When Vacation Gives you Lemons...

Reentry is hard. This week I am trying my darndest to get back in the groove of the grind after a full seven days of family time in the sun, surf and sand. 100+ degree weather just isn’t as fun on the steamy blacktops of suburbia as it is in a beach chair with my feet in the cool ocean water and the beach breeze in my hair.

As it goes with vacation, I came home to a fridge of random ingredients. I had feta, some frozen ground turkey, greek yogurt, spinach, rotten milk, frozen hamburger buns, some cucumbers from a neighbor, and a million lemons. Not a bad lot, but definitely not a whole lot of options for Superman, sorry buddy :)

My neighbor and chef extraordinaire, Tawnya, had recently told me about some tasty Spanikopita burgers she made that I knew I wanted to try out. And when vacation leaves you with a million lemons, make Tzatziki? After I scrounged up some tomatoes I got to work. For a fridge full of random ingredients, this turned out pretty dang good.

Spanakopita Burgers

(adopted from Rachael Ray’s recipe)

1 pound of ground turkey or chicken

1 bag of spinach

half an onion and a couple cloves of garlic (I always always have onion and garlic)

oregano

1/2 cup of crumbled feta

Hamburger buns (optional)

For the tzatziki topping:

1 cup of Greek Yogurt

1 cucumber

half a small red onion

2 cloves garlic

cherry tomatoes

1 lemon

2 tsp Dill

Olive Oil

First thing’s first, heat a saute pan over medium high heat and add a turn of the pan of olive oil. Chop the garlic and onions.
Add to the saute pan and let them go for about 2 minutes.
Then add the spinach. I did use the whole bag. The original recipe called for frozen spinach but I just really have something against frozen spinach. Fresh spinach is so pretty! I added about half (enough to fit in the pan), let it cook down, and then added the other half
Like so

While that spinach is doing it’s thing, get started on the Tzatziki. Add the greek yogurt to the mixing bowl. (P.S. I got to use my new Bamboo fiber mixing bowls from Pampered Chef’s not yet released fall collection, I love them). Then add the 2 tsp of Dill. Fresh dill is so much more flavorful but dry will do.
Add two cloves of garlic.

Oh hey, spinach is done. Put that in a separate bowl to cool while you finish the Tzatziki. You will inadvertently cook the ground turkey if you try and mix it all while it’s hot!

Focus Karen, back to the tzatziki. Add the lemon juice.

Peel the cucumber

I really wanted the cucumber pulverized so I used the food chopper and got the pieces nice and teeny.
Add it in the sauce.
Chop tomatoes. I love the colors of these.
Score and cut the red onion (I would leave this out if I wanted the tzatziki to be more of a dip and less of a burger topping)
Then toss it allllll together.
To the spinach bowl, add the 1/2 cup feta and about a tablepsoon of oregano.
Then the ground turkey and mix it well. I just really think you can’t mix a burger well unless you get in there with your hands, so don’t be shy just do it.
Form into patties and refrigerate until you are ready to go.

When you’re ready, heat some olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. I would recommend pan frying these versus grilling because they are a bit juicy and might fall apart on the grill.
Cook through on both sides until they are golden brown and cooked through. I think this took me about 10 to 15 minutes.

I actually ate these open faced but I thought for the picture they looked cuter with a hat. Next time I would definitely throw some Hot Pepper Rings or Pepperoncini on there because I’m insane and have to have something spicy in every meal I eat. Might try pita instead of Hamburger Rolls too!

More Party Food

This past weekend I hit up every type of party Suburbia has to offer ... two 30-something Birthday celebrations, Bunco, Football tailgate, Engagement Party, 3 year old's birthday, and a Baptism. All I needed was an invite to a Tupperware party to make my Weekend in Suburbia complete.

Anyway, I was *planning* to bring food to each event, until I had a liiiiiitle too much fun on the first night and ended up scratching every activitiy on Saturday. Oops. In any event, my logic was that instead of making a bunch of different appetizers, I would make one batter bowl-ful of Elina's Chicken Buffalo Bites and then before each party, fill 24 mini-muffin bite sized snacks to bring along. Great idea in theory... and it worked great for the 4/7 parites I made it to.

