I whipped up a pasta salad for a family picnic this past weekend but while I was chopping and dicing the vegetables to mix in with the pasta, I realized that I really liked the vegetable mixture all on it’s own. A nice refreshing blend of summer veggies with a lemon dill dressing and topped with savory feta….and thought this would make a great recipe to share with you.
This Mediterranean Salad can be eaten as is, topped on grilled fish or chicken or tossed into your favorite pasta or rice to make a delicious summer salad. Whatever way you choose, this mixture is quite dee—lish. The stars of this simple chopped salad are grape tomatoes, a yellow pepper and parsley.
Start with some chopped fresh curly parsley.
Dice up a nice bright yellow bell pepper.
Toss in a farmstand-fresh cucumber if you have it. Today I grabbed one at the market but went organic.
Add the diced cucumber to the chopped salad ingredients.
Create a simple dressing of freshly juiced lemon, olive oil and some salt and pepper. Mix it up with some feta, if desired. I always desire feta.
Garnish with a bit of fresh or dried dill.
What more would you want? Well, perhaps some toasted walnuts or pine nuts would make it a bit more interesting….and I do like to add some kalamata olives too.
Ingredients
Instructions
Hope your week is going GREAT!
Tania
servings #?
katescarlata
Tania,
It depends on how you use this recipe but you could get about 6-8 servings as a salad and probably about 10-12 servings as a salsa. If adding to a pasta, I would cook about 1/2 a pound of pasta and mix it in for about 12 servings of pasta salad. These are rough estimates.
Esther
Kate, Are feta cheese or fresh mozzarella cheese or soft goat cheese low in lactose and therefore low Fodmaps foods? I like them much better on an omelet than cheddar cheese which I know you have listed as low in lactose.
I am in the middle of a bout of terrible bloating. Like Abigail, I have no toilet issues, just terrible abdominal distention. I did well all morning and afternoon, then bloated terribly after dinner. For breakfast I ate salmon sushi with pickled ginger, wasabi sauce, soy sauce, and rice. Then, for lunch I had about 1 cup of my homemade 2% fat yogurt, fermented for 24 hours as is recommended in the SCD diet for creating a lactose free yogurt (there are no lactose free yogurts to be bought at the markets where I live) with 1 cup of ripe cantaloupe and a sprinkling of fresh blueberries and raspberries. No bloat. Then, I bloated horribly after dinner. For dinner, I had rice and a Chipotle chicken recipe made with only Fodmap friendly ingredients and a 1/2 cup of lightly steamed green beans. I suspect the green beans were the culprit, since they were quite crunchy and therefore fibrous. I’m thinking of stopping all veggies until my gut recovers. What do you think?
Thanks, in advance.
Thanks.
katescarlata
Goat, feta and fresh mozzarella will be low in Lactose but not free of lactose like cheddar and Parmesan cheeses so they are considered okay on the low FODMAP diet but would keep the portions reasonable and titrate to your tolerance. Perhaps start with 1/4 cup.
Although I would love to give you individual diet recommendations…it’s best you work with a registered dietitian that is fully aware of your medical history and can provide you advice on diet changes beyond the low FODMAP diet.
I will mention, that some individuals have difficulty with dairy in general–beyond the lactose issue—it may be due to opiates in the dairy products that contribute to bloating, cramping and in some constipation.