Recipe ideas using greek yogurt

Got plain Greek yogurt? No problem!

I buy plain Greek yogurt by the tub and I substitute it straight across for sour cream in all of my recipes. I also dress it up to make it sweet. It is so healthy for you and is easy to cook with...and delicious! I feel like most Greek yogurt recipes involve either A) pre-flavored Greek yogurt or B) they are inherently Greek recipes (tzatziki sauce anyone?) Here are seven ideas to turn that wonderful and versatile ingredient into something fabulous.
*As luck would have it, almost all of my pictures were deleted, so that's why I only have three...

1. Guacamole. I love guac, but I don't love all of the extra calories from sour cream, so I substituted the sour cream with the greek yogurt and it was delicious! 
2. Chicken pot pie. I betcha didn't think you'd see that one! It adds a nice creaminess while cutting the calories that you'd normally get from a cream of chicken sauce. Tip: add to a rueafter adding a can of chicken stock. You want it to thicken before adding the yogurt. Unlike sour cream it does not act as a thickener.
3. Chicken poppy seed casserole. This is a family favorite and I feel better about making it knowing I can do it somewhat healthier than a typical casserole recipe. Swap out the sour cream for yogurt.
4. Vanilla yogurt. If you add a couple of drops of vanilla extract and some honey, you have a yummy bowl of vanilla yogurt. Add some nuts, fruit, or granola and you have a well rounded snack. 
5. Crepe filling. I make a creamy filling to mix with my fruit when I make crepes. Add a couple of drops of vanilla extract and powdered sugar to flavor and keep it thick. If you add regular white sugar it will make it soupy. Blah. Tip: fresh fruit is better to use than canned fruit...
6. Enchiladas. We love green chile chicken enchiladas and I used to make it with green chile sauce, cream of chicken, and sour cream. Now I do just green chile sauce with greek yogurt and it is absolutely delicious!
7. Dip/sandwich spread. If you've ever bought Hidden Valley dry ranch mix it calls for a tub of sour cream to make the dip. Sub that out for plain greek yogurt and you're golden. I also will take a heaping tablespoon, add onion & garlic powder with a pinch of dill and use it on sandwiches instead of mayo. 

 

Guac...yum.

*Remember how I said to use fresh fruit for crepes? Yeah, I used some peaches I canned and it was a runny mess!

High Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love to bake and since living in Utah I have felt like I've had more baking fails than ever in my entire life. I'm from Oregon so I never thought twice about using the high altitude conversions listed on most recipes. One day it hit me *duh* I'm at pretty high altitudes and I should convert my recipes. I've started doing that and ever since I have had no mishaps whatsoever. Here is a recipe that I adapted from a secret recipe and then also adapted for high altitudes. The nice thing is that they get cooked all the way through without overdone bottoms and they don't fall after baking. They will be just crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside (without being doughy/under done). It's a small batch, which is nice for my family since Julia and I are the only one to eat cookies.















My cookie helper :)

Recipe
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tea salt
Scant 1/2 tea baking powder (measure 1/2 tea then give it a little tap to knock some out)
1 stick butter
1 egg
6 TBL brown sugar
4 TBL white sugar
1/2 tea vanilla
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and sugars. Then add the egg and vanilla, mix well. Add the baking soda, salt, and flour. Mix until blended, but do not over mix. Then add the chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 min, or until the edges are just golden brown.

Done in the middle but still soft. Lightly crunchy on the outside and they didn't turn out hard as rocks once they cooled down.

An "everything" smoothie

I know, it looks gross...but it tastes great! Have you ever heard the saying "everything but the kitchen sink" is in it? That's how I feel about this. The great thing is that it hits a lot of must haves for a smoothie these days.

Ingredients
3/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup frozen sweet potato*
1/4 cup frozen peaches*
handful of frozen blueberries
2 handfuls of spinach
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt

Blend it. Drink it. Love it.




*Remember how I made homemade baby food? I put some in ice cube trays and I now have perfectly sized cubes of frozen sweet potatoes and peaches for smoothies, as well as for the baby's meals.

