fattoush salad

Pesach is over, the pitas are coming! :) In case you don't live in Canada, you probably missed the snowy days we've been experiencing this spring this far in my hometown of Montreal. Luckily, that won't stop me from making fresh, zesty and SUPER CRUNCHY salads in my cozy kitchen, starting with this Fattoush Salad. Fattoush Salad is a Middle Eastern salad recipe that is very delicious combining fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, aromatic herbs and toasted pita. You can make this salad for dinner, lunch or even for brunch, it's great for a potluck or dinner party as well. 

fattoush salad

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prep time 10 min. | Total time: 20 min.  | Serves 2 |  Dairy Weight Watchers Friendly: 7 points
INGREDIENTS

Two 8-inch thin pita
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons za’atar or sumac
2 ripe tomatoes, cored, seeded, chopped
3 kirby cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into half-moons
3-4 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS 

1.  Preheat the oven to 400°F. Lay the pitas on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake until dry and crisp, about 12 minutes.

2. Take out from the oven and let cool fully, and break into bite-size pieces. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle with 1 tablespoons of the olive oil, and stir to coat.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, yogurt, sumac (or za’atar), lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.

4.  In a large bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. Fold in the toasted pita pieces. Drizzle the dressing over the top and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Summer Corn Salsa Salad

Photography by Leslie Perez. All rights reserved.

Last week,  as part of my kids camp field trip, the group went corn picking at the Quinn farm (a great family activity to do & one of the kid friendliest farms in town - Montreal, Quebec). Needless to say I have my share of corn stocked up in the pantry (would anyone like to pick some up from me? ;)  I can write a recipe book just on corn-based ingredients. From tacos, corn chowder, rustic corn side dishes, corn bread, corn scones, caramel popcorn, corn-dogs, corn-cats.... ?&*^% (just kidding, just trying to be cute). In all cases, corn recipes are fast and easy, sweet and crisp (or creamy- depending on the can). There are so many kosher canned corn brands, i.e. IGA's Nos Compliment or Loblaws President Choice brands are kosher. Along with Martha Stewart's corn recipes, Nos Compliments shares a range of corn recipes on their website. Again, corn makes for non-fail recipes and this corn salsa (not so really salsa salad)  was made in no time. I won't specify the quantities on this one because you can tweak to your taste by adding vegetables you love. Flexibility is sometimes a good thing :)


INGREDIENTS serves 2-4

• 1 can of sweet corn
• Flat Parsley
• 1 avocado
• diced red pepper
• salt & pepper to taste
• lemon juice
• Olive oil based mayonnaise
• crushed garlic clove and\ or granulated garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

1 & 2. Just chop & mix... ;)