Weekday Vegetarian: Couscous and Avocado Salad

I don't know what I was thinking last week when I bought all those avocados.

I chose them all at the same level of ripeness, and suddenly I was having to think about adding avocados to everything, just so they wouldn't go bad. So I did what I usually do, I made a fridge cleaning salad, with avocado as the star.While the couscous was sitting, I checked through the vegetable crisper to see what I could come up with. A bit of this and that, then I added some olives and capers to make it a bit piquant and then added a vinaigrette and we had a light lunch. It was still good the next day, although the avocado got a bit mushy.

Couscous Salad with Avocado

1 1/2 cups cooked couscous
1 celery rib, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 roasted red pepper, chopped
1/4 cucumber, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
6 olives, sliced
1 tbsp capers, drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1 - 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Stem or two of fresh thyme, leaves removed
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large bowl add the cooked couscous, the celery, onion, red pepper, cucumber, avocado, olives and capers.

2. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil, vinegar, mustard and thyme leaves. Taste and add more vinegar if you like. Pour vinaigrette over couscous and vegetables and stir to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

More Fridge Cleaning Recipes
A Chinese Stir-Fry from Leftovers (just leave out the ground beef)
Couscous Salad
Feta and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata