Greek Pasta Salad for Days

This would be good either hot or cold.  It makes a nice substantial lunch at 665 cals with 44g protein and 46 carbs.  It is not low fat, but could be if you want to use low fat greek salad dressing instead of the olive oil/lemon.

8 servings (ie one box) bow tie pasta
3lbs chicken breast
2oz chopped black olives
5oz baby arugula, or baby spinach, or regular either...some green which is not iceburg or romaine
8oz feta cheese
1/4th cup lemon juice (or more to taste)
1 cup olive oil
1 pint cherry tomatoes
Oregano, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Spread chicken breast out onto a cookie sheet, season liberally with lemon, oregano, garlic powder, salt and pepper and throw in the oven at 350.  While that is cooking, put on water and boil pasta according to directions on the box.  When pasta is 1-2 mins from done, toss the greens into the pot right along with it.  Drain pasta/greens and toss back into pot.  Put feta, olives, and tomatoes into the pot and stir to mix everything.  Dress w olive oil, lemon, and more oregano (or your light greek dressing if using that) . Chicken should be done by now, so take that out and chop it up and add that in.

Portion into tupperwear for meal prep or just store it all in one if you don't like 1000000000 small containers in your fridge. Makes a week of lunches + today's lunch and a few extras for lazy dinners. 

Lemon Chicken with Linguini

This should serve about 4-6 people depending on how hungry they are and how much salad etc you serve it with.

8-10 boneless skinless chicken thighs
Juice of 4 lemons
Chicken stock (homemade if you have it, boxed if you don't.  Or boxed doctored up with a few ice cubes worth of boiled down homemade if you keep such around..)
Olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
large handful fresh oregano
8 or so kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
1 shallot chopped
1/4th cup feta cheese (or a bit more) crumbled
1 lb whole wheat linguini
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

Heat your oven to 350. Put your chicken thighs, shallots, and most of the garlic into a baking dish and season with the juice of 2 lemons, a splash of olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, about 1/4th of the oregano and put in enough chicken stock so they are not covered but will braise rather then bake. They should take about 30-45 mins to cook so you have some time to relax before you start messing with the pasta.

Set up your pasta water to boil and get started on your sauce.  Whisk together the juice of the remaining 2 lemons with some good olive oil, the olives the remaining garlic and oregano, and the feta cheese.  Season to taste.

When your pasta is done toss the hot pasta with your sauce, adding a bit of chicken stock if needed to get the consistency right.  Serve with a good salad since it is really shockingly bereft of veggies.

Greek Grain Salad

2 cups quinoa, cooked (or the frozen in a bag just microwave to reheat type, if you are lazy and making salads because it is too hot to cook in the summer time like I am.)
1  arugula or baby spinach
1/4th cup crumbled feta cheese
10-12 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped (can use black olives in a pinch)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
4 tbl fresh oregano
Juice of 2 lemons (3 if they are stingy)
few tbl olive oil
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

This is pure assembly.  Just toss everything together and dress with the oregano/oil/lemon juice and let it sit in the fridge for awhile (or even a day or three) and take to a picnic or serve as a nice light summer side.

Watermelon Feta Salad

This is a great refreshing dish to take to a pot luck or bbq (yes, I know it is February atm, but the weather says otherwise so I have summer food on the brain).

1/2 of a large watermelon, cut into approx 1 inch chunks
8-12 oz feta cheese, crumbled
1-2 cups kalamata olives, pitted and chopped roughly
juice of 2 limes
1/4th cup good olive oil
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
a 1lb bag of baby spinach or arugula
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the olive oil, lime juice, olives, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and set aside.  Ideally you can mix these several hours ahead and let the olives marinate in the dressing, but this is still delicious if you don't have the time to do that.  Mix the greens, watermelon, red onion, and feta in a big salad bowl and add dressing.  Be careful whilst tossing it so that you don't crumble the feta so much that it turns to mush.  Serve chilled.  If you want to be fancy, you can plate this in the hollowed out remains of the watermelon, but it is equally adorable in a glass bowl so that people can see how colorful it is.

Greek Chicken Pasta Salad

1 lb chicken breast (can use more if serving as a main dish)
1 lb pasta (i like farfale but small shells or rotini would work well also)
1-2 lbs baby spinach or arugula
1 pint heavy cream
1 pint cherry tomatos
8 oz black or kalamata olives
juice of 1-2 lemons
1 yellow onion
3-4 cloves garlic
8 oz feta cheese
salt, pepper,chili flakes, and oregano to taste

Start water and salt for pasta in a large pot.  While it is coming to a boil, saute onions in a large pan.  When they start to caramelize, add chopped up chicken breast, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and oregano.  While this is working, cut your cherry tomatoes in half and dice up your olives.  Add pasta to boiling water and place a strainer over the pot.  Put spinach/arugula into the pot to wilt.  add cream, olives, and feta to chicken when pasta has about 1 min left to cook.  Toss pasta and spinach into chicken, adding a few tablespoons of the pasta water if you want a saucier salad.  Can be served hot or cold.  This dish is best as a leftover, cold from the fridge, for lunch the next day so be sure to make enough and/or hide some from your family/guests before serving.

tatziki sauce

1 part sour cream
1 part greek yogurt (can use 2 parts of either of the above, i like texture best when mixed)
1 part grated cucumber w/out its liquid
garlic, dill, pepper, salt to taste. (lots of dill, fresh if you can get it)

zucchini chickpea fritters

smash up 1/2 a cup of chick peas.
grate 1 mid sized zucchini, and discard the extra moisture by squeezing it over the sink (or use cheesecloth if you have)
mix those together. add 1-2 oz crumbled feta, a few chopped up kalamata olives, and a small amount of roasted red pepper, also chopped.
add a few tablespoons greek dressing, oregano, garlic, salt (be careful with this, feta is salty) and pepper.
smush in an egg, and add enough bread crumbs to make it hold together (about 1/4th of a cup)
form into patties and either fry until golden brown on each side, or bake at 450 about 10 mins.