1 Dinner 2 Ways

Do you ever make something for dinner and then realize you have too much left over? I made a big ol' batch of chicken kabobs for dinner and we had a ton left over and so I decided to do a dinner "refashion".

Day one we had chicken kabobs with bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and pineapple. I marinated it in a yummy citrus blend (I didn't use a recipe, but McCormick has great mixes) I whipped up and did it on a baking sheet (we don't have a grill).

Day two I took some of the left overs (minus the pineapple) and turned it into fajitas. I added some sour cream and cheese and I'm telling you it was delicious. And I bet you're wondering, "Rachel, where's the pictures?" Well, funny story...I gave my camera to Alex for his mission and so I only have my phone to take pictures with and both times I was eating I forgot...until I was done. So...great ideas can come without photos.

Homemade Fruit Leather

Homemade {Plum} Fruit Leather

This is probably our new favorite snack and it was super easy to make...3 ingredients and that's it!

First wash, cut, and pit approximately 18 ripe plums (we like ours thick). Roast them at 350* for about fifteen minutes, just to help them warm up and relax. 

If they release water/juice into their cavities (as seen below) just pour it out. 

Transfer them to a food processor or blender and puree them until the chunks are gone. Add sweetener-- I had a couple that were tart so I added 1 cup sweetener (1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup corn syrup). You want to add enough sweetener to get it to the "just sweet" realm. Don't add too much because once it dries it will be too sweet. 

Pour onto a pan with raised edges that is either A- lined with parchment B- lined with a Silpat C-sprayed with cooking spray (I have not tried that method) or D- lined with plastic wrap.

Dry in an oven set at 175* until it is smooth and not sticky (especially the middle). If your outside edges dry a lot faster, you can trim them off during the process. Mine, since it was SO thick, took about 8 hours to dry.

Once it's done, if you used a Silpat just put plastic wrap on top, flip it over, and un-peel the Silpat (pictured above--the plastic wrap kind of blends in, but it's there I promise!). If you used parchment paper or plastic wrap, you can cut it straight from the pan into strips and roll it up. I used a pizza cutter and it worked great. I've also used scissors and they did great.

Store it into an airtight container (up to two-ish weeks) or freeze it in a freezer bag (up to a couple of months). Most of all, enjoy!  

You can easily use any fruit to make fruit leather, and with most fruits you don't even need to add sugar. We did mango-banana and it was delicious plus I didn't add any extra sugar.

Healthy Recipe Reviews:Grain-Free Desserts

I have a sweet tooth and there is no denying it. We have been trying to eat healthier lately so I have been looking for alternative recipes to our normal sweets. The PB Blondies I found from The Detoxinista  and the CC Cookie Dough Balls I found from Texanerin Baking. Of the two the blondies were my favorite. Brenan also liked them which was a huge plus!! I always have him try things before I tell him what's in it...My edges got a little over done, but other than that they were great. The cookie dough balls...If you are craving cookie dough and that's it, then these are great. The texture and flavor is spot on when they are uncooked/slightly cooked. If you are craving chocolate chip cookies (and want a healthy version) these are not for you. I cooked my second batch for-ev-er to get them to be less doughy and the end result was edible, yet very chewy (and not in the good way). Baking them longer also brought out the chickpea flavor. I ate them, but didn't love them as a cookie alternative. Just as dough balls they were great.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies
Adapted from Detoxinista.com

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
⅓ cup honey
1 whole egg
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8″ square pan with butter or coconut oil.
In a small bowl, mix the peanut butter, honey, egg, and baking soda until well combined, then fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the greased pan, and use a spatula to smooth the top.
Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown.
Let cool, then cut into squares and serve!
................................................................................................................................................................

