Greek Pasta Salad

The weather has been warming up so I was craving a pasta salad. I looked around the web for some recipes and finally found a few I liked. I took a little of this one, and a little of that one and finally came up with this. So yummy! I just couldn't get enough of this dish. Perfect for a summer night.

Ingredients

• 1 Pkg of pasta (I used whole wheat bow tie)
• a couple green onions (optional, I left them out b/c my kids aren't fond of them, but they would be tasty)
• 8oz raw milk feta cheese, grated or crumbled
• 2-3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cucumber, diced
• 1-2 handfuls fresh spinach
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced (best to marinate in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and spices, but I didn't think that far ahead)
• Spices to taste (sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and basil)

Cook your pasta, drain and rinse in cold water to chill. Then add tomatoes, cucumbers and spinach. Mix your oil & vinegar with spices to taste in a jar or shaker. Shake well then pour over pasta mix. Toss well and chill for 1-2 hours (or even overnight).

Kombucha is in the House!

Since moving to Real Foods, I kicked my 2x day Dr. Pepper habit. It was a bit tough for me; I've really missed having something other than water or raw milk to sip on. I wanted that fizzy drink to get me through the day. Then I discovered Kombucha. I fell in love with the drink from the store, but it's expensive ($3.50 a bottle here for 15oz). I started reading up on the fermented tea and discovered it's quite easy to make at home. I was nervous though, the scoby intimidated me. What if I did something wrong and killed it? Plus you have to wait about 8 days to even take your first sip. I had a friend who recently started making her own Kombucha and offered to give me a starter scoby from her batch. That was just the push I needed and today I picked up my starter and got my first batch of Kombucha set up. I'm really excited and can't wait to see how it turns out. She reassured me that the scoby is really forgiving and other than contaminating it with chlorine, it's pretty tough to mess up (BTW - Amanda is a great foodie and has a fantastic blog, be sure to check her out).

For those unfamiliar with Kombucha, it's a naturally fermented tea that you flavor with fruit. The scoby houses bacteria and yeast which provide lots of great probiotic benefits. Kombucha contains a huge range of enzymes, vitamins (lots of Bs, and C), and organic acids. Some say it's the elixir of life. I just know it tastes good and fills that empty void at lunch for me.

I'm going to try and get a couple of batches under my belt first, but I want to try Water Kefier too (another fermented drink). Should be fun!

A Little Green Treat for St. Patty's Day!

My twins LOVE smoothies and their favorite one is actually a green smoothie. Here's a fun, yummy, healthy way to celebrate St. Patty's Day.

Green Smoothie/Popsicle

• handful of spinach or kale
• 2 handfuls of mango or other mixed fruits (I keep a huge bag of frozen fruit on hand just for this, it comes with mango, pineapple, peaches and strawberries)
• 1 apple (I leave the peel on)
• 1 banana
• 2 large spoonfuls of plain yogurt (low pasteurized or homemade with raw milk)
• Splash of fresh orange juice (juice from 1-2 oranges is enough)

Mix together in a blender and serve immediately or pour into popsicle molds and freeze. My kids love the popsicles for breakfast and think they have the best mom in the world for letting them eat green popsicles for breakfast. This recipe is so versatile too - I routinely use whatever fruit I have on hand, watermelon is fantastic (although your green starts to turn to brown :-). I really don't think you can mess this up. Just mix whatever you have on hand, taste it and if you think it's a little tart, add a sweet fruit like banana or if it's too sweet add something a little tart to balance it out. Super easy!