Greek Inspired Chicken Pitas

With our wedding coming up later in the year, I’ve started to make lighter dishes for dinner to make it easier to shed a few extra pounds that we both have. 🙂 To prevent Mark heading for the fridge later in the night I have to come up with dishes that will fill him up but be low in calories. Ok I’m not going to lie I will head for a piece of cheese myself if I’m still hungry.  In any case, this recipe has chicken and chickpeas which are both quite filling, plus it’s tasty.

Recipe:

• 2 Chicken Breasts marinated for at least 8 hours in a Yogurt Marinade
• 3 small multi grain Pitas cut in half
• 1/2 can of Chickpeas (rinse in water to cut down your sodium intake)
• 1/2 can of Black Olives (rinse in water to cut down your sodium intake)
• 1 small Cucumber, chopped
• 1/4 of Red Onion, chopped
• 1 roasted Bell Pepper
• a handful of Feta
• Black Pepper to taste
• Salt (very little if any)
• Olive Oil to taste
• splash of Lime Juice

First you have to turn on your grill for the chicken and bell peppers. I’m assuming if you have a grill you know how to use it and if you don’t have one you can grill it on the stove in a grill pan. If you are using the stove, cover the pan when the chicken is cooking to contain the moisture.

  

While the chicken is cooking combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl (minus the pitas) and dress with olive oil and a splash of lime juice.  You could eat this dish as a salad too if you add some vinegar to it.

Once the chicken is done cut it up and stuff the pitas with a few pieces of chicken first, add the salad and top of with a few pieces of chicken again. Enjoy!

Spinach Mushroom Salad

I was at the asian store the other day and saw this big weird looking mushroom called Abalone Mushroom, so of course I bought it. I always try to cook with new things.  I googled it once I got home and it’s apparently a type of oyster mushroom. I first sautéed the mushrooms to see what they tasted like and I loved them, they were fantastic. They are very meaty and earthy, but yet are mild in taste. Just delicious. We are trying to eat healthier so I decided to make a salad that would be quite satisfying, even as dinner.

Recipe:

• a bag of baby spinach
• 3 cut up hard-boiled eggs
• 1-2 cups of shredded carrots
• a handful of toasted almonds
• 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese (you could use some nice mild blue cheese as well)

For the mushrooms:

• mushrooms (1 big abalone mushroom or a package of oyster mushrooms)
• a touch of lemon or lime juice
• 4 cloves of garlic
• salt
• pepper

Dressing:

• olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• salt
• pepper
• dried parsley and oregano

First cut up the mushroom and garlic and saute it in a pan until it gets nice and brown. Add salt and pepper and right before you are done cooking the mushrooms squirt a little lemon or lime juice on top. For some reason the juice brings out a great flavor of the mushrooms, but don’t put too much or it will kill the great taste. Combine the rest of the salad ingredients with the mushrooms. I just made a simple dressing because there is so much flavor in the salad that it shouldn’t over take it.  Enjoy!

Caesar Salad with Crunchy Croutons

I was laying on the coach, sick watching the cooking channel one day and I saw one super simple recipe for Caesar salad. I’ve never made my own Caesar dressing before so I decided to give a shot. I thought I liked Caesar dressing before, but not until I made this one. This dressing  tastes fresh and light; much better than any store-bought one from a bottle. And the croutons add that extra  flavor and crunch to the salad. Trust me it’s a party hit. I’ve made this salad a few times for family and friends since and everyone always loves it. I can’t take credit for the recipe, I saw it on Food 911 (Tyler Florence’s show).

Recipe:

Croutons:

• 1/2 loaf crusty Italian bread  ( I used sour dough once and I liked it better)
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves (I usually put more of a variety of dried herbs, like marjoram, savory, rosemary and thyme)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Take a bowl and tear the bread into it. Add the dried herbs, salt, pepper, grated cheese and olive oil. Toss it all together and place on a cooking sheet. Bake for about 15 min or until golden brown.

Dressing:

• 4 anchovy fillets
• 1 clove garlic, smashed (I love garlic so I use about 4 cloves)
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Salt

Put the anchovies, garlic, lemon juice, and water into a blender and process until the mixture is smooth. Add the olive oil, cheese, salt and pepper and blend again. I usually taste it and add more black pepper if needed. Be careful with the salt because the anchovies are pretty salty as is.

Chop up your romaine lettuce.  Add the dressing and croutons right before you serve the salad so that the croutons don’t become soggy. Grate some Parmesan on top for garnish. Enjoy! 🙂