Greek Salad with Garlic Toasted Pita

In  December of 2008 my mom and I took a "girls only" trip to our vacation house in South Carolina. We had such a wonderful time doing things that only girls enjoy and appreciate. I am so glad that my mom and I took that trip together. I have such wonderful memories and pictures with her during our trip that I now treasure even more deeply. While we were there this is one of the recipes that we made together. It was so light and healthy.

Greek Salad*

This salad is so flavorful as well as very colorful and healthy.

Salad:
2 small tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
2/3 small onion
1 small green pepper

Dressing:
12 pitted black olives
4 ounce feta cheese
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
pinch of finely chopped Italian parsley

To make the salad:

1. Peel the cucumber, remove the seeds, and cut into 1/2" slices
2. Peel and thinly slice the onion
3. Remove stem and seeds of small green pepper and cut into thin strips horizontally
4. Remove the seeds in the tomatoes and chop into 3/4" squares
5. Combine cucumber, onion, green pepper, and tomatoes into a bowl and chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve

To make the dressing:

1. Finely chop the black olives
2. Cut the feta cheese into 1/3" cubes (we bought the crumbled feta cheese)
3. Peel and grate the garlic
4. Whisk together in a large bowl the grated garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice
5. Whisk in chopped black olives
6. Gradually add the olive oil while continuously whisking
7. Mix in the feta cheese
8. Add the chilled cucumber, onion, tomato, and green pepper to the dressing and mix
9. Transfer salad to serving dishes and garnish with a sprinkling of the Italian parsley 

Garlic Toasted Pita:
Pita Bread
Olive oil
Garlic Powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Brush pita with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder to taste
3. Bake in oven until lightly brown

*A possible variation to this recipe could be mixing your choice of lettuce with all the previous ingredients.

Recipe from Personal Trainer Cooking