Mar 17
It’s St. Patrick’s Day… and I’m bringing you a recipe for Greek salad. Sorry for being a bad blogger. I just can’t seem to get down with recipes spot on for holidays. Something to work on, I guess.
Moving on…
Do you have a favorite type of food? Over the years mine has varied but mostly always stuck with Spanish cuisine because of the bold, spicy flavors. More recently, I’ve had a major crush on Greek and/or Mediterranean food of any sort. The feta! The olives! The pita bread! Oh, and tzatziki dip? YESSSS.
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Tony and I discovered a few good spots in Chicago over the past few months including Zizi’s Café and Gyros on the Spit. We love gyros, greek salads and Moussaka. If you’re in Chicago and love Mediterranean and/or Greek food, those are my two favorites. They’re inexpensive and you get plenty of food! Of course, there’s also Greek town however I’ve only really been to one spot and it was so-so. I’ll definitely be heading back soon though and will report on my findings. (Also let me know if you have any recommendations – I’m always looking for good spots in Chicago!)
Considering I’m on a greek food kick I whipped up a super simple salad for spring. It’s full of fresh veggies, spices, feta, olives and chickpeas. No cooking required; all you’ll do is chop the veggies and toss them with the light dressing. You can marinate it in the fridge for an hour or so, but it isn’t necessary.
I normally eat this salad for lunch over mixed greens but you can also enjoy it as is. A cup of cooked quinoa stirred in is also fabulous. And if you’re in a bind, this is a great crowd pleaser for a BBQ or potluck. Enjoy!
See how to make the salad:
For more salad inspiration, follow my Feel Good Salads board on Pinterest:
Follow Monique Volz | Ambitious Kitchen’s board Feel Good Salads on Pinterest.
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe! You can also snap and picture and post it on Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen. And of course be sure to follow Ambitious Kitchen on Instagram. xo!
- Serves: 4 servings
- Serving size: 1/4th of recipe
- Calories: 279
- Fat: 12.3g
- Carbohydrates: 33.5g
- Sugar: 12.4g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 12.5g
- For the salad:
- 1 (15 oz) can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 1/2 small red onion, chopped
- 15 grape tomatoes, halved (about 1 cup)
- 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives
- 1 medium cucumber, sliced and quartered
- 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled or cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- For the dressing:
- 1 tablespon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
- Place all salad ingredients into a large bowl and toss to combine.
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and oregano. Pour onto salad and toss again to well combine. Taste and add salt and pepper as you'd like.
- Place in refrigerator for 1 hour to marinate, or serve immediately. Salad is best enjoyed within 2-3 days after making. Serves 4 for a meal, or 6 as a side salad.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
Mediterranean Avocado Chickpea Pasta Salad
Chopped Thai Kale Salad with Peanut Ginger Dressing
Healing Lemongrass Chickpea Thai Green Curry
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You should try Reza’s in Andersonville if you haven’t yet: http://www.rezasrestaurant.com they have great food!
Thanks for the recommendation 🙂
my two favorite places in greektown are Parthenon and Santorini – the chicken kabobs are the best!
xo, ellie
http://withlovefromellie.wordpress.com
I am following a vegan diet so this is perfect without the cheese for me.
If you eat tofu, you might like to try a marinated tofu “feta” with this salad.e
Wow, what a lovely salad! It’s one of my favorites in Greek cuisine! Yours has a nice punch of protein too!
I have been non stop craving Greek foods so I would be all over this if you placed it in front of me right now
Ah! This salad looks delicious! And so festive. It reminds me of summer, which I’m missing a whole lot right now! Pinning this. (:
It’s always a good time for Greek salad! I think that’s what I’ll be having for lunch today.
You are NOT a bad blogger! I enjoy your posts so much! This is a great salad. I think I have everything for it at home for tonight’s dinner! Yay!
So beautiful! I’m in love with Greek food as well, and this salad looks incredible 🙂
This looks amazing! I don’t get nearly enough Greek food in my life and I need to change that. Starting with this salad!
Seriously!!! I’m starving after this 🙂 yummy
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
Other than tabbouleh, Greek Salads are hands down my favorite. I love the chickpeas in this because I pretty much put chickpeas in everything!! Wish I had this now! Pinning.
So light and fresh! Greek and Mediterranean foods are definitely a favorite!
Ahhh, so glad i found this, my hubby and I are going to a friends house tomorrow and he wanted me to make a Greek salad. Bingo! Looks amazing, and in my eyes you’re the BEST blogger 🙂
Hi. Love your blog! I’m going to be making this for supper tonight. Just a question…where is the sugar from in this recipe? Thanks!
The tomatoes and bell peppers.
