Tag: salad dressing

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Cucumber Feta Salad with Lemony-Dill Dressing

Sometimes I like to play this game in winter where I turn on my space heater, put on reggae music and pretend it’s not frigid and frightening outside. If I were an animal, I might be a bear considering I have a innate desire to hibernate when temperatures drop, sidewalks turn into ice skating rinks, and my legs start to look like alligator tails. During one of these recent exercises in wistful imagination, I decided that creating a summery salad in the dead of winter would make me feel just a little bit brighter on what was an otherwise gloomy day.

MOARfit by Amy Rizzotto Cucumbers

Cucumber met feta. Feta met dill. Dill danced with yogurt, lemon and garlic. What resulted was an easy, tasty and refreshing January-denial salad. Dill does have its winter merits as it’s loaded with immune system-boosting vitamins A and C. I hope this recipe transports you to a sunny beach somewhere and leaves you feeling nourished, both body and soul.

MOARfit by Amy Rizzotto Cucumber Feta Salad with Lemony-Dill Dressing

Cucumber Feta Salad with Lemony-Dill Dressing

[makes approx. 6 side-dish servings]

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of feta cubes
  • 5 small Persian cucumbers (or 2 regular)
  • ¼ cup plain yogurt (I used nonfat)
  • 2 small cloves of garlic (or 1 big)
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • ¼ cup fresh dill
  • Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Cut cucumbers into half rounds (or however you like your bite-size pieces to look). Toss together in a large bowl with feta cubes*.
  2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together yogurt, lemon juice, minced garlic, chopped dill, olive oil and black pepper to taste. Resist any temptation to add salt as feta is quite salty already.
  3. Add dressing to feta and cucumber and toss to combine.
  4. Top with fresh dill and a few cherry or grape tomatoes if you have them on hand. Bon apetit!

*Note: I used block feta, which is cheaper and holds its shape better than pre-cut or crumbled feta. The block I cut up was about 3 cubic inches.

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Kale Salad with Meyer Lemon, Pomegranate and Cumin Dressing

Sweet and smoky. Tangy and herbal. Light and rich. My Meyer Lemon, Pomegranate and Cumin Dressing takes kale salad to another level. I know, sometimes I’m not so humble. Seriously though, my dear friend Jeanine can attest that this salad dressing is all those things and then some. Add a  handful of pistachios and dried cherries to the mix and you have a healthy side dish for all your summer meals and an easy contribution to any cookout.

If you read last week’s post (Pomegranate Power Bites), you probably already picked up that I’m on a pomegranate molasses kick. How could I not be? The stuff is packed with the powerful immune system-boosting antioxidant, vitamin C. It also contains several B vitamins which help your body produce energy and maintain healthy muscular, cardiovascular and nervous system function.  It’s also super flavorful so a little goes a long way!

KALE SALAD WITH MEYER LEMON, POMEGRANATE AND CUMIN DRESSING

Pomegranate Cumin Dressing

For the dressing:

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • Juice of 1 Meyer lemon
  • 1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
  • 3 Tbs pomegranate molasses
  • 1 Tbs cumin
  • 1/2 tsp pink Himalayan sea salt
  • 1/4 fresh basil leaves

For the salad:

  • 6 cups kale, de-stemmed and chopped
  • 1/4 cup roasted, unsalted pistachios
  • 1/4 cup unsulphured tart cherries
Directions:
  1. Dress 6 cups (or heaping handfuls) of chopped kale with 2/3 of the dressing – set the rest aside for serving.
  2. Massage the kale leaves for a minute then cover and refrigerate for at least one hour (and up to 24).
  3. When ready to serve, add in the pistachios and dried cherries. Add what remains of the dressing to taste.