Chicken Yogurt Salad

Today is one of the first days of actual cooking, and it turned out great. So after a day at work, I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients for the next couple of meals, all of which are Mediterranean themed. On the way to the store I called my parents and invited them over, because cooking for one is a little tough, and if I'm going to spend hours in the kitchen, I do want it to be for more then just me. So here is how the cooking started with an approximation of the recipes below.

Kabob Marinade Chicken

1lb chicken breast strips
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp dried crushed thyme
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
dash of pepper to taste

Start by mixing all the ingredients except for the chicken in a medium bowl. Add the chicken, and evenly coat the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours. Then cook chicken (it's excellent grilled, although I baked it at 350 in my oven) Cool chicken.

Tzaziki Sauce
16 oz nonfat Greek yogurt, or plain yogurt strained
half a cucumber skinned, seeded, and diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or mashed
dash of salt
1 tsp white whine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil

mince and then crush garlic in serving bowl with salt. Mix ingredients together, then serve chilled or add to other food.


half a roma tomato, diced and seeded
1/3 of a red onion, diced

Or pulverize in a food processor if you have individuals that are eating it that don't like textures of these items.

Mix about one cup of the Tzaziki, the tomatoes, extra cucumber, red onion, and chicken together. You can also add minced black olives and feta cheese to make it even more sublime. Serve on top of whole wheat pita bread.

It's a very light, very refreshing meal, with a little but of a kick because of the red onions.

I had my dad buy pita bread since the bread I was making didn't finish rising in time to be baked before the meal. I also made hummus, but the recipe seemed off. It was almost peanut butter hummus instead of the yummy lemony garlic hummus it was intended to be.

The dinner though was a succes (and now I have homemade pita/flatbread for tomorrow). There are not any leftovers. And I have chicken marinading already for tomorrows meal of chicken gyros. How exciting to have such yummy food to look forward to.

Not to mention the blueberry lemon muffins I'm making for breakfast tomorrow. Woohoo, healthy yummy food abounds!!!