Broccoli & Avocado Salad

Yum! A unique, yet delicious, salad that makes a healthy side dish to any meal! Enjoy!

2 broccoli crowns, cut into pieces
1 perfectly ripe avocado, cut into chunks
3 Tbl extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp pure maple syrup (or honey)
1 Tbl black or white sesame seeds
salt & pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 400F

Drizzle 1 Tbl of olive oil over raw broccoli and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roast for only 8 minutes (you want the broccoli to still be firm/crisp). Let the broccoli cool for 5 minutes before tossing with dressing.

While the broccoli is roasting, cut the avocado and make the dressing. Add 2 Tbl olive oil, vinegar, Dijon, maple syrup, and sesame seeds to a small bowl and whisk until smooth. 

Right before you are ready to serve, pour dressing over cooled broccoli and toss.  Add avocado and CAREFULLY incorporate it with the broccoli (you don't want it to get smooshy). Season with a little salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Traditional Greek Salad

We recently got home from a wonderful European vacation. One of the countries we visited was Greece. Yes, the food was delicious! One of our favorite things to order at each restaurant we ate at was a Greek salad. We noticed right away that authentic Greek salad has no lettuce! We asked one of our servers about this and she said it is a very American thing to put lettuce in Greek salads and that that isn't Greek at all! Their traditional salads were bursting with flavor - tomatoes, cucumbers, Kalamata olives, green bell pepper, red onion, and feta.....oh, the feta!!! Feta was in abundance during all our Greek meals. And it was so creamy, not hard and overly salty like the feta we generally get in the States. 

**FETA TIP** 
So, one of our servers gave me an easy, yet highly effective tip on how to get American feta to taste more like Greek feta.....I did it, and it worked - it worked SO well!!!! She told me to ONLY buy feta in a block (never crumbled). She said to drain it and put it in a container full of milk and let it soak for at least one day. So that is exactly what I did! I soaked it in organic whole milk for two full days, drained it, and then used it in this salad. It was 100xs better after the milk bath! WOW!! I plan on doing this ALWAYS from here on out! 

I served this salad with falafels, tzatziki sauce, and warm pita bread. Enjoy!

• 4 medium sized tomatoes (I like tomatoes on the vine), sliced into wedges
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• Greek pitted Kalamata olives
• 3 Tbl capers, optional
• 4 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Tbl red wine vinegar
• block of Greek feta** (see note above on feta!)
• salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• optional choice of protein - falafels, sliced grilled chicken, or shrimp

In a large bowl combine tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onion, Kalamata olives and capers, if using. In a small bowl whisk together olive oil and vinegar. Drizzle dressing onto vegetables and very gently toss. Dish onto plates. Top with blocks of feta cheese. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a bit of dried oregano. 

To make this more of a meal, I served this salad with falafels, pita bread and tzatziki sauce. Sliced chicken or shrimp would be another good addition.