Couscous Salad with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Mushroom

Couscous is one of my favorite variety of starchy food, and I love to incorporate it mostly in my salads -It is also known that couscous is among the healthiest grain-based products!-.

Here is what you will need to prepare this salad:

- A drizzle of olive oil

- A pinch of garlic powder

- 1/4 cup of couscous

- 1/3 cup or about less than a half cup of water

- 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes (Halved)

- 3 mushrooms (Halved)

- A small bunch of spinach

- Drizzle the cherry tomatoes and mushrooms with some olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper and pop them into the oven for about 10 minutes 180 c.

- Until they get roasted, in a saucepan, bring water to boil. Add salt and stir, then add couscous and directly remove from heat and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Couscous should absorb all the water, fluf with fork and sprinkle with garlic powder.

Little Tip: You can add vegetable stock instead of  water to add more flavor to the couscous!

- Mix the spinach leaves along with couscous, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and serve immediately.

Enjoy your warm salad! 

Pesto Spaghetti Salad

Yesterday I was so hungry and had nothing in my kitchen to make a proper lunch for myself! So I found few things here and there and thought of making spaghetti salad with pesto dressing from these few limited ingredients! And it turned out to be a fulfilling yummy dish! I was going to make pesto spaghetti only, but I was so hungry that I had to add few of what I have left in my fridge, so I turned it into a yummy salad that can be eaten cold or warm!

Ingredients:
- Whole wheat spaghetti
- 1 Tomato, diced and deceeded / or 5 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/4 Bell pepper cut into small squares
- 1 Spring onion (small)
- 1/2 Avocado cubed
- 3 mushrooms

Pesto Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- Few mint leaves/ cilantro
- 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
- 1 clove fresh garlic / 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
- Few drizzles of olive oil
- pinch of ground pepper
- A juice of half lemon

Method:
- Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
- In a food processor, gradually add the pesto ingredients and blend until everything is well combined.
- Now combine both the pesto paste and spaghetti, and enjoy!

Happy cooking! xxx