Greek Salad.. with a twist!

I love my iPhone. There's no secret there, but one of the things I love about it is all the cool Apps I can have. Blake and I were obsessed with the show Food Revolution with Jamie Oliver a few months back. It was all about getting all us stubborn Americans to realize what most of us eat is not ok. The shows primary focus was converting school food lunches from frozen "food" to being cooked on site, fresh daily. He proved it could be done with even the same staff and budget.

Anyway, not to ramble, but through all this, we found the Jamie Oliver 20 Minute Meals App. It is awesome. We have tried so many new things because he  breaks them down into super simple steps, and everything has been super easy. Blake and I love to have a small salad with dinner with a fresh lemon/ olive oil dressing, but rarely do we feel they are hearty enough to stand alone. We wondered across the recipe in the App, and thought it was worth a shot, (We will usually try anything at least once!!), and boy did it pay off! This was a very filling, delicious salad and was minimal effort.

the not-so-greek salad

INGREDIENTS
2 ripe avocados
1 lemon
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 small red onion
6 large ripe tomatos
1 handful black olives (which we omitted because Blake refused to eat them) :)
romaine lettuce
6 oz feta cheese
red wine vinegar
olive oil
S&P

DIRECTIONS
Slice the avocados into thin, small pieces and place into a large mixing bowl (this will eventually hold the entire salad, so make sure its big enough!) Grate the lemon zest into a small bowl, then slice the lemon and squeeze in all the juice. Use a spoon full of the juice to toss in with the avocados so they do not turn brown. Sprinkle half of the dried oregano in the bowl with the lemon juice, and add three times as much extra virgin olive oil. Add a dash of S&P and taste; then adjust the seasonings if necessary.

Place the finely chopped red onion in another small bowl and mix with a dash of red wine vinegar and S&P.

Cut the tomatoes into rough chunks and add to the avocado. Roughly chop the olives and add them as well. Wash the lettuce then tear into small bite sized pieces and add to the avocado bowl. Give the dressing a quick stir then pour it over the lettuce, tomato, and avocado mix. Add the marinated red onion and toss.

After serving between the plates, top with crumbled feta (and we added Parmesan....and bacon.) :)

Yeah, yeah. I realize, its not much of a Greek salad once you remove the olives, and added avocado and bacon, but... its our little twist! And it was amazing, so who cares what kind  of salad it was! We also served ours with toasted Whole Wheat Artisans Bread from Trader Joe's with Parmesan cheese on top. :)