Greek Chicken and Whole Wheat Couscous Salad

I’ve usually got a pretty good handle on our weeknight dinners with the help of weekly menu planning.  But one thing I frequently overlook are weekday (and weekend!) lunches.  I get bored with sandwiches and leftovers only work if I actually like whatever I cooked the night before (and since I tend to experiment with new recipes often, this is a big IF).  I’m not sure why I’ve had such a problem planning for lunches, but I have.  Recently, I started prepping a meal toward the beginning of the week specifically for lunches, and this has worked out great!  Yes, it’s a little extra work, but it gives me a relatively healthy lunch I can look forward to.  I’ve usually got enough to last for 3 or 4 lunches.  So far I’ve done a teriyaki bowl with brown rice, baked buffalo chicken with asparagus, and now this salad.  Greek salad is one of my favorites!  This variation has the filling addition of whole wheat couscous.

I sauteed my chicken using the method described below, but rotisserie chicken would be easy too.  I don’t really like raw tomatoes, but some cherry tomatoes or sun-dried tomatoes would make a great and colorful addition to this salad.  Lastly, I used a bottled Greek salad dressing, but next time I’ll definitely make my own dressing (so easy to do, and much healthier!  I just didn’t have lemons on hand).  This salad can be served warm or cold.

Greek Chicken and Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (or almonds)
• 1 cup whole wheat couscous, uncooked
• 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup bottled or homemade Greek dressing
• carrot pieces (optional)
• arugula or baby spinach

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Season chicken breasts with salt, pepper and oregano.  Add chicken to skillet and sautee until cooked through.

Toast pine nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until lightly browned.  Remove from heat.

In a medium saucepan, cook couscous according to package directions.

In a large bowl, combine couscous and all ingredients but arugula/spinach.  Toss to combine.

Serve over a heaping plate of spinach or arugula.