Chopped Greek Salad

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Emily

This chopped Greek salad has the perfect bite every time since everything is the same size! There are a few special ingredients to make it extra special – spoiler: mint and crumbled pita takes this salad to the next level.

Chopped Greek Salad - The Three Bite Rule

Chopped Greek Salad
Ingredients: (serves 2 meals, or 4 sides)
1 can garbanzo beans
1/2 cucumber
1 small tomato
1 bell pepper – any color
~10 mint leaves (or swap for 1 teaspoon fresh oregano)
~1/4 of a red onion
2 tablespoons oil/red wine vingear or 2 tablespoons Italian dressing
1 cup pita chips
Optional: 1 tablespoon creamy caesar + 1 tablespoon Tahini

Directions:
Chop the cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, mint, and red onion. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Soak the onion in cold water.
Add all the veggies, herbs, and cheese into a bowl.

Drizzle in the dressing or oil/vinegar, salt and pepper, zatar spice or Italian seasoning, and toss well.

Taste and adjust as needed. Just before serving, crumble in the pita chips.
Optional: stir together the caesar/tahini mixture and drizzle over the top.
Enjoy!

The mint and the crumbled pita chips are the true stars of this salad. It is flavorful, filling, and has all the textures. I ate this for lunch – and can totally picture throwing it together for dinner on the baseball sidelines! It’d be great to bring to a party.

Greek Dip with Some Assembly Required

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Emily

Easy Greek Hummus dip that goes with everything and is a crowd fav. Continue reading →

Greek Bean Salad

Posted on May 11, 2023 by Emily

This bean salad is filling but bright and crunchy. Add more or less of your favorite parts. Continue reading →

Greek Chicken Turnovers

Posted on February 2, 2022 by Emily

These little turnovers had a few flavors we love, in an easy format, plus the kiddos helped and liked them. We used puff pastry, hummus, roasted chicken, salad dressing, and tomatoes.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Chicken Turnovers

Anything in crescent dough is good in my book but the hummus in here was great! They would be perfect as an app or we had them with some orzo and some salad.

Greek Chicken Turnovers
Ingredients: (for 8 turnovers, serves ~4 as a meal or 8 for apps)
1 tube crescent rolls (or crescent dough as a roll would make double sized ones)
1 cup roasted chicken (~1 chicken breast from a rotisserie chicken)
1-2 tablespoons creamy caesar dressing
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup hummus
1-2 small tomatoes

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees (or as the package directs).

Chop and mix the chicken, the dressing, and oregano.
Unroll the crescents and lay each triangle flat, then spread hummus onto each triangle. Add chicken onto the wide part of the triangle and top with tomato slices and salt & pepper.
Carefully roll the wide end of the triangle and roll over onto itself towards the point.
Place onto a baking sheet.

Bake for ~10 minutes (according to your crescent rolls) until golden brown.

Enjoy!

We had these with orzo and some tomato/cucumber/feta salad in Italian dressing. They were so fun! The hummus is really subtle but adds some substance and keeps them from being too liquid-y and dripping.

Each kid ate one. They’re not always excited about foods all together but these are flavors we like and they were a hit. They’re very, very into feta in salad.

They reheat well too – especially if you undercook a bit (maybe 8 min versus 10) and reheat in the oven or toaster oven. They don’t need to be served hot – room temp is good too!

Need an alternate along the same lines?
Cheeseburger turnovers
Broccoli & Cheese Pinwheels
Chicken, Bacon, Ranch turnovers

Greek Flatbreads with Hummus & Chicken Sausage

Posted on January 19, 2016 by Emily

This is such a winner for a quick dinner that feels wayyy different than others during the week. Hallelujah for naan. I love it for individual pizzas and the naan gives good options for a soft, doughy base or a crisp thin-yet-even pizza crust. I went with the latter. This flatbread has hummus, mozzarella, feta, chicken sausage and is topped with arugula or you could have the arugula salad on the side. I like the freshness and crunch.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads

Ingredients:

3-4 naans
2 chicken sausages
1/2 cup hummus
1 cup mozzarella
1/2 tsp dried oregano and dried thyme
1/4 cup feta
2 cups arugula, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400-degrees and place the naan directly on the oven racks for 5-10 minutes (towards 10 minutes for a crisper crust).
Pan-sear or grill the sausages until caramelized and crisped. They come fully cooked so cooking the exterior is for taste.
Spread the naan with hummus, then top with cheese and dried herbs.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads
Slice the sausage at an angle and place a few slices on each naan.
Sprinkle with feta, then bake for 5-7 minutes – just until the cheese melts.

