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!