Greek Turkey Meatballs with Tzatziki Sauce

Greek Turkey Meatballs with Tzatziki Sauce

Tonight I made up a great new dinner! I saw a recipe for greek turkey meatballs using zucchini in the meatballs but decided to use that idea and make up my own recipe. I also made homemade tzatziki sauce, I've tried using different recipes before and it never turned out right so today I just made up my own recipe and it turned out really good! I made up the sauce a few hours ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge untill it was time to eat. We all really liked this even the picky 3 year old ate some, which was a double bonus since it had zucchini hidden in it:)

Tzatziki Sauce
2 cups plain lowfat yogurt
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
salt and pepper to taste
1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, cover and keep in fridge untill ready to use.

Greek Turkey Meatballs    (makes 15 meatballs)
1 pound ground turkey
1 small zucchini, grated
1/4 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic. minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg white
crumbled feta cheese, about 15 teaspoons
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine all ingredients except the feta cheese and cooking spray. Make 15 small patties out of the seasoned meat mixture. Put about 1 teaspoon of feta cheese in the middle of each patty. Form a ball around the cheese, and place each meatball in a baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for about 30 minutes until meat is cooked all the way through.

I served the meatballs with a salad topped with cucumber, tomato, feta cheese, and some of the tzatziki sauce. I just used a cheese grater to grate the zucchini. This was really simple to make the only time consuming part was forming the meatballs, and even that only took a few minutes. I will defintitely be making these again soon! Dinner's ready!

Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

                                  Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
Tonight's dinner is asian turkey lettuce wraps. This is a recipe I found on Pinterest and I have made it like 4 times already. It's super easy and sooo good!

tasteofhome.com Recipes/Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I pretty much follow the recipe but there usually isn't much to choose from when it comes to lettuce at the commissary so I just use whatever kind I can find that looks good. I make this about once a week now, it's one of my new favorites. Dinner's ready!

Turkey Sausage and Egg White Breakfast Burritos (low cal)

                Turkey Sausage and Egg White Breakfast Burrito

Tonight's dinner is breakfast! Turkey sausage and egg white breakfast burritos to be exact. My husband loves breakfast, all day every day...lol. Breakfast burritos are one of his favorites so I tried to find a way to make them healthier and I think I succeeded today with these, they are about 325 calories each!

Turkey Sausage and Egg White Breakfast Burritos   (makes 5 burritos)
1 pound turkey breakfast sausage
10 egg whites
3 tablespoons low fat milk
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup green pepper, finely chopped
5 multigrain tortillas (8 inch)
1 1/4 cups fat free shredded chedder cheese
about 10 tablespoons light sour cream(5 servings)
about 10 tablespoons salsa(5 servings)
cooking spray
salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl whisk together egg whites and milk, set aside. In a large non stick skillet saute the onions and peppers in a little bit of cooking spray. Once onions are translucent add the turkey sausage and brown unitll cooked through and crumbled. Reduce heat to medium and add egg whites (you may need to add a little more cooking spray before adding the eggs). Stir until eggs are all cooked, add salt and pepper to taste. Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel and microwave for about 20 seconds. Place one tortilla on each plate and top with 1/5 of the egg and sausage mixture. Top each burrito with 1/4 cup cheese, and 2 tablespoons each of sour cream and salsa. Wrap it all up burrito style and enjoy!

I calculated these to be about 325 calories for each burrito and that includes the toppings! The full fat way I used to make them they were over 800 calories each. Just by removig the egg yolks you save a lot of calories. As you can see I also used low fat or fat free ingredients wherever possible. The multigrain tortillas I used are 60 calories each and tasted really good. My husband loved these burritos, he ate 2 and said I sould make them again soon. The kids liked it too! Dinner's ready!

Bruschetta

                                                 Bruschetta

Tonight I made bruschetta for dinner. This is one of my specialties, and one of my husband's favorite things that I make. It's the best bruschetta I have ever had and I've had it in Rome...just saiying;) It's really simple to make, and I make it for dinner by itself because we love it so much, but you could certainly make it as an appetizer or side dish.

