Couscous Salad!!!

Heading over to the Santiago's for a cookout, so I decided to make an Israeli couscous salad. It is AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS...and gorgeous!!!!! I've made it a few times, but I think this is my favorite version. Israeli (or Middle Eastern) couscous is just about the cutest food there is (besides apricots, aka "baby butts" according to Justin). They are fun little balls that you can do pretty much anything with. Sometimes I just cook some up in veggie broth and eat it as a side dish, other times, I've mixed in curry powder, potatoes, onions, peppers, chicken (before i went veggie, now i would probably try tofu or seitan) and made a whole meal out of it. Anyway, here is the recipe for the salad I made today:

-3 cups Israeli couscous
-4 cups veggie broth or water (if using water, flavor it up a little with salt and maybe some garlic powder)
-2 granny smith apples, chopped into like 1/2 inch cubes (leave the skin on)
-dried cranberries chopped up
-slivered or sliced almonds (you can also use pinenuts, or probably walnuts would be good too!)
-fresh rosemary chopped tiny
-some grapes, sliced length wise
-red onion, minced really tiny

dressing-i'm not really a measurer, so start with maybe 2 parts olive oil to 1 part acid

-juice from 1 lemon apple cider vinegar (you can use both lemon and vinegar, or just 1 or the other...i like both)
-salt
-little honey
-olive oil

Cook the couscous in the broth or water UNCOVERED until all the liquid is absorbed (it only takes maybe 10-15 minutes, depending on how wide your pan is). Throw the still warm cooked couscous into a bowl, and add in all of the ingredients, mix together. In a small container, add the ingredients for the dressing, and shake into a frenzy. Pour over couscous and stir. Cover the salad and stick it in the fridge until it is cool. It gets better the longer it sits.

Breakfast is getting better!

I have found the cure to my breakfast woes. Tofu scramble! I'll post a picture once I get it more pretty looking :) For this morning's scramble, I sauteed some red onion, garlic, and green peppers in olive oil. Then I crumbled up tofu that I had froze, defrosted, and squeezed the living daylights out of. I added in some nutritional yeast, and my new favorite condiment, liquid aminos, and sauteed for a bit more. At this point, Justin roamed into the kitchen wondering what the amazing smell was. He tasted, and his response was, "Wow! That is not what I expected that to taste like! I'd eat that for a nice weekend breakfast!" woo hoo!!! Always nice to impress Justin!

Second cure has been a peanut butter granola from Aunt P. It's pretty loaded with peanut butter, a decent amount of butter, more than a touch of honey, you get the idea...so I've only been having a little. In the morning, I eat maybe 1/3 of a cup with a whole sliced banana, and I cover everything in vanilla almond milk. YUM! Justin is also pretty crazy for the granola. His words were, "that Aunt Peg...she knows what she's doing."

And a sidenote about lunch. I've been on a salad kick, which is pretty big because I don't really love salad. But I do love this one (mainly because of all the stuff!). I use spring mix, and add dried cranberries, apples, grapes, leftover black beans, red onion, raw walnuts, bleu cheese, and avocado. I made a dressing with rice vinegar, olive oil, honey, and a little salt, and it has really been quite a satisfying lunch!

And another sidenote about my naughty cats: I left half a bag of white cheddar popcorn on the counter before I went to the gym (sure, white cheddar popcorn is the perfect before gym snack!). When Justin got home from his run, he found the silverware drawer open (or should we call it a step stool), and the popcorn all over the floor. Nice going boys.