So I’ve been trying to think up some fun kids lunch ideas and I think either of these ideas could be fun. Who needs any kind of premade kids lunch packs? Let your kids make their own Greek Pizzas or Stuffed Mini Pitas 🙂 It might be a little messy for my soon to be 6 year old but I think it will be a fun and healthy idea when he gets older. Plus, I’ll admit that I actually had fun eating these 🙂
Actually, I’ve been trying to tone back my sweets recipe this summer. I feel like I have endless sweets ideas, but just the occasional savory recipe idea so I’m taking advantage by posting the few savory recipe ideas I do have right now 🙂
We absolutely love Greek salad at our house. It’s perfect in the summer with some whole grain pasta mixed in or even just as is. It’s my favorite way to clean out the fridge, especially since I usually forget about peppers that are stashed away. So you can imagine that we have Greek salad at our house fairly frequently. I had some left in the fridge and decided to do something fun with it, and here we are 🙂
You of course don’t need to make the pitas yourself if you don’t want to, you can certainly buy mini pitas for a really quick fun lunch or dinner, but I wanted to share a pita bread recipe with you as well. I made these with spelt, but they also work with a hard wheat, either white or red will do, although you’ll need to start with less of it since it’s a higher protein flour and will absorb more water.
I also have had a problem with getting my full sized pitas to puff up completely. I found these mini ones to be a little simpler, but still, not all of them puffed up completely, which is why I made little mini Greek Salad Pita Pizzas.
So first off, I’ll share our favorite dressing with you. There’s nothing wrong with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and Greek herbs which might be more traditional, but this is just what we use and enjoy. You can use a store bought blend of Greek seasoning in this if you’d like, but we prefer to use our own herbs since the premade seasonings have extra sugar, salt and other hidden things like msg.
Since this post is going to be so recipe heavy I’m just going to get on with it 🙂 I did include a little printable for the two fun ideas to enjoy your Greek salad and pitas if you want to keep them in mind, but you certainly don’t need a recipe to make them, they’re super easy! Enjoy! And tune in later in the week for another sweet recipe!
Whole Grain Spelt Mini Pitas
Ingredients
- 3/4 C warm water
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 2 tsp honey or sugar
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 3/4 C + 2 tbsp whole grain spelt flour or 1 1/2 C whole grain hard wheat, plus more for kneading and rolling
Instructions
- Place the warm water in a bowl. Sprinkle yeast over top and allow 5-10 minutes for it to soften.
- Stir in the honey, oil, salt, lemon juice and 1 1/2 C flour. When completely combined stir in the remaining 1/4 C flour. Flour a surface and turn the dough out and knead for 8-10 minutes until smooth. Divide the dough either into 4 or 12 and roll into balls, depending on the size of pita you'd like. Place on a floured surface, cover with a towel and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees and place a baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven to heat up as well.
- Roll out the dough balls on a well floured surface to 1/4" thick or about 4-5" in diameter for mini pitas. Let rest while rolling out the rest. When they are all ready, place as many in the oven as possible at a time(3-4 per baking sheet) .
- Bake till puffed up, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with a towel.
- Repeat with the remaining pitas.
- Cool pitas completely before storing in an airtight bag.
Greek Salad Dressing
Ingredients
- 3/4 C extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano or 2 tsp dry
- 1 tbsp fresh basil or 2 tsp dry
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp honey or sugar
- 3-5 cloves fresh garlic
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a small blender and blend until completely smooth. Alternatively, finely chop the fresh herbs, mince the garlic and whisk dressing together. Let sit at least 1 hour before serving for the flavors to mingle.
- Dress just the amount of salad that will be eaten reserving any extra veggies and dressing in the fridge for the next day.
Mini Greek Salad Pita Pizzas and Greek Salad Stuffed Mini Pitas
Ingredients
- Greek Salad Dressing recipe above
- Spelt Mini Pitas recipe above, or your favorite mini pitas
- HummusYour favorite Greek Salad ingredients:
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Sweet onions
- All colors of sweet peppers
- Olives
- Feta cheese
Instructions
- Mini Greek Salad Pita Pizzas - Spread 1-2 tbsp of your favorite hummus on a mini pita, top with your favorite Greek Salad veggies with dressing and crumbled feta cheese and enjoy!
- Greek Salad Stuffed Mini Pitas - Simply slice your mini pitas in half(or simply open one side if they're small) and stuff with you favorite Greek salad mix. Enjoy!
Comments & Reviews
Kate Davies says
Hi there,
I LOVE THE IDEA OF THIS – making my own pitas – I’ve always wondered how they got the hole in the middle… does this have anything to do with the yeast?
I was actually searching for a yeast-free spelt pita recipe when I found your site, do you think these would still work if I left out the yeast? Or would they then just be wraps?
please forgive my ignorance, I’m still a bit of a novice when it comes to bread making.
thanks in advance.
Chloe Chase says
I love the ingredients for the Greek salad dressing. It’s a great base for Greek pizza with many potential variations on the pizza theme.
Heather says
I need to try your pita recipe- your Naan recipe is one of my faves and I have a feeling this one will be too!
Eat Good 4 Life says
Wow this is right up my alley. My husband would love me if I were to make him this. He loves Greek salad. I am keeping this recipe to make in the near future 🙂