Couscous Salad with Chickpeas

This easy recipe for Couscous Salad with Chickpeas is one of my absolute favorites. I discovered it a few years ago and have made it many times for office pitch-in lunches and parties with friends. It's best made the day ahead so that the flavors can marry, and it gets better and better as a leftover. I recently pulled it out when my mom was looking for something to make for a weekend getaway with her friends, and as I was digging into the leftovers, I thought, "This is so good. I should share it on the blog." So here you go.

Source: Cooking Light, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/couscous-salad-with-chickpeas

Couscous Salad with Chickpeas

Yield: 4 servings (serving size 1 1/3 cups)
Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked whole-wheat couscous
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (typically 1 large lemon)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
Dash of sugar
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint (I consider this optional)
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
One 15-ounce can chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 large ripe tomato, chopped (can substitute chopped grape or cherry tomatoes)
2/3 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

1. Place couscous, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cinnamon in a bowl. Stir in boiling water, cover, and let stand 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and sugar. Add to couscous and stir to combine.
3. Stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, mint, onions, paprika, chickpeas, tomato, and feta.

Tip: Make a day ahead for best flavor.

Big Finish: Chicopee Flowers Quilt

Confession: Some archived photos of my first few blocks for this quilt are dated May 2013, so I'll be honest and say I've been working on it for 2 years. It has always been a quilt I was making for myself, so the timeline was flexible. But now it's finished and I can show it off! I started with a Denyse Schmidt Chicopee jelly roll (2.5-inch strips of DS's Chicopee collection) and a variety of low-volume neutrals for the background, and I began assembling blocks using this flower quilt pattern from the book Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott. It was one of the first quilting books I bought when I got back into this hobby and precuts were at the height of quilty popularity.

I increased the number of blocks to 61 so that it would be a better fit on my full-sized bed -- and then I had to buy a second jelly roll to actually make all those blocks. The blocks are easy to assemble, but with 13 pieces each, they do take a bit of time. Eventually I was chain-piecing 5 or 6 blocks at a time and making good use of my design wall.

For the background fabric, I used low-volume prints purchased from a bunch of different stores, including Indianapolis fave Crimson Tate and NYC's The City Quilter, which I visited on my birthday while on a trip with my mom. I love how this mixed background turned out and how it makes the overall design more interesting.

For the backing, in honor of my dearly departed tiger kitty Jack, I selected a print from Lizzy House's Catnap collection and pieced in another of Lizzy's prints to get the backing to size. The binding is also a Lizzy print. I love how the backing prints coordinate with the colors on the front without being too matchy-matchy.

Because of its size, I sent this quilt to Abby Latimer of Latimer Lane Quilting for longarm quilting using her plumage design. Abby did a wonderful job with the quilting (and also with centering the backing). After being bound, washed, and labeled, this quilt has visited the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild and has been hanging out on my bed. The finished size is approx. 81 x 81 inches.

Sharing with the Knoxville Modern Quilt Guild