Italian Orzo Salad (Grain Free)
This is my new favorite salad. I think I have made it 3 times in the last couple weeks. I love how easy it is to throw together and most importantly, I love that I don’t need to cook the protein. Chomps beef meat sticks taste delicious and they are made with grass fed/grass finished beef. I have also used Applegate pepperoni instead of Chomps which is equally as good. Try both and let me know what you think!
Orzo Salad is very versatile, so I encourage you to play around with it and add whatever herbs and veggies sound good to you. I stuck with veggies and herbs that I know my girls like (or at least will eat) and added a small amount of black olives which my husband and I love but my girls want nothing to do with. My hope is that by adding just a little, it is enough to expose them to black olives, but not too much that they will refuse to eat the salad all together.
Both girls screamed when they saw the black olives and then once they realized their fork touched the black olives they had to get new forks. Hahaha, love the dramatics! They then proceeded to pick out the couple of black olives and thankfully ate the salad. Overall I’d say it was a success! It may take 10, 20 or more exposures for them to actually taste the olives but I’m keeping my eyes on the long game, raising healthy eaters who are curious and eager to try a variety of foods.
Ingredients for salad:
1 box grain free orzo (I use Jovial Cassava)
1/4 cup red onions, chopped
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup black olives, chopped
1/3 cup goat cheese grumbles
4 Chomps Beef meat sticks, chopped
Ingredients for dressing:
dressing from Olivia Adriance
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon local honey
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon Italiain seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Make orzo according to package.
Strain orzo under cool water and drain.
Add orzo to a large bowl and then add the rest of the ingredients.
Mix ingredients for dressing in a jar.
Pour dressing as needed to the salad and mix. May have extra to use on your favorite salad. I usually double the recipe to use for salads through out the week.
