Some things are so good in concept, seeming to totally make sense. Leggings (oh, the comfort and ease!), Segways (I don’t even have to walk anymore!), and Starlight Express (Andrew Lloyd Webber…on roller skates!) all spring to mind. But in the end, they bring nothing but disappointment.
For me, the ultimate letdown has always been marijuana. Now, no one needs to mellow their harsh more than me, but this is one vice I simply cannot take up. An asthmatic since adolescence, pot simply tears my chest apart. It is probably for the best; moderation is not a word I have ever become intimately acquainted with. I would live a life surrounded by empty Frito bags. This affliction has caused me to utter the most pathetic little phrase known to mankind more times than I would care to admit: “No thanks–it makes me wheeze”. It seriously sounds like a phrase from an after school special or public service announcement (“I learned it by watching you!!”), but it is the sad truth.
I have acquired another type of herb aversion with this recipe. I have made this creamy Greek salad before; I originally ate something vaguely resembling this at a party last summer and I threw this adaptation together. Results have always been great. Then, I had to go screw it all up; I can never leave anything well enough alone. I usually use chives as the fresh herb component to this recipe and results are always mellow and delicious. Instead, to “Greekify” it, I decided to use fresh oregano this time. Turns out I hate fresh, raw oregano and it was a horrible match for this dish. It tasted like…stale ass that had sat in the sun for a day. It left a fuzzy feeling in my mouth and tasted kinda pungent and was way too aggressive for the simple, but delicate dish… and yeah…eww. Don’t try this at home kids.
So this recipe is written using chives, which I know do NOT taste like ass. This is a simple, but delicious side salad that I often pack for lunch, but is refreshing alongside grilled meats. A few quick tips: strain your Greek yogurt through a coffee filter to make it extra thick, rinse the canned beans and artichokes to control salt levels and making a garlic paste will help the garlic distribute much more evenly throughout the creamy yogurt.
Just back away from the oregano…
Creamy Greek Salad
A Lemmonex Original
3/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt (I like Fage), strained
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled (Presidente makes a great fat free feta)
1 – 14 oz can artichokes, quartered and rinsed
1 – 14 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1 medium cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, made in to paste
2 tablespoons fresh chopped chives, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Chill for about an hour. Serve.
11:56 am on March 11th, 2008
Be nice to oregano . . . it rockz! . . . I don’t care what you say. I’ve been on a bit of an oregano kick for the past 3 days, thinking to myself over the course of those days how much I really, really, really love fresh oregano . . . thinking “Fresh oregano, where have you been all my life???” To be clear, I’ve eaten plenty of fresh oregano before the past several days, but something’s clicked this week and I adore fresh oregano more than ever. I can’t believe you’ve referred to its taste as “stale ass”! That’s sooooo wrong! Oh well, to each his/her own. I promise I won’t put any in the beef stew this weekend.
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1:26 pm on March 11th, 2008
FRM: The oregano lead me astray…once bitten twice shy. I will try again though; it cannot conquer me.
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1:36 pm on March 11th, 2008
I think fresh oregano generally has to be used in cooked recipes, not eaten with raw foods. Great in marinara, great in stew, terrible in salad.
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1:47 pm on March 11th, 2008
Shawn: Seriously…why didn’t you tell me? What good are you?! I have had it (I thought) in small amounts raw, but I could have totally made that up.
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2:33 pm on March 11th, 2008
This looks really great!
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2:52 pm on March 11th, 2008
You’ve just made a mother very happy! Oh yeah, I might try the recipe too!
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6:42 pm on March 11th, 2008
as a faithful reader, i remember many of your older recipes and tonight i had a real hankerin’ for chickpeas/spinach/tomatoes. but when i went to search your posts by category (vegetarian) i realized i can no longer search by category! oh, i can’t tell you the agony i went through trying to find this delicious, affordable, nutritious meal. ok, so it took me about 2 seconds to search for ‘breadline’ but what happens when i don’t remember the entree’s name? so this is my request: please bring back the category labels!
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6:48 pm on March 11th, 2008
Jessica: Thanks!
MamaBear: I do what I can…
5GG: I am so sorry, babe…I did not even realize. All fixed.
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9:43 am on March 12th, 2008
Better late than never. Ass is one of my favorite descriptives. Hot as ass, cold as ass or tastes like ass. Nice ass or don’t be an ass. Thank you and have an ass day.
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1:38 pm on March 12th, 2008
Pot brownies? Just sayin’ — you do like to cook. At the very least it would make a great post. And there’s no wheezing involved in those things. Just tingly stomachs.:-)
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4:11 pm on March 19th, 2008
Wow! This looks SO good.
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8:56 am on May 19th, 2008
[...] This is why I found sneaking around with my mom and my aunt for a cigarette during my visit two weekends ago a positively surreal experience. When my aunt started asking about any drug use on my part, not as a condemnation or trap, but as a mere curiosity, my brain liquefied. I think I gave my mother the best Mother’s Day gift of all when I admitted, truthfully, that recreational drug use isn’t really my thing. [...]