cucumber celery olive odyssey salad
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Celery chickpea salad with cucumbers dates and more healthy ingredients will become your family favorite. Simple easy and healthy!
Celery Salad
I know what you’re probably thinking now. Why does Ally call this recipe cucumber celery olive odyssey salad? I suppose the reason is that I stumbled upon some intriguing information when researching celery. Now, food to me is a way to relate to history, and, in this case, literature.
Chickpea Recipes
Chickpeas or maybe you’ve heard them called garbanzo beans. They’re nutty creamy tasty beans that you can cook from dried beans or you can buy canned. This cucumber celery olive odyssey salad is one of my favorite chickpea recipes. And, rather than cooking these chickpeas from scratch like most of my other beans, I typically buy them canned. I do this for a couple of reasons. First, it’s convenient. And, secondly, using them in this healthy salads even makes them more delicious!
New Salad Ideas
Seems that we’re all looking for new salad ideas. Salads can get boring if you stick to the same old thing. And, when I’m creating new salad recipes I like to add features that expand the textures, flavors and ingredients. That’s the foundation of this celery salad, that’s one of my most healthy salads, and it’s got those tasty chickpeas to boot! I have variations of this salad that you might want to check out:
Mediterranean Celery Olive Salad
Salad Entrees
It’s so easy to take a great salad like this one and make it one of your favorite salad entrees, simply by adding a protein! May I suggest!
Healthy Salads
Let’s talk about why this cucumber celery olive odyssey salad is healthy. Well, it comes down to adding some essential ingredients to boost the nutritional value. Celery by itself is mostly water. Oh, yes, the crunch is delightful, but it’s not going to be packed with power healthy nutrients. That’s one of the reasons we’re I’m adding chickpeas. Chickpeas in salads can has all the vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber that can help with promoting heart healthy living, helping regulate blood sugar, aiding digestive health and more. For more detailed information, check out this article in Very Well Fit.
Celery Origins for Celery Salad
There is a ‘somewhat’ history to this celery salad! Do you remember Homer’s Odyssey. Yep, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer way back when. Scholars believe it was composed sometime in 8 B.C. Odysseus, the Greek hero, had a long journey back home. And, it was quite a feat to even begin the journey because he was captured and held captive by the seductive and beautiful nymph Calypso, who was addicted to love for him. She had him imprisoned on her island, Ogvgia.
Now back to this calypso’s cave celery cuke olive salad. Just stick with me. It’s going to make sense why I named it this. So, Odysseus gets the help of Zeus who sends Hermes to rescue him from Calypso. Homer describes what Hermes sees when he arrives at Calypso:
“He (Hermes) found her (Calypso) at home. There was a large fire burning on the hearth. One could smell from afar the fragrant odor of burning cedar and sandal wood. As for herself, Calypso was busy at her loom, shooting her golden shuttle through the warp and singing beautifully. Round her cave was a thick wood of alder, poplar, and sweet smelling cypress trees. Therein were all kinds of great birds which had built their nests – owls, hawks, and chattering sea gulls whose business is in the waters. A vine loaded with grapes was trained and grew luxuriantly about the mouth of the cave. There were also four running rills of water in channels cut pretty close together. They were turned hither and thither to irrigate the beds of violets and luscious herbage, including wild celery over which they flowed. Even a god could not help being charmed with such a lovely spot. So, Hermes stood motionless and looked at it. When he had admired it sufficiently, he went inside the cave.”
Well, Hermes finally persuades Calypso to let Odysses build a ship and leave. But, his troubles and arduous adventures weren’t over. Actually, it took him ten years to return to Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. And, there’s a happy ending.
As you see, the very first mention of ‘celery’ is believed to be by Homer in 8 B.C. Pretty cool, I think. And, this celery salad is kind of like Odysseus’s journey. It’s full of unexpected tastes, flavors, textures, and in the end there is a happy ending for your palate!
PS: There’s one ingredient that’s ‘optional’…you decide to put it in or leave it out! xoxo ~ally
cucumber celery olive odyssey salad
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 3 Tbl. olive oil, divided
- 1 can (15.5 oz.) garbanzo beans, drained
- 3 tsp. harissa, dry
- 2 ½ cups mini cucumbers, sliced
- 2 ½ cups celery, sliced
- 1 cup carrots, sliced in thin rounds (I used multi-colored heirloom carrots for vibrancy.)
- ½ cup red onions, sliced in about 2” thin pieces
- ½ cup green olives, with pimentos, sliced
- ½ cup Dole Sunshine dates, diced
- 3 green onions, with greens, sliced
- 1/4 cup radishes, sliced thinly (optional)
- 3 Tbl. fresh lemon thyme leaves
- ½ cup fresh basil, packed, chopped
- 1 ½ tsp. sea salt
- 1 ½ tsp. coarse ground pepper
-
2 medium lemons, juice
Instructions
- In a large cast iron skillet over medium heat, put the one-fourth cup oil, beans and harissa. Blend and cook about 5 minutes. Turn off heat and cover.
- In a large mixing salad bowl, combine the cucumbers, celery, carrots, onions, radishes, olives, dates, green onions thyme and basil. Toss and blend.
- Add the garbanzo beans and use a rubber spatula to scrape out all the oil and spice mixture.
- Drizzle with the remaining olive oil and lemon juice. Toss and blend. Refrigerate about an hour before serving.
