Summertime Couscous Salad.

Last week I ran across a recipe for a Quinoa Salad from the Picky Palate that sounded really tasty.

I got excited to make this because one, it looked super easy, and two I wanted something light for dinner.

Then I remembered that last time I made Quinoa it was a disaster and no one ate it! So instead of having a repeat dinner moment, I came up with this version.

A super easy, yummy, summertime Couscous salad for all to enjoy!

Ingredients :

1 box of Couscous, any flavor. I used the regular.

2 cups broccoli florets uncooked

Instead of using the 2 cups cooked chicken the original recipe calls for, I bought a rotisserie chicken that I cut up. Much easier and tastier, plus I used it for a salad later that week.

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice from fresh lemon

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 avocado, diced

*The recipe doesn't call for the almonds but I added them because it needed some crunch since I omitted the peppers. The next time I ate it, I added dried cranberries which was really good and gave it a nice, sweet flavor!*

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.

2. Place broccoli and chicken into a large bowl. Add couscous and stir together.

3. Place olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper into a medium bowl, whisking to combine. Pour over couscous and stir in cubed avocado.

4. Refrigerate until ready to eat. *I added the sliced almonds to the individual servings because I found that almonds tend to get soggy when combined with a little bit of liquid.*

Makes 8 servings