Greek Salad with Chicken

April 6 - I had a late meeting and the boy worked late so dinner didn't really happen
April 7 - Greek Salad with Chicken
April 8 - leftover pizza

First off if you are reading this on Saturday morning and are in the GTA get your butt to the Evergreen Brick Works market to support the Toronto Bakes for Japan Bake Sale.  You make even get to meet me or the fabulous mamashack. If you can't make it on Saturday, check out the locations for Sunday April 10 at the Toronto Bakes for Japan website.  If you aren't in the area please donate online. 

Now, why you're really here, to hear all about what exciting things we've been eating in the Hoffleby house.  Sorry to say, while tasty I wouldn't call it exciting since I've been prepping for today's bake sale.  This is not a fancy dinner by any stretch.  But it was something I was craving.  I had actually picked up the ingredients to put to use in a few lunches for myself this week, but that didn't happen.  When my dinner plans for Thursday night fell through and the boy ended up not having to work as late as we had thought it seemed the best thing to do was to throw this salad together.

I lived on salads very similar to this one when I was in grad school and commuting into Boston from Norfolk most days.  I was living alone and couldn't really be bothered with cooking for one.  There was a pizza joint in my small town that made a mean Greek salad that I always rationalized with some grilled chicken made the perfect meal.  Of course being loaded with feta cheese doesn't hurt either.  Rather than try to find a salad like it at a pizza place around here I decided to just make it myself.  The funny thing about this salad is that after eating it I learned that three of the ingredients in it are actually considered useless salad ingredients in that their ratio of nutritional value to calories isn't great.  Regardless of that it was an easy dinner and I got the Boy to eat mostly veggies which is a win in my book.

Grilled Chicken
serves 2

Two boneless chicken breasts
3 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsps dry white wine
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic crushed

1.  Place everything but the chicken into a large ziploc bag and shake it all around.  Add in the chicken, give a good shake and place it in the fridge for at least an hour.
2.  When ready to cook, heat the grill over low, it should be around 350F.  Season the chicken with salat and place on the heated grill.  Cook for 5-7 minutes on the first side.  Turning when the chicken no longer sticks to the grill.
3.  Cook on the other side for 5-7 minutes.  Check the temperature, if it needs a bit more time cook for a fe more minutes on each side until it reaches an internal temperature of 170F.  Remove to a plate, tent and let rest for 5-10 minutes.  Slice before serving.


Greek Salad
serves 2

1 head iceberg lettuce, washed and roughly chopped
2 romaine hearts - washed and roughly chopped
1/2 English cucumber - sliced
10 cherry tomatoes - halved
1 slice of red onion - chopped
1/3 cup Greek feta crumbled
1/3 cup or more Newman's Own Light Oil & Vinegar dressing
salt & pepper

In a large bowl toss all of the salad ingredients.  Taste and adjust dressing and seasoning to taste.  Divide between 2 plates and top with grilled chicken slices.