Dill-Tzatziki Chicken Salad

I bring my lunch to work almost everyday, and I tend to eat either chicken salad or tuna salad on cucumbers.  Since I was pretty impressed with my last attempt at making chicken salad, I thought that I'd give it another try.  I found this recipe on pinterest, and since I'm such a huge fan of tzatziki sauce, it caught my eye.  Instead of using their tzatziki recipe, I went with my own because it's my favorite.  Unfortunately, I don't think that the garlic cloves that I used were large enough to offset the freakin' huge cucumbers that I picked up at Trader Joe's yesterday (or maybe it's just my taste buds) because it tasted a bit more bland than normal.  Normally, I'm not an add-dill-to-my-tzatziki kinda gal, but I decided to add it and think of it more as a part of the chicken salad and less a part of the tzatziki.  The original recipe calls for red onions, but I substituted a sweet onion because that's what I had on hand.  All in all, it was pretty good, and if you are a fan of tzatziki, I'd definitely give it a try!

Here's what I did....

Dill-Tzatziki Chicken Salad

Ingredients

2/3 cup Katie's Tzatziki (I saved the rest of it for snacking with veggies)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I used a sweet one, but I think red onion would work better)
2 cups shredded Rotisserie Chicken (skinless) 

Directions

Combine the first three ingredients in a medium bowl.  Stir in chicken and coat with sauce.

Enjoy!

Chicken Souvlaki

In continuing with my raiding of the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com, I am happy to share this Chicken Souvlaki recipe.  After finding a tzatziki sauce of my own that I love, I'm always looking for an excuse to use it.  The Cooking Light recipe had one included with it, but why mess with perfection (or close enough for me)?  Unfortunately, Rick wasn't able to come over for dinner due to his needing to ready his house for a showing tomorrow, but it meant that I had some yummy leftovers to take for lunch.  Because it was a cold, dark, rainy night, I opted to use my broiler to cook the chicken and zucchini on skewers that I soaked for 30 minutes while the chicken and zucs marinated in the refrigerator. I also added a little pepper to the marinade as well.  Of course, I had to serve it with a pita that I toasted in the toaster oven (would've preferred to grill but it's not that time of year) on medium.  And here's what I did...

Chicken Souvlaki with Zucchini

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2  teaspoons  olive oil
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1  medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

Directions

Preheat the broiler.

Soak bamboo skewers in water.

Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.  Add chicken and zucchini and marinate (covered) in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Thread chicken and zucchini on the skewers (alternating chicken and zucchini).   Spray the broiling pan with cooking spray and place in oven.  Broil the skewers, turning every 3 minutes, until done, about 9 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Serve with tzatziki sauce and pita bread.

Enjoy!!!

Taking on Tzatziki

While I was at Publix gathering the few ingredients and necessities that I needed for my Greek Shrimp dish, I stumbled across Greek yogurt in the dairy aisle.  It was called Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt.  I lamented the fact that they didn't sell pre-made tzatziki sauce, but my mood was immediately lifted when I saw on the side of the container directions for making this white, tasty treasure.  Should I dare try to make my own based on this simple recipe?  Of course I should!  I bee-lined straight (back) to the produce department, grabbed two cucumbers, and headed to check out.  The original recipe can also be found on the Oikos website. With that to go on, here's what I came up with...  I gotta admit that I was pretty impressed with my first attempt, and I'm pretty picky about tzatziki.  You can serve it with pita bread, veggies, or in a gyro.  

Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients
2 cucumbers

1 cup Greek yogurt
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions
Peel and seed cucumbers.  The seeds can be taken out using a melon baller or a spoon once the cucumnbers have been halved.  Grate the cucumber and place into a small bowl that is lined with a coffee filter.  Use the filter to squeeze out the excess water and place the shredded cucumber in a medium bowl.  Press each clove of garlic and add to the bowl.  Add yogurt, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir together until well mixed.  Refrigerator for at least one hour.


Enjoy!