EZ Tzatziki

I watch a lot of Food Network, ok?

Ask me what's new on normal channels like abc, nbc, cbs, whatnot? NO clue. Food Network? Yeah, I am aware of what's happening there.

One of the recurring "things" on Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives on Food Network is mispronunciations of  the item "worcestershire" sauce.

There's the verrrryyy literal phonetic interpretation: WAR-chest-er-SHIRE
The British way: WUH-ster
The lazy, are you kidding? way: WUH-she
My favorite way:

But, the generally acceptable way: WUH-sta-sure

And now you know!

I can't think of another culinary word that is more... creatively? ... announced. Except maybe tzatziki.

Tuh-ZEE-kee? Suh-ZEE-kee? Zat-TIKI? Kawasaki?

Tsah-ZEE-kee. And yeah, I'm the kind of person that might correct you. Sorry in advance.

Tzatziki and I? We're pretty tight. You've seen it here before. And in a different version on greek nachos too. But today's version is quick and easy.

If you're like "WTF is tzatziki, bro?":
1. Don't say bro.
2. A yogurt-based greek sauce with cucumber, garlic, and some seasoning that is excellent, will improve any pita/cracker/vegetable/sandwich you ever encounter, and leaves you with just enough garlic breath to be shunned by your friends and family.

Here's how you make it!

Easy Tzatziki
makes ~1 cup

2 cloves garlic
3" english (hot-house) cucumber (you can eat the skin)
3/4 c. nonfat plain greek yogurt
pinch of kosher salt
2 tsp good quality, fruity EVOO

Peel 2 cloves garlic and chop in food processor

SO much easier than chopping!

Add roughly chopped cucumber

Pulse until shredded, but not until pureed

Transfer to a bowl with greek yogurt. Drizzle EVOO and a pinch of salt.

Mix er up!

Here is the worst picture I've ever taken:

But trust me, it's delicious!

It's All Greek to Me

There a really popular pin on pinterest right now of a hamburger that is stuffed with cheddar and wrapped in bacon. It looks ridiculous. Ridiculously good. But as you probably know if you've read this blog more than once, I don't let myself eat stuff like that because 1. it's a slippery slope, and 2. nobody ever finishes a meal like that and says "i feel so good about myself right now!" So naturally, that haunting pin stayed in my food thoughts for days... how can I eat that without dying immediately?

Well nobody says you can't have healthy stuffed burgers.

Tips for healthifying ANY recipe:
1. Substitute FAT with FLAVOR (spices, herbs, and other naturally flavorful things like stinky cheese)
2. Lean out the meat. There's no need to use full fat meat when you're adding other flavors.
3. Top it with something tasty. (see Tzatziki recipe below and you will not have any questions)

Let's make some stuffed greek turkey burgers, eh?

Olive and Feta Stuffed Turkey Burgers w/ Tzatziki
 4 servings


Ingredients

• Patties
• 1 package lean ground turkey breast
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp EVOO
• Filling
• 1/2. c fat free feta
• 1/2 c. pitted greek olives
• Tzatziki
• 1 c. 2% milkfat plain greek yogurt (the little bit of fat here is totally worth it for mouth feel)
• 1/2 c. shredded persian cucumber (or any small cuc)
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Make the tzatziki first, or a few hours ahead, so all the flavors have time to come together
• Grate cucumber over a kitchen towel, then squeeze out extra moisture over the sink

• You should get a few tablespoons of liquid out of every 1/2 c. of cucumber

• Grate garlic with a microplane or fine grater

i want a microplane for my birthday. plz.

• Stir all ingredients well and put in fridge covered until ready to eat

so good.

• In a food processor, combine feta and pitted olives

sodium party!

• Pulse until you have a tapenade-like consistency. Set aside.

• In a large bowl, mix turkey breast with oregano, dill, garlic pow, salt, and pepper

that's an appetizing photo.

