Meatless Meal: Spinach with Couscous and Pears

With one 'normal' meatless Friday left this Lent, I present to you a meatless recipe! Hey, some people do meatless Fridays throughout the year, so I guess this would be relevant any time. We've eaten this other times of year, too! We love it, and it's surprisingly filling.

Spinach With Couscous and Pears

Yield: about 6 servings

Ingredients
2 cups whole-wheat couscous
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cups water*
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt
4 cups baby spinach
2 pears, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
4 ounces crumbled goat cheese

*If you want to make this non-veg, sub 2 of the cups of water with chicken broth and omit salt in step 2. I guess you could use vegetable broth, but I haven't tried it and can't vouch for it.

Directions
1. Toast couscous in a saucepan over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. 2. Pour the 3 cups of water and some salt to the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Stir in the toasted couscous, cover, remove from heat and let stand for 12 minutes.
3. Transfer couscous to a large bowl; fluff with a fork. Stir in oil, lemon juice and mustard. Season with salt. 4. Toss with spinach and pears, top with goat cheese and serve. You can leave it out to serve at room temperature or cover and refrigerate.

I prefer this salad with warm couscous, so I only mix the amounts I need at the time and keep the couscous in its own container in the fridge so I can heat it up for leftovers.

Adapted from All You, November 2013