Watermelon and Feta Salad and Giveaway Winnings!

It's summertime, and we need to spend less time in the hot kitchen as much as possible. Who wants to spend a long time cooking, and baking and heating up your kitchen when you have other options? A nice refreshing salad, or a "no bake" dessert...but then again, a simple pasta dish is always a favorite, which we have almost every day, and not worry about exctra fat and calories, if it's a light simple fresh tomato sauce. This salad has it all, watermelon, feta cheese, cucumbers, and baby watercress, red onions, and a drizzle of a refreshing, fresh lime, white wine vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil.
I'm linking this to Cookbook Sundays,  @Mom's Sunday Cafe

The recipe calls for baby arugula, but since I could not find it at my supermarket, I did find baby watercress, which is not bland, by far! It has a "kick" to it of a slight spicy-bitter flavor, as does the arugula has. You can substitute mesculon if your don't like the sharp flavor of either of the two.

I've been totally MIA all day yesterday, and came home late. All I did was heat up some leftovers and plopped down on my sofa to watch the missed season 3 of the TRUE BLOOD series which I've got hooked on, thanks to my son, and wife...LOL it's definitely "bloody" and scary at times but I love this series. They are on the 4th season now....and I don't want to miss out on any episodes!

I am so happy to win this beautiful healthy recipe cookbook by Joy Bauer...the giveaway hosted by Claudia, @Blog's Got Heart  and What's Cookin' Italian Style.  Thank you, Claudia!

I still haven't mentioned about this amazing Macaron book by the author, Jill Colonna, such a generous giveaway hosted by Marsha, @The Harried Cook  I have never made macarons, and I'm so excited to learn from the best!

Thank you, Marsha, and Jill!

Watermelon and Feta Salad

adapted from: Woman's Day magazine,

Aug. 2011 issue

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Tbsp white wine vinegar

1 Tbsp lime juice

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 sm. red onion thinly sliced

1 cucumber (seeds scraped) sliced into half- moons

1 1lb. seedles watermelon cut into small triangles

3 cups baby arugula, or baby watercress, or mesculin salad, or any lettuce of your choice chopped

1/2 cup Feta cheese crumbled

In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, vinegar, and lime juice, salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, remove and discard the watermelon rind. Cut the watermelon into thin, 2 inch triangles pieces.

Layer all the ingredients, top with Feta, and serve the dressing separately in a small serving pitcher, or in the same small bowl, to drizzle on for individual servings with a table spoon, or small ladle.

note: you can toss the dressing on the entire salad, but you might lose the pretty effect by mixing it all together, and cheese will crumble even more

Guaranteed to be a favorite summer salad...but as you can see, pasta is always a "must" in our family!