Orzo salad and quick zucchini squash

6/2
Very tasty Spinach and Orzo Salad from Simply Recipes, using a kind of spinach pesto to provide color and flavor in every bite. I think this will have to go in the rotation this summer, especially since it's very packable for dinner on class nights.

I served it with a Quick Zucchini Saute from Smitten Kitchen. My plate was very green, since I didn't think about my color palette when I was shopping for groceries.

Smashed Chickpea Salad

From the backlog: 5/10

Smashed Chickpea Salad from Smitten Kitchen, served as a sandwich with roasted red peppers. Chickpeas are great, although "garbanzo beans" is more fun to say.

Pan-Fried Chickpea Salad

From the backlog: Sunday 3/15

I tried this Pan-Fried Chickpea Salad from 101 Cookbooks, with a curry-yogurt dressing. It turned out pretty well, but when I ate the second helping that I had saved for the next day, the red onion and leek flavors had intensified a bit too much. Next time I might try soaking the red onion in water to reduce the pungency, and use a bit less onion. I think I would make it again, though.

Quinoa-Couscous Salad

From the backlog: Sunday 2/22

I had never tried quinoa before, but this recipe looked good enough to give it a try. Sure enough, it was.

Quinoa-Couscous Salad with Lemon-Cinnamon Dressing
adapted from Paulette Mitchell's The 15-Minute Single Gourmet



1/4 c quinoa
1/2 c water
1/4 c hot water
1/4 tsp Better than Boullion broth base

For the dressing (doubled from original recipe, since I was packing servings separately):
little bit of finely-chopped lemon zest
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp water
scant 1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt & pepper

2 Tbsp chopped celery
1 scallion, chopped
a few baby carrots, finely chopped
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
pine nuts

Rinse quinoa. Place quinoa and 1/2 c water in small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or as package instructs.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 c water, stir in broth base, whisk in couscous, cover, and let sit 5 minutes to absorb water.

Mix dressing.

Chop veggies. Mix quinoa, couscous, veggies. If serving immediately, toss with dressing; if saving for later, store dressing and salad separately.

Makes 2 medium servings; may want to increase amount of couscous and quinoa to make heartier servings. The dressing is really good, and you can mix in any veggies you like.

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The second serving of this salad was also incarnation #2 for the flank steak - mixed in a bit of chopped leftover steak.