yogurt

The Best Greek Chicken Marinade

This easy chicken marinade infuses chicken of any cut with the classic Greek flavors of lemon, garlic and oregano plus Greek yogurt for a more tender bite.

Hey, ho, whaddya know?!!! You ready for the best? Because I’m giving you the best!

It may be a bold statement to make, but unlike fake politicians, sorcerers, and that guy in Nigeria who says he’ll double your money if you’ll just wire it to him, I’m standing behind my claim that this super easy, extremely delicious Greek Chicken marinade very well could be:

the ying to your yang.

the butter to your nutter.

the pop to your lock.

Which would make this little diddy of a recipe the best lemony, best garlicky, best Greek-y oregano-ish chicken marinade you just might ever make.

continue to the recipe… about The Best Greek Chicken Marinade

How to Make a Healthy Tzatziki Sauce and Dip

This easy to make 5-ingredient Greek yogurt tzatziki sauce recipe is not only great with grilled meats, fish and gyro sandwiches, but makes a terrific, healthy dip for vegetables of every color.

This post is in partnership with Oikos Greek Nonfat Yogurt who has compensated me to create a recipe using their product. All opinions are my own.

Just yesterday, I happily discovered I have something in common with the famous food philosopher Alice Waters. Yep. Me and Alice Waters. It’s like we’re twins, living the same foodie ways, and it all stems from our refrigerators. Because apparently, she…like me…is a condiment junkie. Okay, so it’s a stretch, I know, but hey, when you’re 6 degrees of separation from the queen of slow food, you take what you can get.

Condiments are just as important to a dish as the dish itself. They’re the flavor builders. The meal toppers. And they’re all the things that make my mouth go “ZING!”, and that’s why tangy Greek yogurt fits really well into the condiment category for me.

Besides being a favorite part of breakfast parfaits or acting as the base to my fave afternoon bowl of fruit and nuts, nonfat yogurt does double duty in so many more ways. It subs for buttermilk to tenderize chicken, it’s a lower fat alternative to sour cream or mayo-based sauces for grilled meat and fish, and it’s my healthier stand-in for mayonnaise in any classic mayo-mixed sandwich. I even use it on my summer BLT’s.

But while yogurt is a great sub for other ingredients, there is one recipe that can not, should never, would totally not be PC to flip the tables on, and that’s to replace yogurt in the classic Greek tzatziki sauce.continue to the recipe… about How to Make a Healthy Tzatziki Sauce and Dip

Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

These easy and full of flavor healthful chicken gyro sandwiches start with a simple 5-ingredient yogurt lemon marinated chicken that can be pan-fried, baked, or grilled, and then topped with a simple cucumber and dill tzatziki sauce. It’s as easy as that.

I’d have to say I’m just like 97.99% of the rest of the home cooks out there. We’re busy. Our days are full. And that makes our nights even fuller. It’s the reason why one of my most often heard of requests is for more meals that are easy to make, don’t take a whole lot of time or a laundry list of ingredients, but still have that from-scratch, seasonal-eats quality.

Well here is one recipe 97.99% of you and more are going to love. It’s simple. It’s fast. It’s practical with just a few simple ingredients. And it’s totally flavorful thanks to it’s Mediterranean roots. continue to the recipe… about Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Grilled Turkey Kofta Skewers with Yogurt Sauce

While lamb or beef is traditional, I prefer ground turkey for these flavorful Middle Eastern skewers, and the creamy cool yogurt sauce adds a lightened dipping sauce thats full of flavor.

Food that is delivered in an unexpected way is always more fun. It must be true, because there’s even a cookbook all about the food phenomenon.

Thai food has it’s skewered Satay, Mexicans love their mayo with cotija-dressed cob of corn on a stick and in China you can even find yourself a fried scorpion on a stick—if you dare. Thank you very much but I’ll “stick” with a good old American mustard-dipped corn dog.

Probably one of the most universal foods on a stick is kofta, a simple blend of garlic-studded, spiced meat shaped on a stick that you’ll find in Greek, Persian, Indian and Lebanese cuisine.

If you think that because it hails from an exotic land that it must be difficult to make, you’re wrong. If you think man, that sounds like it has a lot more flavor than a regular burger, you are right!

And if you can shape a simple meatball, this skewered turkey kofta is going to totally hit your sweet spot.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Turkey Kofta Skewers with Yogurt Sauce

Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait Plus a Giveaway

This post is sponsored by California Strawberries, whose sweetness will surely inspire you to start the new year right with this Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait and the opportunity to win a Vitamix blender.

If you’re like me, moving into the new year means coming down from my holiday foodie high of sweets, treats and not-especially-healthy-eats and confronting myself with reality.

That boils down to clearing out the stash of Christmas cookies and the last sips of eggnog and making room for more healthful fruit and veggies for this girl. STAT!

With this as my first recipe post of 2014, it seems only fitting to have it start with the most important meal of the day: breakfast. And since I’m six days in and feeling all gung-ho with my annual analysis of what I feed this body of mine, I’m leaving the eggs, french toast and waffles for later.

Today we’re starting off simple. And fresh. And easy. With strawberries.

continue to the recipe… about Strawberry and Quinoa Parfait Plus a Giveaway