Couscous Salad

Original Recipe

J had been getting a little sick of the same old thing for lunch every day.  Typically sandwich, fruit and some sort of chip/pretzel/crackers.  And I have to agree.  So we’ve been trying to mix it up a bit.  A few weeks ago I made a huge batch of this couscous salad for the week. 

I thought it was really good!  Easy to make, perfect for a packed lunch, healthy and filling!

Ingredients:
1 c couscous
1 cucumber, diced
1 can corn, drained
5 small ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2-1 c fresh parsley, finely chopped
1/2-1 c fresh basil, finely chopped
1 lemon, juice of
1 t Dijon mustard
1 t dried oregano
1 c EVOO
1 t balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Cook the couscous according to package directions and let cool completely.

While it cools, mix the cucumber, corn, tomato, parsley and basil in a large bowl.  In a small bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients. 

Once couscous is cool, mix it into the veggies, then pour the dressing over top and mix well.  Chill at least one hour before serving.

 

Avocado Salad

Recipe from Food alla Puttanesca

Delicious, light and simple! 🙂

Ingredients:
2 avocados, peeled and diced
1 c corn, cooked (canned, fresh or frozen)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c red onion, diced
2 T fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
2 T fresh lime juice
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
In a bowl, combine all ingredients and toss gently to mix.  Serve immediately.

 

Cherry Tomato Salad

Recipe from Annie’s Eats

This was a really delicious, fresh tasting recipe.  Perfect for a hot summer day.  I can’t wait until I can make this with ingredients fresh from the garden! 🙂

I halved this recipe for J and I, and it was the perfect amount for us.

Ingredients:
2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/4 t salt
1/2 t sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t dry oregano
1 medium shallot, minced
1 T red wine vinegar
2 T EVOO
Pepper, to taste
Small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
4 ou feta, crumbled
1-2 T fresh parsley, minced

Directions:
Toss together the tomatoes, sugar and salt. Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to a salad spinner and spin to to remove seeds and excess liquid, about 1 minute. Return tomatoes to the bowl and set aside. (If you do not own a spinner, like me.  Place tomatoes in a bowl with a tight fitting lid and shake as hard as you can to separate the juice and seeds.)

Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer to extract about 1/2 c of juice.

In a small saucepan, combine the juice, garlic, oregano, shallot and red wine vinegar. Simmer until reduced, about 6-8 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.

Season to taste with pepper, and whisk in the EVOO.

Add the the juice mixture, cucumber, feta and parsley to the tomatoes and toss gently to combine.

 

Strawberry Feta Salad

Recipe from L2theC’s Kitchen

This salad was delicious!  J and I both had to go back for more. 🙂

This dressing recipe makes a ton.  You can definitely use it on other salads, or I’d recommend cutting it in half.

Note: the original recipe called for raspberry vinegar and balsamic vinegar, but I had raspberry balsamic vinegar, so I just used that.

Ingredients:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t honey
1 t Dijon mustard
1/4 c plus 2 T raspberry balsamic vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 c veg oil
1 c slivered almonds
1 head romaine, torn
1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
1 c crumbled feta

Directions:
Whisk together the garlic, honey, Dijon, vinegar, brown sugar and oil for the dressing.  Set aside.

In a medium skillet, toast the almonds over medium heat until lightly browned and toasted.

Toss together the almonds, romaine, strawberries and feta.  Serve with the dressing.

 

Grilled Chicken Salad w/ Brie and Baby Spinach

Recipe from Robin Miller

I had a bunch of baby spinach left over from the Chicken Pesto Pasta from last night, and I wanted to find a way to use it.  When I saw Brie in this salad, I thought “Yes, please!”.  Who doesn’t love Brie? 🙂

This salad didn’t disappoint.  Actually, a few bites in, J said, “I don’t know what’s in this, but I like it.”  High praise!  Typically he doesn’t comment unless I ask, so I was surprised when he said this about a salad. 🙂

The most time consuming part of this process was cooking the chicken, but it took under 30 minutes start to finish.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
Salt-free garlic and herb seasoning
4-8 slices Brie, about 1/2″ thick
1 T olive oil
2 shallots, chopped
2 T vinegar
2 T honey
4 c fresh baby spinach
4 slices bacon, cooked

Directions:
Preheat stovetop grill pan or griddle over medium-high heat. (Or if you don’t have one, just use a skillet.)

Season chicken with salt, pepper and garlic & herb seasoning. Add chicken to hot pan and cook about 3-4 minutes, until browned and cooked through.

Remove from heat. Place Brie slices on top of chicken, cover lightly with foil and place back on grill pan until cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil and shallots to pan and saute until tender.

In a small bowl combine the vinegar, honey, salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Add to skillet with shallots.

Pour the warm vinaigrette over the spinach and toss to coat.  Crumble bacon strips over top and plate chicken with spinach salad.

 

Curry Chicken Salad Wrap

Recipe from Ellie Krieger

I really liked this chicken salad.  I loved the melding flavors of curry and grapes.  And it was extremely easy to throw together on a Sunday for a Wednesday meal. The recipe didn’t specify what kind of curry, so I used red.  I would say use what you like.

