Weekend Meals - Traditional Greek Salad

Over these last few quiet, sleep filled weekends I've been cooking up a storm, assuming that for the next few weeks of my life I will be surrounded by mayhem (and lucky if I'm eating pop tarts). This recipe is one of our favorites, and every time we make it we think, WHY don't we do this EVERY week?! Living in South Florida, fresh produce is always at our beck and call, so I'm not sure why we've wasted so much time NOT eating this meal.

My husband and I spent our honeymoon in Greece, and it was THE most amazing 10 days of my life. One of my favorite things about Greece - besides its natural beauty, history, and people - is the FOOD. Everything we ate was absolutely A-MAZING. Seriously. The one thing we got at every place we went was a traditional Greek salad. Greek salad in Greece is NOTHING like what you get here in the U.S. In fact, I'm not sure I even saw a piece of lettuce while we were there. Instead, vegetables are tossed in lemon juice, oregano, and olive oil and served with most meals. This recipe is light, easy, and the longer the veggies sit in the dressing, the better. I do not have any measurements for this, you literally just make it 'to taste' - sorry guys. :)  So if you're looking a taste of the Greek isles and a light refreshing recipe - today's your lucky day!

Rethymno, Crete - outside our amazing hotel The Avli

Santorini - this was one of the MANY churches around our part of the island. Not sure how anyone is supposed to get down there but hey, it's there.

Ingredients:

Green Pepper (I used most of one)
Tomatoes (I used about 2.5 for this bowl)
Cucumber ( I used a whole one)
Purple/Red Onion (I used about a 1/3 of one, you could do slightly less)
Feta Cheese (I used a whole container...we love cheese)
Olive Oil (the more expensive, flavorful the better...)
Lemon juice ( I used about 2)
Oregano
Salt/Pepper
Olives (optional...we don't do olives...)

Cut up vegetables into large pieces - don't over dice. Add olive oil and lemon first - you should taste more of an acidic flavor than oil. I would suggest making it almost like a salad dressing in terms of balance between oil/lemon. Toss veggies in oil/lemon, and add oregano, salt and pepper until flavor is just about where you want it. Add crumbled feta last. Toss all together, cover and place in fridge for at least 10-15 minutes or until chilled before serving.

So, I completely forgot to take a finished product photo...too hungry :) So here's one I found from the web:

 My recipe is pretty simplistic - but I've found a few on the web the picture above has this recipe. I don't know if it is any good but it's another option!

My next blogging goal...remembering to take pictures of the finished product....perhaps when I'm not pregnant and starving, I'll be better about this!