Bruschetta   (makes 12 pieces)
12 very thin slices of good crusty bread
2 cups chopped tomatos, seeds removed
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
handfull of fresh basil
1 tablespoon olive oil (plus a little more for bread)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the slices of bread on a baking sheet in a single layer. Spray or brush with a little bit of olive oil, and bake for about 5-10 minutes. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl. Top each slice of bread with a heaping tablespoon full of tomato mixture.

Yep, it's that easy, and sooo good! I like to drizzle mine with a little bit of good balsamic vinegar at the very end. The tomato mixture can be made up ahead of time, even the day before, and kept in the fridge. I love basil so I use quite a bit but you can use as much as you like depending how strong you want the flavor. I use kitchen shears to cut up the bigger leaves and tear the smaller ones or even leave them whole. This is really easy and delicious, dinner's ready!

Skinny Cajun Chicken Linguine Alfredo

                               Cajun Chicken Linguine Alfredo

Tonight's dinner is cajun chicken alfredo, lightened up. I found the recipe on Pinterest and knew I had to try it! It was even better than I thought it would be, we all loved it!

skinnykitchen.com recipes cajun chicken linguine alfredo

I only did a few thing differently... I cooked the chicken the same way I did the other day for the bumblebee stew, adding a little honey and I used more than 1 tablespoon of the cajun seasoning. The only other thing I did was use fresh basil since I had some, I added it at the end with the cheese instead of sooner if it had been dried basil. This was delicious and really easy to make and I will definitely be making it again soon! Dinner's ready!

Hamburgers and Chipotle Oven Fries

Last night I made hamburgers and chipotle oven fries, I needed an easy night of cooking. I made the fries the same way I made the chipotle sweet potato fries a few nights ago, I just used regular potatos instead. Then I made hamburgers on wheat buns with onion, tomato, and spinich.

Bumblebee Stew with Cajun Chicken

                            Bumblebee Stew with Cajun Chicken

Tonight's dinner is bumblebee stew? I got this from my mom, tonight was my first time making it. It is my mom's favorite dish at J Gumbos and she wanted to try to make it herself. It is more of a lightened up and simple version of what you would get at the restaurant I think, to be honest I've never had it! She is always talking about it so I wanted to try it, She told me what all was in it so as I made it tonight I tried to make it into a recipe. It turned out surprisingly good, my husband even liked it! Whatever this it is, I will be making it again;)

Bumblebee Stew with Cajun Chicken   (serves 4)
1 pound chicken breasts or tenders
2 table spoons light butter
1-2 tablespoons honey
4 cups cooked rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can black beans, drained
1 can fire roasted diced tomatos
1 cup frozen corn
tabasco sauce
cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray

In a large pan Saute onion with a little cooking spray. At the last minute add the garlic. Add the black beans, corn, and tomatos along with a few drops of tabasco (to taste), cajun seasoning (about 1 tablespoon) and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let it simmer on low while you cook the chicken. In a seperate pan with a little cooking spray, cook chicken all the way through and then cut into bite sized peices. Add back to the pan and return to medium heat. Coat the chicken with 1-2 tablespoons of cajun seasoning (or more or less to taste) then add the butter and honey, the honey is to cut some of the spice so use more or less to taste, depending on how spicy you like it. once the butter is meleted and everything is well combined remove from heat. Use 4 bowls, place 1 cup of rice in each. Top each one with 1/4 of the tomato mixture, and lastly, top with 1/4 of the cajun chicken.

I used brown rice but you can certainly use white. I put quite a bit of tabasco and cajun seasoning because we like it spicy, but you can add more less of any of the spices depending on how spicy you like it. I make cajun chicken this way for other meals too. This was really easy to make, I hope you give this one a try! Dinner's ready!

