Mother's Day Lunch

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!!  My mom and I went on a wonderful mother's day adventure to Filoli, a lovely historical country estate in Woodside that had a special flower arrangement show in the house and beautiful gardens to explore outside. I brought a "boxed" lunch for us to enjoy in the gardens that included a yummy curried couscous chicken salad, marinated green bean and feta salad, crunchy potato chips, sweet green grapes and butterscotch oatmeal squares for dessert.

Curried Couscous Chicken Salad

1 1/2 cups water
1 1/4 teaspoons curry
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pearl couscous
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 green apple, cored and diced
1 cup diced cooked chicken breast
2 scallions, sliced
3 tablespoons  lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups raw chopped spinach

Bring the water, 1 teaspoon of the curry powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt to boil in small saucepan. Add the couscous, simmer covered for 8 minutes. When cous cous had finished cooking, gently stir in chopped spinach until it wilts.

Combine the chickpeas, apple, chicken, scallions in large bowl. In small bowl, blend lemon juice, oil, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt and add to chicken mixture. Add couscous and mix well. Enjoy!

Green Bean and Feta Salad

1 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
1 sweet onion, peeled
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 dash hot sauce
4 ounces feta, crumbled

Thinly slice the onion and place into a colander over the sink. Add the cleaned green beans to a large pot of boiling water and boil until crisp tender (about 4 minutes). When the beans are done, drain the water into the colander to slightly cook the onions. Immediately rinse all in cold water to stop the cooking process.

For the dressing: In a large bowl, whisk together the garlic, rice wine vinegar, cider vinegar, oil, sugar, salt, pepper, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Add beans, onions and cheese and stir until combined. Place in a nonreactive container and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. I marinated it over night (and waited to put the feta in the salad until the morning) and it turned out great!

adapted from here