Grain-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
Adapted from texanerin.com

Ingredients
1¼ cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup + 2 tablespoons peanut butter
¼ cup  honey 
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 dash cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor (I used a magic bullet...it took longer but it worked, then I transferred it to a Kitchenaid) and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky. 
With wet hands, form into 1½" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Best bakery-style cupcakes

So for quite a while I've been looking for a good frosting recipe. And not just any frosting, but the kind the grocery store bakeries make... I know that in the world of frosting this kind isn't highly esteemed, but I really like it sometimes...ok a lot. Anyway, over the past few holidays I have experimented with different recipes and techniques and for mother's day I nailed it!
This time for the cupcakes I used a boxed mix. It suited the situation this time...
Frosting Recipe
1/2 cup butter, room temp
1/2 cup shortening
1 TBL corn syrup
1 tea vanilla
2+ cups powdered sugar (I used a third of a bag)
Beat (and I do mean beat) the butter and shortening using a paddle attachment (a whisk attachment will take forever) until the butter is no longer yellow, about one minute. Add in one cup powder sugar and mix to incorporate. Add the corn syrup and vanilla. Add another cup of the powdered sugar and once it incorporates beat it for two minutes. If you want a thicker frosting for piping and whatnot add more powdered sugar. If you just want it light and fluffy to spread on the cupcake then don't add more.
Tips: make the frosting in a cool kitchen. I did it about three hours after the cupcakes were made and it prevented the frosting from separating.

Pork Carnitas

From nowhere I had this huge craving for pork carnitas. I searched all over to find the kind that I was looking for and I finally found it on Our Best Bites (big surprise). I made some changes since I didn't have 4 lbs of pork, but for the most part I stuck to their recipe. I omitted the bay leaf (don't have any...) and added 1/2 a seeded/veined jalapeno. This was some righteous pork and even the hubs liked it!

For the pico-type topping:

1/2 roma tomato, diced

1/4 diced onion

1/2 jalapeno, diced

1 TBS lime juice

Pinch of salt and pepper

Mix and garnish :)

For the cabbage slaw:

1/4 cabbage, thinly sliced

1 TBS lime juice

1 TBS orange juice

1/2 tea red wine vinegar

Pinch of sugar, salt,and pepper

Mix everything together and let it sit for 10 minutes to soften up, then serve over carnitas.

Peanut butter chocolate chip banana muffins

So I adapted this recipe from one that Emily posted on our other blog and I'm telling you they are delish! The regular version are fantastic as well, but peanut butter seems to make everything better :)














Ingredients
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon chunky
peanut butter
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda**
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Line or grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
Beat together the butters and sugar in a medium bowl, then add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and mix until smooth. Add the banana, honey and eggs, beating until smooth. Add the flour and chocolate chips, stirring until smooth. Divide batter into the muffin cups, they’ll be nearly full. Bake the muffins until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 23-28 minutes. Remove from oven and after a couple of minutes transfer the muffins to a rack to cool.

**this recipe is for high altitude, so if you live at a low elevation, increase the baking soda to one teaspoon.

Caprese Bruschetta

I wasn't sure what to call this, but I figured caprese bruschetta described it best. And let me tell you, it's good. Like so good I literally dreamt about it all night after eating it and so good that I had to make it again for lunch the next day.

Ingredients
4 Roma tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella
8 slices Italian bread
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Dried Basil

Step one, dice and seed your tomatoes. Put them in a medium sized bowl.

Step two, dice your cheese into squares approximately 1 cm x 1 cm. You want your cheese to tomato ratio to be 1:2 (so half as much cheese as tomatoes--or whatever suits your personal tastes).

Step three, season. Add about two dashes of pepper, a pinch of basil, and a few dashes of salt and garlic powder. Mix the tomatoes, cheese, and seasoning.

Step four, lightly drizzle your bread with the olive oil and bake at 350 until it gets just crispy (about 5-10 min).

Step five, remove the bread from the oven and add your toppings. We like ours nice and full, but you should definitely be able to get 8 slices from this amount of mixture.

Step six, bake until the cheese melts, approximately 10 minutes. Then enjoy it already!!!

And yes, day two I accidentally left it in too long...It was still delish though. 

Freezing Strawberries

We are a big time smoothie family and now that the weather is getting nicer, fresh produce is much cheaper. Whenever I see strawberries on sale I buy a ton and freeze them so that we have them throughout the summer, but better yet throughout the winter. Buying and freezing them now is much cheaper than buying frozen strawberries (or any frozen fruit really) from the store. Here's three ways to freeze them.

Option #1
Rinse and trim the green off of your berries.
Place each berry in a square of your ice cube tray and freeze. This is great if you have a narrow freezer like mine. If you don't plan to use them quickly then after they're frozen seal them in a freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.

