Last night I made frozen pizza for dinner so out of guilt, I had to make a nice dinner tonight. I decided on Cornish game hens with roasted cauliflower (purple because it's my daughters favorite color), couscous and salad. For the stuffing, I diced a leek and two stalks of celery and sauteed it in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Next, I added a diced Granny Smith apple, 1/4 teaspoon fennel seed, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. I let that cook a couple more minutes and and then added a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of chopped pecans and removed it from the heat. 
Next, I got the butter ready - a tablespoon of softened butter mixed with 2 tablespoons of chopped dried cherries, mixed together to form a paste.
 |
| My sous chef (taking notes on her 'recipes') |
Then came the fun part - letting my daughter stuff the hens!
She stuffed the two hens and we had a bit of leftover stuffing (I used the leftover stuffing in the couscous, yummy). I rubbed the cherry butter under the skin of the breasts and on the outside of the hens and put them in a 400 degree oven and let them cook about an hour (until they were 165 degrees). I let them rest for 5 minutes and then served them up.
While the hens were roasting, I tossed the purple cauliflower with salt, pepper and garlic powder and drizzled them with olive oil. I threw them in the oven and let them cook the last 20 minutes. I also made the couscous and added the leftover apple pecan stuffing to it. Really great meal!
