"greek salad" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• If you recorded PBS' showing of Food, Inc. last night, watch it with the perfect pairing -- popcorn!
• Eat a healthy treat on Earth Day with coconut pineapple loaf cake.
• Don't even think about saving Mother Nature anything on an empty stomach.
• Test your tasty-bits system know-how.
• Take a bite of out a Greek salad on a toothpick.
• Who says you can't drink your Sunday Best?
• Recycle your beef -- Japanese style -- with this tataki recipe.

Another item in my latest organic basket was sprout mix. While I've eaten them out, I had no idea how to prepare them. Do I cook them in something? Keep them raw? Grind them? When in doubt: salad!

The sprout mix was a great addition to the classic Greek salad above. Tomatoes, cucumber, and onion were mixed up with the sprout mix, feta, lemon juice, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil. The sprouts gave a nice crunch to the salad, and made it a nice, filling meal.

But that's only one option. What would you do with a sprout mix? I've got more waiting to be eaten, and no idea what to do with them!

• Everything you need to know, kitchen-wise, about Thanksgiving, including four different kinds of turkey and gravy, four different kinds of stuffing, six different types of potatoes, and even four variations on cranberry sauce.
• What to do with the turkey carcass.
• What to cook the other 29 days of November.
• Gifts for the cook on your list.
• Ideas for a simple, chic holiday party.
• More recipes from this month: Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls, Greek Salad Pita Sandwiches, Brown Sugar Ice Cream with Cayenne-Spiced Walnuts, and The Perfect Pie.

• What is Country Captain?
• A new store in Somerville sells only cupcakes! (And here's more about cupcakes from the Globe's Dishing blog.)
• An interview with cookbook editor Judith Jones.
• A look at Adam Roberts' (The Amateur Gourmet) virtual book tour.
• The secrets to a great bundt cake.
• Mapping the genome of the pinot noir grape.
• This week's recipes: Evan's Lama Curry, Martha's Paprikash, Greek Salad, Tomato Soup, and Spiced and Glazed Apple Cake.

Yeah, it might be September, but it nowhere near sweater-weather, unless you're somewhere in the southern hemisphere. As such, these are still our "salad days" of summer, and one of the easiest salads to throw together is the Greek salad.

Simply chop red, ripe (but still firm) tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. Add thinly sliced red onion, pitted Kalamata olives, and Feta cheese (some lay a block of Feta on top of the salad; I crumble it in). The dressing is nothing more than olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, chopped oregano, and salt/pepper, all to your taste.

But be ye forewarned. A true Greek salad, the one that is called "horiatiki salata," does not have lettuce in it.