The real secret is good chicken breasts and the right blend of Greek spices. The best in my opinion is the blend my mother uses, which we buy at Rafal Spice Company in Detroit’s Eastern Market area. You can order it online here.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Red onion – chopped
• 1 Red Bell Pepper – Diced
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper – Diced
• Black Olives – Diced
• Cherry Tomatoes – Halved
• 2 medium sized chicken breasts
• 3 tablespoons of Greek Seasoning Mix
• 4 cups pre-packaged salad mix
• 2 tablespoons low-fat Greek Dressing
• 4 tablespoons Feta cheese

Preparation:
1. Preheat grill pan over medium high heat. As your pan is heating, coat both sides of chicken breasts with the Greek seasoning mix.

2. Dice vegetables and spray grill pan with non-stick spray. Grill chicken four minutes per side and grill veggies until tender. Turn chicken and remove from grill. Allow chicken to rest.

3. Slice chicken and add to salad. Distribute toppings and dress to your liking.

This is so simple and so good. Vita’s dinner is pictured below.

Not really a complex recipe, but it’s really, really tasty. It’s so much more fun to make your own grilled salads anyway.

According to Greek mythology the Olive tree was Athena’s gift to the people of Attica and it won her patronage of the city of Athens over Poseidon. And if it was, thanks be to Athena – because in my opinion, there is no more perfect food. I love the texture, the complexity, its versatility in a variety of cooking and packing styles, its saltiness, the variety of colors and its ability to totally transform a bland dish into a powerhouse of flavor.

My favorite kinds of Olives are Greek or or the young Italian variety. I find olives grown, cultivated and fermented in these climates to be the most flavorful and that they offer the best consistency for cooking in pastas and eating with antipasto.

I value Kalamata Olives for their saltiness and frequently add them to spicy pastas in lieu of salt or anchovy paste. I also tend to pop small handfuls into my mouth when i pass by the refrigerator (don’t tell Vita!).

Since Vita and I have been talking about one last really great trip before she starts her surgical residency, we’re leaning heavily towards Greece. I think with the availability of fantastic bread, tangy feta cheese, olives and a Mediterranean breeze, I may never come home.

So, with all those thoughts of olives and Greece running through my brain this morning, I made a very simple Greek salad for lunch. I won’t bother posting the recipe, as I’m sure my version is nothing to write home about. But I am curious my dear readers… what food items do you go absolutely crazy for? I plan on compiling some of your thoughts and doing a post at the beginning of October “foodie triggers,” which I’ll explain later. If you want to be included, post a comment and I’ll follow up with you through your blogs or e-mail and give you four or five quick interview questions. They’ll be painless and fun – I promise!

I take a little joy in knowing that fall (my favorite time of year) is just around the corner, but am admittedly a little sad to know that warm days lounging in polo shirts (and the best tasting tomatoes of the year!) are almost behind us here in Michigan.

To celebrate the ending of summer, I plan on grilling and whipping up as many cool refreshing salads as I can before the daily temperature continuously drops into the 70s and 60s. One such salad is Vita’s concoction. We eat it almost twice a week. It’s that good, and that easy.

Recipe – Tomato, Green Bean and Mozzarella Salad

Ingredients:

• 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 and a half cups of fresh green beans
• 1 tablespoon chopped basil (or use 3/4 tablespoon Gourmet Garden Basil because it works great in applications like this and is a wonderful substitute if you don’t have fresh)
• 10 halved fresh Mozzarella balls
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (only use if you opt for fresh basil instead of tubed)

Preparation:
1. Clean and snap ends from green beans. If need be, halve the beans with a pairing knife if they’re particularly long.
2. Salt and boil a large pot of water. Toss in your beans and simmer at a light rolling boil for approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Immediately drain beans in a colander and transfer your beans to an ice bath to stop the cooking process (this keeps your beens crunchy in the salad, and cools them off, which is refreshing!).
4. Place your beans in a large serving bowl.

5. Add tomatoes, mozzarella, salt, pepper and basil to the beans and toss lightly in olive oil.

There you have it. Couldn’t be easier or more delicious. The cherry tomatoes ooze their delicious flavor over the beans in the tossing process and mingles ever so nicely with the flavors of the mozzarella and the cool green beans. It really is one of my favorite dishes that Vita has ever made me. We always make plentiful amounts, because it’s nice, light and healthy. Hopefully, you’ll give it a shot and enjoy some of summer’s parting shots of flavor.

