In the past year or so I’ve started to make more and more of my own homemade salad dressings. I just love knowing what is inside of the dressing. It definitely isn’t as convenient as having a store-bought dressing resting in the refrigerator waiting for you to pour it on a salad. But in my opinion it can be a whole lot more tastier and doesn’t break the bank or cause you for an influx of refrigerated dressings!
What is nice is that you make the salad dressing for dinner that night and maybe if your lucky you’ll have a serving of dressing left to use for lunch the next day. Then the following day you make a new dressing! The options are endless. I was making a Greek themed meal for dinner the evening I created this dressing. I just started throwing together ingredients as I always do and I came up with a delicious Greek Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.
I layered crunchy lettuce on individual plates followed by rows of roasted red peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, and a few pepperoncinis for good measure. Then I sprinkled crumbled feta over the salad. Topping this salad with the most divine Greek Vinaigrette Dressing on the plante. Ok… maybe I’m biased, but I think this is the most amazing Greek Vinaigrette Dressing! Whether you want to enjoy a traditional Greek salad with homemade vinaigrette or just want your go-to salad with a new dressing. I’m sure you’ll love this recipe.
In a medium-size bowl mix all the ingredients together. Whisking until well incorporated. Pour into a salad dressing bottle, and refrigerate for up to 30 minutes before serving. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Last week, I shared three easy-to-make recipes to create a Greek-Style bbq that your friends and family will love this Labor Day weekend! I like to go out of the box when it comes to celebrating warm weather holidays. I don’t always crave hamburgers and hot dogs. For 4th of July we celebrated by eating grilled chopped chicken tacos and a cherry tomato, corn, and black bean salad. This labor day we will be “eating out-of-the-box” as well… Greek style! Here are three easy dishes to make your meal complete!
I made this pasta salad the day before I made my meal. It gave the pasta time to cool after cooking and married the vegetables with the simple dressing created.
Place the corn on the opposite side of the grill while the chicken is cooking. Upon removing your corn from the grill sprinkle with feta and dill and remaining butter mixture!
As you can see this meal is super easy to make and best of all it is using simple ingredients and bold flavors. A recipe for success to woo over your friends and family!
Don’t forget about dessert… serve up this delicious Angel Lush Cake. Buy a store bought angel food cake to save you time and your oven from working!
Nothing says summer like fresh corn on the cob. I love corn on the cob and try to incorporate it into as many meals as possible during the summer months. I always just boil it on the stove top. It wasn’t until this summer until I started branching out and grilling it. I know–I’m late to the game here. Typically, I just lather the corn in a butter bath and call it a day.
For some reason though, I got this wild idea of mixing the butter with Greek seasoning, sprinkling fresh dill and feta on top… Kind of like Mexican Street corn which I love ordering at restaurants, but for some odd reason have never made it at home. So I present you with it’s cousin… Greek Grilled corn on the cob!
While the grill is preheating melt butter and mix with 1 teaspoon fresh dill and 2 teaspoons Greek seasoning. Using a silicone brush begin to spread the butter over each ear of corn. You should use about half the mixture (the main goal is to get each corn on the cob a generous coat of the butter mixture).
Place the corn on the grill and let it cook for about 10 minutes on medium-high heat (turning every few minutes).
Remove corn from the grill and pour remaining butter over the corn. Sprinkle with feta cheese and the remaining fresh dill. Serve immediately and enjoy.
The day I made the Greek Pasta Salad I had no intentions of making a fully themed Greek dinner; however, the wheels in my brain started turning and it was “downhill” from there. Although, it wasn’t downhill in a bad way… we were just riding on this spiral of Greek food! I love using Greek seasoning–I think its the perfect blend of spices and isn’t too spicy or salty.
When I don’t know what to season something with I always tend to reach for the Greek seasoning. I’ve been going through it like it is my job lately. I had planned to grilled the chicken strips with a little olive oil and greek seasoning and then I looked on my cutting board and saw all the fresh dill neatly chopped and figured, why not put some on… and then I did something crazy. I reached for the feta and sprinkled it on the chicken. Why not? Why not, grill the feta on the chicken?!? So I did… and it was amazing and full of flavor.
