Whole Foods Mediterranean Couscous Salad and Broccoli Crunch Salad….my version!

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Good Monday morning!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween weekend. Our Halloween night was pretty short and sweet. My boys got pooped out after about 45 minutes after having spent most the day at their buddys’ Birthday bash. My skeleton and Fantastic 4 guy were happy with their modest bags of candy. We went trick or treating in a beautifully decorated neighborhood with some friends. The weather was perfect, couldn’t have asked for a better night! Scroll down to see some snapshots of our night 🙂

Ok, onto my 2 exciting secret recipes…..I am a Whole Foods junkie and often will leave my grocery shopping experience with a couple of salads from their extravagant deli area. Talk about selection! You can get about any type of cuisine you could ever want. I just love it. The following two salads are at the top of my list. After ordering these salads so often, I finally decided I’ve got to make them myself at home and YUM they turned out pretty darn close to the originals!

Take a peek and treat yourself to two fabulous salads this week!!

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Whole Foods Mediterranean Couscous Salad….Picky Palate version

1 box Near East couscous, cooked according to package

3/4 Cup red bell pepper, diced

1/2 Cup yellow bell pepper, diced

4 oz container crumbled Feta Cheese

3/4 Cup Kalamata Olives, sliced

1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Pinch of salt and fresh black pepper

1/2 Cup fresh parsley, chopped

1. Place cooked couscous into a large bowl. Let cool (put in the fridge to speed up the process). Add the bell peppers, feta cheese, olives and garlic to the couscous. Mix to combine.

2. In a separate bowl whisk the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper until well combined. Pour over couscous and mix to combine. Stir in fresh parsley and serve! Refrigerate leftovers.

4 servings

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Whole Foods Broccoli Crunch Salad….Picky Palate version

1 1/2 Cups mayonnaise

3/4 teaspoon brown sugar

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

20 Cups broccoli florets (I got the big bag from Costco)

10 strips cooked, crisped bacon (crumbled)

1 Tablespoon fresh minced garlic

1/2 Cup diced red onion

1 1/2 Cups craisins

1 1/2 Cups cashews, coarsely chopped

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, brown sugar, honey, vinegar, salt, pepper and paprika until well combined.

2. Place the broccoli, bacon, garlic, onions, craisins and cashews into a LARGE bowl. Pour dressing over top and gently mix to combine.

3. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Serves 10-12

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smpicniccollage

Here are my rugrats running around Halloween night. Was nearly impossible to get them to take pictures!

Have a great new week, see you soon!

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26 Responses
  1. Dirk Trumpp

    Hello my family member! I want to say that this article is amazing, nice written and come with almost all significant infos. I’d like to peer extra posts like this .

  2. Mediterranean Yacht Charters

    Thoroughly appreciated reading this posting. Your weblog is certainly one for my bookmarking. Best wishes. Claire

  3. Polly

    Hey Jenny…just wanted to let you know I took your Broccoli Crunch salad to our Thanksgiving feast, and it was a hit! The ONLY thing I’d do differently next time, and there will be a next time, is put the salad together the night before so all the flavors gel together. I assembled the salad first thing in the morning, and though it was really good for our noon meal, it was even better when we pulled it back out for turkey sandwiches at suppertime. Thanks for the great recipe! I’m learning I can really trust your recipes, and I’m so happy to spread the word about your blog.

  4. Jessica

    I just made your broccoli salad and it was fabulous! I only had smoked paprika but I think it went well with the bacon. Keep up the good work!

  5. Live.Love.Eat

    I’m not very close to a Whole Foods but I know how wonderful they are. Places like that are very dangerous for me. Love it. Both of these salads look awesome. I love couscous with added elements.

  6. Jaime

    I love broccoli salad! I usually use miracle whip and then you don’t have to add the honey, brown sugar, or vinegar 🙂

  7. Jamie Cooks It Up!

    What a beautiful site. I can’t believe I haven’t visited it before. I will be checking back with you frequently. Thanks for the great recipes and ideas!

  8. Camberley

    I LOVE Broccoli Salad; yet, I’ve never made one (I usually eat it at family get togethers). I will definately give your recipe a try.

    ~C

  9. Nutmeg Nanny

    The salads look amazing and delicious! It’s probably a lot more cost affective to learn to make them at home. The boys look great too….Halloween is such a great time for kids 🙂

  10. Jenny Matlock

    I suspect hour versions are every it as wondeful as Whole Foods. Love that store. That deli section – my oh my!

  11. Barbara

    Looks like the kids had fun on Halloween! And aren’t you lucky they didn’t have too many treats?
    Both salads look really good (great photos, by the way) and I could go for either of them for lunch! I like Whole Foods too!

  12. Kerstin

    Your couscous looks delicious and is making me hungry! Sounds like you had the perfect Halloween celebration, your boys are too cute!

  13. Jenny Matlock

    Oh I love the Whole Foods deli! And last year I did a bunch of Christmas shopping in their kitchen section as well! Thanks for the wonderful sounding interpretations! Yum.

  14. Pam

    So excited to see the recipe for the broccoli salad…I am addicted to it…can’t wait to get to the store today and buy the ingredients.

    1. Rebekah

      I am eating the broccoli salad from Whole Foods as we speak… It is so good that I had to search to see if anyone had already attempted this one! I can’t wait to try your recipe! And thank you so much for posting this! 🙂

  15. Molly

    These look great, Jenny! We don’t have Whole Foods in my part of Florida…only Fresh Market. I’ll definitely try the couscous. Hubby and I both adore it. Glad your boys had fun!

  16. Jessica @ How Sweet It Is

    Hahah your boys look too cute! I have never had the Whole Foods couscous..in fact I haven’t had couscous in years! This looks delicious!

  17. I Drank What?!

    The worst part of living in Nebraska there’s only ONE Whole Foods Store!!! Make matters even worse it’s on the other side of the city where the buses don’t run! LOL Gonna have to look into getting a car soon LOL Gonna try this recipe on my sister and her husband this weekend…Although the broccoli one I may save for myself! And yes I agree it’s hard to get kids to do take pictures on Halloween!

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