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Greek Inspired Leftover Salad

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Greek Inspired Leftover SaladI don’t know what my problem is.  I have been an “empty nester” for several years now.  And yet, I still buy too much food!  I can’t help myself.  I love to grocery shop.  But I don’t like having to run out and pick up a few items last minute when I want to throw together dinner.  So I usually stock up on way too many vegetables, then throw a bunch away when they get yucky.  Today it was time to use up what I already had and this Greek Inspired Leftover Salad was created.

Food challenge of the day:  Make something up from cleaning out the fridge!

I found a zucchini, some baby potatoes, baby carrots, half a jar of Hearts of Palm, some Kalamata olives, some grape tomatoes that were starting to shrivel (but still edible!), a few random scallions, red bell pepper, some parsley and basil and a tub of feta cheese.  All that sounded a little Greek to me so I set about making a Greek inspired side dish/salad.

Greek Inspired Leftover SaladI cut up the potatoes, carrots, red bell pepper and zucchini, tossed them in some Meyer Lemon Olive Oil and Cavendars Greek Seasoning and roasted them at 425 degrees for 15 minutes.  While the vegetables were roasting, I sliced the Hearts of Palm, cut the olives and tomatoes in half, sliced the scallions and chopped the herbs.  I also had some oregano outside in a pot so I chopped up some of that too.

When the vegetables finished roasting I let them cool, added them to a bowl with the other ingredients, tossed in the feta cheese and some toasted pine nuts I had in the freezer.  I also added a little bit (about 2 tablespoons) of some greek salad dressing I had in the fridge.

Result:  SUCCESS!  Greek Inspired Leftover Salad.  Yeah, the name might not sound that appetizing, but it’s really, really good!  You’ll have to trust me on this one.  And it’s nice to know I used up some veggies that otherwise would probably have gone in the trash in a couple of days.

Stay tuned…. up next the very best grilled lamp chops ever!

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Greek Inspired Leftover Salad

Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 small new potatoes, quartered
  • 10 baby carrots, diced in large chunks
  • 1 zucchini, diced in large chunks
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced in large chunks
  • 2 tbls. olive oil (I used meyer lemon olive oil)
  • 1 Tbls. greek seasoning (I used Cavendars Greek Seasoningone !important; margin:0px !important;” />)
  • 1 C. grape tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1/2 C. sliced hearts of palm
  • 1/4 C. sliced kalamata olives
  • 2 scallions, sliced
  • handful of fresh basil, parsley & oregano, chopped
  • 1/2 C. feta cheese
  • 2 Tbls. toasted pine nuts
  • Greek Salad dressing to taste (about 2 Tbls.)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  2. Toss potatoes, carrots, bell peppers and zucchini with some olive oil and greek seasoning. Place on baking sheet and roast veggies about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
  3. In bowl, combine hearts of palm, olives, scallions, roasted vegetables, feta, herbs and toss well to combine. Add a little greek salad dressing (you could use a regular vinaigrette) as needed to moisten the salad. Garnish with pine nuts.