• Lay out a few sheets of wax paper on a cold counter
• Form sixteen evenly sized balls with the turkey meat and place on wax paper with 4-5" between each other. Pink slime anyone?

• With another sheet of wax paper and your palm, flatten the meat pancakes. Yum.

• Place 1-2 tbsp of olive-feta mixture on 8 of the patties

• Top the olive-feta topped patties with another turkey patty

• Using a sheet of wax paper to keep your hands clean, press the turkey patties together, sealing the edges like ravioli

• Heat a pan over med-high heat with 1-2 tbsp EVOO
• Fry patties in batches so they aren't crowded in the pan
• Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until brown and crispy

• Then return all patties to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and put a lid on it for 5-8 more minutes, or until patties are cooked all the way through
• Serve with whole wheat pita, tzatziki, and a big green salad!

 Winner! These were so good! I can't wait to try more versions of stuffed turkey burgers. Really, the options are endless. Goat cheese and sun dried tomato? Bleu cheese and apple? Oh hells yes.

Hot tip on salad dressings: If you have a full fat dressing that you like but don't like the fact that it is full fat, dilute it with vinegar, buttermilk, and/or water. Trader joe's has a creamy feta dressing that is yumtastic but at 110 cal/serving, it's not so yumtastic on my thighs. So I diluted it with 50% red wine vinegar. If you don't like vinegar so much, dilute creamy dressings with buttermilk or milk and oily dressings with water or a water/vinegar mix. You could also dilute a full fat with a low fat, like fat free ranch with full fat ranch. Got it?

Look at this and try to tell me you're not hungry:

Greeky Orzo

I often write about having a super fruity EVOO for dressing salads and adding flavor to foods. While you can usually pick out a high quality EVOO at the grocery store, your best bet is farmer's markets and gourmet food stores. We Olive is a popular one around these parts. They sells all sorts of tasty olive products as well as fresh EVOO and Vinegars that you can bottle in the store. Olive oil shops are becoming more popular. I credit Rachael Ray.

She totally made EVOO cool.

And she likes pitbulls. So we like her. Ps I once had a 2 sentence conversation with RR about this doggy. BFF's!

Anyway, back to my point: Olive Oil.

We picked up a Meyer Lemon EVOO from We Olive on a recent excursion and I immediately knew how I would enjoy it: Greek Orzo.

Greek Orzo
Makes enough to feed an army

Ingredients

• Cooking spray + 1 tbsp everyday EVOO
• 4 chicken breasts, cut into tenders
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 c. orzo
• 2 lemons, cut into wedges
• 1/2 c. whole pitted kalamata olives (or less if you don't like olives... i love them)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp super fruity high quality EVOO  - I used meyer lemon
• Salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Season chicken breast with garlic powder and salt and pepper
• In a dutch oven or heavy bottomed skillet, brown chicken with cooking spray and everyday EVOO over med-high heat
• Once golden, remove chicken from pan

• Add broth to pan and scrape up all the crispy chicken bits
• Bring broth to a simmer over high heat, then add lemons, olives, oregano, and the high quality EVOO
• You're basically making a super greek wonder broth

• Once broth is all simmery, add in orzo
• Reduce heat to medium and stir occasionally to keep orzo from sticking to the pan
• Orzo takes less than 10 minutes to cook
• If your orzo soaks up the liquid and needs more liquid, you can always add more water or broth
• Cooking orzo is just like cooking pasta. Taste test for doneness as you go.
• Add S+P to taste
• When orzo is almost finished cooking, place chicken back into pan so it can soak up some of the lemony olivey brothy goodness 

The whole lemons make the recipe a little bitter and a little tart, the olives make it a little salty, the starchy orzo makes it a little creamy.... It's a perfect food! If you don't like the bitterness of lemons, you can simply add 1/4 c. of lemon juice and 1 tsp of zest instead of the whole lemons. I think the bitterness really helps balance the dish, though.

