Greek Rice Salad ♥ with Artichokes & Feta

It's salad time, my friends! Today I'm pairing rice and vegetables, stretching the vegetables to last longer and using up leftover rice. Delicious? Totally. Easy substitutions? You bet. The moment demands this of us.

Fresh & Seasonal, Light and Bright for Spring. Great for Meal Prep. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Weight Watchers Friendly. Vegetarian. Naturally Gluten Free.

Skip Straight to the Recipe

Stretching Our Grocery Supplies

"Necessity," the old saying goes, "is the mother of invention." Ha! Anyone else feeling like an obsessive "inventor" right now? I suspect I'm not alone, rethinking my relationship not with food per se but with groceries specifically.

BCV-19 (Before You-Know-What) I l-o-v-e-d grocery shopping. ACV-19 (After You-Know-What) Somehow clicking through the Instacart app isn't the same. (And yet so it goes, thank goodness. I'm so grateful for the Instacart shoppers ...)

BCV-19 A fridge full of fresh produce gave me great satisfaction and I hit a grocery for whatever was on the list every couple of days. We didn't gorge, very little went to waste but still, plentiful vegetables were the norm. ACV-19 I'm very conscious of conserving food, not just what's already here, making it last, but also to do my small part to relieve pressure on food supplies (and food shopping services) overall.

BCV-19 In a time of abundance, a big all-vegetable salad was an everyday thing. ACV-19 Now? I want to use the fresh vegetables we have, letting nothing go to waste but stretching them too, like I've always stretched meat but adding vegetables.

Whadda You Got? What Can You Get?

And so a rice salad may make particular sense. Rice is inexpensive and when stored properly (be sure to keep rice in an airtight, tight-lidded container) will last many months. And a rice salad with a mix of fresh and canned/frozen vegetables makes sense too. It's got lots of vegetables yes, but also more calories than an all-vegetable salad, relieving pressure on the protein side. Vegetables yes, but flexible, not demanding one special something to "make" the salad.

What Makes This Greek Rice Salad Special?

Easy comfort food, using up leftover rice and a combination of fresh and canned vegetables
Flexible substitutions, one vegetable for another
With so many vegetables, even a rice salad can be low carb!

---

RECIPE for GREEK RICE SALAD with ARTICHOKES & FETA

Hands-on time: 30 minutes
Time to table: 30 minutes
Makes 5-1/2 cups

SALAD
2 cups cooked rice (How to Cook White Rice)
1-1/2 cups (300g) diced cucumber
12 canned artichokes (120g), drained & halved or quartered
1 large green pepper, diced
3 green onions, white & green parts, chopped
3 tablespoons crumbled feta

DRESSING
Zest & juice (about 2 tablespoons) from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt & pepper to taste

In a large bowl, combine all the Salad Ingredients, then stir in all the Dressing Ingredients. Yep, chop-chop, it's that easy!

MAKE-AHEAD & LEFTOVERS This salad can definitely be made early in the day of serving, also just before serving. Is it just a little bit better on the second day? I think so!

MAKE IT A MEAL Just add a protein.

FREEZING RICE SALAD Hmmmm ... do we ever freeze salads? Not really. But I think that this salad would freeze well; I wouldn't use cucumber though, I'd go for something sturdy like celery or fennel. Thoughts??? Would you freeze this salad?

SUBSTITUTE SUGGESTIONS
WHITE RICE Substitute cooked barley or farro or quinoa for the white rice. And even pasta! Brown rice? Yes but for moistness, I'd choose Perfect Stovetop Brown Rice over Cook’s Illustrated Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice.
CUCUMBER Another wet, soft vegetable, maybe mini tomatoes, quartered. Chopped egg? You bet, see Perfect Hard-Cooked Eggs.
GREEN PEPPER & ARTICHOKES Another vegetable with crunch such as raw asparagus or celery or cabbage or fennel.
GREEN ONION Very finely chopped shallot, red onion or yellow onion.
FETA Grated Parmesan, cotija or another dry, salty cheese or any cheese, especially if it can be cut into tiny cubes. A few olives would replicate the saltiness.
LEMON JUICE Lime juice or additional white wine vinegar.
WHITE WINE VINEGAR To avoid staining the white rice, use another clear or light-colored vinegar, rice vinegar but any vinegar will do if staining isn't a worry.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per 1/2 Cup: 62 Calories; 1g Tot Fat; 1g Sat Fat; 2mg Cholesterol; 171mg Sodium; 11g Carb; 1g Fiber; 1g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 1 & PointsPlus 2 & SmartPoints 2 & Freestyle 2 & myWW green 2 & blue 2 & purple 2 (for myWW, 1c = 3 points not 4 points) CALORIE COUNTERS 100-calorie serving = 3/4 cup (1g protein).

---

Still Hungry?

NEVER MISS A RECIPE!

For "home delivery" of new recipes from A Veggie Venture, sign up here.
Once you do, new recipes will be automatically delivered straight to your e-mail In Box.

Last Week, on Kitchen Parade

~ Finnish Tiger Cake ~

More Favorite Rice Recipes

~ Hurricane Rice ~
~ Cajun Dirty Rice with Eggplant ~
~ Finnish Carrot-Rice Casserole ~
~ Tomato & Rice Salad ~
~ more rice recipes ~
~ Seasonal Soups & Salads – April ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ Julia Child's Soubise (Onion & Rice Casserole) ~
~ Mini Porcupine Meatballs ~
~ Pork Chops & Rice Oven Dinner ~
~ more rice recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

Seasonal Eating: Early Spring Across the Years

Green Beans with Basil Beet Röesti Zucchini Mushroom Hominy Tacos (<<< Meatless Monday staple) Cream of Dandelion Soup English Peas with Fresh Mint How to Cook Artichokes in the Microwave (<<< Pinterest loves it!) Edamame in the Shell Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips (<<< this week's healthy favorite!) Bourbon-Glazed Roasted Carrots Savory Muffins with Sweet Potato & Feta How To Steam Broccoli (Step-by-Step Photos) Kale Recipes Thomas the Tank Engine Vegetable Trains Vegetables 101: What Are Crudites?

---

Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables, seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2020