Recipes

Healthified Gyros & Tzatziki Saucziki

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Tonight, I had a craving for gyros.  Mmmmmm…. Can’t remember the last time I had one of those.

The task at hand:  satisfy this craving as healthfully as possible.

I decided to go with ground turkey for the meat to stuff my gyro.  I combined the following ingredients and formed a meat “log” which I cooked on the george foreman grill for about 7 minutes.

  • 5 ounces 99% lean ground turkey
  • sprinkling of dried oregano, S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, red pepper flakes

Then I sliced the meat into long strips and placed atop a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita:

And topped it off with the KEY component of any gyro:  Tzatziki Sauce!  I mixed up the tzatziki sauce about an hour before grilling the meat.  It consisted of: 

  • 2 tbsp Oikos plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp grated cucumber
  • S&P, Dill weed
  • 1 clove garlic, minced

 

Tzatziki ingredients in the bowl:

All together now!

I used some of the leftover cucumber to make a small cucumber salad (sliced cucumber, dill weed, white vinegar):

YUM!!!  This really hit the spot!  I do want to note that the meat was a little on the dry side.  I personally didn’t really mind because I doused it in the yummy Tzatziki sauce.  Next time, I’ll either add some of the shredded cucumber to the meat or try shredded zucchini and/or onion.

Stats on the gyro:  278 calories, 24g carbs, 4g fat, 39g protein, 7g fiber

  

Despite this delicious dinner, the night did not end on such a happy note:

What’s that, you ask?  Ohhhh… that….  Whelp, that’s my iPhone, chilling in some rice, because I apparently dropped it on my way in the door and let it sit outside in the rain for three hours.  🙁

Hopefully this rice trick I found on google with do the trick and suck all the water out!

 

QUESTION OF THE EVENING:  What was the dumbest thing you did today?

P.S. to respond to this question click the little blue button that says “Leave a comment” … look right below this line… just a little further… You can do it! 😉

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Recipes

Healthified Gyros & Tzatziki Saucziki

8 Comments

Tonight, I had a craving for gyros.  Mmmmmm…. Can’t remember the last time I had one of those.

The task at hand:  satisfy this craving as healthfully as possible.

I decided to go with ground turkey for the meat to stuff my gyro.  I combined the following ingredients and formed a meat “log” which I cooked on the george foreman grill for about 7 minutes.

  • 5 ounces 99% lean ground turkey
  • sprinkling of dried oregano, S&P, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, red pepper flakes

Then I sliced the meat into long strips and placed atop a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita:

And topped it off with the KEY component of any gyro:  Tzatziki Sauce!  I mixed up the tzatziki sauce about an hour before grilling the meat.  It consisted of:

  • 2 tbsp Oikos plain greek yogurt
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp grated cucumber
  • S&P, Dill weed
  • 1 clove garlic, minced

Tzatziki ingredients in the bowl:

All together now!

I used some of the leftover cucumber to make a small cucumber salad (sliced cucumber, dill weed, white vinegar):

YUM!!!  This really hit the spot!  I do want to note that the meat was a little on the dry side.  I personally didn’t really mind because I doused it in the yummy Tzatziki sauce.  Next time, I’ll either add some of the shredded cucumber to the meat or try shredded zucchini and/or onion.

Stats on the gyro:  278 calories, 24g carbs, 4g fat, 39g protein, 7g fiber

 

Despite this delicious dinner, the night did not end on such a happy note:

What’s that, you ask?  Ohhhh… that….  Whelp, that’s my iPhone, chilling in some rice, because I apparently dropped it on my way in the door and let it sit outside in the rain for three hours.  🙁

Hopefully this rice trick I found on google with do the trick and suck all the water out!

 

QUESTION OF THE EVENING:  What was the dumbest thing you did today?

P.S. to respond to this question click the little blue button that says “Leave a comment” … look right below this line… just a little further… You can do it! 😉

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What I ate

Big Fat Flop(s)

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 Breakfast #1   

Last night I was apparently in the mood to try 3,000 new concoctions.  I found this recipe for Protein Cakes the other day.  They are super simple to make and work out to less than 100 calories each (before you add toppings) so I decided to make two different kinds to try out for breakfast #1.   

