Eat Your Vegetables: Turkish Chopped Salad

I've been carting this recipe around with me since college. I found it in some dumb women's magazine at a checkout counter in Syracuse, New York, and have made it so many times, it's committed to memory.

It's PERFECT for potlucks because it's pretty and delicious and doesn't taste like "diet food," so you can bring it to share and trick your friends by taking care of them without them even realizing it. It's a great go-along for grilled meat and an excellent middle-of-the-afternoon snack. (Sssshhhh... if you're one of the fortunate people that can eat rice without it making you into the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, this salad is very tasty on top of steamed rice. But don't tell anyone I said that. )


Turkish Chopped Salad
2 cups is approximately 1 Zone C block & 1 Weight Watchers point

NOTE: You know I LOVE to follow a recipe to exact specifications and that I consider Cook's Illustrated the gospel, but this is one of those recipes that you can play fast and loose. Monkey with the proportions of vegetables according to your preferences or what you've got in the fridge. You really can't mess this one up. It tastes best when eaten fairly soon after mixing, and more than one day in the refrigerator will turn it into a mushy mesh. If you're packing it for lunch, take the dressing separately and toss before eating.

Salad ingredients:
2 green peppers
2 cucumbers
3 tomatoes
1 large red onion
handful of radishes
handful of parsley
1/2 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta (leave this out if you're a dino-chow devotee)

Dressing ingredients:
3 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons red vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt & pepper

1. Make the dressing: Whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings, then slowly drizzle in the oil, stirring the whole time. You can spice this up with oregano and crushed red pepper, if you're made that way... or add a 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard for a nice tang.

2. Prep the vegetables: Dice all the vegetables into roughly the same size. Chop the parsley. Mix it all together and marvel at the colors. It's a rainbow in a bowl! Think about how good it will taste going into your mouth -- and then all those kickass vitamins and minerals and fiber making their way into your body.
3. Toss it up: Add the feta to the bowl and toss. (If you're not going to eat it right away, stop here.) Add dressing; mix well. Check the seasonings; you might need to add a little more salt and pepper.

4. Share with friends: It's easy to make this in big batches, so you can share... it's also a quick snack that you can eat like a veggie monster when you're super hungry and scrounging around the kitchen for something delicious and healthy.

Express yourself!
There are lots of variations on this general theme:

• Add sliced black and/or green olives... for more healthy fats
• Dice everything really tiny and use it as salsa... on French cut green beans or a lean grilled steak
• Add the mustard to the dressing ... and toss in a little dried thyme
• Make it Italian... replace the parsley with basil and use all vinegar instead of lemon juice.