Feta Cucumber Mint Salad

MMMM….life must be good if healthy foods like this salad can taste so great. I love win-win scenarios!

This is great to take out to a summer BBQ or just enjoy for yourself when you need something to cool and refresh.

Feta Cucumber Mint Salad
Time: 15 minutes

2 cucumbers
6 ounces of organic Feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup Packed mint leaves chopped
1/2 Lemon, zested
2T of olive oil
4 T of lemon juice
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions

Slice cumber in half and then into quarters.
Mix with feta, mint and lemon zest.
Place oil, lemon juice, and good pinch of salt in a glass jar.
Close and shake well.
Pour oil and lemon juice over other ingredients, grind on some pepper, and toss lightly to coat.

Serve immediately.

If you are taking this to a friend’s picnic, add the lemon juice and olive oil right before serving. Stay tuned Monday to learn how to make sure your grilling the best way for your body. Interesting stuff!

Food Spotlight: Mint

Mint is growing like wild here in Eastern PA. For anyone who grows it, they’ll tell you it’s a bit unruly in that it just grows and grows and grows.

Mint is a close relative of spearmint and peppermint. It is great for digestion as it helps calm those internal nerves. (For more information on eating to beat stress, click here) It also is a great breathe freshener and wakes up the senses.

One of the easiest ways to get mint into your diet is to put it in your drinking water or try the dressing recipe from last week. It flavors everything quite nicely while giving you a refreshing lift. It also tastes great sprinkled into salads…stay tuned next Thursday for a mint-salad recipe.

Fun Fact: It’s believed that mint was brought over to America from England by the Pilgrims. The Greeks also used it in their baths to stimulate their bodies.

Lemon Mint Salad Dressing Recipe

It’s salad season, which means it’s time for dressing up! This recipe tastes great over some arugula mixed with spring mix. Check this Wednesday’s post for more info on arugula.

I recently had this amazing Lemon Mint dressing in Lancaster, PA. If you are ever there, go to Prince’s Cafe. They have great local food. I believe it is the local yogurt that is the secret ingredient in this dressing.

I loved the dressing so much I asked for the recipe and being the friendly place Lancaster is, they gave it to me.

So here it is for you. Compliments of the Prince Street Cafe in Lancaster:

Lemon Mint Dressing

1 cup local yogurt
2 T of honey
1/8 cup of fresh mint
1/8 cup of fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
dash of pepper
Lemon zest

Mix it all together. Yum!

Hope this wets your appetite. On Monday I posted on how to make sure all your dressings are as healthy as this one, the benefits of mint and more. Keep reading.