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.

One of the reasons I was so eager to plant my own veggies this year is because of the rate at which we go through greems in my house. We eat a lot of salad, and I’m constantly running out for more greens. This is especially true during the summer. I’m hoping I can get to the point where I can just run to the back yard when the fridge is empty.

So, along came one evening last week when I had a hankering for salad, but no greens, and this salad was born. If you do have some greens on hand, go right ahead and serve this over top of them. That’s actually what we did with the leftovers, and that was quite a meal.

The dish is a variation on fattoush, a salad you’ll find in lots of Middle Eastern restaurants. I added chickpeas to make it a little more substantial and thus meal-worthy. Classic fattoush would also have maybe a teaspoon of ground sumac, which adds to the sourness of the dish. You can include that if you’d like. I think the salad is delicious enough without it, and it has the added advantage of consisting of all ingredients I usually have on hand. I’m hoping that the majority of the ingredients will also be bursting from the ground in my backyard before not too long.

Print Mediterranean Pan-Fried Pita Salad Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 5 minutes Total Time 20 minutes Servings 4 Author Alissa 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.

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