Chopped Greek Salad & My Favorite Greek Dressing

Okay so I definitely feel kinda lame for posting about a salad because...well... it's a salad. But since this salad finds its way to my dinner table at least once a week, I figured it was time to post about it. And really, this post isn't about the salad as much as it's about dressing. Aren't all salads really about the dressing anyway?

Once I started making my own salad dressings, I have never gone back to store bought. Have you read the ingredient list in that stuff? It's all sugar and words I can't pronounce. I'll take my sugar in the form of cookies, not salad.

This greek dressing is great because I can pretty much guarantee that you have all the ingredients to make the dressing right now. You can throw it together on a moments notice. The other thing that I love about this dressing is that it has a high ratio of vinegar to oil. Most vinaigrettes have wayyyyyyy too much oil in them. This dressing uses more vinegar than oil so it gives it a really good tang and makes a little bit go a long way.

I'm posting a "recipe" for the salad based on what I usually put in it. Obviously change things around as you see fit. The version I'm posting is a vegetarian version, but if I have leftover chicken I usually throw that in too. This makes quite a bit of salad. It usually makes enough for me and Ross for dinner one night and lunch the next day.

Chopped Greek Salad
Ingredients:

• 1 bag of romaine, washed, dried, and chopped
• 2 - 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 bell peppers, chopped (I use one orange and one yellow)
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup garbanzo beans
• 1/3 cup kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/2 feta, chopped

Directions

1. Throw everything in a large bowl and mix it together!

My Favorite Greek Dressing:
Source: AllRecipes.com
*Note: The quantities are a little weird. This is because the recipe is scaled back from a restaurant recipe that makes like 120 servings.

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/4 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp onion poweder
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:

1. Whisk together all of the ingredients except the olive oil.
2. Slowly stream in the olive oil while whisking until well blended.
   

Greek Salad Dressing

Cranberry Almond Granola

I absolutely love granola, but I hardly ever buy it because every time I read the nutrition facts in the store I'm reminded that most granola is full of calories and sugar. I've tried a few granola recipes before and none of them were worth blogging about... until I tried this one.

This granola uses unsweetened applesauce in place of oil, which reduces the calories and makes it a lot healthier. I also used a combination of brown sugar, agave, and a little bit of maple sugar to sweeten it. It's not super sweet oatmeal, so if you're looking for something sweet just add a little more sugar. I adapted the recipe from David Lebovitz, and it uses 1 tablespoon of oil along with applesauce. I'm not sure why, but I went with it anyway. The recipe is really adaptable and it will be my base recipe for granola from now. Next time I think I'll throw in some sunflower seeds and maybe some dried apricots. The flavor combination are endless!

Recipe: Cranberry Almond Granola
Highly Adapted from: David Lebovitz
Ingredients:

• 3 cups old fashioned rolled outs
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 3/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/4 light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup agave (I used light), or honey, or maple syrup
• 2 tbls maple syrup
• 1 tbls vegetable oil
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup dried sweetened cranberries (or other dried fruit)
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300F (150C).
2. In a very large bowl, mix together the oats, almonds, coconut, toasted wheat germ, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
3. In a small saucepan, warm the applesauce with the agave, maple syrup, and oil.
4. Mix the applesauce mixture into the dry ingredients until thoroughly dispersed, then divide and spread the mixture evenly on two baking sheets.
5. Bake the granola for about 45 - 60minutes, stirring every ten minutes, until the granola is deep golden brown.
6. Remove from oven, mix in the dried fruit, then cool completely. Store the granola in a large, airtight container. It will keep for up to one month.

Chewy Chocoalte Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I hope there's no limit to the number of times a food blogger can post a chocolate chip cookie recipe and declare it amazing. Here's another one. This time it's a milk chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal in it. I know the picture makes them look flat and crispy, but these cookies came out so chewy and the oatmeal added some great stability and texture. Ross said he didn't even notice the oatmeal, that they just tasted like really good chocolate chip cookies.

