ECO Lunchbox Three-in-One #56

Greek orzo salad (recipe below), some chocolate-covered tea biscuits with freeze dried strawberries, and peach slices.

I was inspired to make this salad when I saw this recipe, but I didn't want to make 8 servings and I also clean forgot to put in the artichokes and beans. (With the pine nuts, it seemed like sufficient protein to me, so once I remembered I just shrugged it off and decided that I'll have to make something with kidney beans and artichokes later.)

Greek Orzo Salad
Serves 4

Salad
2 cups vegetable broth (I made mine with Better than Bouillon)
3/4 cup dry orzo
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1 Persian cucumber (the small ones), chopped (if you don't have this, use about 1/3 of an English cucumber or 1/2 a regular cucumber, seeded)
1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes
1/2 cup pitted and halved kalamata olives
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup baby spinach, chopped

Dressing
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (I used frozen parsley cubes)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons oregano
Salt and pepper

Bring vegetable broth to a boil. Add orzo and cook until done to your liking. Drain and rinse with cold water. Allow to cool if it still feels warm (I took the cooling time to chop my veggies).

Mix pasta with remaining salad ingredients. Set aside.

Mix dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and stir well to combine.

In my opinion, this is best at room temperature, but you can serve it chilled if you wish.