Greek Zucchini Noodle Salad

This Greek Zucchini Noodle Salad is a healthy and flavorful way to use some of your summer squash. The lemony dressing pairs perfectly with fresh zucchini!

And just like that, over 7 months have gone by since my last blog post. I’m not sure how that happened, except that we’ve been busy with a toddler, and we’ve had a few major life changes over the last 7 months!

I never really made an official announcement in any of my blog spaces, so unless you are friends with me personally, you may not know– we are growing our family again! And, SOON! In less than 6 weeks, Molly will become a big sister as we welcome another baby girl. It’s crazy that it’s so soon, but it’s very exciting. I’m ready and not ready at the same time. I think that’s how it always is?

We also moved across the country at the beginning of the year, from California to Virginia. Moving in the first trimester, with a toddler, was not exactly the most fun thing I’ve ever done. So lots of exhaustion led me to forget this little piece of the internet, and I just haven’t gotten to picking it back up again until now.

But we are absolutely loving our new home, our house, our city, our BEACHES and weather. I miss all our friends and family in California, but I do not miss the 100+ degree temps in the slightest.

Molly is growing like a weed. She’s learning a ton at her new preschool, talking practically like an adult, and we’ve spent the summer here in the pool, at the beach, and having all kinds of fun adventures exploring our new home.

One of the best things about where we’re living now– the restaurants! Oh, there are SO many restaurants. Where we lived before, there were chains, chains, and more chains. It was a struggle to ever find a place we wanted to eat and we basically rotated between Panera and 2 or 3 other places. Here… I don’t think we could ever hit them all.

I also love that there are quite a few healthy places– you know, the hippie type places that serve kale salads, fresh juices and gluten free baked goods (don’t get me wrong here, I am all about the gluten). Those are my favorite kinds of places!

At one of the first places we hit up here, I had an amazing Greek zoodle salad, with a yummy lemony dressing. It was so good, I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days.

So of course I had to recreate it at home. And then make it again. And again and again. Finally I decided I needed to share this yumminess with the world. Particularly while zucchini season is in full swing!

We’ve always loved zoodles– spiralized zucchini noodles– but we’ve only ever had them cooked before. This salad is a little different. You leave the zucchini noodles raw!

I thought it sounded a little weird at first, but they’re actually quite delicious. Salting them to draw out moisture, plus the acid in the lemony dressing, softens them just a little while leaving them with a great crunch for a salad.

I’ve always been a huge fan of all the Greek flavors– feta cheese, kalamata olives, cucumber and tomato– so it was kind of a given that I’d love this salad. All the salty flavors are a great complement to the zucchini.

This zoodle salad is great as side dish, or you could top it with grilled chicken or shrimp for a heartier meal. It will marinate it’s flavors and keep in the fridge for a few days.

This is the vegetable spiralizer I have and love. It’s so easy to use and has a bunch of different size blades you can use. Definitely recommend it!

Greek Zucchini Noodle Salad

 

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This Greek Zucchini Noodle Salad is a healthy and flavorful way to use some of your summer squash. The lemony dressing pairs perfectly with fresh zucchini!

Author: Jess

Recipe type: Side Dish

Ingredients

• 2 large zucchinis
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ English cucumber, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
• ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved lengthwise
• 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• ½ cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
• ½ cup sliced pepperoncini peppers
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
• For the dressing:
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• ¼ tsp dried oregano
• Pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Spiralize the zucchinis. Cut any extra long spirals into shorter pieces.
2. Place in a bowl lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt, toss to evenly coat, and set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Remove damp paper towels from the bowl after 30 minutes.
4. To the zucchini, add cucumber, onion, tomatoes, chickpeas, olives, pepperoncini and feta. Toss everything together.
5. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together dressing ingredients.
6. Pour dressing over salad and toss everything to evenly coat.
7. Let sit 15 minutes before serving, to get all the flavors melded together!

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