Greek Salad & Grilled Pita
What. A. Week.
It’s Sunday and a new week is about to begin. The show must go on!
You may see some repeats on here from last week, we had some last minute changes due to a tummy bug that invaded our home. Fingers crossed we are done with that exciting experience for a long, long time.
One thing is for sure, we learned a lot. One moment that stands out in my mind happened on Friday, when my son was not doing well. He was having a hard time when he told me that he was going to “just breathe through it Mamma.” He learned the skill of finding his breath by practicing yoga often at his Preschool. He made me so proud of his ability to cope with a very uncomfortable and stressful situation. He continues to amaze me and we are so grateful for his school and the support we received last week. From friends, family and co-workers, the phone calls, meals, and kind words were all appreciated.
My daughter and husband were also a huge help in so many ways I can’t even count, they were an amazing team, but one of the ways they love to help is in the kitchen. And for this week, we are excited to try this twist on one of our favorite Panera Salads! The Greek salad, of course!!!
P.S. if you have nut-allergies, NOTHING AT PANERA IS SAFE FOR YOU TO EAT. And that is why we are making this Panera re-make.
Before you read this and think “that sounds like too much for a week night” – hear me out, it’s not bad, you just need a giant fry pan or grill pan and few ingredients. You’re going to grill the pepper + pita then make a dressing and combine it all. It’s not bad. And the more you make a recipe, the easier it gets.
Greek Chopped Salad & Grilled Pita
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1/4 cup olive oil, divided
- 2 tsp fresh chopped oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 3 whole wheat pita rounds
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 2 cups chopped English cucumber
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 2 tbsp pitted kalamata olives
- 1 can unsalted cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 oz feta, crumbled
Directions
- Heat a grill pan over medium high heat (you can also use your grill, or a large frying pan with high sides, you just wont have the fancy grill marks if you use a regular pan).
- Coat the grill pan with cooking spray.
- Remove the seeds and membranes from bell pepper and cut into quarters.
- add the bell pepper to the grill pan and cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until its charred and tender.
- Remove bell pepper from pan and cut into bite size pieces for your salad.
- Combine 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp oregano, garlic powder, and salt in a bowl. Brush oil mixture evenly over both sides of the pita bread.
- Add the pita bread to your grill pan and cook 2 min on each side. Cut into 6 wedges.
- Combine the remaining 3 tbsp oil, vinegar, juice and mustard in a large bowl and stir with a whisk.Stir in 1 tsp oregano, salt, pepper, charred bell pepper, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, olives, beans, and toss well.
- Divide among 4 plates and top with cheese. Serve with pita
On IG, I promised some back-up meal ideas. Well, here you go:
- Snack dinner. <——-click on that to see what we usually do. I love the left-overs from this meal, we snack on it all week and it’s easy to refill and pop back into the fridge. Tupperware makes a good dish for this with a resealable lid.
- Campbells Soup Starters We are huge fans of these easy meal starter kits. They aren’t homemade by they do the job and the kids like ALL of the flavors. Currently, there are 4 in my pantry. Oh, and my Dad works for Campbell’s Soup, so I know the allergy information is 100% accurate!
- Dino Nuggets. Need I say more? Find these little friends at Target.
- Benvenutos DELIVERS!!! And they are SO on top of allergies, I love them.
- Happy Meals. If it’s been a week….McDonalds is happening. McDonald’s Allergy information is beyond amazing.
