mexi-orzo pasta salad

Being at home with my boys is amazing, but there is one perk I really miss from my working days. Free lunch. I was fortunate enough at my job that I ended up with a free lunch nearly every day. It would range from nice client lunches at a restaurant to sandwiches or pizza at a company sponsored lunch. I definitely became spoiled and almost never had to think about what I was going to do for lunch each day.

Now, on the other hand, I'm home for lunch every day. The good news is I can make time to cook a healthy lunch meal. The bad news is, I typically forget to think about food until I'm mad hungry and end up eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Don't misunderstand me, PB&J is quite possibly the greatest lunch food of all time. The problem, though, is that for 480 calories for a PB&J on wheat + 200 calories for BBQ chips (because, let's be honest, I'm not eating celery on the side) I could have eaten a much larger and more nutritious meal for the calories.

I'm trying to be a bit more intentional about what I'm eating for lunch and also being realistic with myself about how much time I'll have to whip something up. My strategy is creating dinners with leftovers for the next day and/or making lunches that will last me for a few days. That way, I don't have to run straight for the JIF.

Monday night was Taco night at our house, so Tuesday I had a lot of left over fresh ingredients on my hands. And I HATE throwing away food. I started digging around in my pantry to see what I might be able to whip up with my left over half avocado, 1/4 tomato, 1/4 red onion, and cilantro. I found some orzo and garbanzo beans. BINGO. Here's my recipe for Mexi-Orzo Pasta Salad.

The Goods:

• 1/2 lb orzo pasta
• juice of 1 lemon
• olive oil
• 1 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• S&P - pinch of each (to taste)
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 3 tbsp. chopped red onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 avocado, cubed
• 1/4 cup tomato, chopped
• 1/4 c crumbly cheese (feta, goat, or queso fresco)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped

How to:

1. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook orzo according to package directions. Do not overcook. Al dente is what we're going for here.
2. Whip up the vinaigrette. In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Drain orzo and add warm orzo to the vinaigrette. Do not rinse pasta.
4. Add all other ingredients. Stir.
5. Refrigerate if you want. I don't have that kind of self control.

This made 2 hefty servings for me. For a normal person, it would feed you for 3-4 days.

Another delicious variation - basil, artichoke heart, sun dried tomatoes, feta. Yum.