Greek Pasta Salad

I posted this picture on Instagram and Facebook the other day and got a lot of comments and ‘likes’ about it.  Clearly you are all as into bright, colourful, fresh veggies about as much as I am!  As I was cutting up the cherry tomatoes I looked across the counter at my other ingredients and realized that this salad incorporates all kinds of colours and flavours.  It really does brighten the mood.  Eat the rainbow!

We were attending a backyard barbecue turkey boil (!) for our friend Jessica’s birthday and when we started discussing salads to bring I really wanted to do something Greek.  Maybe I’m really starting to miss actually being there last year!

I wanted to make sure the dish was big enough to feed the whole party so I decided to ‘beef things up’ by rounding out the veggies with a box of pasta.  A little twist I’m sure the Greeks would tsk-tsk me for but otherwise I didn’t stray far from the delicious Greek salads we enjoyed on vacay last year.

Greek-Style Pasta Salad with Easy Oregano Dressing

Yields enough to feed about a dozen people at a potluck :)

Ingredients:

• 1 (454 gram) box rotini (or small pasta of choice…orzo would be fun)
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 English cucumber, quartered and chopped
• 1 orange or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• 125 grams feta cheese, cubed small

Homemade Oregano Dressing:

• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• zest & juice of half a lemon
• liberal pinches of salt & pepper
• 4 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.  Drain and immediately rinse thoroughly with cold water.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.
2. While pasta is cooking, chop veggies, olives and cheese.
3. Prepare dressing by adding all ingredients to a sealable container (I use a small mason jar) and shake until combined.  Shake occasionally until ready to use.
4. Reserve a couple of tablespoons of feta, then mix all pasta, veggies, olives and cheese in a large bowl (use your hands!).  Add dressing and toss until coated.  Transfer to serving dish and garnish with reserved, crumbled feta.
5. Cover and chill until ready to eat.

Simple, fresh, salty.  I think the Greeks I met on vacation would be OK with this one!  Opa!  Enjoy.  :)

Good Times 2011–Part Two

Part One of this recap reminded me of so many fun times this year.  Hard to believe there’s another six months to get through here!

July

• Canada Day – always a festive good time in downtown Victoria.
• Canada Day Fireworks – which ended up being the actual anniversary of my relationship with Michael.  :)
• Bonfire Campout – good times with friends and dogs.

August

• ParmanFest 2011 – a reunion with lovely lifelong friends.
• A daytrip to Salt Spring Island – relaxation with a side of Harley, wine and cheese.
• Epic West Coast Crab Boil – the first of many dinner parties hosted by Michael and I.

September

• Oceanside Camping for two – the post that reminds me I need to win the lottery and buy my own RV. {We ate good too.}
• Great Canadian Beerfest 2011 – I volunteered to drink a lot of beer.
• I left for two glorious weeks in Greece with my BFF!

October

• I took a much needed blogging break.
• Greece Recap – don’t worry I made sure to post plenty of information and photos about my amazing Greek vacation!
  • Athens
  • Mykonos
  • More Mykonos
  • Delos
  • Santorini: Tour Time
  • Santorini: Fira
  • Santorini: Oia
  • Sifnos
  • Athens: Acropolis
  • Athens: Last Day
  • Cats and Dogs
  • The Food

November

• Nada.  Blog breakin’ y’all.

December

• I made my blogging comeback – and you were all thrilled to bits.
• Holiday Feast – Round One & Two – because I’m just crazy enough to cook a big dinner for Michael’s family.
• Holiday Feast – Round Three – because I’m smart enough to stand back when a man is making paella for eight.
• Christmas with my Mom – complete with gifts and good eats.

All that’s left is New Years Eve!  I may just sleep until then…just putting these posts together has exhausted me.  And here I thought I was boring.

Thanks to everyone for an amazing 2011!!  Blog readers and supporters are really what makes this all worthwhile and I can’t thank each of you enough for cheering me on throughout the year. 

Here’s to a great 2012!

The Good, the Bad, and the Blog

Hi everyone!  Holy moly has it already been a month since I last posted?  Oh noes!  That means I’ve already been home from vacation for almost two weeks.  How dare the real world intervene!!

The good news is I have started posting some of my favourite Greek vacation photos over at my photo blog, Such a Rebel.  Please take a trip on over and check them out.  I actually took a whopping 1700 photos and managed to cull it down to less than 200 for your viewing pleasure.  Of course I’m not posting all of those at once…I figure on a week’s worth of posts to take you through our whole trip.  :)

The bad news is I am taking a wee break from food blogging.  In the four+ years I have been doing this I have really never taken a break and after the hiatus while on vacation I just felt so relieved to not have to report in every day.  It’s liberating to eat a meal without having to worry about getting a lovely photo before digging in. 

I have no idea what the future of this blog holds, or when I’ll be back.  A little reinvention is in order.  Right now I’m enjoying the freedom and trying to lose a couple of pounds.  I suspect I’ll wake up one morning with renewed interest and hope all of you will still be around when that happens.  Your support means the world to me!

I’m still tweeting my heart out so please feel free to follow me and give a shout out.  :)

Until we meet again…. xox, Jaime

Bon Voyage

Hi kids!  Right now I’ve been up since 5am traveling across the skies on my way to Greece!  Tiffaney and I will think of you all fondly as we walk the beaches, enjoy the feta cheese, and dip our toes in the Aegean Sea.

I haven’t scheduled any extra posts while I’m gone so don’t miss me tooooo much!  See you in two weeks!

