This Chopped Greek Salad is a meal in itself – crunchy veggies combined with savory goat cheese and heart-healthy walnuts, tossed with an olive oil dressing and plenty of fresh herbs and salty Kalamata olives.
This post is sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market. Thanks for supporting brands that make Zen & Spice possible!
Hello friends! Did you know that February is Heart Health Month? Not to put a damper on things, but heart disease is the leading health issue in the US. But good news? It’s very preventable! Making heart-friendly choices, knowing your family health history and having regular checkups are great for prevention. I’m going to go into a deeper dive tomorrow about how to eat a heart healthy diet and practice intuitive eating at the same time– it’s totally doable with something called gentle nutrition.
Gentle nutrition means making choices to respect both your body and your taste buds. For example, I know that I love fried chicken. It’s freaking delicious. But, I know that if I have more than a couple pieces or eat it often, it makes me feel queasy and causes indigestion. So, I eat and enjoy fried chicken, but I pay attention to how much and how often.
Same concept with eating heart healthy– you don’t have to make heart healthy choices all the time, but when you do, you can appreciate that you’re taking care of your heart’s health.
Heart friendly foods include whole grains, beans, legumes, fruits and veggies, fish and nuts/seeds. Walnuts in particular, are very high in heart-healthy fats, fiber, vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants. Some research even states that walnuts are the best nut for heart health, due to the high antioxidant concentration!
I’ve taken my favorite Greek salad recipe and transformed it into a delicious chopped salad with the tangy addition of crumbled goat cheese and crunchy walnuts. This salad is the perfect combination of flavors and textures: crispy, savory, salty, creamy and tangy.
It’s full of heart healthy foods: walnuts, olives, olive oil, and tomatoes. You can’t go wrong with a salad that is so packed with nutrition yet also tastes amazing!
I recently bought this salad chopper + bowl set from Amazon and it’s amazing. You basically throw all your ingredients together in the bowl and use the two-blade slicer to chop everything up together. The bowl has a continuous curved edge so it’s easy to plow through all your salad ingredients.
Salads are so much better chopped– each ingredient is properly covered with dressing!
If you’re into fresh salads, try the following:
Here’s the recipe for Chopped Greek Salad with Walnuts & Goat Cheese!
Chopped Greek Salad with Walnuts & Goat Cheese
This Chopped Greek Salad is a meal in itself – crunchy veggies combined with savory goat cheese and heart-healthy walnuts, tossed with an olive oil dressing and plenty of fresh herbs and salty Kalamata olives.
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine lettuce, washed and chopped
- 1 cucumber, seeds removed and diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, minced
- 1/4 cup Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh oregano, minced
- 8 oz artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1 cup California Walnuts, chopped
- 1/2 lemon
- 2 oz crumbled goat cheese
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
For the dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, minced
- Pinch of salt + pepper
- 1/8 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
-
Toss the lettuce, cucumber, red onion, Kalamata olives, parsley, oregano, artichoke hearts, and walnuts in a large bowl.
-
In a small glass or bowl, mix together the ingredients for the dressing.
-
Add the dressing to the salad along with juice from half a lemon, goat cheese and tomatoes. Toss well and serve immediately.
this salad has all my fav ingredients!!!!
This is very timely since I am looking for something light but delicious. This salad is a combination of my favorite ingredients. Making one right now but unfortunately no olives available in our pantry. Thank you for sharing.
[…] Chopped Greek Salad with Walnuts and Goat Cheese via Zen & Spice 5-Ingredient Baked Ziti via The Real Food Dietitians One Pot Thai Green Curry Chicken via Honestly Yum Golden Turmeric Elixir via In It 4 The Long Run Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Cups via foodiecrush Crockpot Tuscan White Bean and Lemon Soup via Half Baked Harvest Crabcakes with Lemon Garlic Aioli via The Defined Dish […]