Greek Salad

I love my homemade Greek salad. I never had anything like this growing up. It wasn't until our honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise that I had Greek salad for the first time. When we got back into the real world, I had to try and replicate it!

We love this recipe because, really, we just feel so healthy when we have this for dinner! (Extra piece of dessert, anyone?) It's part of my growing search to incorporate meals into my regular list of recipes that reflect the ideas of the Mediterranean diet, where the greatest portions of food are plant-based, replacing bad fats with healthy fats, and eating more fish and poultry over red meat. Whole, healthy eating.

I don't measure anything for this recipe; it depends on how many veggies you use and then how you want the dressing to taste, but I'll give a general recipe.


Ingredients:
Salad:

• 1 large cucumber
• 1 can black olives
• 1 small red onion
• 3-4 medium tomatoes
• Feta cheese

Dressing:

• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• Red wine vinegar
• Lemon juice
• Dried oregano
• Dried thyme
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and toss into a large bowl.
2. To make dressing, combine about  1/3 cup EVOO, 1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1.5 tablespoons oregano, 1 teaspoon thyme, 0.5 teaspoon pepper, and a little bit of salt to taste. Mix these ingredients well in a separate bowl. Tweak dressing with these ingredients until it tastes perfect.
3. Pour over veggies, toss, and crumble on Feta cheese.

Variations:
To make this feel more like a "meal," we may add chicken and/or quinoa. Cut 2 chicken breasts into 1-inch pieces. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano, and cook in a pan with a little bit of EVOO until done. Add to salad. Another great ingredient to add, with or without the chicken, is quinoa. Add about 1 cup of cooked quinoa for more fiber and protein!