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Mediterranean Seven Layer Dip

If you came here expecting to find your classic, Mexican-inspired, Super Bowl party seven layer dip you will be sorely dissapointed. This is not that. It’s better than the calorie bomb that is seven layer dip. Okay, maybe not better (who doesn’t love refried beans topped with guac, sour cream, cheese, etc?), but it’s different. In a good way. A much healthier way.

Instead of the refried beans, guac, sour cream,  and salsa, this dip is layered with hummus, baba ghanoush, Greek yogurt,  and Israeli salad. It’s almost like each layer of the classic seven layer dip is replaced with it’s Mediterranean/Middle Eastern counterpart.

Layer 1 (or 7, depending on which direction you count them) is the hummus. I just used my favorite store-bought brand, but you can knock yourself with your homemade stuff.

Layer 2 is the sliced roasted red peppers.

Layer 3 is either Greek yogurt or tzatziki. I made mine with tzatziki, but I don’t know that it was worth the extra effort to make tzatziki. Once the dip was on the chip, it just tasted like creamy Greek yogurt.

Layer 4 is baba ghanoush, my favorite of all the layers (you can read about my love affair with baba ghanoush here). Again you can use store bought or homemade. In this case I would advocate for homemade because it is just soooo good.

Layer 5 is the Israeli salad, which is just a mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, parsley, and lemon juice. I made mine just a few minutes before assembling the whole thing.

Layer 6 is a healthy sprinkling of feta cheese.

And finally, Layer 7 is some olives, my least favorite of all the layers. Full disclosure, I only included the olives so that I could have seven layers. When I make this again, olives will be nowhere near this dip! But if you like olives…knock yourself out!

I layered everything together in the smallest clear dish I had available so that I could see all of the layers. Then I served it up with some pita chips and veggies.

One recommendation I would make is to keep it small. Even if you want to serve this to a bunch of people, just serve it in several smaller dishes. And that’s a recommendation for all layer dips. You don’t want people wondering what they are eating once all the layers and just blend into one another.

Not that there is anything wrong with that. But after all that work making each of the seven layers, I would want them tonstay that way!

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Healthy Greek Yogurt Pops

Healthy Greek Yogurt Pops

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but over here in my neck of the woods (North Carolina) it’s been HOT! This has definitely been a hot Summer. The hottest I have experienced here in Charlotte.

It’s been hard on me and our AC. 

As a way to beat the heat, I decided to turn one of my favorite breakfasts, post-workout snacks, and desserts into a popsicle. Greek yogurt is one of my favorite foods because it is packed with protein and can be mixed with just about anything for a delicious treat. For these Greek yogurt pops, I mixed non-fat Greek yogurt with a bit of whipped cream, honey, vanilla, and berries. 

I know what you are thinking….whipped cream isn’t very healthy! And you are partially correct. Normally whipped cream has tons of sugar in it, which makes it pretty unhealthy. Yes, it does has fat, but fat isn’t always bad. Trust me, I am working on the whole fat thing, too. We have been conditioned here in the US to think that fat is bad, when it’s not.

But the whipped cream is key because it helps add air to the Greek yogurt to make them more light and airy. Without it, these pops would just be a block of yogurt ice. So if you want to ditch the whipped cream because you are afraid of the fat, do so at your own risk. 

Greek Yogurt Pops-8

Making these Greek Yogurt pops was easy. Waiting for them to freeze was hard. I was so impatient, I probably ruined a couple checking on them before they were ready.  

Oh well…they still tasted great! It was just like eating a big bowl of mixed berry Greek yogurt, except frozen and on stick. Which actually made it the perfect on-the-go breakfast on my walk to the train station in the mornings. 

And really, what’s better than a yummy breakfast popsicle on a hot Summer morning? 

Greek Yogurt Pops

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:70]

Tzatziki Pasta Salad

Greek-inspired Tzatziki Pasta Salad

My husband and I recently tried a new Mediterranean restaurant in town that serves the best tzatziki dip and pita bread. It is thick and creamy, and packed with a ton of flavor from the various herbs. As I was eating it I was trying to pick out all the flavors so I could make my own version at home. Then the wheels kept turning and I for some reason got it in my head that this dip would be great on a Greek-inspired pasta salad. I had no idea if it would actually work, but I thought I would give it a shot and find out! Fortunately my husband was out of town when I tested this recipe, so if it didn’t work, no one would be the wiser. 

Greek Pasta Salad

Even though tzatziki is pretty light, (made with just Greek yogurt, lemon juice, and some herbs and spices) I knew that it would make the pasta salad feel heavier than it is since it is so rich and creamy. So to balance out the richness, I used lots of fresh vegetables and some whole wheat bow tie pasta. The vegetables are pretty similar to those you would find in your Greek salad – red onion, tomato, and cucumber. I also threw in some artichoke hearts that I had in my freezer. 

To make eating easier, all the veggies were chopped to roughly the same size. I deseeded a cucumber, slicing it into eight wedges, then slicing the long wedges into smaller pieces. I also chopped up half a red onion into relatively large chunks to match the size of the cucumber and halved grape tomatoes. Since a big chunk of red onion might be a little too bitter, I soaked the pieces in some water before adding to the salad. This takes out that harsh bitter flavor from the raw onion.

