Greek is Chic!

Yesterday was one c-r-a-z-y day!  You know the kind:  work, carpooling, after-school activities, more work.  In the accounting world, January is a beating.  But I still wanted to put a healthy dinner on the table for my family.  And I wanted to keep my New Year's resolution (at least for the first week!) to eat healthier.

Enter this Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken, which came together in about 30 minutes.  Take that, Rachel Ray.  It fit the bill: light, healthy, and fast.  Do you hear me, Ellie Krieger?  Sandra Lee calls this kind of dinner "semi-homemade."  I call it a "ch-eat."  (Guess I watch too much of the Food Network.)

Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
(click here to print recipe)

Greek Salad Dressing and Marinade
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/4 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dijon mustard
2/3 cup red wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients and stir well.  Set aside.

Salad Ingredients
Large bag baby spinach or chopped romaine or some of both
1 large cucumber
1/4 of a large red or sweet onion
Pitted Greek olives and marinated feta cheese from the olive bar at your grocery
    (or buy jarred, pitted Kalamata olives and a block of feta cheese and cut some up)
2 small plum tomatoes
3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to even out the thickness

Use about 1/3 cup of the salad dressing to marinate the chicken breasts at room temperature for about 15 minutes.  Preheat your grill.

In the meantime, wash and spin dry the lettuce and/or spinach.  Peel and slice the cucumber, slice the tomato, and finely chop the onion.  If you're using a block of feta, cut it into small cubes.  Refrigerate the salad ingredients.

Grill the chicken breasts for about 7 minutes per side on medium-high heat.

Cut chicken into pieces.  Remove the salad ingredients from the refrigerator and load onions, greens, olives and feta into a gallon-sized ziptop bag.   Pour in enough dressing to coat the leaves lightly.  Shake it up.  Plate the salad and decoratively arrange the tomatoes, cukes, and chicken on top, dividing evenly into 4 portions.

To minimize the mess and maximize the flavor, toss large salads in ziptop bags.  You will use less salad dressing, and it will be more evenly distributed.  Besides, it's fun to shake it up!  I buy gallon and 2-gallon sized ziptop bags at the Dollar Tree for just this purpose.