Tasty Tuesday!

Giveaway for e.l.f. cosmetics here.

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I have been making a particular salad for years to the delight of friends and family. With multiple recipes I enjoy making, however, this one somehow shifted to the back of the pile.

For the Fourth of July, my aunt and uncle host a family get together every year. Last week, they called to ask if I would bring this as my aunt enjoys it. No problem!

On Friday, I started searching my archives to find the recipe. No dice. I looked in my cookbooks. In my loose recipes. Searching online. While I found other recipes, I didn't find my recipe. Gah!

I was resigned to trying to recreate it, knowing I'd used lemon juice and spinach and orzo and olives and ummm what else? Oh, this was not going to be good.

Luckily, I finally found it Saturday night, in time for me to head out to the grocery store to pick up the few items I'd forgotten were in it that I didn't have on hand - scallions, primarily.

Fortunately, the salad comes together quite quickly, and it's great. In fact, I had none left over to bring home. I took a quick shot in between people digging out scoops of it, and fortunately I got my own scoop before it disappeared.

This one isn't heading to the back of the list anytime soon though. Enjoy!

Spinach and Orzo Salad

Ingredients:
1 lb orzo (I was almost reduced to using anelli, which oddly was easier to find)
1/2 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 T white wine vinegar
4 T lemon juice
1 t black pepper
1 t Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch of dried thyme
1/2 t dried oregano
1/4 t ground cumin (I toast the whole seeds first then grind them - much better!)
8oz spinach leaves, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
1/2 c Kalamata olives, pitted and rough chopped
1/2 c scallions, sliced thinly
2 t capers, rinsed and drained
1/2 c feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 c pine nuts, toasted

Directions:
Cook orzo al dente.

While the orzo is cooking (it only takes 5 minutes!), prepare dressing by combining oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, pepper, garlic, thyme, oregano, pepper, and cumin, whisking till smooth.

Place the spinach into a bowl. When the orzo is cooked, drain and place atop the spinach. Add the dressing and toss with orzo. Add olives, scallions, and capers.

Refrigerate the salad for several hours. At serving time, add crumbled feta cheese and pine nuts.

I know I just had this yesterday, but I've got a taste for it again already. I need to find something new, so I'll be heading over to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday with Blessed With Grace.