An easy way to use up zucchini is to chop it up into little cubes and stir-fry it up with various other ingredients. Here’s one idea — Spanish rice.

Or, in this case, Spanish couscous. Because, well… I ran out of rice. How embarrassing!

Anyway, the method is the same either way. Start by chopping up the veggies (here I used yellow squash instead of zucchini, onions, green bell pepper, tomatoes, jalapeño, and garlic to make it Spanish-y) and sauté in a little olive oil over medium-high heat until tender and lightly browned.

Add your rice or couscous to the pan, and add the normal amount of water you would use when cooking it alone. You could also use broth if you desire.

Cover and cook the rice or couscous as you normally would. Once the water is all absorbed, fluff it up, season to taste with salt and pepper, and you’ve got yourself a darned tasty side dish!

You could also mix in other grains besides rice or couscous, like bulgar wheat or quinoa (which is technically a seed). Or you could use the stir-fried veggies in a pasta primavera, or served over gnocchi.

You could even skip the grain/pasta/potato nubbins altogether and just serve the stir-fried veggies as the side dish on their own. Plus, you can use any combination of veggies you want, add herbs, a splash of wine, cheese… Stir-frying is the world’s best cleaning-out-the-fridge method of cooking.

The possibilities are endless! And ridiculously easy!