I’ve entered this recipe in the Mr. Food search for the ultimate weeknight meal contest. These chicken strips along with the pasta salad and corn are simple to make and best of all–all three dishes take under 30 minutes. Making this the ideal weeknight meal or a great way to entertain and actually enjoy your time with your guest and not slaving away in the kitchen!
Preheat your grill to high heat, clean, and lower to medium heat.
While the grill is preheating you'll want to rinse and chicken, and pat dry with paper towel. Then drizzle olive oil over chicken, sprinkle Greek seasoning, dill, and feta on both sides of the chicken. Make sure all parts of the chicken is covered.
Place the chicken on the grill. Grill for 5 minutes on each side or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Serve immediately.
I love a quick and easy (and of course very tasty) pasta salad. I also like when they aren’t chocked full of mayonaise. I had this recipe idea in my head for a while now and finally brought this Greek-style pasta salad to life! Granted, it does contain cheese that has to be refrigerated, but its just as fabulous to bring to an upcoming bbq. I developed an entire Greek menu all dedicated to bbqing since we are unofficially celebrating the last week of summer before Labor day. So stay tuned all week because by Friday I’ll have an entire menu for you to wow your friends and family this Labor day weekend!
Cook pasta according to package, drain, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
Meanwhile in a large bowl (or container) add halved grape tomatoes, diced cucumber, feta, sliced kalamata olives, red onion, and artichoke hearts together.
In a small bowl add 1/4 cup canola oil and Greek seasoning together--mix well until well combined.
Add pasta to bowl and begin mixing the vegetables and cheese with the pasta. Once the pasta and vegetables are partially combined proceed to pour the oil/seasoning mix over the pasta. Mix well until everything is well incorporated. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 3 days.
Notes
*After refrigerating the salad the oil tended to stick to the pasta. Feel free to let the pasta salad sit out for a good 15 minutes, mix well and if need be add a little more oil and Greek seasoning.
**my neighbor added peperocinis to this and said it was phenomenal.
Growing up I hated cheese. Like despised all cheese except for melted mozzarella cheese on pizza. Other than that–I wanted nothing to do with cheese. Yes, that even included cheddar in macaroni & cheese. I seriously was the worlds pickiest yet healthiest kid eater known to man kind (as I’m told by my mother). It wasn’t until my early 20′s that I ate my first cheese burger and that was with the ever-so-mild provolone cheese. To this day I cannot eat a cold cut sandwich with cold cheese on it, and I’m still extremely picky about eat cold cheeses.
In the past few years I have really been getting crazy with the cheese trying and most recently (as in this year) I’ve started eating feta cheese. I know… gasp. Most people are born out of the womb eating feta–not I. Since trying feta few times prior to this dish I enjoyed it. Not over the top I’m in love with it, but the taste was some what pleasant to my pallet. When I saw this recipe I wanted to give it a try. A creamy feta sauce? What could go wrong with this dish? I’m so happy I jumped out of my bubble and tried a warm feta cheese sauce for this pasta dish. I’ve made this dish 3 times since originally taking the photo’s for this post. This simple pasta dish is elegant, fresh, and full of flavor.
You might be wondering where the giveaway comes into play? This recipe, like most recipe calls for ounces and pounds of various ingredients. Until recently, I always did the math and converted those ounces and pounds into cups and tablespoons, until receiving an OXO 5 Pound Food Scale with Pull-Out Display to review and giveaway to one of my lucky readers. I didn’t realize how important and needed it is to have a food scale in the kitchen. It’s kind of changed my life, guys!
After reading a little more about the scale I began using it for this recipe. You can weight food directly on the scale or use a bowl to weight. When using a bowl you need to clear the weight of the bowl. As pictured above, my glass bowl weighs 1lb 8oz. The zero function allows for zeroing the scale before adding additional ingredients to be weighed.
Press the zero button to offset the weight of a container or to set the weight back to zero so you can add additional ingredients. You will also notice that the display pulls away from base to prevent shadowing from large plates or bowls.
I began by weighting the shrimp. I couldn’t get the shrimp exactly at 12oz (which is the equivalent to 3/4 pounds), but I got it pretty darn close.
Next up, it was time to weigh the pasta. This is something I was so incredibly excited to finally get to weight my pasta and get an accurate read! The easy-to-read, large display screen and numbers is wonderful! As you may be able to tell this is a super tiny little scale. The thin profile allows for easy storage in my overly stuffed kitchen!