First off, let me preface that my wife is a wonderful cook in her own right, and I was probably quick to call her a “snob” in the previous post on Chicken Marsala. She is developing an increasingly broad palate now that I have her eating chicken and turkey again (she was pretty much vegetarian when we first started dating two years ago). Nevertheless, it still sometimes surprises me when she grabs things at the grocery store and our local warehouse club that look a lot like red meat, as was the case with these pre-made Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Meatballs.

We grabbed them because she started a new surgical rotation on Monday and we were unsure how much time we’d have to devote to our nightly cooking this week. And as we meal planned on Sunday, she thought it a good plan to make kabobs. The carnivore in me smiled so wide I think you could see rays of light emitting from my dimples that I hate to admit are there . Here’s what Vita skewered for me to grill up.

Ingredients:

• 1 package pre-made Teriyaki Pineapple Chicken Meatball Kabobs (we found some organinc pre-made meatballs at Sam’s Club
• 1 Yellow Bell Pepper (sliced into kabob-size pieces)
• 1 Orange Bell Pepper (sliced into kabob-size pieces)
• 1 small can Mandarin Oranges
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Pre-heat grill to 400 degrees
2. Skewer meatball onto wooden or metal skewer (pre-soak wooden skewers) and flank with bell peppers. Add oranges, and repeat process until skewer is filled. Repeat as needed.
3. Salt and pepper kabobs and brush with Teriyaki sauce.
4. Grill for 2 minutes a side, turning as needed.

The kabobs were really great. We really didn’t need to do anything drastic to the meatballs and Vita’s idea of using mandarin oranges gave a really nice sweetness that complimented the Teriyaki flavor of the meat to an absolute T. We paired our kabobs with a really great summer salad.

Watermelon and Tomato Salad with Feta and Kalamata Olives

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound watermelon, seeded – large dice (about 1.5 cups)
• 1 large beefsteak tomato, seeded – medium dice
• 1 small English cucumber, peeled, seeded – medium dice
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 cup pitted and halved kalamata olives
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint leaves torn and bruised
• 1 ounce feta cheese (I’d suggest the crumbled, dried version, brined feta will add too much salt – if brined is all you have, omit the kosher salt mentioned above)
• 1 teaspoon of lime juice

Preparation:
1. Combine watermelon, tomato, and cucumber in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt, and gently toss to combine. Transfer mixture to a colander and let drain. After 5 minutes, return mixture to bowl after wiping it down with a paper towel.

2. Combine vegetable mixture with olives, vinegar, olive oil, mint, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle cheese over the top and serve. Can’t be less difficult and it’s VERY refreshing and matches perfectly with the meatballs and a nice glass of wine. As strange as the mint and lime juice might sound here, they’re key elements that gives the whole dish a special something. Kudos to Kate over at Chow for coming up with a real winner.

So, instead of laboring with pasta, or a long grilling process, I opted to go for a steak salad with a delicious balsamic reduction. Here’s the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients

• 6 oz skirt steak (cut thinly into strips)
• 2 cups organic baby greens
• 1 organic tomato cut into wedges
• 1/8 cup of Danish Blue Cheese
• 1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon vegtable oil
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon butter (preferably unsalted, if salted, omit Kosher salt mentioned above)

Preparation
Coarsely grind peppercorns and basil with a mortar and pestle. Coat both sides of the skirt strips dry and coat with peppercorns, pressing to adhere. Season with salt.

Heat oil with 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet or non stick pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce heat to moderate and cook steaks to preferred temperature. I go about 1 to 1 and a half minutes on each side for medium-rare. (Admittedly, I got away from my pan for a minute prepping my plate and my meat came out medium well as you can see from the photos)

Transfer steak to a platter. Add balsamic vinegar to skillet and deglaze by boiling over high heat, scraping up brown bits. Simmer vinegar until reduced to about 1/8 cup. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining tablespoon butter until melted. Season sauce with salt and drizzle over salad once prepared.

To prep the salad itself, I simply wash and toss the greens, crumble my blue cheese and slice a small tomato into wedges. I salt and pepper my tomatoes and ring them around my greens. Add the steak and drizzle your balsamic reduction over everything. What you’re left with is a really flavorful, yet light meal that you’ll want to make again and again. The bold flavors of the Danish Blue Cheese are complimented by the reduction and the tomatoes make a lovely accompaniment. Happy cooking.