25 Favorite Amazing Salads with Feta Cheese

For all the other people who love Feta like I do, here are my 25 favorite amazing salads with Feta cheese.

For more than nine years I've been posting new recipes several times a week on Kalyn's Kitchen, as well as regularly updating older ones that aren't up to current standards.  And no doubt about it, doing that regularly plus the social-media related tasks that go along with blogging is very much a full-time job.  Not that I am complaining; I love doing it, but sometimes even bloggers  need a vacation, and in the next couple of weeks I'm going to be taking two of them!  

For the rest of this week I'm going to BlogHer14 in San Jose and spending a couple of extra days hanging out with my friend Stephanie.  Then I'll be home for a few days, just long enough to get ready to go on a cruise to Alaska!   I don't want to spend all my vacation updating the blog, so I"m leaving you with a nice round-up of tasty dishes to explore while I'm off having fun.  This post has 25 Amazing Salads with Feta Cheese, all my favorites from those nine years of blogging!   (I'll be back with a new recipe early next week.  I'll make an effort to keep up with comments, questions, and social media, but if you don't get a reply as quickly as usual, you'll know why.)

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Cucumber, Avocado, and Garbanzo Salad with Feta, Lemon, and Mint (Gluten-Free)

Loved the fresh garden mint in this Cucumber, Avocado, and Garbanzo Salad with Feta, Lemon, and Mint.

A few weeks ago I had a couple of avocados on my counter that were crying out to be used, so I started thinking about how to use them.  I improvised with inspiration from this salad and the lemon-Feta vinaigrette from this salad, and the resulting combination of flavors in this Cucumber, Avocado, and Garbanzo Salad with Feta, Lemon, and Mint was really a wow for me. The first time I made the salad I didn't take photos, so the next time my nephew Jake came to cook we made the salad again, and this time we marinated the garbanzo beans in the dressing for a couple of hours before we tossed the salad together, which probably doubled the wow factor!  Jake loved the salad as much as I did; in fact it was his favorite dish in a long day of trying out new recipes.  If you're lucky enough to have some cucumbers from the garden, this salad will be even better; hope you enjoy!

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Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Grilled zucchini replaces the cucumbers in this delicious Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad!

 
(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  For four weeks in a row now I've gotten zucchini at the farmers market, so I think zucchini season is officially here and it's time to make this Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad!  This is a simple idea, but it's something I've made over and over since I came up with it years ago.)

When I visited Athens in 1998, I ate salads with cucumbers, tomatoes, green bell pepper, cucumbers, onions, and Feta cheese, always served with a dressing that combined red wine vinegar, olive oil, and dried Greek Oregano. In Greece this combination was usually called Village Salad, but in the U.S., any salad with those ingredients would be called Greek Salad. This grilled zucchini version of an American-Style Greek salad is something I came up with years ago when my garden had lots of zucchini and tomatoes, and not many cucumbers. Grilling the zucchini with olive oil and Greek Seasoning, and then brushing on some vinaigrette dressing as it cooks adds wonderful flavor to the salad, even if it's not authentically Greek. If you have surplus zucchini in your own garden, give this idea a try.

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Grilled Fusion Chicken (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

This Grilled Fusion Chicken has a great combination of flavors.

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, July 2014.)  Back in the early days of my blog I wrote about how to make juicy grilled chicken breasts that are perfect every time and I followed it up with some grilled chicken recipes.  Here's a recipe from back then that I adapted from Sunset Magazine, and really enjoyed the result.  I made this again recently with my niece Kara so we could take some new photos, and we changed the ingredients just slightly to give it even more flavor.  In the new photos I'm pairing it with a simple salad of cucumber noodles I made with my Spiralizer.

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Zucchini Noodle Mock Pasta Salad (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

Make "noodles" from zucchini and use them for this Zucchini Noodle Mock Pasta Salad; so delish!

When I posted Three Ways to Make Noodles from Zucchini and Other Vegetables, I promised to share some new recipes using the noodles, and I've made this Zucchini Noodle Mock Pasta Salad several times now, and gobbled it up every time.  This recipe is a low-carb and gluten-free offspring of my Pasta Salad with Italian Sausage, Zucchini, Red Pepper, and Olives, a recipe I've been making for years and years for family parties.  This mock pasta salad could be served as a side dish, but since it has turkey Italian Sausage included, I'd be happy with a big bowl of this for a delicious low-carb dinner.

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Three Ways to Make Noodles from Zucchini and Other Vegetables (and Recipes with Vegetable Noodles)

Low-Carb Zucchini "Noodles" are delicious and easy to make.

Have you noticed how many cooks are suddenly making "noodles" from zucchini and other types of vegetables?  I think the abundance of vegetable noodles popping up everywhere is mostly due to an amazing machine called the Spiralizer.  I'm a little obsessed with my Spiralizer lately, so watch for a few dishes with vegetable noodles coming up soon on the blog. But for those who don't want to spend nearly $35.00 for a machine to make noodles, there are actually several less expensive noodle-making gadgets that work pretty well.  I have three different cooking tools that make noodles from vegetables, so I thought it would be a fun Meatless Monday post to compare them for anyone who's curious about vegetable noodles.

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Pan-Grilled Chicken with Green Olive, Caper, and Lemon Relish (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Easy pan-grilled chicken with a flavorful green olive relish and Mediterranean Salad with Hummus Dressing on the side.