What an amazing flavors combination, that’s a phenomenal salad for warm days!
Hmm this look delicious, thanks for posting up this recipe, looks quite simple to make.
Simon
I made this tonight and it’s a keeper! Not too much dressing, which is nice. I added artichoke hearts (in water, drained, dried and cut up) and the quinoa, used reduced fat feta. It tasted as good as it looked! Very filling and healthy. Thank you for another great recipe!
Hi Monique!
I’m going to make this salad for dinner tomorrow night.
Best Greek Cuisine in Chicago = Takim! Best hummus in town plus many additional tasty vittles.
I’m trying to do a sugar detox for a yeast infection. Does the 12.4 g of sugar in the nutrition come from the lemon?
No it comes from the tomatoes and peppers.
Great recipe! Really easy to make. I did double the marinade though because I didn’t feel like their was enough dressing.
I know feta is a Greek staple, but is there another kind of cheese that would go well with this? Bleu, maybe? I’m not a fan of feta. Thanks.
You could use Queso Fresco or a goat cheese I would think. Both are going to be less salty though. I think bleu or gorgonzola would be way too overpowering as feta is mainly just “salty” without the intense tang that bleu cheese has.
Been trying to eat healthy and focusing on a more Mediterranean diet and this fit the bill perfectly! Didn’t have olives but otherwise made almost exactly and let sit in the fridge for a few hours. I seeded my cucumbers which helped keep it from getting soupy and added about a tablespoon or so each minced fresh parsley and mint (leftover from some tzatziki and marinated chicken kabobs). I think that knocked it out of the park, but I’d still make this if I didn’t have the herbs on hand. Thanks for sharing – this is in the repertoire now! 🙂
Hi as a disabled nurse(from orthopedics and rehab) who can barely stand, and can not exercise, I know the enemy (back and neck pain) too well, nursing is murder on the spine and my injuries are extreme. But I have some information and insights to share, privately with you. First, why give up Yoga? Hatha is a very good form of stretching exercise, provided you practice under a certified and very experience Practitioner. I think you are experiencing overuse injuries, I get the sense you were working out daily and and not allowing your muscles rest and recuperation. I see you in a photo doing an extreme pose and no mat or studio. No supervision, the crown villain for injuries. A mat is protection for you. It pads your body and protects against slippedge injuries. It sounds as though your injuries are a combination of over use and slipping or attempting an extreme pose your body was not ready for or you were an iota off the proper position in. The problem with not having a supervising Yoga Practitioner. To move into advanced Yoga you need a teacher. Did you know there is a whole school of Yoga for those with back injuries and you are in Chicago, a likely place to find a Yoga Practitioner to help you. From your picture I think you are at the age where the body first hits that wall where you can no longer do whatever you want as often as you want. If you hope to have children and not be restricted to bed, your back needs to be rehabbed the right way. 1. Please stop the running, it is infamous for tight muscle injuries. If you need to ask for stretching exercises, you missed a part of Yoga you need. Plus you won’t know whether people’s stretching injuries are safe and appropriate for you. Luckily you are feeling the muscle pain that is called tightness and soon becoming injury.. Running injuries often cause tears of muscle, tendons and ligaments that derail your exercise program for months and must be surgically repaired and may never be as good again. So stop running now, you are going too far, too fast without a good warmup and stretching program. Start walking for exercise. Not everyday but every other. Muscles need rest and repair time to repair the microtears and get rid of lactic acid and other post workout products. Use Naproxen or Motrin for pain and inflammation. If you have pain from muscle tightness, and have some of those muscle relaxants take one at bedtime only. Also hot showers after exercise and hot tubs with Epsom Salts before bed. You absorb the Magnesium Sulfates that help the cells release those products of exercise, so they can heal. During the day the anti inflammatories will help with pain and so will a heating pad on Low. Just take it with you and plug in where ever you are. Start a search on Yoga on back and neck injuries and stretching for a knowledge base. Then start a search for a Yoga Practioner(s) in the Chicago area. Look for certification and experience you want to place your body in the hands and eyes of someone you can trust. Make some interviews with the best you can find and talk with them about your situation and what you seek. Bring suitable workout attire. The best will want to see you to check your flexibility, your cooperation(you may have to do kiddy stuff while they consider your practical level and capability) and how badly you are injured. You may have to start with a basic exercise program to rebuild your strength and flexibility, so pick the person who will help you the best even if you feel held back. Remember the best in Pro Sports use these people too and they know the back to basics approach is the most valuable, so should you. If any have a diploma in Sports and or Physical Therapy they have a strong knowledge base. If they ask to see