Greek Salad

one of my absolute favorite summer salad's is this version of greek salad. there is nothing better than fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes combined with fresh cucumbers! fresh oregano and zesty lemon juice give the salad character. add a grilled chicken breast and you have a meal, or eat it on its own with ezekiel bread for lunch. DELICIOUS! and once again, i cut the recipe down to make just one serving (:

INGREDIENTS:

4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped, preferably vine ripened, otherwise, cluster tomatoes will do
2 medium cucumbers, seeded and cut into chunks, or 1 english cucumber
1 small purple onion or vidalia onion, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped fine
4 ozs low-fat feta cheese, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press (i just minced it up)
2 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2/3 cup pitted kalamata olives
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

PREPARATION: 

1. chop all veggies (:

2. place first six ingredients in the bowl. rub the oregano between your hands and sprinkle over the vegetables.

3. drizzle lemon juice and olive oil over the salad. add olives and toss gently.

make it a greek pasta salad:   

measure 1 cup pasta, such as macaroni or fusilli. brown rice pasta is excellent, too! bring 4 cups water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. rinse under cold water and drain well. place in large serving bowl. add above mixture and toss until vegetables are uniformly distributed. you may find you will have to increase the amount of lemon juice and olive oil in the pasta version of the recipe. add sea salt and black pepper to taste!

NUTRITIONAL VALUE PER SERVING:

calories: 96 / cal. from fat: 52 / protein: 4g / carbs: 7g / dietary fiber: 2g / sugars: 3g / fat: 5g / sodium: 305mg**

**to reduce sodium i rinsed the kalamata olives since the jar they were in had a HUGE amount of sodium! (:

VIOLA AND HAPPY EATING!