Persia Lou

Creative. Crafty. Fun.

Greek Pasta Salad

It was my birthday a few days ago, and to celebrate a couple of my girlfriends took me to lunch and we went – wait for it – without children! Those of you with small children can understand my excitement over this key detail, I’m sure. I love my kids so, so much, but being able to just relax and chat without being constantly interrupted is so amazing every once in a while.
Anyway, for lunch my friends took me to Cafe Zupas, which is a favorite lunch spot of mine. Their tomato basil soup is amazeballs. They make all kinds of yummy soups, sandwiches, and salads, plus they offer catering too. Anyway, when they contacted me to see if I’d like a free copy of their Blogger Cookbook, I said youbetcha.

The cookbook includes lots of fresh recipes and is organized according to season, which is great. It also includes lots of good information about food and ingredients, like this handy oil chart:

Cool, right? It’s a great little cookbook with lots of fun recipes like Pineapple Ginger Sorbet, S’mores Pancakes, Pear & Pecan Salad, and Orange Ginger Carrots! And Cafe Zupas is going to send a cookbook to one of you. Yay! (Be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of this post!)

So, I wanted to share one of the recipes with you guys! Since it’s technically Spring, I started by flipping through the Spring section, but since here in Vegas it’s feeling a lot like Summer already, I just had to go with Summer. I ended up making this delicious Greek Pasta Salad. It has so much flavor, and is loaded up with veggies, so it’s pretty dang healthy too! I made a double batch for a potluck dinner at our church, and it got lots of compliments. So tasty and really easy to throw together!



Greek Pasta Salad Recipe 
from Cafe Zupas Blogger’s Annual Cookbook

Ingredients
Salad

  • 1/2 lb (1/2 box) bow tie pasta, cooked and drained
  • 1-2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1 cucumber, diced
  • 1/2 can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 cup kalamata olives, cut in half lengthwise (I left these out just because my husband hates them)
  • 1/2 can (1 cup) artichoke hearts, drained and cut in half lengthwise (I used frozen because that’s what I had on hand)
  • 1 cup roasted red peppers (optional – but delicious!)
  • 5-8 cups fresh spinach, roughly chopped

Greek Vinaigrette
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 shallot, minced
  • 1 Tbsp fresh basil, minced
  • 1 tsp fresh oregano, minced (I used dried)
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp. agave nectar (I subbed honey)
  • 1/4 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
  • 3/4 cup olive oil (When I make this again, I will probably cut it back to 1/2 cup)
Directions
  1. Whisk together all vinaigrette ingredients except for the olive oil.
  2. Slowly whisk in olive oil a little at a time
  3. Mix together all of the salad ingredients
  4. Slowly add vinaigrette to salad, just until it is coated. Toss well and serve.

And that’s it!

So, who wants to win a cookbook? Must be 18 or older and a U.S. Resident to enter. Giveaway ends midnight PST 3/11/14. Good luck!

THE GIVEAWAY HAS CLOSED

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Amy Lee Scott says

    Alexis, this looks SO good! I love Greek salad but never thought to put that twist on pasta salad. And you are making me crave Zupa's–I'm so sad I live so far away from one now!

  4. bella says

    My daughter decided to go vegetarian this month, so I'm on the look out for great ideas like this one. Thanks!