Vegan Week Update:

Last post I mentioned that I was planning a vegan week. I have scoured my favorite blogs for recipes and here is my vegan recipe bank, all collected from the blogs I mentioned:

Breakfast:

Overnight Oats

PB & J & Banana Breakfast Pizza

Pumpkin Spice Protein Bars

Lemon Chia seed Muffins

Apple Cinnamon Protein Pancakes

Homemade Vegan Yogurt

Southern Style BIscuits and Gravy

Apple Swirl Loaf

Tofu Scramble

Lunch/Dinner:

Black Bean and Butternut Squash Burritos

High Protein Tortilla Pizzas

Perfect Veggie Burger

Vegan Lentil Walnut Loaf

Stuffed Portabella Pizza

Slow Cooker Seitan Carnitas

Saag PEAneer

Noodle Salad with Peanut Mmmm Sauce

Orange Sesame Tempeh Stir Fry

Pumpkin Curry with Tofu

Mac and Cheese

Protein Packed Falafels with Vegan Tzatziki

Meatless Meatloaf

Baked Vegan Corndog

Hawaiian BBQ Teriyaki Chickpeas

Mexican Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Seitan Chops Smothered in Apples and Ginger

Orange Pan-glazed Tempeh

Hummus Sandwich

Lentil/Chorizo Tacos

Sides:

High Protein Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Cilantro Lime Chickpea Salad

Fruit

Mixed green salad

Veggies

Sweets:

Vegan and GF Brownies

Double Chocolate Brownie Dough Balls

Chia Pudding

Chocolate Protein Ice Cream

Black Bean Brownies

Solutions for Cheese Withdrawals:

Low Fat Cheeze Sauce

Raw "Cheddar" Dipping Sauce

As I make them, I will post links to the recipes.  My biggest concern about eating vegan is getting enough protein. It's my favorite food group, and I'm basically a body builder, so I really need my protein. (Sarcasm). But seriously, it's a concern. 

Have a wonderful Superbowl weekend! Don't eat yourselves sick!

Nacho Usual Nachos

Mark Bittman is a food writer for NY Times Food & Dining section and cookbook author. I'm a fan.

Especially when he makes greek nachos.

Can't go wrong there.

excuse the crappy droid photo

Don't let the crappy photo discourage you.

Maybe look at Not Without Salt's depiction of Bittman's recipe.

Muccchhhh better.

Here's my lightened up version of Bittman's recipe. He used lamb, full fat yogurt and cheese, and EVOO to thin out the yogurt sauce. I used lean meat, nonfat cheese, and water in the place of oil. All the flavor, none of the fat!

Greek Nachos


Ingredients

• 6 large whole wheat pitas, cut into 1/8's
• Yogurt Sauce
• 1 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. fat free feta crumbles
• 1 tbsp fresh chopped mint
• 1 small cucumber, diced
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp really fruity EVOO
• 1/4 c. water
• pinch of sea salt
• Beef
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• Toppings
• 2 roma tomatos, diced
• 1 medium cucumber, diced
• 1/4 c. fresh mint, chopped
• 1/4 c. greek olives, drained, chopped

Instructions

• Arrange pita pieces on a baking sheet
• Place in a 375F oven for 20 minutes, flip pieces, then bake for another 20 minutes or until chip-y
• In a frying pan, brown beef with red onion and seasonings
• In a bowl, combine all yogurt sauce ingredients
• Think of this as your nacho cheese sauce... Aim for that consistency
• You could puree the feta and yogurt first if you want a smooth cheesey sauce, but I like this like tzatziki, so I preferred the chunks
• Don't skip the mint. It MAKES the recipe.
• On a platter or individual plate, arrange pita chips
• Sprinkle over meat
• Drizzle with yogurt sauce
• Top with toppings of your choice
• Never eat nasty yellow cheese nachos again!

Can't wait to have these again! They are also super super lean, so a nearly guilt free meal.