Orzo Topped with Greek Style Roasted Veggies and Feta

Another day, another roasted veggie recipe! It really does make things easier with a little one around. Once everything is in the pan, I can just toss it in the oven and forget about it for the next 25 minutes - no stirring, mixing, or flipping required! Plus I can roast more than I need and reheat throughout the week when I'm feeling tired and not at all like cooking.

Honestly, I'm always surprised by how good it turns out as well. I don't have to do a dang thing to it, and there it is all steamy and aromatic, caramelized bits hiding on the bottom, and veggies that just want to melt in your mouth. Plus there are just about a million different flavor combos you can throw together. This time I opted for a Greek twist with the feta, red onion, and oregano. I paired it with orzo, which I've never actually made before (I know that seems unbelievable considering how much I love pasta) and topped it with a little extra feta. As we say in my house, "it's always betta with feta." Or, in this case, "it's always betta with extra feta."

Perfect Pasta Salad

Right now I’m on a serious pasta salad kick. I love it. I eat it for lunch every day…then I come home and have it again for dinner. Every day, you say? Yes (well, mostly for the last week anyway). Why, might you ask? Because it’s delicious! Also because it’s super-duper easy to make, and it’s ideal for leftovers (you don’t even have to heat it up, for goodness’ sake!). Are you crazy, you might think? That is yet to be determined, BUT, in my defense, this is a much better kick than the strawberry cake kick I was on a few weeks ago, or the McDonald’s dipped cone kick before that, or the hummus and spicy pretzel kick before that – none of those were doing me any favors. I’m also on a grape kick, and a carrot/cucumber kick at the moment, but I don’t have any recipes for those. You may or may not have come to a conclusion about my sanity at this point, so I will move on.

This recipe is pretty simple – the only thing you have to cook is the pasta! (are you on board with me yet?) I use a mix of fresh veggies and some favorite preserved items, like kalamata olives and marinated artichoke hearts. The thing I love is that it’s really adaptable for your taste preferences; and there’s nothing better than coming home and NOT having to cook dinner because it’s already waiting in the fridge.

Impromptu Greek Salad

Hello friends! I’m leaving for Europe tomorrow (yay!!), so I thought I would leave you with a quick post before disappearing for 2 weeks! This one is super simple, and I’m sure many of you have had some variation before. It’s one of my summer favorites.

Tomatoes and cucumbers are at their peak during this time of the year, and this salad is the perfect way to take advantage. It’s a cool and refreshing snack or side dish on those extra hot days (106 yesterday?!), and I often just eat it for lunch when I’m feeling lazy and need to get rid of my fruit stand bounty.  I always buy more fruits and veggies than I need and then scramble to find uses for them before they start to wilt, dimple, shrivel, and other unsavory things that make me feel guilty. It all just looks so good; I can’t help myself!

Greek Pizza Bread

I’m always amazed when a handful of ingredients and minimal effort result in deliciousness, and today’s recipe is the perfect example. Last night Dustin and I were both craving pizza, but a combination of laziness and frugality made the acquisition of said pizza a little difficult. I opted instead to make pizza bread, which is always yummy and very easy to make, only with a Greek twist.

The idea came to me when I came across THIS feta dip recipe, which looked so good! I adapted it for my pizza bread, used red onion instead of green, and oregano instead of Greek seasoning (I can’t seem to find it anywhere, and by anywhere, I mean the one store where I looked for it). The end result was so much better than a store bought pizza, and had me wishing I had made more…in fact, I thought about it all day today and couldn’t wait to get home to make it again!

Vegetarian Gyros

When my husband and I lived in our first apartment, we used to love going to the gyro place down the street. Their freshly made flatbread, overflowing with seasoned meat and cool tzatziki sauce, was practically irresistible! After moving away, and especially after becoming vegetarian, gyros became a thing of the past. Other yummy foods happily took their place, until my sister recently suggested I try making Tzatziki Sauce for the blog. This immediately reminded me of my gyro loving days, and suddenly I was wondering why I had never tried making a vegetarian version before. The idea seemed simple enough, so I began looking for recipes I could adapt. I found a meat version I liked on tammysrecipes.com, and thought mushrooms would be a great substitution, since they have a meaty texture and adapt to different flavors well. 

Let me tell you, I was not disappointed. It. Was. So. Good. And much healthier than the meat version I used to love. This recipe definitely makes the cut for my weekly rotation!

Tzatziki Sauce

A few weeks ago my sister made the suggestion that I try making homemade tzatziki sauce for the blog. For those unfamiliar, it’s a Greek appetizer made with yogurt and cucumber, and works great as a dip or spread. I wanted to make Vegetarian Gyros last night, which would not be complete without the cool and creamy taste of tzatziki, so I decided to finally take her advice and give it a try! I found a recipe that I liked on tammysrecipes.com, and the instructions seemed simple enough, so I got started.