Hamburger Pie

                                                                   Hamburger Pie

Tonight's dinner is hamburger pie. Where to begin? Hamburger pie is something my mom has always made and most people call it sheppard's pie, but not us! The way my mom usually makes it is a pound of ground beef topped with mashed potatos and corn and chedder cheese. Over the years I started adding mushrooms and onions to mine. Tonight I made it a little different trying to lighten up. I thought about making it without any meat at all, but I couldn't bring myself to make hamburger pie with out the hamburger, it seemed wrong. My other idea was to make cauliflower mashed potatos instead of regular but the commissary was out of cauliflower so I think I might try that next time...I'm going to start with my mashed potato recipe, I would hope everyone kows how to make mashed potatos, but I know alot of people make them out of a box, we don't believe in those around here! I'm even going to include my mom's secret ingredient, I hope she doesn't kill me;) The hamburger pie recipe that I'm going to put on here is for the lightened up way that I made it tonight.

Real Mashed Potatos (serves 4)
2 large potatos or 3-4 small red potatos
3 tablespoons light butter
about 1/4 cup lowfat milk
1 teasoopn low fat mayonaise
salt and pepper to taste

Bring a pot of water to boil on the stove. Wash and dice the potatos and put them in the pot of water. Boil for about 2-30 minutes untill potatos are tender, drain. Put the potatos back into the pot and mash using a potato masher, mix in all other ingrediants untill well combined.

Lightened up Hamburger Pie    (serves 4)
1/2 pound of lean ground beef, browned
1 cup onions, chopped
2 cups white mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
mashed potatos from above recipe
1 cup fat free shredded chedder cheese
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Saute mushrooms and onions on medium high heat with a little bit of cooking spray. When they are done add the cooked meat and seasonings. After you have made the mashed potato stir in the frozen corn. In a baking dish layer the ingredients starting with the meat mixture. Cover that with the mashed potato mixture spread evenly. Top it with the cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

I used to make mashed potatoes with real butter, and lots of it! Now I use light butter and about half as much and it's almost as good. I never peel potatos when making mashed potatos, basically because I'm lazy and don't like peeling potatoes...I like them with the peeling and it saves me a step, but feel free to peel them if you're into that kind of thing;) I only used 1/2 a pound of meat to cut some calories, also since this only makes 4 servings using the full pound would be to much meat per serving...Plus now I have a 1/2 pound of cooked ground beef in the fridge, may come in handy making the kids lunches and stuff:) Hope you enjoy this healthy versions of one of our family's favorites. Dinner's ready!

Pizza Night

                                                          Barbeque Chicken Pizza
Tonight is pizza night! The kids and I had some friends over for dinner and I tried out a new pizza dough recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. I have been wanting to try to make barbeque chicken pizza because I miss the one at Schlotzsky's . I also made a pepperoni pizza for the kids. Both of them turned out really good and I think this crust recipe is a keeper that I will make again!

allrecipes.com/jays signature pizza crust

Barbeque Chicken Pizza    (serves 4-5)
8 ounces of chicken breasts or tenders, cooked and cut into bite sized pieces
about 1/4 cup barbeque sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup shredded chedder cheese
1 small onion cut into small strips
1/2 jar of jalapenos
1/2 batch of pizza dough(recipe above)

Spread the barbeque sauce on the dough and then spread the chicken evenly on top. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese followed by the onion and jalapeons. Top with the chedder cheese and bake according to pizza dough instructions(about 15-20 minutes on 425).

I made the kids a pepperoni pizza using the other half of the dough, for that I prebaked the crust about 5 minutes then topped with tomato sauce, turkey pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese and then baked it for about 15 more minutes. On the barbeque chicken pizza I used low fat chedded cheese to cut down on a few calories. This is very simple to make, just takes time if you decide to make the dough. If you are not comfortable making it yourself you could always used store bought dough or pizza crust. But, the dough is not hard to make at all, I am not a baker but I did just fine. If you haven't ever made it yourself give it try, you may never go back to store bought! I also made these for dessert....chocolatecoveredkatie.com/worlds healthiest chocolate chip cookies YUM! Dinner's ready!

      

Turkey Smoked Sausage Sandwiches with Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries

                                Turkey Smoked Sausage Sandwiches  
                              with Baked Chipotle Sweet Potato Fries   

Tonight's dinner is turkey smoked sausage sandwiches with baked chipotle sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries are a recipe that I got off of skinnytaste.com, so I will post the link. They are really good, I think I have made them once a week since I found the recipe! My husband doesn't like them because he doesn't like sweet potato fries, what is wrong with him? The kids and I love them though! The sandwiches were a hit with everyone tonight.

