Recipe: Tzatziki

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In case you missed it my middle eastern inspired meal started with hummus and tabbouleh!  Now we are ready to make some yummy tzatziki sauce!

Although tzatziki is technically Greek we decided to make the sauce anyways to go with our middle eastern themed dinner.  It complimented everything perfectly and didn’t seem out of place in the meal at all.  Even our guest who isn’t a cucumber lover enjoyed the sauce!!

Tzatziki is super easy to make.  The key part is extracting as much water as possible from the cucumbers so they don’t make the sauce runny or watery.

Ingredients:

2-3 cups of nonfat Greek yogurt
2 cucumbers
1 heaping tablespoons
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 lemon juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

Remove the seeds of the cucumber. Use a spoon (or if you are my husband your thumb apparently works) to scrape out seeds.  Cut the cucumbers into slices and place them in a colander in the sink. Let them for at least 1/2 and hour.

Tip:  Sprinkle a little salt on the cucumbers to help release water. 

Roughly chop the dill and garlic

Place dill, garlic, cucumbers, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper in the Cuisinart and process.  Be careful taking the lid off … it is runny!!

Add the Greek yogurt into the Cuisinart and process for a few second until it’s fully blended.  This doesn’t take very long and you don’t want to over process it – so process just until it’s mixed well.  Pour the tzatziki into a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours to give the flavors a chance to develop.

**We only had 30-45 minutes before dinner so it didn’t sit for the full two hours and it was still DELICIOUS**

Last item to make for the middle eastern themed dinner party is the Greek Yogurt Chicken.  Stay tuned!! :)

Happy Cooking!

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Recipe: Tabbouleh

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My friend and I go to Skewers a lot and I LOVE, love, love their lighter side menu options. I was having friends over for dinner and craving middle eastern / mediterranean food. So this dinner menu was inspired by my lovely girly dinners at Skewers. 

My dinner party menu consisted of chicken, tabbouleh, hummus, tzatziki and pita bread.  I’ve already blogged about my hummus recipe, check it out and then come back to this recipe.  

The tabbouleh is a little more time intensive then the hummus, but it is super easy to make.  So without further ado here is how I make the tabbouleh.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup bulgur
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 bunch chopped parsley
1 medium tomato diced tomatoes
1/2 medium onion chopped
2-3 tablespoons of roughly chopped mint leaves
1/2 lemon juiced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil

Soak the bulgur in boiling water, cover and let it stand for about 2 hours.  Drain the excess water using a colander and then squeeze out any remaining water from bulghur using your hands or paper towel.  (I am a bad blogger and forgot to take a picture. Sorry!)

Dice the tomato and onion.  Place them in a bowl.

Chop the curley parsley and mint.

Mix the bulgur, tomatoes, onion, parsley and mint in a bowl.  Add lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and mix well.  

Your tabbouleh is complete!!

Serve immediately or chill in refrigerator for 2 hours before serving.  I prefer to have it chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes so all the flavors can develop.

Coming up next for our middle eastern inspired meal is the tzatziki sauce and then the chicken.

Happy Cooking!

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Recipe: Turkey Chili

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Brrrrr it’s cold out there and today was the first snow fall of the year!!!

Cold weather = chili night at our house and to be specific turkey chili!  My husband swears he’s going to be made of turkey, because of how many turkey based meals I make. LOL. He cracks me up.

Now I’m not saying by any means that I don’t like beef, but in things like chili using turkey or beef doesn’t make a difference to me.  Turkey is lower in fat so I often use it instead of beef.  You can totally use beef if that’s your preference with this recipe.  Either way it will taste great … in my humble opinion. :)

**This recipe was updated on November 4, 2014**

Ingredients:

1.25 pounds ground turkey
1 can chili beans in medium spicy sauce (not drained)
1 can dark red kidney beans (drained)
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 can tomato paste
1 large onion (chopped)
1 red bell peppers (seeded  &  chopped)
⅓ jalapeno pepper (seeded & minced – use less if you don’t like things spicy)
4-6 cloves or 1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
½ cup beer (or substitute in water)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoons hot sauce
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or less to taste)
½ teaspoon paprika

Chop the red pepper and drop it into a big enough pot to hold all of chili.   I like to add a little vegetable oil to make the veges soften quicker.  Then chop your jalapeno, garlic and onion and drop those in as well.  Saute until they are tender.

In a pan over medium-high heat ground turkey.  Break into small pieces and cook until browned. Drain off any excess fat.

Once the vegetables are cooked add the turkey (or beef) to the big pot.  Next, add in Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and beer (I usually use water and to me it tastes the same).  Then add chili beans (with the sauce), kidney beans, fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste.

Season with chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and paprika. Mix well. Cover and simmer for 1/2 hour stirring occasionally.

Makes 6 servings.  If you have left overs it makes for a fabulous lunch the next day or later in the week!

I served it with homemade corn bread and it was YUMMY!

Happy Eating!

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Potato Latkes Recipe

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Happy Hanukkah (or Chanukah depending on your spelling preference)!!!

This year my friend who usually hosts a Hanukkah party decided to go on a vacation with her sister and mom.  I mean really how dare she go away without providing me with potato latkes before she left. =)  So this meant I would have to make my own potato latkes for the first time ever.

This recipe is super easy and if you have a food processor / Cuisinart it is like a hop skip and a jump to the frying pan.

Ingredients:

2lbs (~3 large potatoes)
1 medium onion
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoons flour
vegetable oil

You will also need apple sauce and sour cream to serve with your potato latkes, and I guess if you are my husband then hot sauce should be on the table as well.  Hot sauce is new one for me and I would say skip it, but he insists it tastes good.

Using a food processor or a box grater shred the potatoes and onions. The food processor saved me a ton of time and makes it so easy!  I got to use one of the attachments for the first time, which is always exciting (it’s the small things, right?!).

Transfer them to a colander and squeeze dry. Mix the potatoes and onions with the eggs, flour and salt.

In a skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil. Drop about four tablespoons for the mixture into the skillet and press lightly to flatten them. Cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until browned and a little crispy. It should be about 6 minutes.

I found that a fish spatula worked really well for flipping these babies and not messing them up.  Just randomly grabbed it, but thought I should pass along the tip nonetheless.  Remove from skillet and place the latkes on paper towels to drain the oil.  It makes about 12 latkes.  And take a look … Voila!

Potato Latkes Recipe, holiday recipe, hanukkah | Life's Tidbits

MAKE AHEAD: The potato latkes can be at room temperature for up to 3 hours. Reheat on a baking sheet in a 350° oven before serving. If you plan to reheat them remember that they cook a little extra in the oven so don’t over fry them.

Just writing this blog makes me want to go reheat the extra latkes and eat them!  Anyways put some sour cream (I prefer light as it is less fat but still tastes great) and apple sauce on the table and serve.

Potato Latkes Recipe serve with a side of apple sauce and sour cream, holiday recipe, hanukkah | Life's Tidbits

And seriously how cute is that double serving bowl?  Thank you wedding guest and Crate and Barrel’s Registry.

Happy cooking!

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