Couscous Salad with Chickpeas

Salads are the perfect meal for scorching summer days. Since we are approaching that time of year quite quickly we want all the salad recipes we can get ahold of. Here's an absolutely delicious and super filling Couscous salad recipe that you and your family will love. 

I find it very hard to eat fresh salads during the colder months of the year. If I'm having a salad it has to include some roasted veggies or pasta. But fortunately, warmer days are here and I end up on the other side of the spectrum. I crave fresh salads and raw veggies so much. 

Salads are usually an entree or a side dish but this couscous salad can easily be made into a main. It is perfect for lunch, and if you need to fill up some lunch boxes for your family, this recipe is perfect for it. A couscous salad will get them a bunch of nutrients, will fill their bellies for a long while, is mess-free and is loaded with flavour. 

There's a bit of everything in our couscous salad. We have some fresh veggies, carbs, some protein, and healthy fats. This is why it is a good lunch option, you won’t be missing out on anything. 

For the veggies, I decided to go with cucumber and baby spinach. You can either sauté the spinach or throw it in raw. During the summer I prefer them raw but if you're going to sauté them you can cook them in with the tofu so they get a bit of extra flavour. 

Chickpeas and tofu mixed together are a powerhouse of protein. I like mixing both to add more protein to my meals to go easy on the soy. Also, you get many different nutrients from each and a lot of different textures in your bowl.  

I made a couscous salad to get a few extra carbs in our meal. This will make it much more filling and it will keep you satiated for longer than a plain veggie salad. Couscous goes great with salads since it is shaped like tiny little pearls so it will be really easy to mix it with your fresh veggies. 

We need a dressing for our couscous salad. This one is very easy and simple but it has a ton of flavour. This is what will bring all the elements together and will help boost the nutrients we are getting from the spinach. 

This dressing will help us absorb the iron in spinach a lot better. It is made with orange juice, which is a good source of vitamin C. And vitamin C helps the body absorb Iron in a more efficient way but only when these two nutrients are digested together.

I think pairing spinach with citrus fruits is easy peasy, both are nurturing and refreshing, and they complement each other quite well. This couscous salad is a great example and with just a few extra ingredients you have the most nourishing and delicious salad you will have this summer.