The cookies are pretty straight forward and easy to make. The only advice I have to offer is to take the cookies out of the oven after 10 minutes even if they don't look done! I was REALLY skeptical about taking them out because they still looked doughy and raw, but I let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes to cook a little more, then transferred to the cooling rack. They were perfect and they stayed chewy for days! Also, I halved the recipe and it came out fine, so if you're looking for a small batch of cookies go head and halve it. I'll post the recipe for the entire batch though.

Side note: If you're wondering why I haven't blogged in a while it's because I took a little vacation to New York for my birthday. I had a great time, ate way too much, and bought some awesome stuff. And even though it was high on my priority list, I somehow did not make it to the Levain Bakery for one of their famous chocolate chip cookies. Oh well, that just gives me a reason to try the copycat recipe that's been floating around the internet. Here's a couple pictures from a baking supply store that I went to. Valrhona chocolate and sprinkle heaven! It's amazing I didn't walk out of there with an entire rainbow of sprinkles in every size and shape. I did get some awesome (gigantic) tips for frosting cupcakes, so you can expect some cupcake recipes soon! I'm thinking mint chocolate chip but if you have any other suggestions, send them my way!


Recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from: Kar in the Kitchen
Makes: About 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup (2 stick) butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 generous teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together and set aside.
   
2. Beat butter and sugars until very fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well incorporated.
   
3. Add half dry ingredients, mix until incorporated, then repeat.
   
4. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips.
5. Drop cookies onto cookie sheet using two spoons or a scoop and bake 9-11 minutes, depending on how done you like them. I prefer to take the cookies out around the 9 or 10 minute mark (they will look underdone) and let them finish cooking on the cookie sheet out of the oven.
   

Peanut Butter Butterfinger Cookies

If you know me at all, you should know that when it comes to cookies, I can't leave well enough alone. I have this habit of saying to myself "what else could I could put into this cookie to make it even more over the top"? My best examples: Oreo Cookie Cookies & Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies. Today, I decided to go with butterfingers.

I've been itching to throw butterfingers into a cookie recipe for a while and when I saw this peanut butter cookie, it looked absolutely perfect to me. I was a little skeptical about the recipe because it has a whole tablespoon of baking powder, but it was a David Lebovitz recipe so I decided to trust the man and forge ahead. In the end, I had mixed reactions to this cookie. It was thick and chewy and didn't spread too much which is what I look for in a peanut butter cookie, but I definitely thought it had a bit of a strange aftertaste to it. At first I thought maybe the cookie was too sweet (you know, since I added a bunch of candy to an already sweet dough), but then I thought maybe the aftertaste was coming from the baking powder. It could be too much baking powder, it could be that I need new baking powder, or it could've just been in my head (after all my husband loved these cookies and had no problems scarfing them down). Whatever the case may be, I'm not quite done experimenting with this cookie recipe. I think it has the potential to be a great peanut butter cookie. Next time, I'll skip the butterfingers and bring the baking powder down to a teaspoon.

Peanut Butter Butterfinger cookies:
Source: Adapted from The Busty Baker, originally from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz
Makes: About 30 Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 10 fun size butterfinger bars, chopped
  

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter, sugars, and peanut butter just until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix just until the dough comes together. Add in the butterfinger and mix together.
   
3. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. Remove the dough from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature.
4. With racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, preheat to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
   
5. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon place cookie dough on prepared cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Using the back tines of a fork, make a crosshatch pattern on each cookie, flattening it slightly.
6. Bake, rotating sheets halfway, until cookies begin to brown at the edges but centers still look slightly uncooked, 9 to 10 minutes. Cool cookies on the baking sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Spicy Sweet Potato Hash

I absolutely love breakfast foods, but I hardly ever make them. My standard breakfast consists of a bowl of Special K or Multi-grain cheerios. Occasionally, I'll make a bowl of oatmeal, but on most mornings I can't be bothered to put a bowl in the microwave (No judging). So when I had the brilliant idea to make breakfast for dinner last night, I was very excited to try some breakfast recipes that have been lingering in my mind. I made this spicy sweet potato hash and a smoked salmon frittata (recipe coming soon).