Turkey Smoked Sausage Sandwiches     (makes 4)
1 package turkey smoked sausage
1 onion, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
4 hot dog buns

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the sausage into 4 equal sized peices and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until the outside is nice and brown. Meanwhile, in a large skillet saute the onions and peppers with the olive oil on medium high heat. When it is almost finished add a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic. Place one sauasage on each bun and top with the peppers and onions.

skinnytaste.com baked chipotle sweet potato fries

I used turkey sausage to make it a little healthier but you can use any kind of sausage you want. I also used wheat hot dog buns if you are trying to make it healthier too. You can add cheese to them, or mustard is good too. I served my 3 year old his with just ketchup and told him it was a hot dog;) The chipotle sweet potato fries are pretty spicy, especially because I put extra chipotle powder, So I make the kid's plain with just olive oil. This is a very easy meal to make and is very hearty and filling, but can also be quite healthy if you want it to be! Dinner's ready!

Stuffed Cabbage

                                                                Stuffed Cabbage

Tonight's dinner is stuffed cabbage! As a special bonus tonight's dinner also come's with a funny story...First, I must warn you I'm not perfect. I know, shocking but this story will prove my point...While this was in the oven I was talking to my mom about how hard the cabbage leaves were to get off and how messy my cabbage rolls turned out because of this. She says "You boiled the cabbage right?" Um no? I have been making this meal for about 8 years and I have never even heard of that! Maybe I should read recipes more often...I've always like the cabbage to be a little crunchy not soggy so I'm not sure I would like it as much boiled. So after dinner I looked on line at some other stuffed cabbage recipes and some of them said to boil the head of cabbage and others said you can freeze it over night and then thaw it out and the leaves will come right off. I think next time I make this I will try the freezing meathod and see how that works out. Anyways, here is the recipe for the rest of it just don't use the raw cabbage like I did;)

Stuffed Cabbage        (Serves 5-6)
1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
4 cups of cooked brown rice
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon ground thyme
1 head of cabbage(apparently it should be either boiled or frozen then thawed)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet brown ground beef/turkey along with the onion and a little cooking spray. When meat is cooked all the way through add the garlic and cook for one more minute. Then, add the rice and seasonings and mix it all together. Remove cabbage leaves from head of cabbage and fill each one with some of the filling mixture. Roll the leaves up and place them seem side down in a baking dish. Continue until you run out of filling. Then, pour the spaghetti sauce over the top of all of them and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

I used to always make this with ground beef but I have been trying to only use ground beef once a week to be healthier. I was going to make it with ground turkey today but the commissary was out so I ended up using turkey breakfast type sausage. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but it was really good! This is also the exact same filling I use for stuffed peppers, if you don't like cabbage. Dinner's ready!

Asian Chicken Salad

                                                               Asian Chicken Salad

Tonight's dinner is asian chicken salad! This is an easy one! My kids won't eat salad so they had leftover taco soup from last night and me and the husband had this. We both like salads and this is one of my favorites!

Asian Chicken Salad        (serves 2)
6-8 ounces of chicken breasts or tenders
2 tablespoons BWW asian zing sauce
1 bag of salad (I used 50/50 mix)
1 small carrot, julienned
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
4 tablespoons Newman's Own low fat Sesame Ginger dressing
2 scallions, chopped
about 1/2 cup crunchy chow mein noodles

In a skillet cook chicken untill cooked all the way through, remove from pan and cut into bite sized peices. Return cut chicken to the hot pan and add the asian zing sauce, coating the chicken. In 2 large bowls seperate the lettuce mix, putting half in each bowl. Do the same with the carrots and dressing, and toss. Then add half of the chicken and mandarin oranges to each salad. Lastly, top each salad with scallions and chow mein noodles.

I know, again with the Buffalo Wild Wings sauce, I have an addiction what can I say? If you don't have any of the asian zing sauce you should get some! Ok, well seriously if you don't have any you can substitute any kind of sauce you like. You could even just cook the chicken with salt and pepper and not put any sauce. This salad is really easy to throw together but it tastes amazing, I hope you try this one out. Dinner's ready!