1 large head escarole, trimmed and cut crosswise into 1-inch strips
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, sliced
3/4 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
7 oz feta, crumbled
2 tbsp coarsely chopped fresh dill
salt & ground pepper to taste
Directions
Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt liberarly, and cook pasta 1 minute less than the package instructions. Add escarole to the boiling pot of pasta water and cook for 1 minute. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water and then drain into a colander.
While the pasta is almost done cooking heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds then add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook until opaque throughout, about 5minutes. Add pasta mixture and 1/4 cup of pasta water to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute and then stir in the greek yogurt, feta, and dill. Mix well and if needed add more pasta water to the skillet until you are happy with the light sauce consistency throughout the pasta. Season with additional salt and ground pepper if needed, and serve.
This recipe is brought to you by Katie Jasiewicz of Katies Cucina
Disclaimer: I received 1 OXO 5 Pound Food Scale with Pull-Out Display to review and keep, and 1 OXO 5 Pound Food Scale with Pull-Out Display to giveaway to 1 lucky reader. All opinions are always my own and do not reflect the company.
We are lucky enough to eat fish at least once a week thank’s to my brother in-laws addiction to spear fishing. Our freezer always has a few bags of freshly caught Florida fish, so naturally I’m always looking for new fish recipes. I tried this recipe at our local supermarket (they demo a new recipe each week), and knew that this was something we’d like. I grabbed the recipe card, and was happy to read that I had every single item on hand.
I paired this fish dish with a bed of fluffy basmati rice. It complimented the fish perfectly. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to use fresh tomatoes. I’m not sure about you, but I’m not a huge fan of eating canned tomatoes. I mean I use them almost all the time, but for the most part they are used in soups where they can break down and not taste as “preserved” as they do in this dish. I think a cup or two of fresh tomatoes would elevate this dish to a whole new level. This dish pairs perfect with the Greek Cucumber & Tomato Salad I recently blogged about!
Author: Katie Jasiewicz of Katie’s Cucina Adapted from Publix’s Apron’s
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
4 white fish fillets (snapper, mahi, tilapia)
¼ tsp pepper
1 tsp Greek seasoning (divided)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp minced Garlic
¼ cup red onion, diced
1 can quartered artichoke hearts (drained)
1 can diced tomatoes (drained)
¼ cup white wine
Instructions
Directions:
Preheat large saute pan on medium-high. Season both sides of fish with pepper and ½ tsp of Greek seasoning.
Place olive oil in pan, then add garlic and onions, cook for one minute or until onions are slightly softened.
Using a spatula move the onion/garlic mixture to the sides of the pan. Add fish fillets and top with artichoke hearts, diced tomatoes, ½ tsp Greek seasoning, and wine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, then carefully turn fish over, cooking for another 5 minutes covered. Serve immediately.
It’s a new year and a new year brings eating healthier. Everyone is always trying to eat healthier in the month of January, and then February comes and people get realistic, followed by and overwhelming amount of Valentine’s day chocolates! I’m not here to pop anyone’s bubble, but let’s get realistic. Eating healthy around the clock is difficult. That’s why I’m so excited to share this delicious and of course easy-to-make salad. Now, typically I would mince the onions in a salad like this, but since my husband is anti-raw onion I kept them on the larger side, so he could pick them out. I figured that’s the least I could do for him. A few simple ingredients make up this tasty (non-lettuce style) salad. You can make a double batch at the beginning of the week and portion it out for school and work lunches. I personally could eat the whole bowl in one sitting.
Author: Katie Jasiewicz of Katie’s Cucina Adapted from Publix Apron’s
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 cucumber, partially peeled and quartered
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ cup red onion, diced
¼ cup Greek salad dressing
½ tsp Greek seasoning
¼ tsp salt
Instructions
Directions:
Partially peel cucumber, then cut in half lengthwise. Using a spoon scrape out seeds. Rinse the cucumber well and then cut each half again, making 4 cucumber sticks. Roughly chop and place in medium size bowl.
Rinse cherry tomatoes and then cut each tomato lengthwise, and then again, so that you have quarters. Add the tomatoes to the bowl with the cucumbers.
