie. requiring rock salt and copious quantities of ice), I made it granita style; pouring everything into a shallow glass dish, letting it freeze, and then scraping the top with a fork until we filled our glasses with the ice shavings. You won't regret it, and it's incredibly easy!


Here's the finished product:


BTW, it does turn out more of a luscious pink than it looks here; I blame the bad lighting in the kitchen (my sly way of begging for Loving Boyfriend to return the wrong-sized light bulbs we bought at BiMart so that we can have good kitchen lighting...). Which reminds me, if you're interested, see la dolce vita's new food contest, In the Pink, which Loving Boyfriend and I are both planning entries (we want to see who's recipe you prefer!).