Top with fresh arugula, slice, and enjoy!

I loved these. The hummus as “sauce” was so great, such a creamy element with very little mozzarella. This flatbread was a great way to use only a small amount of the chicken sausage, a small amount of cheese, annnnd a small amount of feta. I loved the cracker-ish crunch to the naan but it is so perfectly chewy when barely cooked.

This is such a fast one that I’m sure I’ll repeat it soon. I love to make dinner most nights but there’s such a short window of time from getting home at 6 with the babe to fit in his dinner, a tub, playing, and his 7:45 bed time. This was a dinner I could be super quick with so we could all have dinner together, plus one leftover for Mr. J’s lunch the next day. Hooray!
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads

Feta & Herb Crusted Salmon

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Emily

My garden herbs are still kind of hanging on, likely because it has been 50-degrees! I used them with some feta for a Greek-inspired salmon or the topping would work nicely on chicken as well. I cooked it on the grill or it could be popped into the oven as well.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Salmon

Ingredients:

1 salmon fillet
1-2 tbs crumbled feta
1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

Directions:

Chop the feta and herbs and mix together with a little pepper (the feta will provide enough salt).
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Salmon
Preheat the grill or oven.
Make a foil packet sprayed with a little non-stick spray.
Place the salmon onto the foil and top with the feta/herb topping.

Close up the foil and cook until your desired doneness.

The herbs flavor cooked in really well. It was a his/hers dinner so Mr. J grilled some steak while I had salmon. With some roasted broccoli and some creamy white beans, dinner was really quite hands-off. It was a good reminder that the salmon I had hanging out in the freezer would defrost quickly and cook quickly with only a few ingredients. What a perfect use for some leftover fresh herbs you have from something else!

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Salmon

Greek Grain Salad

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Emily

This dinner is one to make immediately. I was inspired by all the different grains that are served at work. I chose cracked wheat because a) it is such a healthy grain b) it was much cheaper than some others c) it cooks just like rice. To keep it summery, I didn’t try to serve it really warm. The cracked wheat cooks quickly while the chicken was grilling and while I chopped everything else.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Grain Salad

Ingredients:

3-4 chicken thighs marinated in Italian dressing.
1 cup cracked wheat
2 cups tomatoes
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup fresh oregano & mint
3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp dried oregano
cracked pepper

Directions:

Marinate the chicken at room temperature while the grill preheats.
Cook cracked wheat according to package. Mine said 40 minutes but was definitely tender when I fluffed with a fork at 25 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Grain Salad
Chop tomato, feta, and fresh herbs. Add into a bowl with the cracked wheat.

Grill the chicken until fully cooked through, at least 165 degrees.
Shake together the dressing in a jar – olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, dried oregano, garlic, and pepper.

Mix the cracked wheat and everything together with the dressing.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Grain Salad
Serve the chicken on top of a bed of the grain salad.
Enjoy!

I loved this. We had plenty of tomatoes, oregano, and mint so I was thinking I should do something Mediterranean. The cracked wheat was awesome! It has more of a nutty flavor and I loved knowing it was a better choice than rice or couscous. I forgot that I had some zucchini which would have been good in this, or raw cucumber.

This was so easy and had great flavor. We both loved it and I’m glad we tried something new with flavors that are sure to be a hit.

What I Ate: Quick Greek Quinoa Bowls

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Emily

‘What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with you for the idea or inspiration.

In an effort to mix up my lunch while still keeping it easy (and one-handed with the babe) I tossed together these quinoa bowls. I wanted something salad-y without lettuce. I was seeking farro or barley but came up short while grocery shopping. Really, I just wanted a different grain than I usually have but my grocery store is obsessed with moving everything around and I couldn’t find either one. It was a speedy shop while the little one napped in my cart and I figured I wouldn’t press my luck when he was happily napping. I made 2 servings and was glad to grab the other the following day.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Quinoa Bowls

Ingredients:

Quinoa
tomatoes
English cucumbers
feta
Greek salad vinaigrette: 1/4 cup red wine vinegar; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1/2 tsp dried oregano; 1/2 tsp dried basil; 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Cook the quinoa according to the package and spoon into bowls. I used about 1 cup prepared for each bowl.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Quinoa Bowls
Chop and mix together the veggies and cheese

Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar.
Add in a little dressing and toss. Spoon veggies on top of the quinoa.