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this easy Pan-Grilled Chicken with Green Olive, Caper, and Lemon Relish is delicious and quick to make on a stove-top grill pan, or grill it on an outdoor grill if you prefer.  It's really the green olive, caper, and lemon relish that makes this special for me and I think the relish would be great on pork chops or fish as well.)

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Fish Taco Cabbage Bowl (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Can Be Paleo)

Jake and I loved everything about these Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls!

I have high standards about what recipes actually end up making an appearance on Kalyn's Kitchen, so if you see a recipe here you know I really enjoyed the dish.  And then in that growing collection of recipes I enjoyed, occasionally something pops up that's a complete wow!  These Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls were so delicious that when my nephew Jake and I tested the recipe, we both kept saying over and over how good they were.  The Fish Taco Cabbage Bowls are definitely an offspring of the Sriracha Beef Cabbage Bowls I made last year, also a wow for me.  Obviously I love cabbage, so if you're not a cabbage fan this may not be for you. However, if you like fish tacos with slaw and spicy mayo dressing give this a try and I bet you'll love it just like I did for a quick and healthy dinner!

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Summer Means Salads with Fresh Herbs, and Things I'm Thinking About on Tuesday (7-8-14)

This Middle Eastern Tomato Salad is a sure sign it's summer!

It's definitely summer weather at my house, and I couldn't be happier about it.  And although I'm still trying to figure out how to create a garden like I had at my old house, I do have an abundance of fresh herbs growing in those pots along the sidewalk that I mentioned about a month ago.  I started with six pots, but quickly decided I needed more basil, so now I have 4 pots of basil, and one each of mint, parsley, rosemary, and dill all thriving in the sun.  (They're in one of the few places here that gets bright sun all day long, so I need to remember to go out at dusk and take some photos!) There's also sage, French tarragon, thyme, Greek oregano, and more parsley growing in a little strip of dirt on other edge of the sidewalk, so I'm doing pretty well in the fresh herb department.

I've also been been to the farmers market three times, which is helping a little with the garden envy.  (If you want to see what I'm buying there you can follow me on Twitter or Instagram.)  And when I couldn't wait any longer for tomato salads, I bought some tomatoes from Costco and made a salad with sliced tomatoes, Buffalo mozzarella, and basil vinaigrette that I served at a family dinner party.  And there were just enough tomatoes left to make my all-time favorite Middle Eastern Tomato Salad for lunch, so life is good.

Now here are a few more things I've been thinking about . . .

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Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes (Paleo, Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

This Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes only needs a few minutes in the oven.

I'm always looking for new low-carb breakfast ideas, and recently when I had avocados in the fridge that needed to get used I came up with this Baked Eggs Skillet with Avocado and Spicy Tomatoes.  If you're wondering why my avocados were in the fridge, back in 2009 I shared a life-changing discovery that ripe avocados will stop ripening and last for several days longer if you store them in the fridge.  (Please tell me I'm not the only one who can't resist those bags of avocados at Costco and then has a hard time remembering to use them?  If you have the same problem, this trick of putting avocados in the fridge will really help!) I'm totally in favor of avocado for breakfast, and this was a quick and delicious breakfast for two that only needs about 10 minutes in the oven.

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Black Bean and Pepper Salad with Cilantro and Lime (Gluten-Free, Vegan)

I love this salad with lots of red and yellow peppers, red onion, and cilantro and just a few black beans!

(For Phase One Fridays I feature Phase One Recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites, and this Black Bean and Pepper Salad with Cilantro and Lime is something I could eat every day all summer long.  There's a generous amount of chopped red and yellow peppers, red onion, and cilantro and only one can of beans, making this a great Phase One choice.  Today's the 4th of July celebration in the U.S., and this would be easy to throw together for a holiday pot-luck.)

Black beans are such a great pantry ingredient, and this simple salad with black beans, red and yellow bell pepper, red onion, lime, and cilantro has all the flavors that make me happy. I love the colors in this salad too. For best flavor, mix the dressing and let the beans marinate for a while (or at least while you chop the other ingredients) but even if you're in a rush like I was and forget to marinate the beans, it will still taste pretty great!

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Chicken Salad with Basil and Parmesan (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

If you have basil in your garden, don't miss out on making this Chicken Salad with Basil and Parmesan!

(Updated with better photos and step-by-step instructions, July 2014.)  This Chicken Salad with Basil and Parmesan is something you should make when you have lots of basil in your garden, because through the years I've learned you just can't put too much chopped basil in this salad.  I finally found a good sunny spot to relocate the herb pots I used on the deck last summer, and I'm happy to say I have lots of fresh basil this year, so when I cooked with my niece Kara recently we made this favorite basil-loaded chicken salad recipe to update the photos.

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25 Deliciously Healthy Low-Carb Recipes from June 2014 (Gluten-Free, South Beach, Paleo, Whole 30)

Twenty-five deliciously healthy low-carb recipes from June 2014, from Kalyn's Kitchen and my favorite blogs.

It's the first day of a brand new month, and since March 2008 I've been starting each month with a round-up of South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes found on Kalyn's Kitchen or spotted on other blogs.  It's been a fun way to feature healthy recipes from my favorite blogs, but six years later I now have readers who follow many different types of low-carb eating plans and the South-Beach only focus was feeling restrictive. That's why I announced last month that I'd decided to change it up a bit.  So what has changed, and what's staying the same?

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