I love love this recipe because it's so darn tricky. It tastes like you're eating fat football food, but really its 100% greek yogurt (all protein, no fat) and chicken with some spices. Okay and some cheese. Elina doesn't add cheese to hers and she's right, you don't totally need it. But I need it!! I love cheese too much! Add as much or as little as you want and it won't affect the overall taste.

Elina's Buffalo Chicken Bites
(this makes a TON, so halve this for a more modest amount of the bites. BUT keep in mind, whatever's left, you can throw in a dish in the oven and serve as a dip with torn bread or celery sticks. Freezes well too.)

2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup Red Hot
14 oz 0% Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt
2 handfuls of Shredded Cheddar/Mexican Blend (Elina doesn't do this, but the thought of not makes me sad)
1 package Dry Ranch Seasoning (use a full package no matter how much you make)
Grands Jr. Flaky Layers Biscuits

Just add the yogurt, ranch, hot sauce and cheese in a bowl and mix well.

Put a thin layer of the biscuits into the bottom of each pan and press down.

Chicken 5 minutes in the microwave in my Deep Covered Baker then chopped in 2 seconds with Salad Choppers. I know you're jealous if you had to bake and then two-fork shred your chicken!!

Mix it all together.

Fill each cup, but not so that it goes over the edge. I sprinkled a teeeeensy bit more little cheese on top because it looked yummier.

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes or until golden brown and perfect!

Corny

This past Saturday I joined my local running club for the weekend run. My girlfriend who just had her third baby was back out to join us. Kate's husband just finished his Master's program so she was again able to join us. A close girlfriend who is newer to running decided to come out and join us. Between the seven or so friends who came out to run Saturday morning, there were 15 kids between us and 2 still on the way.


When you have little kids around, it is nearly impossible to have conversations lasting longer than 1 minute before a little person has a need. Someone is running away, someone is hitting another kid, someone just face-planted off the couch, someone peed in their pants. Between moms there is a mutual understanding that if in the middle of our conversation someone has to abruptly interrupt to stop their kid from stealing someone's snack, or simply sprint off mid-sentence to break up a wrestling match, it is totally acceptable. Because of that, a million conversations begin and end without ever really happening. At this stage in our parenting lives, the glue that binds our friendship is not the conversations themselves, but the mutual understanding that simply having a real conversation is a difficult task.



That is why I love my Saturday morning runs with my girlfriends. That is why I could run 7 miles without even really noticing the miles tick by this past weekend. That is why I've run 20 miles with my mom-friends and chatted the entire way. I leave my run on Saturdays knowing that not only did I fit in some fitness for the weekend, but I got to connect with another human being without any interruption. I got to listen to a story from beginning to end! I actually prefer it to a night out on the town because 1. I'm multitasking. 2. Its free and 3. I'll actually remember our conversations the next day.


I really treasure my Saturday morning runs, recently more than ever.


So while I'm being corny :) ... here's a couple things I've been doing with the abundant amount of corn from CSA and the farmer's markets. People hate on corn all the time as a "nothing" vegetable. Not so! They are high-fiber and fat fighting, and rich in Vitamin C! Who knew.


At first I was blanching my corn before adding it to food, but then I realized that was a total waste of time. Fresh corn is AMAZING. Sweet with a little crunch. Now I've been taking it straight off the cob and adding it to nearly everything. Perfect *on the run* addition to a meal!


Tuna Salad
2 cans tuna, cherry tomatoes, green onions, 1 ear of raw corn kernels, 1 tbl mayo and 3 tbl greek yogurt, salt, pep, and garlic powder.

Over a toasted whole wheat bun with a yummy slice of 'mato.
"Summer" Bruschetta

Grape Tomatoes (I used the heirloom from TJ's... colorful and delicious)

Lots of basil

olive oil

half an onion

salt

couple cloves pressed garlic

1 to 2 corn kernels, straight off the cob!

Used the Salad Choppers on the tomatoes, onion, and basil, straight in the bowl!

Add garlic, corn, salt and olive oil to taste.

Then I took something healthy and fresh and put it on top of something preservative and calorie laden. They cancel eachother out, right? I layered mozz slices on a baguette. Oh, baste each slice with a bit of olive oil first too.
Broil for 5 minutes on high
Top with Bruschetta. SO beautiful and summery!

