Monday, April 22, 2013

Green Greek Salad with
Blueberry Balsamic Dressing


It's been a crazy, busy, BUSY week – no time to cook, no time to blog, no time to even pat my cat (sorry Simba!) but in the back of my mind lingered the promise I made to myself that I would make a clashing-coloured blueberry balsamic dressing to try with a green Greek salad this week.


Clash the colours did, but yum the salad tasted!

I was motivated by last week's Meatless Monday A–Z challenge to cook something with blueberries and I took inspiration from both Sweat the Sweet Stuff's and Oatmeal After Spinning's recipes for blueberry balsamic salad dressing.

Mondays are Tony's meatless days, and they are also the one night a week I get to cook and eat a meal with my otherwise meat-eating partner. After participating in Meat Free Week last month, Tony made the commitment to go meat free for at least one day a week, which not only helps towards reducing the need for animal factory farming, but also means we get to spend more time in the kitchen together.

Tony cooked an amazing balsamic tofu stir-fry for dinner tonight, and this gorgeous Green Greek Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Dressing accompanied the stir-fry nicely.



Green Greek Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Dressing


Serves 2

Ingredients

For the salad
  • 2 handfuls of mixed lettuce leaves
  • 1 small Lebanese cucumber, peeled and sliced
  • 1/2 green capsicum, thinly sliced
  • 15 green beans, trimmed and cut to 3cm lengths
  • 10 green pitted olives, sliced
  • 1 tablespoon slivered almonds, lightly toasted
  • 60g feta cheese, cubed
For the dressing
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 clove garlic, crushed

Instructions

  1. Combine all salad ingredients in a bowl and toss well.
  2. Blend ingredients for the dressing with a stick blender and pour over salad.

For more amazing and easy vegetarian recipes using blueberries, click on the logo below to visit Heather's Better With Veggies Meatless Mondays from A–Z page.

Better With Veggies

Next week is C for Cabbage. Can anyone think of something Greek that I can cook other than stuffed cabbage leaves?

Time now to give Simba his long-awaited cuddle...



21 comments:

  1. Am glad that Simba finally got his pat! As for the letter "C", how about cinnamon?
    Tony

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I wish it was C for Cinnamon but it's already been determined that the ingredient for next week will be cabbage... perhaps I could do something with cabbage AND cinnamon?

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  2. Hello Lisa, what a wonderful salad and an amazing dressing! I'll try to make it for sure.

    Now something Greek with cabbage. You can cook it in a pot with tomato sauce and a little chili pepper. My mom makes it and is very good accompanied with pickles, Greek salad and olives. Not so nice looking, but delicious.
    Mina

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Mina - that sounds like a great idea! A bit of chilli and tomato would go very well with cabbage. Perhaps I could even add some chickpeas to this?

      Delete
    2. I have't tried this, maybe is tasty. Some people add rice with cabbage, but I dont like so much.
      Can't wait to see what you cook!

      Delete
  3. first of all, i love that your cat's name is simba. secondly, with a beautiful color like that, who cares if it clashes with the salad. looks delicious, lady! i love making fruit the main ingredient of salad dressing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm a bit embarrassed by his name now, it's a bit passe and so many people name their pets Simba, but he's nearly 14 now and the movie had just come out at the time.. you know how it is! Yes, I love adding fruit to salads also - I often use grapes with Greek salads.

      Delete
  4. So exciting to read this post on two accounts - your man's meatless monday commitment AND this yummy dressing. Simple, elegant, and looks delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Heather and yes, it's great that Tony is doing the meatless Monday thing! The dressing was an absolute hit - I think I'll be using this on a lot more than Greek salads!

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  5. Wow, your blueberry dressing sounds amazing, Lisa! Looking forward to giving it a go. And that cat of yours is just tooooo cute, aww. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Christine! I know, Simba's gorgeous. He's on my lap right now as I type :)

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  6. Replies
    1. Funny you should say that because I was just thinking I would use chickpeas with a chilli cabbage stew! (that's three "C"s!!)

      Delete
  7. Cabbage spanakopita? Yes, I took the ingredient and ran with it but not to a Greek destination, I'm guessing. :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea Shvetha! I love it!! I think cabbage stewed a bit in a tomato-based sauce then mixed with some feta cheese and wrapped in filo pastry would make an excellent "lahanopita". I will definitely look into this!

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  8. That looks sensational!!!

    Guess what I saw when I was in the city yesterday? An old van and it was all spray painted with a Neil Young portrait and quotes! But it was going by too fast for me to get my camera out :(

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    Replies
    1. Oh I would have loved to see that!! Was is vintage 70s airbrushing? Fantastic! I love that stuff!!

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  9. I think the blueberry balsamic dressing immediately won me over on this one! I love green beans but never would have thought to add them to my greek salad? I guess I should trust the Greek cooking expert ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nat but I'm really no Greek cooking expert! I've actually just finished writing a post about how inadequately Greek I sometimes feel! Thanks for the complement though - I have actually seen green beans added many times to Greek salads. Sometimes it's just a simple bowl of beans with olive oil, a little oregano and lemon juice.

      Delete
  10. Olives are always one of my favorite salad ingredients! And that dressing is just gorgeous. :) I've been neglecting my cats a lot lately too, but they'll get in my face and complain about it and then I have to pay attention!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simba is ALWAYS in my face, but he's just too adorable to push away. He's soooooo affectionate, always wanting a cuddle, always purring, just so gentle and loving, he really loves human contact and I feel bad when I don't give him enough attention..... ok, crazy cat lady is stopping now.

      Delete

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