I also threw in a healthy helping of feta cheese. As a What Gaby Cooking Snapchat follower, I know that the best feta cheese to buy is the bricks of feta soaked in brine which can easily be crumbled into pieces on top. Once it was mixed all together, the only thing left to add was the tzatziki sauce.

Tzatziki Pasta Salad

After some serious mixing (this makes a whole lot of pasta salad!) and a change in bowls, I dug right in eager to see how it turned out! Fortunately for me it was delicious! And very refreshing! The tzatziki has a wonderful mint flavor that just coats all the vegetables which make this such a wonderful Summer pasta salad.  

Greek-inspired Tzatziki Pasta Salad

Not only is it a great dish to make for a Summer picnic or barbeque, but it is pretty healthy too! I used 2% Greek yogurt, because I think it tastes better than the non fat version, and a little olive oil in the sauce. And other than that there is hardly any fat – and the fat that is in there is good, healthy fat. It is also packed with lots of vegetables, lemon juice, and garlic, and herbs that all have their own health benefits. 

Have I sold you yet? Well, if a pasta salad with Greek yogurt is what is holding you back, you could easily make a Greek style dressing using almost all the same ingredients as the tzatziki, but swapping the yogurt for some vinegar and tossing the salad in that. That would be equally delicious!! And now you have no excuse not to make it!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:47]

 

Whole Wheat Crepes

For some reason, crepes have always intimidated me. To me, they were the high maintenance and delicate sibling of the pancake. Maybe it’s because they are French. The French are high maintenance and delicate, right?
 
(Sorry if you are French and I offended you. If it makes you feel better, Americans are fat jerks.)
As usual though, I have to try to make crepes a little bit healthier. I did find one recipe that was SUPER healthy. Like it used bananas and oats and agave. I am not going that far. I just used whole wheat flour, egg whites, and almond milk. It definitely made them a bit lighter, but not taste like grainy bananas. Unless you like grainy bananas.
 
What I found in making crepes, is that you really want your batter to be pretty thin. If it is the consistency of pancake batter, then it needs to be thined out. Other than that, its really not that easy to mess up crepes.
 
It also helped me to watch a couple YouTube videos. Seeing other people make them helped my confidence and lessened the intimidation. I also didn’t try to be fancy and flip them like a pro. I used my fingers and flipped them over. There was no one around to judge my lack of flair and none of my crepes ended up on the floor.
 
 

The amazing thing about crepes is that they can be filled with anything. I love crepes filled with Neutella and strawberries. These crepes are filled with vanilla Greek yogurt, strawberries, and bananas then topped with blueberries. If B were around when I made these, I would have filled his with eggs, bacon, and cheese…like a little crepe breakfast burrito.

And if you are wondering, the plate featured above can easily serve 2 people. But I ate all four because I am a fat jerk.

What is your favorite crepe filling??

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Cake Batter Frozen Greek Yogurt

I have a thing for cake batter. It may be one of my favorite things on this earth. I will risk the threat of salmonella to lick a bowl clean. It would be totally worth it. If I see anything that is flavored like cake batter, I will probably eat it. Oreos? Yep. Rice Krispie Treats? Yep. Ice Cream? Definitely.

So when I had a box of Funfetti cake mix that went unused after the 4th, I decided to experiment making my own cake batter frozen yogurt, not once but twice. 
Yes, I made two different recipes of cake batter frozen yogurt. The first one, well, I’m not going to lie to you,  it is literally frozen cake batter. Not that there is anything wrong with that. The second is frozen yogurt flavored like cake batter. And is probably a crap ton healthier because it’s not actually cake batter.

For my first recipe, I just mixed some milk, vanilla extract, and sugar in a sauce pan over the stove until the sugar dissoved. Then poured that into my Greek yogurt, and then whisked in the cake mix. At this point, I am pretty certain you could throw it in the oven and it would turn into something like a cake. But I stuck it in the fridge to cool.
For my second recipe, I used different flavorings to try to achieve the cake batter flavor. In a sauce pan, I mixed milk, sugar, vanilla extract, pistachio extract (can be subbed for almond extract), and butter (can be subbed for butter extract) over medium heat until the sugar dissolved. Then I mixed into the Greek yogurt and put it in the fridge to cool.
At this point, both recipes undergo the same process.
Once the mixture was nice and cool, I poured it into my ice cream maker and let it churn for about 20 minutes. I let it harden in the freezer for a couple hours before serving, but that step isn’t entirely necessary if you want dig in right away.
Now, I probably would have never of bought us an ice cream maker. The only reason we have one is because B’s parents gifted it to us for Christmas. At first I thought it was really cool, but didn’t really know when I get to use it. But now that I have made a few successful batches of ice cream, I am hooked. I love knowing exactly what is going into the ice cream and using lower fat products like Greek yogurt. And it is really easy! It does require some forethought because you will probably need to let things chill, but other than that, it doesn’t take that much time. I highly recommend adding this machine to your kitchen if you are an ice cream lover like me. You will get so much use out of it!

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