Tangy, Peppery Greek Salad With Customizable Options
Sylvia Leong is a former healthcare professional who uses her education and experience as a nutritionist and therapeutic personal trainer.
The ingredients for any meal should start with real, whole foods.
Spice Up Your Salad!
Salad is boring, and because the leaves consist mostly of water, it’s not filling. How can anyone subsist eating leaves?
In most restaurants, “designer” salads are ridiculously overpriced. To add insult to injury, with the extra fillers—dressings, candied pecans, and crispy tortilla strips—the salad can contain more calories than a cheeseburger!
They're missing the point.
What’s the secret to making a tasty and surprisingly filling salad?
Lose the leaves—lettuce, arugula, kale, spinach. Impossible when you're served a salad in a restaurant, but doable when you’re preparing food in your own kitchen.
This Greek salad has a ton of nutrients per calorie, making it a great option for your waistline. What's more, it's tangy, peppery, salty with olives, and full of garlic, and easily made at home.
Yum!
Prepare your salad directly into a casserole dish with a lid. The food will last longer and it creates less waste—no bowl covers or plastic needed.
Make Enough Greek Salad to Last Three Days
Without the leaves, the vegetables will last much longer. Prepare your Greek salad right into a casserole dish with a lid that seals moderately well. This way, your salad will last in the fridge for up to three days.
- Cutting the vegetables into bite-sized chunks saves time.
- This salad can be used as a base for many different meals.
Scoop your Greek salad into a beautiful bowl, but leave room for some extras!
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber, quartered and sliced
- 2 medium vine-grown tomatoes, chopped
- 1 medium pepper (red, orange, or yellow), chopped
- 1/4 medium red onion, sliced
- 1/4 medium purple cabbage, chopped
- 12 large olives (green or black), sliced
- 1 clove garlic, crushed, then sliced
- Black pepper corns, ground, to taste
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Several leaves basil
- Several sprigs oregano
- Feta cheese, crumbled, to taste
Instructions
- Chop up the cucumber, tomato, pepper, onion, and cabbage into bite-sized pieces, or to your desired size.
- Halve and slice up the olives.
- Crush and slice the garlic.
- Squeeze half a lemon over the salad. Stir.
- Grind pepper liberally over the salad. Stir.
- Pour olive oil over the salad. Stir.
- Scoop into a beautiful bowl, but leave room for bits of variety (see suggestions below).
Salad Add-On and Topping Options
You don’t want to eat the exact same salad every time. Following are healthy choices that will make your salad special.
- Ginger, grated
- Beans
- Brown rice
- Barley
- Quinoa
- Cheese (e.g., cheddar, feta, brie, goat’s cheese, blue cheese)
- Salmon, prawns, or other seafood
- Beef or chicken
- Hard-boiled eggs, sliced
- Lettuce leaves (e.g., arugula, kale, spinach)
- Fresh basil or oregano
You can never go wrong with using herbs directly from the plant. Your basil and oregano will be fresher and better tasting. Growing the plant also saves money and reduces waste from packaging.
Even More Add-Ons for Extra Variety
- Green or sweet onion, sliced (instead of red onion)
- Olive juice directly from the jar (instead of lemon juice)
- Apple cider vinegar (instead of lemon juice)
- Carrots, chopped
- Celery, chopped
- Fennel, chopped
- Potatoes, cubed and steamed
- Any vegetable or fruit you find tasty!
Greek salad can be made any way you want. Many options exist to add variety to your bowl.
Enjoy!
Organic ingredients are preferable for both taste and nutrient value. Hopefully, it’s both available and affordable in your area.
Light a candle, pour yourself a glass of wine, and enjoy this sumptuous salad, no matter if it's a chilly winter evening or hot summer day.
Do you have ideas on how to make your Greek Salad unique? Please share in the comments.
© 2021 Sylvia Leong
