Chicken Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese

The other night I made this fantastic Cooking Light orzo recipe. It was so light, yet filling. The combo of flavors is great, and you can't beat how easy this is. It pairs well with a glass of white wine and some pita bread (or in our case, sandwich thins :).

Chicken Orzo with Goat Cheese

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Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups uncooked orzo

3 cups chopped cooked chicken (I bought a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken and picked all I could off of it)

1 1/2 cups trimmed arugula (I bought a bag of this)

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup chopped red onion

2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

1/2 tsp dried oregano

2 Tbsp red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

6 Tbsp goat cheese crumbles

Make it:

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain well.

Combine pasta, chicken, and the next 6 ingredients (through oregano) in a large bowl; toss well.

Combine vinegar, oil, salt, and black pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle vinegar mixture over pasta mixture; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese.*

*I tasted mine at this point and wanted a little more zing, so I did another mixture of the red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper and drizzled it over the pasta.

This also makes great leftovers! Enjoy!