Option #2
Rinse and trim the green off of your berries.
Place wax paper, parchment paper, or foil onto a cookie sheet, completely covering it.
Set your berries on the sheet and freeze! This is a great way to do a lot at once and works well with wide/large freezers. Same story, if you don't plan to use them quickly then after they're frozen seal them in a freezer bag, removing as much air as possible.

Option #3
Rinse and trim the green off of your berries.
Set them out to dry on paper towels.
Once they are completely dry (and I do mean completely) put them in a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. Then freeze them. If they are stuck together at all once you try to remove them, re-seal your bag and drop them on the ground to loosen them up. It works like a charm.

Sweet Potato Smoothie

Before you cringe, hear me out on this one because it was totally delicious. I worked at Jamba Juice for a year and a half and so I know my way around a blender. To make my family healthier I started buying V8 Fusion (fruit and veggie juice) and adding it to our smoothies instead of using just fruit juice. Then I saw on the label that they used sweet potato juice...you'd never know by the taste of it. If you like tropical type smoothies then this one is a winner. And, my picky husband drank it and loved it, so did the kids!

Ingredients
8 oz V8 Tropical OJ (normal OJ will work, too)
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 small banana
1/2 mango (if you don't have this then don't worry)
1/2 baked sweet potato
5-10 soy milk ice cubes**

Blend and enjoy.

**pour soymilk into an ice tray and freeze. It's a great source of protein for your shake.

Creamy tomato pasta with sausage

Very rarely am I in the mood for sausage in my pasta, but the mood hit and I had to oblige! I've made it before and I have a picky eater on my hands, so this version is actually healthier since I pureed the heck out of the vegetables and I didn't have to worry about anyone seeing chunks. No one ever knew...

Ingredients
2-3 Italian sausages (or bratwurst)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1/3 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. chopped carrots
1 clove minced garlic
1 teaspoon dry basil
1 can stewed tomatoes (plain flavored is best)
1/2 box penne pasta
2 Tbl sour cream
1/4 c milk
1 tea sugar
oil
S&P for seasoning

Start your water for your pasta first.
Get your sausages cooking on medium heat and cover. (yes, I did 2 1/2 sausages...there were 5 in a pack so I wanted it to be even...)

On medium heat, add oil to a large skillet and add the carrots, garlic and onions. Once the onions begin to become translucent, add the peppers, basil and salt/pepper (just a dash). As the peppers soften, add a can of stewed tomatoes. Turn off the heat.















At this point your water should be ready for the pasta. Salt the water and add the pasta.

Take your vegetables and add to a blender/food processor/magic bullet and puree! If your family doesn't mind chunks you can leave some, otherwise let it blend until it looks like this. (I did my tomatoes separately since I have a magic bullet, hence the very orange looking sauce...)
 


Drain your pasta and add your beautiful sauce, add the sour cream, add the milk and the sugar. Once your sausages are done cooking, chop them however you like (I do it at an angle...something about it seems more fancy) and add them to the pasta. Garnish however you'd like and enjoy!

Triple chocolate cake

This is a little late, but here is the amazing 4-layer chocolate cake that I made for Valentine's Day. Brenan and I had stressful day that day so I decided to make something extra decadent.

Triple chocolate cake

Ingredients
Cake
Okay, I admit it, I took the easy way out and used a box mix this time. Devil's Food to be precise. If you have the time or if boxed isn't your thing, make your favorite cakes using 2 9"pans. Cool the cakes and slice in half horizontally. For the best results, use a long sharp knife.

Frosting
I used the recipe from my previous post, found here. Once your cake layers are cooled, put 1/3 of your frosting into a plastic ziploc or pastry bag  and pipe it onto the first layer. Repeat with 2 more layers. This is a great technique to frost because you won't pull up crumbs while trying to spread frosting. I piped a tight spiral onto each layer except the top. Once you stack your layers the frosting spreads out and voila, perfectly frosted layers!

