Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

One my favorite salads, besides Caesar salad is Greek salad. I could eat one every day, and when I was pregnant I did. While most pregnant women crave chocolate or some other weird concoction of things, I craved the crisp freshness of salad. I loved romaine lettuce with an almost unhealthy passion.  It's crunchy and crisp texture was comforting to me, paired with the tanginess of my favorite Feta cheese, I was in heaven. I often made Greek salad for dinner when I was pregnant, because it was soothing to my unending nausea. I would eat it without chicken, because meat just wasn't my friend when I was pregnant. However, my husband needed something more substantial so I would grill chicken for him, and add it to the salad, which made it a satisfying meal for us both. Now that I don't have a meat aversion, this Greek salad with grilled chicken is one of my favorite meals. It's light, but filling, and oh so satisfying.


Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
4 cups of organic romaine lettuce, chopped and washed
1/2 cup of organic cherrie tomatoes
1/2 cup of Feta cheese, crumbled or cubed
1/2 cup of kalmata olives
1/2 cup of organic Persian cucumbers cubed
1/4 cup of sliced bell pepper
4 organic boneless skinless chicken thighs, or 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Marinade for chicken
1 teaspoon of thyme
1/3 cup of lemon juice
1 tablespoons of olive oil
1 medium clove of garlic grated
2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt
Sea salt to taste

Ingredients for Salad dressing:
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 large cloves of garlic minced
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Mix the ingredients for the chicken marinade in a small bowl, then pour it over both sides of the chicken. Meanwhile preheat your grill pan, over medium heat for 4-5 minutes, it should be nice and hot--smoking before your chicken goes on, so that you get nice grill marks. Place your chicken on the grill and cook without turning on one side for 5 minutes, then flip it on the other side for an additional 7-10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and let it rest while you assemble the ingredients for the salad.

Place all of the ingredients for the salad dressing in a mason jar, seal it and give it a good shake. If you don't have a mason jar, just put the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.

Place all the ingredients for the salad, save for the resting grilled chicken, in a bowl and toss well. Assemble the salad on plates and top with the chicken, I slice the chicken just before adding it to the salad. Drizzle a few tablespoons the salad dressing over each plate and enjoy!