If I could eat only one thing for the rest of my life, it would be this Greek salad. It is my number one favourite food. When I was pregnant with my second child, I ate this several times a week. These days it is merely a weekly treat, the Friday night meal I look forward to. It has replaced popcorn as my “no one else is home, it’s just me” dinner. It’s incredibly simple to make, and served with pita, hummous, and tziatiki, it is a complete meal for me, although when the meat-eating contingent is home I sauté some chicken breasts that have been marinated in lemon and olive oil.
When I visit my mother-in-law in the summer, she goes out into her great, abundant vegetable garden and chooses the best peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes for me, so I can have my very favourite meal. There’s something so delightful about slicing up the sun-warmed, perfectly ripe vegetables, and the flavour of that freshness adds considerably to the salad. The rest of the year, I content myself with buying the sweetest looking produce for this beautiful, colourful, masterpiece of a salad. In the soundtrack of my life, Ode to Joy would play each time I take a forkful.
Ingredients
Whisk together olive oil, vinegars, basil, oregano, and garlic.
In a large bowl, combine veggies. Top with black olives and feta cheese.
Toss with dressing, enjoy with warm pita, hummous, and tziatiki.
Lemon Chicken
Ingredients
Whisk together olive oil, lemon, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
Arrange chicken slices in a shallow bowl.
Pour oil and lemon mixture over top; marinate for 2-5 hours.
In a nonstick pan, sauté chicken slices until browned and cooked through.
Yield: Makes 2 large or 4 medium servings.
Nutritional Information, salad only, based on 4 servings: Calories: 269, Total Carbohydrates: 10 grams, Fibre: 3 grams, Sugar: 8 grams, Protein: 3 grams, Fat: 23 grams
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