Protein Cake #1   

  • 1/2 scoop chocolate protein powder
  • 1 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet truvia
  • 1 tbsp sugar free applesauce
  • 1 egg white
  • 1 tsp choc chips

    

Protein Cake #2   

  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 2 drops vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 packet truvia
  • 1 tbsp sugar free applesauce
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup fresh blueberries

    

They only take 1 minute to cook in the microwave!   

Cakes in the mugs:   

   

Check out the height on the chocolate cake:   

   

As you can see, one of these cakes is not like the other.  One of these cakes just doesn’t belong…   

   

Apparently the blueberries had a negative effect on the vanilla protein cake.  BUMMER!  (PS, that one got tossed, it was just gross looking).   

BIG FAT FLOP #1.   

    

This morning, I was really excited to try the surviving chocolate cake. I heated it up in the microwave for about 15 seconds, and took a big ole bite.  I guess since they have “cake” in the title, I was expecting something moist and delicious.  But this was super dry and not very tasty.  I put some blackberry preserves on top, but still ended up throwing most of it away.   

   

BIG FAT FLOP #2.   

    

Because I’m such a smarty pants, I had planned ahead for such a catastrophe by bringing a Peanut Butter Cookie Lara Bar.  This is the first time I had tried a Lara Bar.  What really intrigued me was the mere 3 ingredients:    

   

Gotta be honest, I wasn’t super happy with it.  If it weren’t for the ingredients list, I probably wouldn’t buy it again.  Maybe some of the other flavors I picked up will be better–but as of now I’m not sure when I’ll be trying them.   

Any of you prefer Lara Bars to Luna Bars?  Looks like I’m a Luna girl…   

BIG FAT FLOP #3.   

    

OVERNIGHT OATS!!!  YAY! 😀 😀 😀    

No let downs here!  My oats today consisted of:   

  • 1/2 cup oats
  • 3/4 cup almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 packet stevia
  • 1 tbsp PB2
  • 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • fresh strawberries

   

 These were coldy, creamy, and delicious, as usual!   

Stats on the oats:  219 calories, 36g carbs, 7g fat, 9g protien, 8g fiber 

    

Lunch   

After the flops I had for Breakfast #1, I was kind of anxious for lunch.  I have always really enjoyed chicken salad with grapes in it, so last night I decided to whip up my own healthified chicken salad using Oikos plain greek yogurt:   

  • 3 oz shredded chicken breast (grilled up last week with McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning)
  • 2 tbsp Plain Oikos greek yogurt
  • 1 small green onion, minced
  • 1/2 tsp lime juice
  • 1 tsp chopped cilantro
  • Sprinkling of S&P, cumin, cayenne pepper, celery seed
  • 1/3 cup grapes, halved

I put the chicken salad in a Joseph’s Low Carb Pita.   

chicken salad with greek yogurt and grapes

 

SUCCESSS!!!!!!  This was really yummy!  Hooray!   

Stats on the chicken salad:  215 calories, 14g carbs, 5g fat, 25g protein, 4g fiber

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Recipes

Hot Caprese, Jalapeno Turkey Burgers, and Dessert!

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One of my all-time favorite things to eat is caprese salad.  For those who have never had it, it usually consists of tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and fresh basil.  It’s so simple and amazingly delicious.      

After my Jambalaya! success last night, I decided to try the recipe for Hot Caprese in the July/August 2010 issue of Clean Eating Magazine.       

I used their basic ingredients, but modified it to keep it a little healthier (and also to bring it down to a single–albeit it large–serving).      

  • 1 cup grape tomatoes
  • 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp olive oil
  • S&P
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 light babybel cheese
  • fresh basil

Mix all the ingredients (except the cheese and basil) in a bowl, then pour onto a piece of foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  Wrap into a pouch, taking care to ensure all edges are sealed so that no liquid seeps out.  Poke a few holes in the packet to let steam escape, then pop into a 350 degree oven for 20-25  minutes, until the tomatoes have started to burst and let their juices go.       

Next, I carefully poured the liquid out of the packet and topped the tomatoes with a cubed light babybel cheese round.  Close the packet back up and make sure to leave space between the cheese and the foil so that the melted cheese does not stick.  Cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until the cheese is melty.      

