Where's the Beach?

The premise for this dish was inspired by Jason's mint plant. We have it, but I rarely cook with mint. I always think of it as something that will be too over-powering for a dish. But, I was wanting to try something different and use up at least a small portion of the copious amounts of mint we have taking over a particular spot in my flower beds. I decided to pair the mint with lemon for a bright freshness. It just sounded summery, bright and cheery. I had some leftover grilled veggies on hand and decided to go with an Israeli couscous, again, mostly just trying to do something a little different. I love the texture of the Israeli couscous, and it can really take on so many flavor variations. Part of me was torn between the idea of going more towards the Indian spices, but I wasn't sure the Indian flavors would pair well with the lemon and mint I had planned out for the tofu. Because I felt like the tofu was going to have stronger flavors, I wanted a hint of sweetness w...

Last week Jason had picked up some heirloom tomatoes. I had grabbed kale. I really had no specific plans for the kale, and Jason had just been using the tomatoes on sandwiches. But when it came time to come up with something for dinner, I thought the kale and tomatoes would go really well together along with some Greek flavor profiles like olives, feta, sundried tomatoes. Initially, I thought I might just go with quinoa, but realized I had some Israeli couscous in the cabinet. So, I decided to go with that instead. I knew it would have a lot more texture and bite to it. And if you don't have the Israeli couscous, you can use any grain of choice. I think orzo pasta would also be fantastic.  Greek Style Kale Couscous Salad Ingredients: 1 cup Israeli couscous 1 1/4 cup water 1 large bunch kale, de-stemmed, chopped  1/2 small red onion, chopped 1 tbsp minced garlic 1/2 cup white wine or vegetable broth 1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, reconstituted and diced 1/8 cup kalama...