Icing
To prevent this cake from being too rich, I made an icing for the top instead of using frosting.
recipe
1/2 cadbury dairy milk bar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate bar on med-low heat, adding 2 TBL of the milk to help it thin out. Turn off the heat and add the powdered sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add more milk to thin out the consistency, you'll want it to be nearly like corn syrup in consistency. Let it cool for 5 minutes, then drizzle over the top of the cake.

With the rest of the Cadbury bar, use a potato peeler to shave chocolate curls for the top of the cake.

A Frosting Secret

I love frosting. I like to make homemade as much as possible and I always used to run into this problem- I could always taste the powdered sugar once I was done...yuck!  So, while working at the St. Regis I became great friends with the pastry chef and this is what he told me is the secret to frosting--add corn syrup. It helps break down the powdered sugar (like how the milk does) without dissolving it and losing its consistency. So for today, here is my favorite frosting recipe (for now). I'm in the midst of finding/trying new recipes that are as to die for...

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
*2 TBL corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. *Add in 2 TBL corn syrup and beat about 20 sec longer. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

*My addition to the recipe.

Black Bean Brownies

I got this recipe from Melissa D'Arabian (here) and I LOVE them. They add some extra nutrition to an otherwise empty calorie treat. I added my changes/notes to the recipe at the end.

Ingredients
Butter, for greasing pan
3/4 cup cooked black beans
1/2 cup vegetable oil, or olive oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided
1/3 cup flour*
1/2 teaspoon baking powder*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9-inch square baking pan.

In a blender, puree the beans with the oil. Add the eggs, cocoa, sugar, coffee, and vanilla. Melt half the chocolate chips and add to the blender. Blend on medium-high until smooth. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the blender and pulse until just incorporated. Stir in the remaining chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake until the surface looks somewhat matte around the edges and still a bit shiny in the middle, about 20 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before cutting and removing from the pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve.

Here are the changes I made to the recipe.
1. I used canned beans and you must rinse the heck out of them if you use a canned bean.
2. I omitted the coffee, not on principle, but because I didn't have any.
3. *Since I'm high elevation I added an extra 2 TBL flour and did a scant 1/2 tea baking powder
4. Cook longer than 20 minutes! I did 20 minutes and they were definitely under done in the middle.

I had Brenan try them before I told him there were beans in it and he really liked them.

Look what I got Julia to eat!

That's right, I got her to eat spinach and broccoli pasta. Recipe below.

Getting Julia to eat vegetables has been a challenge. She has the teeth for it, she just doesn't like raw or plain vegetables, with the exception of sweet potatoes.

The second problem is getting me to eat more vegetables, mainly ones that she will also like. While we were at my dad's house she ate a ton of vegetables and I finally figured out why: They were served mixed in with other things or prepared in interesting ways. For example, she loved the kale we had. Granted, it was tempura battered and fried, but still, she ate more than most of the adults.

So I came up with simple solutions to get more veggies in our diet. This first way was simple and delicious and she was literally asking for more the entire time. I make big batches so that I can freeze some ( it's great make ahead meal that freezes well, especially with baby #2 on the way) and have another day or 2 of meals for us. Here is the recipe:

Broccoli and Spinach Pasta
1 TBL butter
1 TBL flour
1 cup milk (for a lighter sauce, use skim)
1/2 cup grated cheese
Salt & Pepper to taste
Cooked pasta of choice, about1 cup uncooked (I recommend wheat or fortified pasta)
Vegetables of choice, chopped finely

Melt butter and stir in flour. Once it is smooth slowly add in the milk, using a whisk to get rid of chunks. Bring to a light boil so that it thickens. Reduce heat, add in cheese and salt, and voila! Sauce is ready.
Add in vegetables of choice and keep on low heat so they get soft. Add in cooked pasta and you're ready to go. With the extra pasta (if there is any) divide it into plastic bags portioned for your toddler and freeze. It reheats in about 1 min, stir after 30 seconds.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is simple, completely flexible and healthy! I know that the makers of baby/toddler foods have the best intentions, but this is preservative free and way cheaper than buying pre-made food.

Cooking experiment

I recently came upon a lot of tomatoes, so I have been trying out new things with them to eat them before they go bad. Here is adventure #1

http://emandrachdg.blogspot.com/2012/06/tomatoes-three-ways-part-1.html