Chicken Scratch Salad

My younger daughter is my sous chef, and we love to get creative in the kitchen, especially when we look in the pantry and fridge for items to throw together to make a new recipe. These make-something-out-of-seemingly-nothing meals are sometimes our finest, as is the case with this dish.

As we were mixing this up, my daughter decided to call this dish chicken scratch because its appearance reminded her of the feed we used to give our chickens! Although there’s no way it tastes like what we fed our chickens, I could see her point!

This salad is light, yet filling. You can literally add any veggies you have to make this dish your own and to use up whatever you might have in your fridge, but to me, the star of the show was the mixed chopped olives we used. That was one of those grocery store purchases that was a somewhat impulse buy, but I’m so glad we bought it! 

Without further ado, here’s the recipe:

Chicken Scratch Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup couscous, dry, and prepared according to directions
• 1 can Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed (can sub chickpeas or white kidney beans if you like)
• 1 cup green peas, blanched (either fresh or frozen; you can blanch these by placing in a glass measuring cup, cover with water, and microwave for 2 minutes for fresh peas, a bit longer for frozen; drain and rinse after blanching)
• ½ red onion, finely diced
• ½ cup sundried tomatoes, reconstituted (cover with water in glass measuring cup and microwave for 2 minutes) and chopped, OR 1 cup diced tomatoes (any kind)
• ½ cup olive salad (we used Mezzetta Italian Olive Salad, but you could easily sub an olive tapenade)
• Homemade vinaigrette. Mix:
  • 2 T olive oil
  • ½ cup apple cider vinegar (we like Bragg’s)
  • 1 tsp dried parsley (we like LIfehouse brand)
  • 1 tsp seasoning salt
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Mix all ingredients and enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.

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Although Labor Day typically marks the official end of summer, we all know that Mother Nature will keep up the heat for a bit longer. This salad is also a great one to prep for lunches on the go! If you try it, take a photo, post it on Instagram, and tag me @annecreates!

As always, I hope you all are safe and healthy.