Greek Pasta Salad

Ok, y’all get ready because I’m going to blow your mind with my secret to making an awesome greek pasta salad. Wait for it…store bought, marinated feta cheese and olives! I know, it’s crazy right? Well, you might not think it’s mind-blowing but once you start making your salad this way, you will never go back to your old ways (he he.)So, here’s the story. There is a great store in my town that has an olive/pickle bar where you just grab a container and fill it up with whatever kind of items that you like. My favorite has always been the mix of black and green pitted olives with small cubes of feta cheese that are marinated in olive oil and herbs with a little red pepper. This stuff is so good because the olives and cheese has had plenty of time to soak up all the delicious herbs and seasoning which is the key to their great flavor. This morning, I spied my container of this goodness in the fridge and thought, why is that just sitting there…I need to make something with it. Then the plan started coming together and whoo wee, what a plan it was!I grabbed some pasta, tomatoes, an onion, some parsley and a lemon. Next I did a little chopping and cooked the pasta. I pretty much threw everything into a bowl, added a little extra olive oil, a squeeze of lemon and sprinkled on a little more feta. Yes, more feta because you can never have enough feta. I gave all my ingredients a toss, tasted for seasoning then stood back and admired my creation. Actually, I ate a bowl and savored every bite. I hope you like my little secret…it sure does make life easy and delicious.

Greek Pasta Salad

Greek pasta salad made with a store bought marinated olive mix with feta.

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Course: Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 6

Author: Donya Mullins

Ingredients

• 2 cups uncooked pasta - pick what you like , I used Cellentani because the spirals hold the dressing well.
• 1 to 2 cups marinated green & black olives with feta cheese - I bought mine at The Fresh Market
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes - cut in half
• 1/2 onion - thin sliced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup feta cheese - crumbled
• salt and fresh cracked pepper

Instructions

• In a medium size bowl, add olives and feta along with any marinade that has collected in container. Add tomatoes, onion, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley. Toss gently.
• Cook pasta according to package directions
• Drain pasta and rinse lightly, draining a second time. Add pasta to bowl with other ingredients. Using a large spoon, mix to coat pasta with marinade. Taste, then adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Serve immediately. If storing in refrigerator, let salad come to room temperature before serving.