When the tomatoes were finished cooking, I poured them out onto my plate and topped with fresh basil that I grew in my very own back yard!  🙂      

backyard herbs

 

To go along side the tomatoes, I cooked up two Jalapeno turkey burgers that consisted of:      

  • 10 ounces 99% lean ground turkey
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 a small zucchini, grated
  • 1/4 cup white onion, chopped
  • S&P, RPF, Onion powder
  • 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds removed,  chopped

Once the burgers started cooking, my nose could tell that the little jalapeno was gonna add some kick to the burger.  So I decided to top the burger with some tomatoes, onion, and cool fat free sour cream atop a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat.      

      

Sooooo tasty!       

Word to the wise — use more seasonings on the tomatoes than you think you need.  I’ll def bump it up next time.      

Also, I definitely want to add some fresh herbs to the jalapeno turkey burger next time.  Possibly cilantro or flat leaf parsley.      

Stats on Dinner:  387 calories, 46g carbs, 7g fat, 47g protein, 7g fiber     

Post-Dinner      

After dinner, I completed Day #2 of my interval running/walking plan.  I was able to complete all 5 intervals of running without any knee pain!  Yay! 🙂      

After exercising, I threw half of a peach onto the george foreman grill for about 6 minutes.  Then I topped it with some plain greek yogurt I had sweetened with 1/2 packet of truvia and a sprinkle of cinnamon and cloves.        

      

This was quite tasty!  But let’s be honest, I was thinking about ice cream the entire time.  Definitely need to give this a shot with the good stuff.      

Other thoughts before bed      

For those of you who have hopped on the Greek Yogurt train (gimme a whoop whoop!), and even for those of you who haven’t this FitSugar link gives a few different ideas on how to switch up your normal yogurt routine.      

I’m trying out some new things for breakfast and lunch tomorrow….  this should be interesting  🙂      

Oh yes!  I tried the Oatmeal Luna Bar today, and thought it was pretty darn tasty!      

      

Not my all time favorite flavor, but overall I was very pleased with my afternoon snack. It definitely tasted like an oatmeal cookie.  I went to a grocery store by work tonight rather than my usual store, and they had a huge selection of Lara Bars.  So I picked up a few of those to try out 🙂      

QUESTION FOR ALL YOU SILENT READERS OUT THERE:  Have you tried overnight oats yet?  If so, did you love them as much as I do?  If you haven’t tried them, what’s holding you back?

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Ramblings

Power of the Purse

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Today I had the pleasure of attending the Power of the Purse Luncheon sponsored by the United Way of Summit County.  This luncheon celebrates the impact women have on giving in our area.  We had a terrific speaker named Jessica Clements.  Jessica was hit by a roadside bomb while serving for the US Army in Iraq.  She was given a 2% chance to live due to the massive brain trama she suffered.  Despite these terrible odds, Jessica was miraculously able to recover.   She spoke on the importance of persevering, challenging yourself, and giving back.  What an amazing and inspiring speaker! 

Breakfast #1

Last night, I cooked up two of my lil eggins with the 1/2 of a link of Jennie-O’s hot turkey sausage I had leftover from the Jambalaya! (I apparently can’t type that word without using an “!” after it 🙂 )

The eggins consisted of 3 egg whites, S&P, Franks Red Hot, Red Pepper Flakes.  I baked them up in a 350 degree oven for 27 minutes.  I also had the other half of the english muffin that was leftover from yesterday’s egg love.

Despite looking slightly creepy, the sausage/egg combo was so yummy!  🙂

Stats on eggins & 1/2 english muffin:  193 calories, 18g carbs, 6g fat, 23g protein, 4g fiber

  

Breakfast #2

Chobani Blueberry greek yogurt with 1/2 a serving of Bear Naked Maple Granola

As much as I L-O-V-E greek yogurt, I am seriously looking forward to making up some overnight oats tonight.  There are just so deliciously cold and creamy!  And addicting!

Stats on yogurt + granola:  205 calories, 31g carbs, 2g fat, 16g protein, 2g fiber

  

Lunch

Good news / bad news on lunch. 

Bad news = I didn’t make anything fun for lunch because of the luncheon, nor did i get any pics of what I ate! Bummer!

Good news = I jotted down a few inspirational quotes from the speaker at the luncheon:

Don’t give up the first time you do something and it turns out terrible.

Every day strive to be the best “me” you can be

I especially liked:  Live for today.  Yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come.

I’m trying a couple new recipes tonight!  Pumped! (as always 😉 )

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