Couscous Garbanzo Bean Salad

I found a recipe for Couscous Garbanzo Bean Salad in the July 2010 issue of Cooking Light, and while I was making last night’s Southwestern Tabbouleh, I realized many of the ingredients were the same in the two recipes.  So, I was SUPER PRODUCTIVE and mixed up two servings of tonight’s dinner ahead of time.  Boo. Ya. 🙂  I was also pretty amped to use some of the Rice Select Tri-Color couscous I picked up last week (and used in my Chicken Couscous Salad).

I put the following into a bowl, then covered with a lid to steam:

• 1/2 cup couscous
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/16 tsp cinnamon

 Meanwhile, I mixed up the dressing:

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 clove minced garlic
• Dash sugar

Then, combined the following into a bowl:

• 1 tbsp chopped mint
• 1/4 cup chopped green onion
• 1/16 paprika
• 1/2 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans/whathaveyou 😉
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup reduced fat feta ounces feta
• S&P & red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup red onion

I combined the couscous and dressing with the other ingredients, then left in the fridge to overnight.

I was really craving roasted veggies, so I decided to only have 1/2 a serving of the couscous salad (a quarter of the recipe above) with a hodge podge of veggies that I tossed with 1 tsp olive oil and S&P and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

I realized tonight that I’m really not a big fan of fresh mint 🙁

With every bite of couscous I thought to myself, man this would be really tasty if it weren’t for the mint… I ended up throwing some Frank’s Red Hot on there for good measure 🙂

The roasted veggies were so delicious:

If you’re a fan of mint, give this recipe a shot.  Otherwise, sub in cilantro or basil or go for the Chicken Couscous Salad instead!

Stats on 1 serving of couscous garbanzo bean salad:  317 calories, 50g carbs, 4g fat, 14g protein, 5g fiber