Not The Week We Were Expecting

Greek Pasta Salad

Daddy-O is under the weather. I am mostly staying out of his way, letting him snooze. Lack of appetite is one of his symptoms. But then his medicine says "Take after breakfast and dinner." As on a full stomach. 

This recipe popped up on my computer yesterday and I had all the ingredients here. I thought it would make a nice light dinner. I mixed it up while he napped. I'm happy to say he ate this for dinner.

This recipe is the only greek recipe I've ever seen that didn't include olives. I don't like olives. I wonder if the recipe developer doesn't like them either. The only good thing I can say about olives is that it's easy to leave them out—or in this case, add them in. 

Because it doesn't have a lot of other vegetables that would need to be peeled and chopped, this salad is very simple to make. The star of this recipe is the dressing––it's really good and really easy, so keep it in mind if you want homemade greek dressing for a green salad later. 

GREEK PASTA SALAD

1 (16-oz) box penne pasta (or other short cut variety such as rotini or bowtie)

2/3 cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon, about 1/4 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise

3 tablespoons Cavendar's seasoning, or other greek seasoning

1 (6-oz) container of crumbled feta cheese

1 cup grape tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup fresh basil slivers

Cook pasta. While it's cooking whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, mayonnaise and greek seasoning. When pasta is cooked, drain, rinse with cold water and pour into large bowl. Add dressing mixture, cheese, tomatoes and basil. Mix until combined. Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Will keep in refrigerator for 4-5 days.

When the mood strikes—or you have vegetables you need to use up– you can change this up by adding other vegetables. Red onion, artichoke hearts, red peppers, green peppers, cucumbers are all candidates. 

Or toss in some leftover cooked chicken  and make this a main dish. 

Note: Daddy-O got up this morning and made the coffee. That's a good sign!