gluten free dairy free sweet bell pepper salad

It is time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal day!  Woo-hoo!  What is the Secret Recipe Club?  It’s a lot like Secret Santa, but with recipes.  Each month you are assigned a blog.  After selecting a recipe from that bloggers repertoire, you make and post it on reveal day.  It is a great way to find fun recipes and blogs.  I like how it gets me to actually sit down and go through another person’s blog.  Blogs are a lot of work and take time to put together.  Instead of skimming through just the new stuff (as is usually easier when we see a new blog) it is fun to really sit down and go through what else the blog has to offer.  Fun stuff!

 

My assigned blog this month was from Suzanne at Thru the Bugs on My Windshield.  I was thrilled to get her blog this month.  I have been enjoying her blog for quite awhile now – LOVE her pics and recipes, and the blog title she chose?  Too fab!  I had the hardest time deciding what to make.  I was sure it was going to be a baked good, like Blueberry Delight Coffee Cake or Apricot Empanadas.  But you know what happened?  It got hot.  Really hot, and bell peppers were on sale at my local farm stand.  So, of course that meant I had to make her yummy Pepper Salad.

 

This Pepper Salad is so colorful and summery!  Perfect to take along on a picnic at the park or backyard.  I can’t use cheese due to our diet, and wanted to change up the flavor a bit.  I had a jar of mixed marinaded olives and used those instead of the black olives and used the olive brine (it was an herbed wine based vinegar brine) to replace the red wine vinegar and salt in the recipe.  Yum!  Easy-peasy and LOTS of flavor.  Thanks, Suzanne, for the wonderful inspiration!

The Recipe: Secret Recipe Club – Sweet Bell Pepper Salad

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup herbed red wine marinade from herb marinated mixed pickled olives
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste depending on the olive marinade
  • 1 medium sweet onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 medium orange bell pepper. seeded and chopped
  • 1 medium yellow bell pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 2 small cucumbers or zucchini, I used zucchini, sliced
  • 1 cup pitted herb marinated mixed variety pickled olives, chopped coarsely
  • 1/2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half

Instructions 

  • Mix together all the vegetables and olives. Whisk together the herbed red wine vinegar brine from the olives and olive oil. Toss vegetables with mixture. Season with cracked pepper.
  • Allow salad to chill, covered, in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. Stir before serving.