New recipe: Chunky Greek Salad

We've all been faced with this cooking challenge..."bring a dish to pass" to a family gathering, work function, or party.  Since I'm not very confidant in my cooking skills, I put extra time into finding that perfect dish.  Recently, I was asked to bring a vegetable salad for my hubby's family's Christmas.  I decided upon making "Chunky Greek Salad", which was a recipe I found in the Good Housekeeping magazine, June 2003 issue (I make a hobby of pulling recipes out of magazines to try in the future & organize them in binders- that's another post!). 


This dish was a hit!  It made a large bowl, was very fresh and tasty & healthy!  Adults & kids liked it- the kids just picked out the veggies they didn't like.  If I was making this just for my family of four, I would probably half the recipe because this did make a big dish.  Here's the recipe & my tips:

INGREDIENTS: Fresh & healthy ingredients!  I was able to find all of the ingredients at my local small-town grocery store.  Here's a pic of some of the main produce in the recipe-

Dressing=
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice (I squeezed my own fresh.  It took less than one lemon to get 2 TBSP of lemon juice.),
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp coursely ground pepper (I love my Crate & Barrel salt & pepper mills!  Perfect to use in this recipe!)

Salad ingredients=
1 pint grape tomatoes, each cut in half
6 cucumbers (about 1 1/2 pounds)- unpeeled & cut into 1" by 1/2" chunks (I used 3 large cucumbers)
1 large red pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 green onion, thinly sliced (I actually used 3 green onions & this didn't overpower the salad.)
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted & coursely chopped
3/4 cup (3 oz) crumbled feta cheese (optional but I did use feta cheese in the salad because we love it!)

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a separate medium sized bowl, combine oil, lemon juice, salt & black pepper.  Mix together with a fork until well blended.

2. In a large serving dish, add tomatoes, cucumbers, red pepper, green onion, and olives.  Toss evenly until mixed.  Drizzle dressing mixture onto veggies & toss evenly. 

If not serving right away, cover & refrigerate for up to 6 hours.  Sprinkle with feta to serve if you'd like (I added the feta right away when I tossed the rest of the salad.).  Toss again before serving.

SO YUMMY!  SO HEALTHY!  Enjoy & let me know what you think!