Greek Couscous Salad

I've made this salad a couple of times lately and it's just so good! I love Israeli couscous. The size and texture are nothing short of perfect. And this salad has pickled banana peppers in it - I've never added those to salad before and I LOVE it! AND it has a Cubanelle pepper, which I now love. (I'm pretty sure I've never used a Cubanelle before.) It's the light green pepper right with the other peppers and its flavor is less in-your-face than a green pepper.

This is the perfect summer salad. Fresh, tangy, colorful. Make it. You'll be glad you did.

Greek Couscous Salad
Inspired by Geoffrey Zakarian

1 cup uncooked Israeli Couscous
8 oz. baby arugula, thinly sliced/chopped
1/2 large red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup kalamata olives (I leave them whole so my husband can pick them out; otherwise I would chop them finely)
1/2 cup chopped pickled banana peppers
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 cubanelle pepper, chopped finely
about a cup of grape tomatoes, chopped into thirds
1 English cucumber, chopped finely
6 oz. feta cheese crumbles
1/2 tsp dried oregano

Cook the couscous in salted boiling water until it's cooked through. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool. Place in a large salad bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, except the feta, and toss to combine. Add the feta and stir gently as to not break it up too much. Serve immediately or chill first and then serve.

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

We added a member to our family. No, not a human this time. A guinea pig! I've always wanted a guinea pig. So when the opportunity came our way, we snatched her up.

Her name is Cookie. I mean, how appropriate.

We all love her. She talks - a lot. I had no idea guinea pigs were so expressive?!? She's a fun little creature. She gets along well with Ari the bunny and she doesn't mind being stalked by Tubby the cat.

Next pet on my list? A mini longhair weiner dog. As in, a dachshund. They're a bit hard to find within reasonable driving distance of central Kentucky. But I'm working on it. Plus, I might as well potty train a puppy while Levi potty trains. Right? Right. So stay tuned.

Okay, enough news about the animals I am collecting and planning to collect. Let's talk about this soup. I was wanting something with Thai flavors - I love cilantro, lime, spice, curry, coconut...Yum. The inspiration for this soup came from Core Life - they have a coconut curry stock that's delicious. Here's what I created and it turned out just like I wanted. I do have to leave the jalapenos only for my bowl because my kids' spice sensitivity isn't quite at my level, but that's fine. This was a hit with everyone!

Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

2 T coconut oil
1 onion, diced
10 oz. bag shredded carrots
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 T red curry paste
1 T grated fresh ginger root
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups chicken stock
1 can coconut milk
14 oz. (give or take) Thai rice noodles
3 cups cooked chicken
Juice 1 lime
Chopped Cilantro
1 bunch green onions
Sliced jalapenos

Heat the coconut oil in a large pot and saute the onions, carrot and bell pepper until soft, about 10 minutes over medium-high heat. Add the salt, pepper, curry paste, ginger and garlic and stir well. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add the noodles and remove from heat. Cover for 10 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, chicken and lime juice. Serve with cilantro, green onions and jalapenos on top.

Italian Veggie Soup

Happy New Year, friends! I've written a Year in Review post in my head but I've yet to type it out on my keyboard. Someday, people. Someday.

But! In the meantime (while you're waiting with baited breath for the Jones family year in review), would you like to see Baby #5? He's almost 16 months old and he climbs on/in/out of everything. He stands on the kitchen island. And the dining room table. All of the furniture. It's never ending. And he's so cute, it makes us all laugh. Being the baby is a sweet deal.

And on to the actual point of this post. Here's a totally healthy, Paleo, Whole30 Italian Veggie Soup recipe. My sister-in-law texted this to me one night and I made it soon thereafter. It's got flavor, texture and it will warm you up while it's 4 degrees. Like it was today.

I snapped this picture with my phone right before I inhaled this mug of soup for lunch. So don't judge the soup by the sloppy picture. The soup has just the right amount of spice and texture from the veggies and it's sweet from the onions and carrots and the kale is the perfect finish. Parmesan would be a perfect finish, too, if you're not a Paleo person.

Italian Veggie Soup

1 T olive oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 T Italian seasoning
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
15 oz. tomato sauce
15 oz. diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken stock
1 bunch kale, leaves torn into small pieces

Saute the onion, carrots & celery in olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes until softened and beginning to brown. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper & red pepper flakes and stir for a minute. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes & stock and bring to a simmer. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add the torn kale and remove from the heat. Give the kale about 5-10 minutes to wilt a bit and then serve.