Sarah-Approved Israeli Couscous Salad

This is an easy and tasty salad I created on the fly. Turns out it was a hit. My fiance’s daughter loved it. It’s nice when someone appreciates your cooking, isn’t it?! We enjoyed it with Falafel sandwiches. Give it a try.

Israeli Couscous Salad
Serves 4-6

1 cup Israeli Couscous, cooked
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, sliced in long strips
1/2 carrot, shredded
1 large radish, shredded
3 tbsp of green onion, chopped
1/4 cup pine nuts

Dressing
1/4 cup olive oil (more if desired)
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, parsley, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the couscous, cranberries, sun-dried tomatoes, carrot, radish, green onion and pine nuts. Add the dressing to the other ingredients and mix well. Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving.

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Easy Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I remember my mom cooking Brussels sprouts when I was a kid. She would cook them in water — not boil them exactly, but not sauté them either. I’m not really sure what she was doing with them but I do recall they smelled horrible. They stunk up the whole house!

It wasn’t until I was in my late 30’s that I tried roasted Brussels sprouts for the first time. To my delight, I’m a big fan and eat them often. My favorite way is to roast them and they don’t stink up the kitchen.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Before you can roast the sprouts, you need to cut the end piece off each sprout, remove any yellow leaves and cut in half. If they are large (think golf ball size), you should quarter them. Spray a metal baking pan with oil. In the baking pan, toss the sprouts with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, salt and pepper. I use one package of Brussels sprouts and I don’t measure the other ingredients. I use more balsamic vinegar than oil. I love garlic, so I may use up to four cloves. Play with the amounts to determine your preference. Sometimes I add pine nuts when we have them.

Bake on 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. I like my sprouts soft, so I tend to roast them longer than a lot of recipes state. I like to add a bit more balsamic just before serving.

Leftover roasted Brussels sprouts are really good. I like to add them to salads the next day (as shown above) or eat them all by themselves fresh out of the fridge. If you were scared off by this vegetable as a child, give it another try. You might find you enjoy them as I much I do.

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Make a Healthy Meal in Minutes

From time-to-time, I rerun posts I consider classics from It’s Easy Being Vegan. This is one of them. Eating vegan and healthy can be quite simple.

It’s a myth that all veg-heads live on salads alone, but salads make a hearty and healthy meal when done right.

Best of all, you can prepare about five days worth of ingredients in about an hour, making a salad an easy go-to meal when you don’t have much time. Get your veggies ready on Sunday and you’re all set for the week. Then all you have to do is throw a salad together each day and a meal is made. Easy.

Salads are a staple of my diet. It makes me feel good mentally and physically to eat healthy. I never beat myself up mentally after I eat a salad, but I sure do after I eat a bunch of crap. My goal is to eat one salad a day to fuel my nutrient-dense diet* and salads are a good way to do that.

Suggested Salad Fixin’s

• Greens (obviously). Use different types of lettuces each week to maximize your nutrient intake.
• Grape or cherry tomatoes. Wash and dry. Nothing else to do but drop a few in your salad.
• Brown rice or quinoa. Adding a grain to your salad will make it more like a meal.
• Tofu. Baked tofu works great. Plain will do.
• Beans. Try a new type each week. Again to maximize your nutrient intake. Drain a can of bean and store in a seal-tight container. They will last about a week.
• Peppers: red, green, yellow or orange
• Onions. Any type will do.
• Olives
• Carrots
• Celery
• Nuts and seeds such as walnuts, almonds, pecans or sunflower seeds
• Dried fruit such as raisins or cranberries

Top off your salad with a simple dressing. Buy it in a bottle or make this quick and easy recipe:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 balsamic or white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp mustard (Dijon is best)
• Drizzle of agave or maple syrup, if desired
• Pinch of salt and pepper
• Store in glass bottle in the fridge

Store everything in tightly sealed containers, and you’ll have at least five meals ready to go in about five minutes.

*If you haven’t read Eat for Health by Dr. Fuhrman, consider reading it. Learn about the importance of nutrient-dense food and your health. To learn more about weight-loss, I recommend reading Eat to Live.

Read about my Eat to Live experience:

• Live to Eat or Eat to Live?
• Eat to Live: 3 Weeks Down, 6 Weeks to Go?
• Eat to Live Follow-up
• Tofu Ranch Dressing

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