In the Bean Thyme: Great Greek Salad

It's that time of year again. Out with the comfort food, in with the fresh food. During the winter months, I tend to gravitate towards more comforting food, as I'm sure we all do. Sure, they're delicious and yes, I try to make them as healthy as possible and get my greens in different ways (thank you green monsters) but after awhile it gets old.

The sunny, warmer weather we have been having has inspired me to create meals using much more fresh produce. I love this time of year for that.

This greek salad is as simple and delicious as can be. It was supposed to go alongside homemade spelt pita bread...but, as you can see by the pictures below that didn't happen. Note to self: Read ALL instructions before you begin cooking. As I was cooking the chicken, I realized the pita dough needed 2 hours of rising time. Whoops.

Great Greek Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cucumber

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

2 tomatoes (or 1-2 cups cherry tomatoes)

1 shallot

1 romaine heart

feta cheese

olives

basil

Directions:

1. Cut up all vegetables and put them in a large bowl.

2. Top with feta cheese, olives and fresh basil.

3. Toss with dressing (recipe below).

Red Dressing

adapted from www.howsweeteats.com

Ingredients:

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 tbsp honey

2 garlic cloves or 1/2-1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp herb de provence

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients into a blender and blend (rocket science, I know!)

The wonderfulness that is olive oil becomes creamy when blended, so this is actually more of a yellow dressing than red...oh well, I'm going to keep the name!