Oh No More Salad!

Ok so I know this is a bit different to the normal posts but I made this today and I thought I should share it with you all because it was so delicious!

So it's the week before I'm due to go on holiday to Ibiza (oh yes!) so this week is supposed to be my one last-ditch attempt on getting a bit healthier for the trip. However, I've been out for lunch twice this week already and they both involved pudding, which is my downfall. Who can resist pudding anyway? I'm only human.

However, in a pretty hopeless effort to get back on track, I decided to make this salad after I bought one similar from Marks and Spencer a few days ago. I bought it because I hadn't had any breakfast and so I picked up pretty much one of the first things I saw, and it was actually really really good. I enjoyed it a lot more than I anticipated and it being so nutritious too I thought it would be a great thing to try and make at home. The M&S version used goat's cheese instead of feta but I don't really think it matters all that much.

To make one for yourself this is the loose recipe I came up with:

Serves 3-7 people (depending on whether you have it on the side or as a meal itself)

• 1 pack of giant couscous (trust me, bigger is better in this instance)
• 1 pack puy lentils (I bought pre-cooked with tomato and basil for ease)
• A handful of sun-dried tomatoes in oil or brine
• Diced bell peppers (optional)
• As much feta/goat's cheese/halloumi/whatever as wanted
• As many peas as wanted
• A handful of basil leaves
• Basil infused olive oil
• Lemon juice

Assembling the salad is fairly quick and not very time-consuming (though it was for me because I did it whilst watching Zoolander on Netflix. Ooops...)

To make it, follow the cooking instructions on the pack of couscous and cook until it is soft all the way through (I didn't use the whole pack I only used about 100g but it should say on the box) Put them in the serving bowl and allow to cool. I then microwaved my pre-cooked puy lentils for 1 minute before stirring through the couscous and allowing to sit. In the same pan I boiled the couscous in I boiled the peas and added to the salad. Then I got a generous helping of sun-dried tomatoes (I like sun-dried tomatoes) and sprinkled throughout the salad. If you're adding peppers (I didn't but the M&S version has some in) then dice them into small, bite-size chunks and mix them through the salad too. Then all that's left to do is tear up some basil leaves and stir them through and dress it with the basil olive oil and lemon juice. I added roughly 2 teaspoons of oil to the salad and the juice of half a lemon, but my puy lentils were quite oily so if I wasn't using pre-cooked lentils I would probably add more oil.

I let the salad chill in the fridge until tea time when I crumbled some of the feta on top. We had the salad with sea bass and sweet potato wedges and it all seemed to go down well (I really enjoyed the salad if I do say so myself.)

It might be too late for me to get back on the healthy eating wagon (tiramisu is hard to resist) but it's a tasty salad anyway so who cares?

Let me know if you give this recipe a try because I'd love to know what you thought about it and how you adapted it.

I promise fashion posts will be back soon (at least one post before I fly away)

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