Greek Salad Dressing

America’s Test Kitchen – (Although I must say that my homemade vinaigrette recipe is very similar to this one!)
The following is their recipe x 4, because I knew we would go through it very quickly!
3/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tbs juice from 1 lemon
3 Tbs minced fresh oregano leaves
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups olive oil
wisk ingredients in a large bowl until combined.

Chickpea salad

from cooking pleasures magazine

This is a great summery side dish to take to parties.  We’ve even had it as a dinner (along with some filling whole grain bread and fruit)

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbs lemon juice

1 large shallot, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)

2 small garlic cloves, pressed

2 Tbs fresh rosemary leaves, minced

3 cups baby spinach leaves

4 cups cooked chickpeas, or 2 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 small red pepper, diced

1/4 cup minced fresh basil leaves

sea salt, white pepper, and paprika to taste

 

1. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, lemon juice, shallots, garlic, and rosemary.  Let stand for 15 minutes to blend flavors.

2.  Meanwhile, stack spinach leaves on top of one another, and cut crosswise with a sharp knife into very thin, confetti-like strips (or chop it nice and fine if you want kids to eat it).

3.  In a large saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a full boil.  Add chickpeas and red pepper, and cook for 2 minutes.  Drain, and remove from heat.

4.  Add spinach confetti and basil to the chickpeas and red pepper, and toss until spinach is wilted.

5.  Add olive oil mixture, toss, and season with white pepper and sea salt.  Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with paprika.  Serve immediately.

Lunch quesadillas

  When you have kids, it is easy to get stuck in a rut with lunches- always making pbj or macaroni and cheese, or grilled cheese.

I’m not opposed to this by any means, because dinner is usually our meal where I get them to try new things.  I’m ok with doing something more “kid-friendly” for lunch, but at the same time, it sometimes gets a little boring.

When I don’t know what to have for lunch, a quesadilla is usually my standby because you can pretty much throw anything in it and it tastes great!

Today’s was extra delicious because the cherry tomatoes I had from Aldi were perfectly ripe (at least for this time of year).

I put cheddar cheese on 1 half and American on the other half, along with chopped spinach and tomatoes.  Red onions or chicken would have been a great addition to this as well.


 I cook these over medium heat, until nice and crispy, and then fold it in half.

Where I used to work, they would brush a little olive oil on top and sprinkle a little salt, pepper and garlic on the quesadilla.  This makes it extra yummy!  The following picture is one I made for dinner once with chicken, red peppers, onions, spinach and tomatoes.  There is also a little parmesan sprinkled on top.