Romney, Zombies, and Fall-themed Couscous

I want to have a beautiful life. That's all. It doesn't sound all that complicated when i see it written down. Some people want to have money, or a phD, fame, fortune, a family. I just want to be at peace.

Right now I would settle for falling asleep or sleeping through the night. No matter how loud the volume on the tv is it doesn't seem to drown out my anxiety on those nights. What if I lose my job? Heaven forbid something happens to Ethan. What if we can't pay back our debts? What if I never figure out what I want to do? and then it escalates to the threat of a Romney presidency, melting polar ice caps and a seemingly inevitable zombie apocalypse if you believe the TV.

The trouble with anxiety is that no matter how crazy it seems the next morning, in the moment it is very real and incredibly imminent. You'd swear that all these things will happen to you as soon as your alarm sounds. So really the only combatant is to not sleep.

Or just watch South Park until my eyes literally roll back in my head.

Roasted Apple and Butternut Squash Couscous

If you're looking for a good way to take advantage of the fall harvest, try this! I read about roasted apples for a really delicious looking cake on my favorite website (smittenkitchen.com!) and i thought wow! what an interesting technique. So I had some apples kicking around and a butternut squash (my favorite squash!) and decided to give the whole thing a shot. 

I used 1 braeburn apple but in retrospect I suppose I would have used a better looking cortland. Cube everything up and throw it in the oven at 375˚ with a little bit of olive oil. Cook until the squash is soft (~ 25 m) and about 20 m for the apples. You only have to use a little bit of squash (3/4 c).

Prepare your couscous and toss together with 1/4 tsp. onion powder, salt and pepper. Since it's a little sweet because of the apples, it would go really well with something salty, like chicken or fish.  I've thought about it and I don't really know that the whole thing would work with any vehicle besides couscous, but if you have any ideas, let me know!