Monday, May 20, 2013

Greek Salad with Creamy Dressing

My daughter says that a Greek Salad should have at least as much "stuff" as lettuce. I agree. I made this one for a little Mother's Day dinner, and it was a huge hit.


Creamy Greek Dressing

1 cup raw cashews, soaked 20 minutes or longer, up to overnight
1-2 T fresh oregano
2 T nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
about 1/2 cup juice from a jar of pepperoncini

Place all ingredients except the pepperoncini juice in a blender or food processor.
Add the juice gradually as you blend, until the dressing is smooth and creamy, and has a nice thick consistency.

Greek Salad

chopped lettuce and/or other greens of your choice
chopped tomatoes
chopped cucumbers
chopped red onions (I leave these big enough to pick out, because I don't like them)
artichoke hearts packed in water, cut into large bite-size pieces
pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
sliced pepperoncini
Tofu Feta

Toss everything together in a large bowl, with enough Creamy Greek Dressing to coat the salad well, but not to smother it.

I served this up with pita bread and Oil-Free Hummus. Perfect!

PS - I made it again for a potluck, only this time substituted brown rice pasta for the greens. They cleaned out the bowl! Fortunately, I left some at home, and it's great layered on top of some greens for a full meal salad.