Enjoy!

I ate one serving immediately and loved the warm-ish quinoa and the cool veggies. The tang from the vinegar dressing was perfect with the veggies and to season the quinoa a bit. The next day it was still good and I didn’t need more dressing. It might not be great a 3rd day as the sliced tomatoes could be a bit mealy by then. Prepping the quinoa and mixing the veggies the day you’re eating it would still make for an easy lunch too, or using whole cherry/grape tomatoes would give it a bit longer of a fridge-life.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Quinoa Bowls

Greek Chicken Pizza

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Emily

This was one of those oops moments and times that I had to channel my inner Tim Gunn…make it work! I really meant this to be a calzone. Earlier this month we were celebrating sis’s bday with a calzone dinner and this one just could become a calzone. I was having dough challenges and as I started to get frustrated but had to remind myself sometimes it just doesn’t go how you want, but as long as it is still edible, then it can still be a success.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Chicken Pizza
The challenge was that I was trying to rush the defrosting of the dough. Some things you just can’t rush. That’s kind of my soap-box lesson of the day. I was getting a hole-y dough with frozen lumps that just wasn’t working out. I plopped it onto the pizza stone hoping it would “cook” enough to keep the shape so I could fill it then fold the crust over. No dice. Where it plopped it stayed and pizza it became.

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini
2 tbs fresh oregano
3 cups chopped baby spinach
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup feta
1 (or 1/2) ball of pizza dough
2 small chicken breasts, or 3-4 chicken tenders marinated in Italian dressing.

Directions:

Preheat the oven and pizza stone (if using one) to 400-degrees.
Chop the zucchini and sauté for about 5 minutes over medium heat, until cooked through, before getting squishy. Then add in the fresh oregano at the end.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Chicken Pizza
Add in the tomatoes, feta, and spinach.

Cook for another 3 minutes.
Spread out the pizza dough onto the pan and bake for about 5 minutes. Cook just enough to go from doughy to lightly crisped.
Cook or grill the chicken until cooked through. Then slice into chunks when cooled.
Top with marinara, then mozzarella, then with the veggies and chicken.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Chicken Pizza
Bake for 10-15 minutes until the crust crisps and the cheese melts.

This was a good pizza. It wasn’t drastically different than some of my others but these are fresh, veggie-centric flavors I love. I really wanted it to be a calzone, but I’m also thinking the “filling”/toppings would be good with pasta or in a pita.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Chicken Pizza

Greek Pita Pizza Redo

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Emily

This Greek Pita pizza is one of the easiest dinners ever. I figured this uber old post circa 2011 deserved a re-do. I love the tapanade, spinach, and feta flavors. Making the pizza on pita bread means less than 15-minutes of cooking time. I added zucchini to it as well in case your farmer’s market finds or garden zuccs are out of control. This is a very veggie-centric meal if you, like me, ate your weight in fun vacation-foods like pizza, and duck over mushroom risotto, and lobster mac & cheese, and blueberry ice cream…more on that later, now it is time for some veggies.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Pita Pizza

Ingredients:

4 wheat pita breads
1 cup prepared tapanade
2 cups zucchini, sliced or chopped
2 cups fresh spinach
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup feta

Directions:

In a large skillet, cook the zucchini over medium-low heat with a drizzle of olive oil, for about 3-4 minutes.
Add chopped spinach and cook for another 2 minutes until the spinach begins to wilt, but doesn’t get over cooked.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Pita Pizza
Preheat the oven to 400-degrees.
Spread the tapanade over the crusts.

Then add mozzarella, and the spinach & zucchini mixture to the top. Sprinkle with dried oregano.

Add feta on top and bake for 10-15 minutes. Cook for ~15 if eating it right away. If reheating another time for a different lunch or dinner, cook 10 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Pita Pizza
I love this one. The flavors are all really good and there aren’t many ingredients. One of the keys is the tapanade. I used a red pepper & artichoke tapanade, but any you find would work. I don’t like olives so I use this one or sundried tomato pesto for this pizza.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Pita Pizza
I don’t always add the zucchini so that can be optional. Fresh spinach is good or frozen spinach with all the water squeezed out. This one can be whipped up with mostly freezer/pantry ingredients!