This hash was absolutely delicious. It's healthy and flavorful and pretty easy to throw together. It has sweet potatoes, onions, and red peppers. It did involve a lot of chopping, but that can all be done ahead of time. And of course you can chop the pieces to be a bit larger, which will save some time. I, however, have this crazy idea that things taste better when they're chopped smaller (remember, no judging). This, of course, makes making salad a very labor intensive process for me. My salads are exclusively chopped: chopped greek salad, chopped cobb salad, chopped chicken ceasar salad... you get the idea. The bottom line is, whatever size you chop your potatoes, this will still be amazing.

* Note: I read a bunch of different recipes for hashes and some of them had you boil the potato pieces in some water for about 3 - 4 minutes before you put them in the pan with the onions and peppers to make sure they were cooked all the way. I decided to do that, but ultimately came to the conclusion that if you chop your potatoes as small as I did, it's unnecessary. If your pieces are larger, go ahead and boil them first to make sure they are cooked all the way through, but they only need a couple minutes. They should be slightly tender but still hold their shape.

Spicy Sweet Potato Hash
Ingredients:

• 1 tbls vegetable oil
  
• 2 - 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped* (See note above)
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (add more if you want, I have a low spice tolerance)
  
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
  
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar
  

Directions:

1. Pour the oil into a large skillet and place over high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute, stirring, 2 to 3 minutes.
   
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, lower the heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 - 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender and some are browned. The potatoes will begin to stick as they cook. Just continue to turn with a spatula.
   

Pretzel Cookies with Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chips

It seems like the culinary world has been slightly obsessed with the salty/sweet combination lately. I keep seeing salted caramel desserts and fleur de sel sprinkled on top of various desserts. I for one, am completely for this. Once I made the infamous NY Times chocolate chip cookie recipe with sea salt sprinkled on top, I was hooked. So when I had a bunch of left over pretzel salt from making soft pretzels, I knew exactly what I would do with it.

These cookies were awesome. I loved what the pretzels added to the cookie. They stayed nice and crispy, which was a great contrast to the chewy cookie. And of course you can't go wrong with milk chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

I absolutely loved the combination of pretzel, milk chocolate, and peanut butter and I would make these again in a second. The only change I might make next time is to the base cookie recipe. I strayed from my normal recipe because I wanted to find a recipe that made less cookies (strange, I know). This recipe was good, but if you have a favorite cookie recipe feel free to use that instead.

Another note about these cookies is that they did not spread very much for me. The first batch barely spread at all, so I smushed down the second batch a little before putting them in the oven.

Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. of salt
• 1/4 tsp. of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
• 1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
• 1/2 cup broken up pretzel pieces
• Preztel Salt or Sea Salt
  

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a larger bowl, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). On low speed, slowly add the beaten egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine, scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the flour mixture and beat just until there are no more streaks of flour. Stir in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and preztels. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out well rounded tablespoonfuls of the dough and sprinkle with pretzel salt. Leave about 2 inches between each ball. Bake for 10 minutes. If you prefer crispier cookies increase the baking time by 1-2 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before removing.

Chickpea Salad

This has become pretty much my favorite thing ever this summer. I love making it at the beginning of the week and having it to snack on when I get hungry. The chickpeas provide plenty of protein and the olives and feta give it a delicious saltiness.

This salad is really easy to make with whatever you have on hand. I had sun-dried tomatoes that I needed to use up but I think it would also be great with slow roasted cherry tomatoes. Some toasted pine nuts would also make a great addition.

Chickpea Salad
Ingredients:

• 1 can of chickpeas (about 15 oz), rinsed and drained
• 1 can of artichokes, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup of kalamata olives, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup of feta (I used reduced fat), diced
• 1/2 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbls basil, chopped
• 1 - 2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbls red wine vinegar
• 1 tbls lemon juice, optional (just add a little vinegar if you don't have lemon)
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste
  

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and stir together. Add salt & pepper to taste. Refrigerate and serve cold or at room temperature.