the poses you were using and attempting/ working on bring pictures or stick figures. Explain what the pain feels like, how often, and exactly where you feel it and what triggers it the most. Also where you are feeling tight. Pick a person you feel you can trust, who is going to return you to a safe level, who is frank and honest with you and is willing to risk bawling you out, to see if you are worthwhile to spend their time on. They should be willing to demonstrate the poses or have a top student demonstrate for you and spot you. Hope this helps. I think If you can find a good Practitioner and get rehabbed properly, you should be able to return to Yoga, which you obviously love and miss. But less often and more safely. If they say no, then you can’t and that is that. But at least you will know for sure. I just found your blog this evening. I am on Pinterest. You have some great recipes, I am training my palate to like Sweet Potatoes, They are so good for you and healthy but I hated them as a child and am trying to find recipes for them that don’t involve layers of Marshmallow. Did you know that Buddha and his followers only had food they begged using bowls, and Buddha was blind the last years of life, still common in India. After prayers they would sit and eat whatever had been placed in their bowls. Modern physicians think Buddha died of food poisoning, according to symptoms passed down through history. Probably Botulism if you think of how hot that country is and still refrigeration is uncommon there. Hard to tell if the donor was innocent or intentional. Indian religions are various and don’t always play nice. If he ate it unknowingly, it probably tasted ok, and botulinum toxin has no flavor. So a Buddha Bowl traditionally has many things and little to no meat in it. Reference if you have ever eaten a Buddha’s Delight at a Chinese Restaurant, it is the same. Buddha began Buddhism in India, it then spread to China via Tibet and of course Southeast Asia, and some of the Islands, and Taiwan and Japan. Hope this is helpful to you as you seek healing and health, I have added you to my secret board of bloggers and internet sites. Glad to see you work with PeaPod. I am dependent on their shopping and delivery service for groceries. I am going to seek out your Pinterest board tonight, feel free to visit me anytime. You don’t have to post this book, I wrote it primarily for information, I thought you could put to use in you quest for wellness. Do give your back a thorough rehab, because Pregnancy becomes agonizing if you have back trouble and is too wonderful an experience to have anything interfere with the complex of joy and wonder you can feel. You most assuredly don’t want to end up like me. Good luck. Nemasté. MaryAnn from Boston, MA 2/10/17
Why didn’t anyone tell me to put chickpeas in my Greek salad before now??? I added fresh dill to the dressing and marinated artichokes as garnish. Eternally grateful, this salad is PERFECT!
Such a delicious and refreshing salad. Made it with the addition of tri-colored quinoa and it was a hit at our Easter celebration. Will definitely make this again and again.
DELICIOUS! I didn’t add olives, feta or green pepper. Extra can of chick peas, and cucumber. Added roasted organic sweet corn. The dressing is perfect!!!!
Roasted sweet corn, yum!!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was super yum! Thank you! I added some canned tuna for an extra protein boost and it was perfect.
Delicious!!
Mmmm. Delicious! I made this without the onion, olives, and bell pepper since I had none on hand and it was snowing like crazy today. I love it. I ate it before I workout and I had s great workout! Can’t wait to try again with the other veggies.
Amazing! This is perfect for using your favorite veggies 🙂
SO GOOD! Will definitely be making more often for lunches. Thanks for creating salad recipes that are so colorful, healthy and delicious!!! No more sad desk salads for me!
Perfect! So happy you enjoyed this one 🙂 And yes – all of the colors are the best!
This salad was crazy good!
Isn’t it delicious?! So easy, too! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Loved it! Doubled the recipe. The peppers at the store were really big, so I added an extra can of chickpeas to the doubled recipe, and an extra tablespoon of olive oil and 2 of lemon juice. Had mine with the olives, hubby had his without. Will definitely make this again. Came together in just a few minutes with both of us chopping. Thanks for a new staple.
Delicious! This is a fun one to chop up and prepare. Glad you both enjoyed!
Does this keep well in the fridge? I’ve been trying different chopped salads, especially for my husband since he packs a lunch to work every day. We tried your Curried Broccoli and Chickpea salad and it was a HIT! Really amazing. But the best part was that it lasted a full 5 days without getting weird
Yes this does! Because it has tons of raw veggies I think it gets even better over time (like the broccoli salad!)
I put this into MFP calorie counter and it said 1/4 recipe was 574 calories. Did you modify at all to get 279?
My Fitness Pal is really never correct unless you input the exact amounts yourself. Just FYI. The nutrition information in this recipe is correct for 4 servings.
I haven’t been in ages, but the Parthenon was always my go to spot when I happened to be in the area when I lived in the Midwest. Opa!!
Love it!
You’re from Chicago and you’ve never been to Greek Islands?!? Girl, you have GOT to go 🙂 My absolute favorite xoxo