Anybody miss me? As I reach the fullness of one year of meatless Friday blogging, I am coming to the realization that I should have given myself off for the summer instead of the Easter season. That’s not as faith-related of an approach, but it is the more practical. This summer has been too hot and too busy with weekend travel to allow much time for trying new recipes. We’ve either had to eat on the road (pizza, Long John Silver’s) or grill (fishes, foiled again). I even got two vegetarian cookbooks out of the library and searched them for summer-friendly recipes; all were heavy on the tofu, which, you know, makes me not breathe.
At last, this past Friday, the schedule permitted for eating at home, and the garden has produced enough tomatoes and cucumbers to allow us to whip up the following:

Mediterranean Black Bean Salad
2 c dry couscous (plus 3 c water)
1 15.5oz can of black beans, undrained (use the equivalent of dried and cooked if you can tolerate them)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 large cucumber, chopped
1/2 feta cheese crumbles (optional)
Dressing:
1 c olive oil
1/2 c lemon juice
1 T minced garlic (or more to taste)
1 T dried oregano leaves
1 t dried parsley leaves
1 t Kosher salt
1/4 t black pepper
2 t Dijon mustard
Boil 3 c water and add dried couscous. Remove from heat, put a lid on the pot, and let sit while you prepare the remaining ingredients (at least five minutes). In a 3 qt container, combine beans, tomatoes and cucumbers. In a large salad shaker jar, combine dressing ingredients and shake well to combine. Pour dressing over the vegetable mixture. Fluff couscous with a fork , then fold into the dressed vegetables. Allow to chill at least two hours before serving. Serve with feta crumbles, if desired.
This was a great meal for making in the morning while the house was still relatively cool (and even then, boiling three cups of water doesn’t heat the kitchen all that much). My whole family liked it. It even got my husband to emote, which is saying something. This was made to feed six of us (BFF visiting for the weekend), and we still had plenty of leftovers for lunches and snacks. Next time we’re going to a potluck with vegetarians in attendance, I think I’ll bring this. Gluten-free peoples, I would make this with quinoa if I’d had better luck with quinoa of late (which is humbling, to be sure); brown rice would work, I bet.