Ellie actually makes this as a salad, but I decided to eat it as a wrap.  I bought some whole wheat flatbread to use and I also added tomato and onion.  It was delicious!  And J was in agreement. 🙂

Ingredients:
1 c chicken broth
1 c water
1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c sliced almonds
1/2 c nonfat plain yogurt
2 T mayo
1 t curry powder (I probably added in about another 1/2 t just for my own personal taste)
1 c halved red grapes
1/4 c chopped cilantro leaves (I didn’t have any, so I think I actually sprinkled in some dried thyme)
1 c mixed greens
1 t EVOO
1/4 t lemon juice
1/2 small tomato, diced
1/4 small onion, sliced into half moons

Directions:
Bring the broth and water to a boil and then add the chicken.  Simmer, covered, for 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for about 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.  Remove chicken and cool completely in the refrigerator.

Cut the chicken into 1/4″ dice.  Toast almonds in a small dry skillet for about 2-3 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, mayo and curry powder. (I also added the thyme here.) Fold in chicken, grapes, cilantro (if using), and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a separate small bowl toss the greens with the EVOO, lemon, tomato and onion.

Place some chicken salad down the center of your wrap, then top with the greens mixture.  Roll up and eat!

 

Apple Spinach Salad w/ Toasted Walnuts

This was a great side to the Potato Soup w/ Apples and Brie.  All I did was throw together some spinach, sliced apples, toasted walnuts and cranberries, and topped it with the below dijon dressing.

4 T lemon juice
1 T + 1 t sugar
1 T EVOO
1 T + 1 t Dijon mustard
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper

Whisk all ingredients together.

 

Caesar Salad

Recipe from FoodNetwork.com
 

I wanted a simple salad to go with the Butternut Squash Ravioli, and I came across this recipe for Caesar Salad that seemed good and easy. 

The croutons were delicious!!  J and I were both sneaking them as I prepared the rest of the meal. 🙂

The dressing was okay – way too much garlic.  I cut back from 6 cloves to 5 – but I’d probably go to 3.  It also helps to add more olive oil and pepper.  I didn’t dislike it, but I’ve also had better.

Ingredients:
Dressing
6 (as I mentioned above, I’d take it down to 3 or 4 at the most) cloves garlic, mashed and minced
1 T Dijon mustard
1 T vinegar
2 T mayo
1/2 (I’d add in a bit more, taste as you go) c olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Lemon Juice (I did about 1 T)
Minced anchovy fillets (optional) – I skipped these

Directions:
Combine garlic, mustard, vinegar and a bit of salt in a food processor and mix thoroughly. Add mayo and blend to form a thick paste.  Slowly stream in olive oil.  Remove to a small bowl and add in lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.

Croutons:
1 baguette
3 T butter
1 t garlic powder
1 t paprika
1 t pepper

Directions:
Cut baguette into cubes.  Melt butter in a large saute pan and then season with the spices. Add bread cubes and toss well to coat with the butter mixture.  Saute until bread cubes brown on all sides.  Set to side to cool.

Salad:
Romaine lettuce
Fresh grated Parmesan
Croutons
Dressing

Directions:
Wash and dry lettuce.  Layer the lettuce, cheese and croutons and top with desired amount of dressing.

 

Crab & Avocado Salad

Recipe from LaaLoosh

I was looking for a light, easy recipe for dinner last night. I found this crab and avocado salad and it fit the bill!

This tasted great – although I wish I could’ve used fresh crab. Ahhh… if only I lived on the coast.

I changed the quantities a bit from the original to make it suit my tastes a bit better.

Ingredients:
1 Avocado, peeled and diced
6 ou lump crab meat
3-4 roma tomatos, chopped
1 T red onion, finely chopped (I’m guilty of always adding too much and over-powering the dish, so this was a good amount for me)
1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 T chopped cilantro
1 t olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Mix the crab, tomatos, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, olive oil and salt & pepper in a medium bowl and toss to mix.

Carefully mix in the avocado – be careful not to mash it.

Serve at room temp.

 

Guacamole Salad w/ Shredded Chicken

Recipe from Pink Parsley

This is definitely my kind of summer recipe. Easy, healthy, light, delicious and no cooking! 🙂

We had a bit of a mishap at home this week. I came home on Monday from work to discover that our large freezer was open and completely thawed. It was still cold. We ended up throwing away some fish and other items that didn’t fare so well. But we had some chicken breasts and thighs that still looked and smelled fine.

We (actually J) cooked them all up that night with a bit of salt & pepper and shredded them for later use – so that we didn’t lose them.

So before we put it all back in the freezer, I decided to keep some out and add it to this salad. (I did, however, tag this under meatless meals, as it can easily be that by skipping the chicken.)

Some changes, other than the chicken – I cut the recipe in half, skipped the bell peppers, and also skipped the yellow tomatos.

Ingredients:
1/2 pint cherry tomatos, halved
1/2 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 shallot, finely diced
1/2 jalapeno (about 1/2 T), diced with seeds removed
1/2-1 c cooked shredded chicken
1/4 t lime zest
1/8 c fresh squeezed lime juice
1/8 c olive oil
Salt & pepper, to taste
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 avocado, seeded, peeled and diced

Directions:
Mix the tomatos, black beans, shallot, jalapeno, chicken and lime zest in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt & pepper, and cayenne and then toss with the tomato mixture.

Just before serving, add the avocado and gently mix. Serve at room temperature.