Notes
This salad keeps well for a couple of days.
It's becomes a 'new' salad with chopped grilled chicken!
For extra boosts of juicy fruitiness, try adding another one of Dole Sunshine product like slivers of pineapple, diced peaches, or blueberries. Jut this one small simple change can create a new explosion of flavors for you! OR, serve small bowls of these delicious fruits alongside the salad and offer as extra 'toppings'! Oh, so unusual!
I made this salad today and it was so DELICIOUS! Thanks for sharing!
Robin! Gracious, thank you! And, I’m soooooooooo glad you love it like we do! So much activity on your palate w/each bite! xoxx ally
Oh Ally, what a delicious salad! I just made it (after putting it on my long list of things to make ages ago) and couldn’t help snacking on it. It’s so tasty, crunchy & just the right amount of sweet. I’m thinking about adding a bit of feta too (just because!). Thanks for your amazing creativity, we love your ideas! x
Sarah! I love love ‘just because’! I cook that way, too! It’s your creative expression of your palate, my sweet! Yes, this is one of my favorite salads. And, it keeps for several days and retains that crunch. Love love having you here, and thank you, sweet friend! xoxx ally
I love your vibrancy, it certainly shows from your healthy eating, and healthy living habits. My husband has recently been diagnosed with diabetes and I love the different salads etc to add to our main dish or just by themselves. This will be a great addition!!! ❤️❤️
Hi, Sandy! I thank you so much. It makes a huge difference eating the right foods and feeling some energy and vibrancy, as we well know. Maybe w/some movement and more salads, your hubby will see some differences! xoxx ally
Hi Ally,
Thanks for sharing this recipe and so many others. Each time I see you post I get excited to try your unique combinations and lovely creations. You’re an artist in the kitchen! Can’t wait to try this one, this weekend!
Loredana! What kind and special words. Yes, I like to think of myself as an artist with food and plating. They’re both such engaging and beautiful mediums with which to work, then eat! I’m so glad you’re here. And, this celery olive salad, well, it’s one of my very favorites! I’ve made it soooooooooooooo many times. Everyone who has it is never disappointed. xoxx ally
There are so many veggies that provides amino acid. It will surely help you with your health.
I so agree. Eating lots of veggies is always great for us. Thanks for visiting, my friend!
I’m just dying to try this salad, Ally… I love the idea of doing something so unique with celery! YUM!
Oh, Michele! Knowing a little about your food style and palate, me thinks you gonna likeeee! Hope you try it!! xo
This has my name written all over it!
Then it’s all yours, luv! It’s now officially the ‘food hunter odyssey cuke salad’!!
Colorful, Crisp, Refreshing, YES!
Thank you, Miss Pea! Yes, this is a salad that sings to our ethnic backgrounds! xoxo
This sounds like a tasty combination, great on so many occasions.
Thanks, Caroline! Yes, it can be used for different occasions and it keeps well for a few days!! Thanks for visiting! xo
I love everything about this salad!
Awesome! I do, too…it’s hits all those sweet palate spots! Thank you!
This sounds so light and refreshing!
That it is, darlin! It’s a salad that you can eat your weight in and not feel guitly! Thanks for swinging by!! xo ~ally
Love dishes that make it so easy to be healthy! I would add some chicken to this and be in a happy place!
Marjory! I’m right w/you!! Some chicken and we’re in our happy zone! Thank you, luv! xo ~ally
So much crunch! This looks like the perfect salad to go with just about anything!
Just call me crunchy girl! Love that texture…thanks so much, luv! Enjoy and, yes, it goes w/about anything! xo ~ally
Wow… I’m craving all the flavors and crunch in this beautiful salad of yours, Ally! Love it!
Michele! Knowing your amazing talents and what you create w/food, I’m thinking this is right up your alley!! Thank you, luv! xox
So healthily delicious, I’d love me a bowlful for supper ♥
Thank you, dear Dor!! If we were neighbors, you’d have a BIG bowl for your supper, luv!! xo
Enjoyed reading your post, Ally!I didn’t know that the very first mention of ‘celery’ was by Homer in 8 B.C! That’s something new to me! The salad sounds so flavorful! Pinning to try later!!
Hadia! Thank you! I love weaving in the history of food. It’s just so intriguing. Thanks for swinging by and for pinning, luv! xo
Love this. Perfect for a blazin hot day. 110 degrees in the shade today.
Oh oh Christine! I feel so bad for you. I’m in CO mountains and it’s ‘warm’ and divine. This salad would be full of good refreshing hydration, too! Thanks for swinging by! xo
Love this salad. Perfect for a blazin hot day. 110 degrees today in the shade.
What a wonderful salad! I can’t eat lettuce or it’s family, but I love chopped veggie salads. This one is so colorful and has a little of everything. Plus a great story too. Thanks so much.
Mary! How kind of you, and, I totally agree about this salad. Sooooooo versatile and eclectic. If you’ve not tried my raw veggie salad, I think you’ll like b/c it has many of the same attributes of the celery salad! Here’s the link, luv. Thanks so very much! xoxx ally
https://allyskitchen.com/anti-inflammatory-raw-veggie-salad/
this would be perfect on a hot day! love salads here in Florida!
You are so right, Claudia! We can serve w/grilled shrimp or chicken!! xo