Greek Salad Perfection

This salad is perfect all year round.

Ingredients:

One sliced medium yellow or medium Bermuda onion. The Bermuda is not as strong tasting and adds more color but most of us have some kind of onion on hand and any will work.

One medium sized cucumber. It's better to just scrub the outside and not peel it. Slice it and quarter it.

One small can sliced black olives, drained or one small can whole black olives, drained. This is a matter of preference but the sliced olives make for a better tasting salad forkful and since the Greek Olives are whole it adds a different shape for aesthetic appeal.

One head of lettuce, chopped. Romaine is more nutritious but either kind will do.

Make sure to soak your lettuce in ice cold water in the sink, add 2 ice trays of ice from your freezer. Let it soak for at least a half-hour, then allow to drain. It's okay if you don't want to do this but this little secret is why salad's in restaurants taste so much better then the one's we make at home!

One large tomato or 3 to 4 Roma tomatoes sliced and quartered. Roma are better here but again, either will do. Some recipes suggest clearing out the seeds of the tomatoes but it's not necessary for this one.

3-4 oz. Feta Cheese crumbled.

1/4 to 1/2 cup Greek Salad Dressing to taste. Italian dressing can also be substituted here.

8 Greek Olives. Normally these have to be bought in a container but some deli's offer them and you can pick up however many olives you need. This recipe calls for about 8.

After your lettuce is well drained, put it in large salad bowl, add black olives, Greek olives, onion, tomato, cucumber and Feta cheese. Save a small handful of Feta Cheese to add to the top when you are finished. Toss the salad well. Now add your Greek or Italian Dressing. Start off with 1/4 cup and add more if you think it's needed. When you are happy with the amount of dressing, top it off with the rest of the Feta cheese. Put your salad in the fridge after covering with plastic or aluminum wrap and let it sit for at least 3 hours.


For something different you can also use a variety of pastas instead of the lettuce. One 12-ounce package of spiral, vermicelli, or tortellini pasta make tasty substitutes. Make sure your pasta is cooled off before adding other ingredients.

Shrimp and Pear Salad

It is never to late in the year to have shrimp. This succulent salad will make an excellent addition to most entrees, or can be a satisfying meal by itself.

Ingredients:

Non-stick cooking oil spray
1 iceberg lettuce chopped
1 lime, quartered
½ cup of sweet corn
1 ripe pear, rinsed and cubed
10 shrimps unpeeled.
1 Orange, peeled and pulled apart
Thousand Island Dressing

Take the shrimps, (plural for shrimp can be shrimp-s or shrimp) wash them, put them into a pot of water and boil them for about 7 minutes.

They are done when they turn a vibrant pink or orange color. Take shrimps out of water and allow them to cool. Once cooled, remove shell from each shrimp. Rinse shrimps again to ensure all remnants of shells are gone.

If it is not too cold out yet, another option is to grill your shrimps. Get grill ready with appropriate amounts of charcoal and charcoal lighter fluid. Let charcoal burn for about 5 minutes, until it's good and hot. Put 5 shelled (and rinsed) shrimps lengthwise on metal skewers. Metal skewers can easily burn you! Make sure to use potholders when turning skewers, and when you take off grill. Spray shrimps with a non-stick cooking oil and place on grill. Turn shrimps once or twice while cooking. It will take about 5-6 minutes for them to cook thoroughly. Take skewers off grill (with potholders), and squeeze a quarter portion of lime over each shrimp skewer. Place on top of your salad.

Salad Secret!

Ever wonder why the salad you make in your own kitchen seems to not add up to that fabulous salad at your favorite restaurants? The secret is in the lettuce. Restaurants soak lettuce for a minimum of 30 minutes in ice water. Try this suggestion and you will notice an extreme difference in the quality of your homemade salads.

Put all your fruits and vegetables into a big salad bowl. If you can, use a glass salad bowl to emphasize the colors of your salad. Toss your salad well and put shrimps on top. Serve salad dressing on the side. Serves 2 people. Add a glass a wine or your favorite beverage.

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