Couscous, lima bean, and tomato salad

I found this salad recipe years ago in Redbook magazine. It seriously makes my mouth water when I think about it! Since there is no mayo in the salad it's a great option for picnics. When I was in the US I made it with baby lima beans. I had a friend who used edamame beans when she tried it and it was equally delicious. Lima beans aren't available in the UK or Ireland, so here I use frozen broad beans that I've popped out of the tough outer layer. It's a bit faffy, but it does taste so much better if you do this. Use this recipe as a guideline, but don't be afraid to eyeball it and alter it to your taste, particularly with the tomatoes and the feta cheese!

Couscous, lima bean, and tomato salad

¾ tsp salt
1 c couscous
¾ c water
10 oz frozen baby lima beans, edamame beans, or broad beans
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 Roma tomatoes, chopped and deseeded
¼ c fresh chopped basil
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
½ c crumbled feta cheese

Bring the water and ½ tsp of the salt to a boil in small sauce pan; add couscous, remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and transfer to a shallow dish to cool.

Cook the beans in boiling water until crisp tender, about 3 minutes, drain, plunge into cold water, drain again, set aside to cool. If using broad beans, you should peel them once they're cool enough to handle.

Whisk together vinegar, pepper and remaining salt in a large bowl; slowly whisk in olive oil. Stir in the couscous, beans, tomatoes, basil, and scallions. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Makes 6 generous side servings.

Enjoy!

Chicken Ropa Vieja, Cilantro Lime Rice, and Southwestern Black Bean Salad

Another night of dishes from Gina's Weight Watcher's Recipes. I was just going to make the chicken and rice, but then I realized I had all the ingredients for the salad, so I just made all three. I'm a big fan of recipes where the ingredients compliment each other, allowing you to do all of the chopping in one go. Then you just throw them all together in the end. Often times I feel rushed at the last minute to have it all come together, but that wasn't the case with this meal at all.

If you're working you could cook the chicken (either in the crock pot or on the stove) the night before, refrigerate it overnight, then shred it and cook with the peppers the next evening, making it a quick workday meal. The salad can also be made ahead, just adding the avocado right before you serve.

Here are the recipes:

Chicken Ropa Vieja

3 chicken breast halves, on the bone with the skin removed
1 small onion, quartered
1 tomato, quartered
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/4 c dry white wine
1/2 c tomato sauce (it's passata if you're in the UK or Ireland)
Reserved broth*
1 tsp cumin, or more to taste (I used a heaping tablespoon)
Garlic powder (I didn't have any, so I left it out)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Place chicken, tomato, carrots, onion, and two cloves of garlic in a crock pot or large sauce pan. Cover with water. If using the crock pot, cook for 4 hours on high until the chicken is tender. If using the sauce pan, bring to a boil, then turn it down to medium allowing it to simmer for 30-40 minutes. Remove the chicken and shred it using a fork. Reserve the liquid.

In a large, lidded skillet heat the olive oil on medium heat. Add the peppers, onions and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the chicken, tomato sauce, white wine, and about 3/4 c of the reserve liquid. Season with cumin, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes, until the peppers are soft, adding more liquid and seasoning as needed. Makes 4 cups.

Makes 4 servings at 4 ww points each. 

* I didn't do this, but in hindsight I would have strained out the vegetables and used the remainder of the reserved liquid for soup. It had a delicious flavor and would have made a great chicken soup! Next time!

Cilantro Lime Rice  - Start cooking the rice when the chicken is simmering.

1 c extra long grain or basmati rice
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 c water
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fresh, chopped cilantro
4 tsp vegetable oil

Everyone makes rice differently. My mother uses the evaporation method which is what this recipe suggests. She includes one tsp of the vegetable oil while the rice is cooking. I stink at making rice, so I prefer the 'cook in large quantities of water and drain' method. Regardless of how you make your rice, once it's finished cooking (and drained if that's how you do it), add the lime juice, cilantro, and 3 tsp vegetable oil. Stir everything together and serve.

Makes 4 servings at 4 ww points each. 

Enjoy!


Southwestern Black Bean Salad - I am a sucker for anything with avocado, but you can leave this out if you're not a fan. It would still be delicious!

1 15.5 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
9 oz frozen corn, thawed
1 tomato, chopped
1 small avocado, diced
1/4 c red onion, chopped (I didn't have one, so I just used a white onion)
1 scallion, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp cilantro
Salt and black pepper

Combine the beans, corn, tomato, onion, scallion, and cilantro. Mix in the olive oil and lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Stir in the avocado right before serving.

Makes 12 servings (if you eat small servings) at 2.5 ww points each.

 

Enjoy!

Dried apricot couscous salad

I participate in an online forum and one of the topics that you can post in is 'What's for dinner tonight?' I like this topic because sometimes when you have NO idea what to make, you can get some ideas. One day someone commented that they were making couscous. I find my couscous to be really boring, so I asked if anyone had suggestions on how to prepare it. One woman posted this recipe for a couscous salad and I decided to give it a go. DELICIOUS!!! I like that it's really easy to tweak to your tastes. I have posted here the exact recipe she gave, but I made some changes. I'm not a huge fan of mint and one cup was way too much. I only used 5 large leaves and it was perfect. I also only used one clove of garlic since it was going to be raw in the salad. We love garlic and this was plenty! You can leave it out if you don't like garlic.

I think this salad would also be delicious with dried cranberries instead of the apricots. I'm going to try that next time!

1 1/2 c water
1 1/2 c couscous
10 dried apricots, chopped
3/4 c sliced almonds, toasted
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 green onions, green parts only, chopped
1 c fresh mint, chopped
2 handfuls cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp lemon zest
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

1. Prepare the couscous by boiling the water and pouring it over the couscous, covering it with plastic wrap. All it to sit for 10-15 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients, then gently fold in the couscous, oil, and salt.

Enjoy!

Mixed Bean Salad

The recipe I use for this tasty salad was originally for a low fat white bean crostini that I found on the internet years ago. It is delicious as crostini, but I prefer to eat it as a salad with some French bread or like tonight, we had it as a side dish with a Spanish omelette. I also mix it up a bit by using the tinned mixed beans instead of white (cannellini) beans. If you make this as a salad, you can be a bit chunkier with the red pepper and onion. If you choose to make it as crostini you will want to finely chop the veg.
BEWARE OF THE GARLIC!!! We love garlic and even I still find it can be too much at times. If your cloves are large I would recommend using one rather than two. You can always add more if you want a bit more flavor.

Italian Mixed Bean Salad
2 cans (15 oz or 440g) of mixed beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1/3 c onion, chopped
1/3 c red wine vinegar
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, or 1 tbsp dried
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper

In large bowl combine beans, bell pepper, and onion. In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, parsley, oil, garlic, oregano, and black pepper. Pour over bean mixture; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. Serve with crusty French bread.

Makes 2 dinner servings or 4 side servings.