My sister showed up unexpectedly last night. I think she could smell these all the way from Arlington :)

Game Day Yummies

I love everything about football season but football. I love dressing the kids up in Redskins gear. I love the crisp smell of the fall air when I head out for runs. I love hearing whistles and commentaries coming from the TV on Sundays (perfect for naps if you ask me). And most of all I love game day food. As for actual football? I might care more about that as the boys grow older and adorn some pads of their own. But for now, I really don't care or even know what I'm watching. I'm just happy there's food involved.

These little sliders are EASY as can be and quite tasty. Kudos to Elina on teaching me about the magic of Red Hot (a fat free, butterless hot sauce, to which I promptly added butter) and for enlightening me about the wonders of substituting Greek Yogurt for Sour Cream in almost every recipe. Cuts WAY down on the fat and you can't taste the difference.


Buffalo Sliders with Blue Cheese Spread

2 to 3 chicken breasts, shredded (I did mine in the Deep Covered Baker in the microwave which attributed to this recipe being easy as can be)
1/2 cups Red Hot
4 tablespoons honey
1 tbl butter
1 tbl vinegar
slider buns

Spread:
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
bout 2 green onions chopped
1 tbl vinegar
salt and pep




So first get your chicken ready. Whisk hot sauce, butter, vinegar and honey (if you don't add honey, the sauce will just be HOT with no flavor. This will balance it out). Pour directly over the chicken (if raw). Bake or microwave in DCB until chicken is cooked through. Mine took 8 minutes in the microwave in the Deep Covered Baker. If you add the sauce to a rotisserie chicken, just make sure to heat the sauce on the stove first to meld flavors!


Meanwhile mix greek yogurt, blue cheese, finely chopped celery, green onion, vinegar, salt and pep in a bowl.


Fridge it til ready.


Shred your chicken and put on a slider roll with Blue Cheese Spread. All I had on hand was dinner rolls so I went with it. This is a bite size morsel of heaven!

P.S. Reader Question: Can these be done in the crock pot?

I can't see why not but I'm no crock pot pro. My only insight would be to use chicken thighs as opposed to breasts because they have more fat and therefore won't dry up in the crock pot.

Pulled Pork Part 2 of 3

So for Part 2 I kept it nice and simple. I took the pork that I had refrigerated and not yet shredded (see post below), and simply shred it up and added our favorite store bought BBQ sauce. I put it in the oven at a very low heat while I made the potato salad.


Lightened Up Spring Potato Salad

3-5 red potatoes, diced smallish
1 hardboiled egg
chopped celery and onion
peas (but really, whatever you have/like in your potato salad works)
2 tbl dijon mustard
4 tbl greek yogurt
dill
chives
salt and pepper

I cut up three red medium sized potatoes (unpeeled, thats where all the nutrients are!) and added them into a big pot of water and turned up the heat so it would come up to boil. I threw in my egg that I wanted to hardboil for the potato salad too. Season the water well! The potatoes absorb the flavor... salt, bay leaf, herbs, chicken broth, use whatever you want or have on hand.

While it boils, get your other veggies for the potato salad ready. I went with what I had on hand... peas (leftover from the Buffalo Chicken Salad, and I like peas because they're Springy), onions and celery.

So, my husband HATES mayonaise and while I don't hate it, I don't particularly love putting huge spoonfuls of it in my food. So instead of mayo I used 1-2 tbl of dijon mustard, and 4 tablespoons of greek yogurt (also leftover from the Buffalo Chicken Salad). It was soooo good. It was still creamy, but not nearly as heavy or dense as it is with mayo.

Toss in your spices, I used fresh chives and dill (happened to have these on hand for the deviled eggs I made over the weekend. Again you don't have to use these spices, but I will say I really liked the dill in this).

When the potatoes are done, drain and run them under some cold water and toss them in with your yogurt/veggie/herb mixture. Peel the hardboiled egg, omit the yolk, finely chop the whites and toss it in too. Fridge til ready!

And the final products... I worked really hard on the beans too (opened up a can and heated it up).