Taco Soup

                                                                     Taco Soup

Tonight's dinner is taco soup! This is one that I just made up on my own. It is a quick easy meal that can be thrown together with whatever you have on hand, perfect end of the week dinner. The husband had seconds and the kids and I loved it too!

Taco Soup                    (serves 6)
1 pound lean ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 can black beans
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup uncooked pasta
1/2 onion, chopped
1 can chicken broth
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons lime juice
shredded chedder cheese
sour cream

In a pot or large skillet with sides, brown ground beef along with onions. Then add taco seasoning packet acording to directions on packet. Keeping the pan on medium high add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook for about 15 minutes or untill pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Top each portion with chedder cheese and sour cram if desired.

You can use any kind of pasta you want, I had elbow macaroni in the cabinet so that is what I used today. You could do so many substitutions with this reipe, it's all about whatever you have on hand. I used lowfat chicken broth, low fat cheese, and low fat sour cream to cut down on the calories. Hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I do! Dinner's ready!

Mango Habanero Chicken Quesadillas with Fresh Guacamole

                    Mango Habanero Chicken Quesadillas with Guacamole

       Tonight's dinner is mango habanero chicken quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream, I served it with fresh pineapple spears as well. It got a thumbs up from the husband but thumbs down from the picky 3 year old, the 1 year old loved it but he will eat anything:) I thought it was really good, but what do I know?;)
       First is the guacamole, my mom taught me how to make it but we never really had a recipe, so tonight I measured everything when making it so that I could share the recipe. The Quesadillas are something I made up wanting to use some of the BWW mango habanero sauce that my mom sent me.

Mom's Guacamole
2 avacados
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 small tomatos (or 1 large) diced, seeds removed
1-2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
seasoning salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl mash the avacado with a fork, then add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well blended. You can also add cilantro or more or less chili powder depending on taste. Put it in the fridge untill ready to eat, it's that simple!

Mango Habanero Chicken Quesadillas   (makes 4)
12 ounces chicken breast or tenders
2 tablespoons mango habanero sauce
1-2 teaspoons honey
1 cup shredded chedder cheese
8 small corn tortillas
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cook Chicken on the stove untill cooked through, remove from pan and cut into small peices, then return it to the pan. Stir in the mango habanero sauce and honey until chicken is coated. (The honey is to make it a little less spicy so add more or less depending on how spicy you want it.)
place 4 of the tortillas on a sheet pan and spray one side of each tortilla with the cooking spray then turn them over so that the sprayed side is down. Add 1/4 of chicken to each tortilla in an even layer. Cover each one with 1/4 cup of cheese. Place one of the remaining tortillas on top of each one, spray the tops with cooking spray. Bake for 10 minutes. When finished, cut into quarters and serve with the guacamole and some sour cream.
    *The mango habanero sauce I use is from buffalo wild wings. I kow not everyone will have that in their fridge, but any similar type of sauce will do just fine. It doesn't even have to be mango habanero you could do any sauce or seasonings you like. I also made the kids quesadillas with just the plain chicken before adding the sauce so that their's wouldn't be spicy. To make this healthier I used lowfat chedder cheese and light sour cream.

Hello!

I've decided to start a food blog...because I love to cook! I have enjoyed cooking for my family and friends ever since I was a little girl. I love to get creative in the kitchen, I have a hard time following a recipe word for word. I often add my own touches and ideas, and sometimes what comes out of it is pretty amazing! I've recently started trying to make healthier foods for myself and my family, I'm actually enjoying trying to make the foods that I already love into healthier versions. I am finding that I can eat healthier and more nutrionally balanced meals that are still full of the flavor! I will start this blog journey by posting what I make for dinner every night. Sometimes it will be a recipe that I found somewhere else, if so, I will post that recipe (and more often than not, how I changed it). Sometimes it will be my own creation and I will do my best to make out recipes for those too. I will also explain how easy or hard the meal is to make and how it turned out in the end. My taste testers are my Husband and my picky 1 and 3 year old boys! I hope you enjoy making dinner with me!