A blend of cultures, this quick-fix salad is a light-but-filling dish that can be served hot or cold.
A few people at work are lucky enough to have yards (living in a studio apartment, I’ll consider the entire city my backyard 
) and they have gorgeous lemon trees…and they’re more than willing to share the lemon love with me! I knew I wanted to make a Greek couscous salad with some sort of lemon dressing, but that’s all I had to start with.
No words necessary to explain this post’s title. A simple YouTube link will suffice.
I typically steer clear of meatloaf…especially the mystery meat-ish variety you slather with ketchup. But when I saw that this recipe had sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese, I was intrigued. And hello, it’s from Giada. I have yet to try one of her recipes I didn’t love.
Ingredients! (sans toasted pine nuts I tossed into the meatloaf later)
Have you ever seen a meatloaf so colorful?
Adding the actual meat (which is actually ground chicken, not ground turkey) and remembered the pine nuts just before putting everything into the oven:
Love that some of the cheese bubbles up and gets niiice and crispy on top:
Look at all the deliciousness packed into the loaf. Parsley! Sun-dried tomatoes! Pine nuts! Finally, a meatloaf I actually enjoy. No ketchup necessary:)
I found that using the full amount of salt the recipe calls for made the loaf a bit too salty for me. Half probably would’ve been just right. The sun-dried tomatoes and parsley are lively additions to a typically boring dish. Bonus: you can slice the loaf up into individual servings and freeze them. A much better version of a frozen dinner!
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Turkey Meatloaf with Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis
Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, if using, eggs, milk, feta, salt, and pepper. Add the turkey and gently stir to combine, being careful not to overwork the meat.
Carefully pack the meat mixture into the prepared pan and bake until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice. Put on a serving platter and serve.
Easy to make, good for you and most importantly, yummy. Avocados hold a special place in my heart (and help keep it healthy by packing in those omega 3′s:))
This is one of my favorite quick snacks (or small appetizer?) to throw together. I simply take a ripe avocado, half it, and cut the half into 4 slices. Then toss on about 1/2 tsp of feta cheese, 1 tsp of crushed walnuts, and drizzle on a bit of balsamic vinegar. Et Voilà! You have yourself a healthy snack in about 2 minutes. For a sweet kick, you might want to try candied walnuts. Enjoy…your heart will thank you!
I’m hardly the target demo for Real Simple magazine (ads for anti-aging creams, anyone?), but I love it dearly. In the January issue, there is a quick and dirty recipe for couscous-stuffed peppers. It’s a refreshing spin on the traditional (but always yummy) stuffed pepper.
Couscous-Stuffed Peppers
Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes|Serves 4
Brown 1/2 pound ground beef. Cook 1/2 cup couscous according to the package directions. Mix the beef, couscous, 4 sliced scallions, 1 cup crumbled Feta, and 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots; season with salt and pepper. Stuff into 4 hollowed-out bell peppers and bake at 400°F, covered, until tender, 45-50 minutes.
I was walking up and down the aisles of the grocery store wondering what to cook for dinner, and I remembered reading this short recipe. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the recipe with me, so I pulled ingredients from the shelves based entirely on my (fleeting) memory. I got 5 of 6, and the mistake actually worked in my favor. In place of scallions, I picked up a package of chives. For those interested, chow.com has an article explaining the differences between green onions, scallions and chives. Less green in the mix, but just as tasty. I subbed in ground turkey for ground beef too.
Ready to start:
The feta, couscous, apricots and chives. Looks like a colorful summer salad:
Green bell peppers stuffed with tasty goodness:
I adore the apricots thrown into this mix. They add a tiny hint of sweet and chewiness to an otherwise “meaty” stuffed pepper. The couscous was a bit on the dry side after sitting in the oven for 45 minutes (it was moist when I originally cooked it), so I may try adding more water to it next time. I would consider this an easy weeknight dinner, except for the fact that it takes nearly an hour in the oven. I’m all for 30 minute (or less) meals, especially mid-week!