Orzo Wild Rice Salad

You will need to eyeball these:

Orzo, 2 cups-ish, cooked to al dente
red, orange or yellow pepper, diced finely (or a combo)
red onion, diced finely
currents or craisins
corn
sliced almonds
wild rice, cooked

Dressing:
1/2 c Olive Oil
1/4 c white wine vinegar
2 T lemon juice
2 T sugar
2 T honey
1 T sesame oil
1/2 t salt
1/2 t garlic powder

*So several months later, I just noticed that I forgot to included the wild rice in the list of ingredients for this dish. DUH!
Cook your pasta, anything will work and whole grain pasta is great in this! Be sure you don't over cook it, and then rinse it in very cold water.
Combine your "dry" ingredients. Make the dressing. You can sub regular white vinegar for white wine vinegar, if you don't have it on hand, and olive oil for sesame oil. It still tastes great, but if you have those things, use them. It makes for a very yummy salad! Salt and pepper it to your own taste.
And the reason you have to eyeball the amounts is that I was not given amounts so I eyeball it and have no idea how much of each thing I use! It changes each time. Enjoy!

Mediterranian Couscous Salad

1 C. couscous
1 chopped cucumber (seeded)
1/2 c. feta
1 c. tomato chopped
1/2 c. sliced green onion
1/4 c. cilantro chopped
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder

Cook couscous according to directions and add the rest of ingredients and mix. Serve hot or cold.

This is also one of our favorite salads. it is so good you can eat it just by itself for a meal.

Craisin Couscous Salad

This is my own concoction for stuff and really you can not mess it up. It is one of our favorite easy meals.

1 c. couscous
1/2 c. craisins
1 chopped cucumber (seeded)
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
1/2 c. feta
1/4 c. sliced Almonds
Add to taste:
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Basil

Cook couscous according to instructions. Mix with everything else in bowl and mix. You can eat either hot or cold. We like it cold. It is great served with Chicken or pork.

sweet potato black bean salad

2 med. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 3/4 in. cubes
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
2T. fresh lime juice, plus wedges for serving
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 med. red onion
1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped

preheat oven to 450. Place sweet potatoes on rimmed baking sheet - drizzle with 2 T. oil. sprinkle with red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, toss to coat. Roast on lower rack until tender, tossing once during cooking, 25-30 min.
In large bowl whisk lime juice with 2 T. olive oil, season with salt and pepper. Add sweet potatoes, onion, beans and cilantro. mix to combine.