Orange Couscous Salad



 I love salads...green salads, pasta salads, potato salads...all kinds of salads!  Especially in the summer time when it's hot.  There's nothing like having a cold salad for dinner as a meal, or along with some sort of grilled meat.  Yumm.  Check out my other Couscous salad recipe!  Couscous Salad

So last week, I wanted to make some couscous salad, however, I was out of feta cheese, which in my opinion, goes very well with couscous in a salad.  Instead, I googled couscous salad recipes and found this one from Eat Better America.  And of course, I changed up the recipe to fit my tastes.  This salad is a define "make again."  In fact, I can't wait to make it again this week! 

Couscous Fruit Salad

1 (10 ounce) package plain uncooked couscous


 1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 T. olive oil
3/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. oregano
1 t. parsley
3 green onions, sliced (white and green part)
1/4 c. dried cranberries (Craisins)
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 c. green grapes, quartered
1 can Mandarin oranges, drained
2 T. sliced almonds

Cook the couscous according to the package directions.  Fluff with a fork and set aside.

Zest the orange and lemon into a small bowl.  After zesting, juice the orange and lemon.  Add the olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano and parsley.  Whisk the ingredients together.

Mix the green onions, dried cranberries, raisins, grapes and almonds together with the couscous.  Add the dressing and mix together.  Fold in the Mandarin oranges.  Chill and serve.  Enjoy~

Spicy Chicken Taco Salad

Spicy Chicken Taco Salad
Serves 4


3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 c. Southwest Seasoning (like my Southwest Seasoning found here)


1 head romaine lettuce, sliced and chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 can corn, drained
1 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
4 T. sour cream
2 2-ounce bags of Doritos chips, crushed 

Optional:
Catalina or Russian salad dressing
Salsa 
Chopped black olives
Chopped avocado
Black beans


Place chicken breasts in a small crock pot.  Pour the Southwest Seasoning over the raw chicken and stir around to coat.  Cook on high for 4 hours.  Shred the chicken and turn off the crock pot.  You can serve the salads with warm chicken or cold chicken...it's up to you!


To make the salads, assemble the ingredients in bowls or plates.  Each bowl/plate will need 1/4 of the chopped lettuce, 1/2 of a chopped tomato, 1/8th of the chopped onion, 1/4 of the corn, 1/4 c. shredded cheddar, 1 T. sour cream and 1/2 of a bag of crushed Doritos.  Spoon 1/4 of the shredded chicken onto the prepared salad.  Top with salad dressing, salsa, avocado, black beans, olives if desired. 

Review:  This salad is very easy and yummy!  You can mix up the ingredients according to your tastes.  We enjoy using a little Catalina or Russian dressing to top the salad.  Since the chicken is cooked in the crock pot, it doesn't heat up your kitchen on a hot day.  This is also easy to prepare ahead of time for a quick meal.  I find that using the small bags of Doritos helps with portion control.  Enjoy~

Saturday Salads for Supper

This morning JP and I spent some time at the Farmer's Market.  The town that I live in has a small Farmer's Market.  I would love to shop at our Market, but usually I end up driving to Manhattan to the bigger Farmer's Market.  The prices are usually better and there is so much more variety.

So today I picked up some beets, green onions, basil and sugar snap peas.  We stopped at the commissary on the way home and bought some awesome looking (and tasting) cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and a few other things to get us through the week.

Tonight is meatless salad night, and not just your ordinary green salad.  Oh, no...these are super salads using the fresh veggies I bought today.  Yum!

Lentil and Beet Salad

1 c. lentils
3 c. water
1 onion, cut in half
1 rib of celery, cut in half
1 carrot, cut in half
1/4. t. salt

1 bunch of beets, cooked and roughly diced
3 medium carrots, roughly diced
4 green onions, thinly sliced


1/3 c. stone ground mustard (or your favorite mustard...just as long as it's not the bright yellow mustard!)
1/3 c. balsamic vinegar
1/3 c. olive oil
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. freshly ground pepper


Bring the water to a boil and add lentils, onion, celery and carrot.  Cook over medium/high heat for 15-20 minutes until lentils are done.  Remove the onion, celery and carrot and discard.  Drain lentils and cool.


Cook the beets and roughly chop them.  Roughly chop the carrots and cook in boiling water for 3-5 minutes.  Drain.  Cool and add to the lentils.


Whisk the mustard, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper together.  Pour the dressing over the lentils.  Stir well and refrigerate.  You may want to double the dressing, depending on your taste.  Add salt and pepper according to your taste.


Review:  This salad is very earthy and has wonderful flavor.  The mustard vinaigrette is tangy, yet complements the beet and lentil flavors.  When I cook my beets, I usually add the bottom 4 inches or so of the greens during the last 10 min. of cooking.  I chop them into inch long pieces add them to the salad.  I've also cooked the greens, chopped them and added to the salad.  Adding the greens gives more of a beet flavor to the salad.   Enjoy~

 Here's a picture of my dad, my step-mother Joannie, JP and his 2 cousins from Maine.  We were enjoying a family meal on New Year's Eve.







This is one of my FAVORITE salads of all time.  I got the basic recipe from my step-mother's sister, 

Kathy Blecatsis Erskine

JP and I went to Joannie's beach house in Rye, NH several years ago and Kathy had made this salad.

Feta and Tomato Salad

1 pt. cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/4 c. Extra Virgin olive oil (pull out the good olive oil for this!)
6 medium basil leaves, chiffonaded (is it chiffonade?  chiffonaded?)
2 green onions, thinly sliced
freshly ground pepper
salt to taste


Wash and cut the tomatoes.  Place in a medium sized bowl.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Refrigerate for about 1 hour before serving.  


Review:  I LOVE THIS SALAD!  I love the tangyness of the feta cheese and the juicy tomatoes.  The red wine vinegar and the Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  I've used dried basil when I haven't had fresh, and it is good, but not as good as the fresh basil.  During late summer when tomatoes are ripe, I've used 2 chopped tomatoes instead of the cheery tomatoes, and it's delicious that way, too!  This is good with a crusty bread to soak up the juices.  Enjoy~


This last salad is one of our favorites.  It's easy to whip up and keeps well.  You can add any combination of veggies that you like!

Couscous Salad

1 c. couscous
1 c. water
1 c. chicken broth

1/3 c. crumbled feta cheese
1/2 seeded and diced cucumber
1/2 pint cheery tomatoes, cut into 1/8ths
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 onion, diced
6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded
1/2 c. Ken's Lite Northern Italian Salad Dressing
salt and pepper to taste


Bring the water and chicken broth to a boil.  Add 1 c. couscous.  Put a cover on the pot and remove from heat.  Let sit for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.  Put the couscous into a bowl.  Fluff any clumps with a fork and cool.


Mix the couscous, feta, cucumber, tomatoes, green onions and onion together.  Add the salad dressing, salt and pepper.  You may want to add more/less of the salad dressing depending on your tastes. 

Review:  This salad is so good and it keeps well.  I buy whole wheat couscous at the natural market.  You can also buy plain couscous that comes in a box.  I've used leftover couscous to make this salad.  This salad is very versatile and you can use what ever vegetables you like!  Enjoy~