Couscous Salad with Sweet Orange Dressing

Leafy Green Base:  Your greens are full of antioxidants and vitamins. Remember that, generally speaking, the darker the green, the healthier the choice, but feel free to mix and match a variety of greens for more flavor and nutrients. My favorite green currently is arugula.

Grain: I didn’t always know you could put grains on salads. I thought that the unspoken rule of salads was veggies + dressing = salad. No variations. No more and no less. Now I know better and I add grains aplenty. In this salad I added couscous, but I frequently will choose whatever cooked grain we meal prepped earlier in the week and toss it in. This might be rice, farro, barley, or quinoa.

Protein: Yeah, you can get protein in your salad. I’ve already mentioned quinoa, so you can count that as both your grain and protein, or you can add another protein altogether. In this salad, I used chickpeas. Other options are tofu, tempeh, beans, lentils, seitan, or nuts.   

More Veggies (cooked or raw): There isn’t a limit on the number of vegetables you can add to your salad. Because the salad already has a starch in the form of grains, I try to stick with non-starchy veggies most of the time. I do love a good sweet potato in there though!  Veggies are a good source of nutrients and also your chance to add lots of color. 

Something Sweet (optional): Like some people are staunchly against pineapple on pizza, some are also fervently against sweets in their salads. That’s an opinion, although not one I personally hold. I love the surprising sweetness that fruits can add to a salad. You can go with either fresh or dried here, but my preference is always fresh as it’s easy to overdo it with the dried. My very favorite something sweet to add is pitted cherries, but apples, grapes, berries, and oranges all work too. 

Crunch: If you have made it to this point in your salad equation and you haven’t added something crunchy, do it now. Seeds, nuts, crushed up tortilla chips, green onions, or crispy chickpea bacon bits all fit this category and make sure your salad has texture instead of being one mushy, squishy blob. 

Fatten it Up: Healthy fats are good for keeping you feeling full and satisfied, so make sure not to skip this category. We’ve covered nuts and seeds already, so if you already have that, that’s great. Other options would be avocado, coconut meat (hey, a fruit!), dressing, or olives. 

Dress & Season: This step here exists to enhance the flavor of your salad, but it should not be where all of the flavor comes from. When I used to think of salads as nothing but lettuce, tomato, and dressing, I thought I had to drown the salad in ranch. No wonder I didn’t like that or feel satisfied when I was done. Use your seasonings, spices, and dressings wisely. Add some dressing, spices (smoked paprika, garlic powder, pepper, cumin, ginger), citrus zest, and/or fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley) to bring your flavor up a notch.