Dice a red onion and add a quarter cup to the cucumber–tomato bowl. Stir in Greek salad dressing, Greek seasoning, and salt. Mix well, and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until flavors have marinated. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
My husband is always telling me (and challenging me) to cook outside of my boundaries. To make new unique dishes that don’t mimic the same flavors we eat each and every week. When I saw thisrecipe at the grocery store last week I knew I wanted to try it. For the most part (minus the feta) it looked like a meal I would enjoy. I knew I already had all but 2 ingredients at the house, so I figured why not. My neighbor came over for dinner and this is what I served. My neighbor and I both really enjoyed this dish–my husband on the other hand so-so. He wasn’t a fan of the feta. Which is something we both don’t really care for (and I think it was a bit to lemony for him)! All in all I would make this again (and leave the feta out of the rice salad at least for his portion)! I didn’t change anything from this recipe other than keeping the “rice salad” warm! Hope you enjoy it!
1. Combine in medium bowl, Greek seasoning, olive oil, and juice of 1 lemon; stir in chicken. Let stand 5–7 minutes to marinate. (Wash hands, knife, and cutting board with hot, soapy water.)
2. Peel onion; cut onion and eggplant into 1-inch chunks. Cut remaining 3 lemons in half; then cut each half into quarters
3. Build kabobs (alternating chicken, eggplant, olives, onions, and lemons) on six skewers (placing lemons and onions next to chicken for best flavor); wash hands. Brush remaining marinade mixture over kabobs; then coat lightly with cooking spray.
4. Place skewers on grill (or in grill pan) and close lid (or cover loosely with foil); grill 6–7 minutes. Turn and grill 5–7 more minutes or until chicken is 165°F. Serve.
**FOr the rice salad**
Ingredients:
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon fresh dill, finely chopped
1 lemon
2 (10-oz) packages frozen brown rice
1/3 cup Greek salad dressing
1/2 cup fresh pre-diced tomatoes
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup pre-sliced green onions
Directions:
1. Microwave rice in bag, on HIGH, 3–4 minutes or until hot. Transfer rice to medium bowl. Spread rice into a thin layer going up sides of bowl to cool.
2. While rice is cooking chop olives and dill, and squeeze the lemon (2 tbsp).
3. Sprinkle olives and dill over rice. Add dressing and lemon juice over rice.
4. Add remaining ingredients and stir in until blended. Chill until ready to serve (or serve warm like I did).
This would be the second post from our Greek dinner at my parents house last week. Some of you might be wondering if I’m Greek, and the answer is, no. My family just likes a wide variety of food! My mom had a Greek theme going for dinner last week, and it was so good I wanted to blog about it! Some may wonder why I would want to blog about other people cooking food–I just want to share a wide variety of recipes with my reader! Even if I didn’t make it I want to share it! This recipe first came out last year when Cat Cora went on the Oprah show to talk about frugal home-made meals. My mom then adapted this to be a much quicker version by using the crock pot! She says it’s comes out just as good if not better! If you don’t want to use the crock pot you can go to the recipe and read the stove top directions instead.
Prep: 10-15 minutes
Cook: 8 hours
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
1 chicken (2 1/2 to 3 pounds), cut into 8 pieces (legs, breast and thighs)
3 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
5 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion , peeled and coarsely chopped
2 cups water
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 Tbsp. dried Italian herb seasoning
1 cup orzo , cooked according to package directions
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
1. The night before you want to cook the chicken you will want to “prep” it. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Mix the cinnamon, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the chicken pieces on all sides with the seasoning. Place in a zip lock baggie and let it marinate until the next day.
2. The next day before your about to put the chicken in the crock pot you’ll need to do a little stove top prep. Mince three of the garlic cloves. In a small frying pan on medium-high heat add the onions and minced garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the onions have softened and are a rich golden brown. Add about 1/2 cup of the water and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula or spoon to deglaze the pan, loosening any particles stuck on the bottom. When the water has evaporated, add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of water, tomato paste, Italian seasoning and remaining 2 garlic cloves, minced.
3. Place the marinated chicken in the crock pot. Pour the liquid from the frying pan over the chicken. Cook on low for 4 TO 8 hours, or until the chicken is tender and thoroughly cooked. Season the finished sauce with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Serve over orzo, cooked according to package directions, and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. {more}
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. 
