Italian Vegetable Salad

Once again I have been MIA, after I got home from my trip I got sucked into the 50 Shades of Grey trilogy of books and have pretty much been neglecting all my wifely, motherly and household duties for the past week. But I am finally done with the books and life is getting back to normal. Except for the fact that we rescued a dog this weekend from Labrador Friends of the South he is a precious 2 year old sweetheart and we are totally in love with our new family member!

Barley and Grant!

Now let me get back on track...I have no idea what to call this one other than good! Nothing crazy just fresh, good Super, super simple! Tonight was spirit night at my son's school which means a local restaurant gives families at the school a discount and a portion of the money goes back to the school. I had plans to make Shepherd's Pie for my hubby at his request, the recipe is here. However I kept getting reminders, emails, Facebook updates and a note home in the backpack that tonight was Spirit night at Papa John's (not my favorite) but it just sounded too easy and it was a beautiful day. I wanted to let the kids play outside longer so I decided around lunchtime that a change of plans was in order... I would make Shepherd's Pie tomorrow night and tonight we would have pizza and a healthy salad. I ran into the grocery store to grab some lettuce but when I got home half of it was bad and it just grossed me out so I tossed it and made this salad, without lettuce. It was good stuff, we ate the whole bowl!!

Ingredients:
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 medium cucumber, quartered
1 bell pepper, diced large
12 olives
1/2 cup artichokes hearts, quartered
4 T Italian Dressing (I use Good Seasons)
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Kosher Salt and Fresh Cracked Black Pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, olives and artichoke hearts, toss with dressing, season with salt and pepper then top with feta. Serve right away.

Other ideas: you could make this into a yummy main dish by adding some cubed pepperoni, salami or other Italian meat along with cubed provolone. I have done this before for parties, it's a crowd pleaser!

Weight Watcher Friends: As is, this recipe (using full fat cheese and dressing) makes five, 1 cup servings and each has 3 points.