Look Out World

Well, I think I can finally breathe.  I’ve got my bag pretty damn near packed, my Euros and Passport ready to rock, and I checked in for all of my flights this morning.  Look out Greece, we’re coming!!!!

Yesterday I broke down and ordered up Pumpkin Spice for breakfast.  I was thinking I would wait until I got back from vacation because I didn’t want Summer to end too soon, but the grey sky that showed up here yesterday convinced me to get into the pumpkin mood.

For lunch I was really just cleaning out the fridge.  Let’s see, the produce drawers had a wimpy bunch of green onions, a couple of random radishes, and like two leaves of lettuce screaming to be used.

Thankfully I also had half a carton of eggs and the remnants of a loaf of bread.  Egg salad to the rescue!

Blueberries, granola and soy milk for dinner.  A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.

I cashed in a Groupon I bought for Om Nailspa months ago to get a mani-pedi before hitting the air.  Figured I might as well get Summery bright toes one last time for the season, and something dark and sharp on my fingers (don’t worry I bought the polish for touch ups).

After a whirlwind trip through my apartment doing a final vacuum, laying out my final clothing choices, and collecting up all of my camera bits and pieces for packing I was off to Michael’s to share up that Peach & Blueberry Cobbler.

Now I’m just finishing up loose ends for work, packing the dog up for her adventure to the other Jamie’s, and dealing with this pile of lovely.

That bag will be so organized, airport security won’t know what hit them.

Next stop: 430am wake up call. 

Taco Tuesday

Buh-bye fruit flies.  Bananas are back in town.  Bring on the brain fuel.

Lord knows I need it.  :)

Hey look!  Something different.  OK, fine it’s still a salad…but it’s a pretty salad!  On a plate. With ham.

I know you are all soooo very excited by this.

Things you never see around here? Crispy Minis. But how could I pass up Butter Popcorn?!  And at only 99 cents it’s a good alternative to higher fat crackers and stuff.

I might have bought three bags.

Another $1 treat.  I took a break from these for a while but I was totally lured in while buying kitty litter at Wal-Mart.  I admit, I’m a sucker.

Dinner was a fun meal for two gals planning our trip to Greece (!!!).  We leave in ONE MONTH and decided to sit down and peruse our guide books for ideas of what we actually want to do when we get there. 

Obviously tacos totally say Greece!  :)  Whole wheat tortillas heated in foil until soft, chopped lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, shredded cheddar, light sour cream, and chunky salsa…

Extra lean ground beef for me, and black beans for Tiffaney as she’s recently become vegetarian.  Both cooked with my homemade Mexican seasoning.

After two big soft tacos each we cleansed our palates with chocolate and peanut butter before settling in to work on our plans. 

We’re ready to go!!  Now we just need to buy comfy, cute traveling shoes and we’ll be on our way!

Pretty Cute

Way before I started collecting the Starbucks city mugs I somewhat collected the Starbucks pretty mugs.  They don’t really seem to produce many of the cute seasonal ones anymore…sad.

Oh look, more toast with almond butter and banana.  Shocker.

Lunch yesterday was light as I was heading out the door to get my hair done.  Cottage cheese with big, fat blueberries, dried cranberries, and a sprinkle of “salad crunchies” (soy nuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc).

After my hair appointment I met up with Tiffaney to fill out some paperwork for booking our hotels and ferries for our upcoming vacation to Greece (!!!).  By the time I was done it was late afternoon and I was starving.

I stopped at Delicado’s for an early dinner.  Chicken Rollup with extra sauce and a small container of beet salad.  I ate it at home while catching up on work for the day and can’t remember the last time I felt that full.

American treat!  With dinner I sipped a Cherry Coke Zero.  Yet another coolio gift picked up during a friend’s trip across the border.  Sweet but yummy.

Not that I had room for dessert but dinner was early so snacking on this later in the evening seemed necessary.  Besides I don’t think I’ve ever made a trip to Delicado’s without getting a deli bar.

In an effort to drink more water and clean out the fruit bowl (damn fruit flies!) I sliced up lemon and lime.  It worked.

Of course, I had to pee about 356 times before I fell asleep but at least my water tasted good.

Getting Greek

Yesterday I didn’t even bother attempting coffee.  I reeeeeeally wanted it but I just knew that I’d be wasting a pot like I did on Monday.  Stupid tummy.  Toast with PB and banana seemed more the way to go.

At lunch time Michael popped by so I made us tea.  My body didn’t reject it…yay!  After he left I whipped a bowl of leftovers.  Turkey veggie spaghettini to which I added fresh spinach and basil.  Yum.

Mid afternoon snackeroo…I was finally able to bust into this bad boy.

And since I knew dinner would be somewhat late I whipped up a bowl of yogurt, blueberries, granola and almonds.

Tiffaney and I booked last night for a Greece planning session.  Now that we have plane tickets it’s high time we figure out what we’re going to do when we get there!!!  She offered to make a main dish so I brought along a salad (of course!).

In the big silver bowl:  red leaf lettuce, carrots, baby cukes, tomatoes, green onions (all local!), herby goat cheese, and homemade vinaigrette.

Our main course was the Mexican Lasagna (made vegetarian) from the Crazy Plates cookbook.  Totally yummy.

Especially with all that sour cream and fun toppings on it! :)

After dinner and catching up on our lives (we barely see each other these days!!) we got our our travel books and the laptop and got to work.  Things are coming together!!

Not long until I will be posting more specific details about where we are going.  Weeeeeeeeeeee!!