Greek Orzo Pasta Salad
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Hello There!
It’s Thursday! Sweet!
Thursday is my third most favorite day of the week… which leads to Friday…
Friday is my second favorite day of the week… I love Friday! Mainly because I know I don’t have to prep for work the next morning, or get my daughter prepped for daycare. I love Friday because I can come home and relax…
Can you guess what my favorite day of the week is?
Saturday is my most favorite day of the week…
Reasons I love Saturday:
- I don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get a workout in before my husband leaves for work.
- I can sleep in (if my daughter lets me.)
- I can stay in my pj’s if I want.
- Do some house chores (yes, I enjoy doing these.)
- Work on blog posts for the coming week.
- Do fun cooking/baking for the blog and my family 🙂
- Grocery shopping trip done by me!
Grocery shopping is something I love doing. I do most of the shopping and know exactly what to buy for the week.
Every two or three weeks, my husband likes to do a massive grocery shopping trip.
He comes home with all sorts of stuff. The staples he always buys are yogurt for himself (he never buys the yogurt I eat), many many loaves of bread (he likes to freeze them), protein bars (only the ones that he likes), cereal (if I don’t give him a special list he will only buy “Honey Bunches of Oats”), and MEAT. He’ll come home with massive quantities of chicken and steak. He always buys meat. Mainly steak.
Every weekend I ask him what he wants to eat. I don’t know why I ask him, because he always says the same thing… “STEAK!”
He usually likes the standard steak fixins’ which consist of potatoes and salad.
This time I thought I’d change it up with a refreshing pasta salad.
This salad contains the classic combo of red onions, cucumber, feta, kalamata olives, artichokes, and tomatoes.
This pasta salad was the perfect side dish for a heavy steak.
This salad can easily be made into a complete meal by adding some chopped up chicken breast… which is exactly what I did with the leftovers.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup orzo pasta
- 1 small can of marinated artichokes
- 1/2 cup chopped red onions
- 1/2 cup pitted and roughly chopped kalamata olives
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 small cucumber seeded and roughly chopped
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Juice of one lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Boil pasta for 8-10 minutes until al dente, drain. Drain artichokes & reserved the liquid.
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, season with salt & pepper to taste.
Chill for at least one hour.
Drizzle with a little of the artichoke marinade and serve.
Enjoy!
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Question of the Day?
What’s your favorite day of the week and why?
Did you go through my recipes when you were at my house last week?? I make this exact pasta salad (with a few minor tweaks)! Instead of using the marinade as dressing, I toss the marinade and use the following recipe (and I don’t put it on until I’m ready to serve the salad):
1/2 cup olive oil
1-1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
1-1/4 teaspoons dried oregano
1-1/4 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
2/3 cup red wine vinegar
I actually have all the ingredients in my fridge right now and am planning on making it this weekend. I make a big batch and eat it for lunch all week.
Ha! You’re too funny Becky!
Your marinade sounds SO GOOD! I using your recipe the next time I make this!
I just made orzo stuffed peppers. I will post the recipe soon. I love orzo. Great recipe!
I love FRIDAY! I have the day off. It is my “me” day.
My favorite day of the week is Sunday because it is normally the day we don’t have much to do and we can just do what we want and relax.
I completely agree with you on favorite days of the week. Those are my exact favorite in the same order, as well. I LOVE Saturdays because of course I don’t go to work, but also I get the day to spend with my kids, clean, feel accomplished around my house, etc. I can do all this on Sunday as well, but it’s just not quite the same knowing you have to go to work the next day on Monday, you know?
This salad looks sooo good!!
That looks so yummy!! I don’t know how you grocery shop on Saturdays. The crowds turn me into a crazy irritable person. Just ask hubby…
I love Fridays. Even though I have to work I look at it like I still get two days off after today. Your pasta salad looks so good. I’ve been craving something like that and now I have to go make some. Yummy.
Yum…that orzo salad looks amazing! My favorite day of the week is Sunday! I love lazy Sundays…I typically stay in my PJ’s ALL DAY LONG with no shame!! 🙂
Yum! I used to love orzo but now I might try to make this with quinoa. I bet it would turn out pretty good.
I am truly amazed that your husband goes grocery shopping. Mine can barely find the kitchen, nevermind the store.
