Greek Yogurt & Avocado Couscous Chickpea Salad
PIN IT!This greek yogurt & avocado couscous chickpea salad is a great, easy and light summertime salad for those sweltering hot days!
There are many things I love about my job as a freelance travel writer. For one, I get to hop on a plane once a month and jet off to far away, incredibly beautiful places. Places I dreamed about as a kid. Places the 22 year old me thought I’d never see. Places like Iceland, Thailand, Peru and Kenya. I get to walk around and take in every beautiful aspect of these magical cultures. I get to spend time with the people who live there, share meals in their home and listen to their stories of life in these places. I get to photograph their children, their backyards and them. I get to walk beside them and live like a local. There are so many things I love about my job, but there are also things that are hard, too.
For one, I’m away from my loves for weeks on end. But the one thing I really noticed is that when I’m home, I’m not really here. I’m so busy trying to get caught up with recipes, deadlines, photography projects and articles, I am working from 8 – 8. I’m so busy prepping for my next trip, I never look up. I’m so buried into my laptop I find myself staring at it lazily when I should be staring at my family. I’m also so busy traveling or thinking of traveling, I forget how to be present at home.
And that’s a problem.
But the biggest step towards success is identifying the problem, so I’m halfway there, right? Although I had piles of work to do this weekend, I took a step back yesterday so we could go hiking. Whenever I’m feeling a little lost or stressed, an afternoon in nature always helps. And the one thing that I love so much about living in Virginia is the fact that we have so many beautiful parks in driving distance. One of our favorites (due to it’s proximity to our house) is Great Falls. It’s 20 minutes away but feels so much farther. There are no sky scrapers or honking horns. Just babbling brooks, waterfalls and beautiful sights.
And when I go there, I remember why I love living where we do. Why I love those rare weekends I’m at home. There’s nothing like fresh air and beautiful scenery to give you that push back into the present. Even though that minute of peace flew by and I was bombarded with stress and trip planning as soon as we got back home, I still had that minute to show me why I’m so lucky to be where I am and why it’s so important to live in the moments where I can. And to many, a minute may be short, but to me, a minute is all I needed to jolt me back to the present.
Greek Yogurt & Avocado Couscous Chickpea Salad
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Serves about 4.
Prep time: About 10 minutes
Cook time: 12 – 14minutes
Ingredients:
For the salad:
- 1 cup pearl couscous (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1 can (15 ounces) chick peas, drained
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped dill
- 1/2 avocado, smashed
- 1/2 cup Chobani Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Pompeian red wine vinegar
- Dash of salt
- Dash of cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Directions:
- Bring one cup of water to a boil. Add couscous and reduce heat to medium. Let cook for about 10 minutes or until couscous has absorbed all the water. Remove from heat. Mix the couscous with the chick peas, chopped celery and red onion.
- In another bowl, whisk the greek yogurt, 3/4 of the smashed avocado, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper until combined and creamy. Mix in 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped dill. Add additional salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix the greek yogurt mixture into the couscous/chick pea and mix well (to evenly distribute). Chill before serving and serve with remainder of the smashed avocado and dill.
Nutritional information per serving (about 1/2 cup):
Calories: 308
Fat: 6.25 grams
Carbohydrates: 55 grams
Fiber: 4.2 grams
Protein: 12.5 grams
Weight Watchers Points: 7
Claire
Tags:chickpea recipes, couscous recipes, greek yogurt, healthy salad recipes, low fat recipes, summer salad recipes
While the meals there are communal potluck and while my contributions will be "Sashi-friendly", I know that I still need to bring my own food since I have no idea what ingredients other people will be using. I may need to make this for one of my meals. It sounds so refreshing and satisfying. :)
Plus look at this salad. I mean I could eat this all the live long day. Gorgeous.