Couscous Salad with Lime Basil Vinaigrette

What a strange and delicious combination I’m about to feed you.

You’re looking at a beautiful, colorful, confetti-like bowl full of:

• Couscous
• Sweet potatoes
• Black beans – but any kind of beans are great!
• Spinach
• Feta
• Red Onion
• Pistachios – because I love them! but any nuts / seeds, or no nuts / seeds also work
• Lime basil vinaigrette

You think it might lean Mexican-inspired with the sweet potato black bean thing…. but then there’s feta and red onion… and some pistachios… and the lime basil vinaigrette is where things get pretty solidly quirky.

It’s so good, so nutritious (!!), and so nostalgic.

I used to make this salad all the time way back in the day, featuring a bottle of pre-made dressing, because that’s what my trusty five ingredient Cooking Light cookbook recommended. I was youthful and new to cooking and I loved easy recipes (still true, actually). Now I’m less youthful, more opinionated about things like making your own dressing, and ready for the still-easy but slightly more grown up version of this salad.

You still with me?

Our dressing here is a punchy lime basil vinaigrette. Which is kind of a lot going on flavor-wise because lime and basil are both big flavors. But big flavors get two thumbs up from me.

Or… you can trust me and plow forward fearlessly into the land of basil-heavy summery tasting green dressing.

Take a taste – do you need more of something? Salt? Oil? Lime? Basil? Tweak it till you get it just right and do not panic if it’s very very flavorful.

This is going to soak in with a bunch of otherwise plain veggies so we need it to be BOSSY.

Get all your stuff in a bowl, toss with dressing, salt and pepper, and muah. It’s summery, a little bit unexpected, and the best way to make lunch / veggies / nutrition / happiness all work together.