My vegetable garden is doing great! I’m pretty impressed with myself, to be honest. Okay, so my seeds, for the most part, didn’t work out. I had one green bean plant and one zucchini plant take off, and I have some arugula sprouting that I think might do okay. I thought my tomatoes and peppers would make it, but the little seedlings I planted seemed to have withered away My neighbor with a green thumb informed me that I should have let the seedlings sit outside to harden for a week before sticking them in the ground. So, a few weeks ago I pretty much gave up on my seedlings altogether and bought a bunch of plants. When I realized how easy this was I kicked myself a bit for not just going this route from the beginning. My only obstacle is the bunnies that run rampant in our neighborhood. I was disappointed one morning to discover an entire romaine plant had been gobbled up. I’m thinking of putting up a little fence around the entire garden.
Mediterranean Pan-Fried Pita Salad
Ingredients
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup olive oil plus a little extra
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 large tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1 cucumber diced
- 1 3/4 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 can, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup fresh sliced mint leaves
- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 scallions chopped
- 2 pita loaves torn into bite-sized pieces
Instructions
- Whisk lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt together. Add to large mixing bowl, along with tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, mint, parsley and scallions. Toss to coat veggies.
- Coat or spray a medium skillet with olive oil and place over medium-high heat. Add pita bits and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until pita begins to brown and gets crispy in spots, about three minutes.
- Remove pita pieces from heat and add to veggie mixture.
- Stir to blend everything. Serve alone or over greens.
My mom is a “super gardener” – she has a fence around her garden to help keep baby bunnies out. She also uses pinwheels – the shiny ones we had as kids – and places those around the outside of the garden and the reflections scare off the bunnies and deer!
Ohhh…I hadn’t heard that one! Thank you – I literally just went on amazon and ordered pinwheels. I was out back a little while ago and one of the bunnies was going at it, so hopefully they will help. I totally appreciate the advice :)
Fattoush is one of my all time favorite salads! I love your version of it with chickpeas!
Me too!!! The chickpeas really did make it hearty and meal-worthy. Thanks Dawn!
Hey Alissa, do you happen to know fat/calorie counts in this dish? TIA.
Hi Shef! Sorry, but I don’t usually do the nutritional calculations for my recipes. I know there are a number of websites that you can plug the recipe into – here’s one you could try.