That pasta salad looks great. I like orzo with sauteed zucchini and squash, feta, and lemon juice. My husband does all of the grocery shopping because of my bad knees, so he always gets what he wants: chips, chips, and other junk. I’m trying to wean him now. 🙂
And I agree: Saturday is hands-down the best.
this sounds soooooo good! i love fridays because it’s the weekend, even at the office. it’s kinda nice when people check out early all at once 🙂
Great combination!!! Love the artichokes in it…yum! So, Saturday is definitely my favorite too! I love waking up with my husband on Saturday morning and sitting on the couch to watch home shows while having a relaxing first cup of coffee! Most mornings I get up at 6am to work out and then it is rush, rush, rush to get the kids to school and then the day really begins. Oh…it is almost here!!!
Your Saturdays sound a lot like mine! (Is it Friday yet??)
I love the Orzo pasta salad, it looks so fresh and delicious!
@Maria – can’t wait for the orzo stuffed peppers recipe. I was just thinking about making stuffed peppers.
i LOVE salads like this, but i always order them without olives and feta bc despite being a food blogger i can’t seem to like either of those things! yours looks amazing, i bet it’s delicious. enjoy your favorite days coming u p soon!
Looks wonderful! I do believe I’ll be making orzo soon…you sparked a craving with those pictures!
I love Saturdays — college basketball, sleeping in, and don’t have to go to bed early 🙂 I HATE Sundays…always dreading the early rise and hectic-ness of Mondays!
Your husband and my husband could be best friends! One of the first meals I made for my hubby before we got married was Classic Chicken Noodle Soup with homemade artisan bread.
He loved it! I cleaned up and asked if he was ready for the movies, and he said “what’s for dinner?!” I soon learned a meal was not complete without meat!
Sunday is my favorite day – I spend the morning reading the Sunday paper, drinking coffee, then its grocery shop/meal plan and cooking! 😀
orzo…i never make it and i need to, yum!
fave day = friday afternoon b/c then i have all weekend to look forward to 🙂
another AMAZING recipe! i LOVE orzo-great texture!
Couldn’t agree with you more, Saturday is my favorite day of the week too.
I think I have to agree with you, Saturday is my favorite day of the week, for me it’s because I don’t have to work! Yeah, not having any responsibilities is a good thing 🙂 OF course, I usually keep all of my chores and “To-dos” for Saturday, but they are fun when I don’t feel pressure to get them all done within a certain time. Also, Nick usually has Saturday nights off, which is always nice.
Your salad looks fabulous. Feta, artichokes, and kalamata olives are three of my favorite things to put in a salad. Thanks for the recipe! Enjoy your second favorite day of the week today 🙂
hmm yum! This looks really good it has all of my favorite ingredients 🙂
My favorite day of the week is Thursday.. specially if I have the Friday off.. (today is my off friday 😉 )… Thursday is already halfway past through the week and I have so much too look forward to on the weekend.
Aren’t all men the same when they go shopping? 😛 All I know is that when my husband shops by himself, our freezer fills up with meat. He needs shopping supervision.
I love Friday, because it’s the farthest from Monday!
right now – thursday b/c thursday = culinary school!
enjoy your fave day! 🙂
Saturday is my favorite day of the week too! and Sunday, and every day I don’t have to go to work haha. You pasta salad looks like it would go great with any meat dish, a perfect side! have a wonderful weekend!
Your pasta salad looks great! I love grocery shopping too, my husband doesn’t, BUT he comes with me. He’s a good sport. If he did the shopping, he’d come home with Trix and Chef Boy Ardee lol. And ham, the man loves his ham. lol
My favorite day of the week is Monday. We work from home and we’re self-employed, so weekends aren’t the same for us. Mondays when the rest of the world goes back to business, we have the option of making that our weekend. 🙂
Jenn
I make a pasta salad JUST like this in the summer! Love it!
Lol– your husband’s staples sound JUST like what my hub buys at the store– except for the meat 🙂
I haven’t had pasta salad in years! Yours looks delicious 😀
My favorite day of the week is Monday!
…just kidding 😉
hey lady! i know i already left a comment on here, but i just wanted to let you know that i showed you some love on the blog today…i love your outlook on life and food! thanks for being such a rockstar blogger 🙂