I got the idea for this salad after enjoying a beautiful salad our friend, Mira, brought to a gathering.
Mira’s salad had Bulgarian feta cheese and beautiful kalamata olives, and a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.
I was fresh out of kalamatas, my feta came by way of Wisconsin, and for a dressing, I used my own Italian salad dressing mix.
Still made for a very nice salad
INGREDIENTS
Salad Dressing Mix:
•1 tbsp sugar
•1 tbsp garlic powder
•1 tbsp onion powder
•1 tbsp salt
•2 tbsp oregano
•2 tbsp parsley
•1 tsp basil
•1 tsp black pepper
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/4 tsp celery salt
Dressing:
•1/4 cup white vinegar
•2/3 cup veggie oil
•1/3 cup water
•1/2 tsp lower sodium soy sauce
•2 tbsp Italian Dressing Mix
Salad:
•1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped (about 2 cups)
•3/4 cup diced grape tomatoes
•3/4 cup diced sweet onion
•2 oz crumbled feta
Combine the Italian Dressing Mix ingredients together in a container and stir to mix well. You can keep this, tightly covered, in you pantry and measure it out whenever you want Italian salad dressing – kind of like those packets of powdered dressing mix from the market, but with less funky stuff. To make the dressing, add the 
mix to the vinegar, water, and soy sauce in a jar or blender container and shake or pulse to blend together.
If using a jar, add the oil, cover tightly, and shake to blend. If using a blender, stream the oil into the jar with the blender running. Store in the fridge until needed.
To make the salad, toss the prepared cucumber, tomato and onion together with the feta cheese, cover, and stash in the fridge until ready to serve.
Toss with a couple of tablespoons of the dressing (or, to taste) and serve. Ours went very nicely with fish and chips with malt vinegar and home made tartar sauce on the side.
Note: feel free to play around with different oils and vinegars for the Italian dressing; and, if you’re looking for gluten free, use lower sodium tamari in place of the soy sauce.