Mystery Spice Monday! #5

Feel like you're in a cooking rut? Not sure how to get out of it? Take a long hard look at your spice rack, pull out something you haven't used in a while (if ever), do a little research online to find a new recipe, and come back here each Monday to share your results! You'll be glad you did!

This week I really looked up into the neither-regions of my spice cabinet and pulled out this lovely box of secrets.



It was ultra super secret since the instructions were in Greek, and the only thing in English were the words Barbeque and Herbs.

Well, I know what to do with grill seasonings, so I decided I'd give it a try.

In any Greek food I've had there's always quite a bit of olive oil and lime or lemon juice.



So I mixed about a 1/4 a cup of herbs with enough oil and juice to a pourable consistency.

Ooooh... this is gonna be good! I was feeling very inspired at about this point!



I poured it over the top of 4 chicken breasts. It probably would have been better if I had let it marinate for a while, but I didn't have time that night so I just threw it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.



Then I went to work on the salad. Nothing says Greek to me like cucumber & tomato salad.

Plus, it's super easy AND super yummy. Two things I'm always looking for in a recipe.

I chopped up 1.5 cucumbers, 4 romma tomatoes, and 1/2 a red onion.



And since I had some fresh basil laying around that I wanted to use up I decided to toss in some of it.

To chop basil you just roll it into a little tube, and then slice away.



Lookin' good already!



Then I sprinkled on some oregano, and salt & pepper, and 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.



Plus 2 tablespoons of lime or lemon juice.



And then a bunch of kalamata olives. The store I went to only had the kind with pits, but I know you can get them pitted. It'll save you a lot of trouble if you're able to get the pitted kind.



And of course feta cheese. I've noticed that it's a lot cheaper to buy it in a block then to get it pre-crumbled. You'll get about twice the cheese for your buck that way, and it's no trouble at all to crumble it yourself.



Oooooh yeah baby! Once you mix it all up it's good to let it set for about 15 minutes. Let the juice do it's work to macerate the veggies.



Now, if you're like Hubs, then you'll just take your salad and chicken as is. But if you're like me then you'll go just a few extra steps.

First I sliced my chicken, against the grain of the meat.



Then I spread a tiny amount of mayo inside a warm pita.

And made myself a delicious Greek chicken & salad pita sandwich.



My Recipe for Cucumber & Tomato Salad

1-2 cucumbers chopped
4-6 tomatoes chopped
1/2-1 red onion chopped
3-4 fresh basil leaves (or you can use a few sprinkles of dried)
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 Tablespoons of lime or lemon juice
1/2 sliced kalamata olives with pits removed
1/2-1 cup feta cheese

Stir all ingredients together and allow to marinate for at least 15 minutes.



If you're feeling even MORE ambitious you should check out Smitten Kitchen, she recently posted what looks to be an amazing recipe for homemade pita bread!

Got a Mystery Spice recipe that you're ready to share with the world? Check out my participation guidelines and then link up! :)