Tsatziki Cucumber Yogurt Dip

My daughter made this dip, took the photos and wrote this guest post. The dip is SOOOO GOOD. It’s so good for you, too. It’s great with vegetables, corn chips, on salmon, everything! The amount may seem like a lot, but if your family likes this, the dip will be gone in a day. It is just so good and perfect with everything. Here’s her post:

Tsatziki Cucumber Yogurt Dip
32 oz. tub of plain yogurt
1 cucumber, peeled and grated (or diced into very tiny cubes)
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried dill weed (more or less, depending on your taste)
Salt to taste

I’m typically not a Greek food fan, but their cucumber yogurt dip, “tzatziki,” is phenomenal! I love cucumbers and yogurt! Vegetables and flat bread simply are not as good without it! So if we ordered take-out from Simeon’s, we’d have to get some of this stuff! But of course, there were those days when one or a few of us would crave that luscious dip, and not be able to get it from Simeon’s. We once bought some from the Wal-mart deli, but it really didn’t taste like the real stuff– I think they put too much sour cream in it. So Mom and I would talk about making it ourselves someday. She recently bought a cucumber and a tub of plain yogurt specially for the endeavor, but in the midst of all the crazy stuff happening, none of us got around to looking up the recipe and making it. But New Year’s Day only happens once a year! That’s why I resolved to wait three days afterward to quickly search for a recipe and make this stuff, lol!

I found a basic recipe on e-how, then did something that we will just call my creative custom style– I tweaked it. I think I do this with every single thing I ever make; if I do use a recipe, it’s just my basic outline, like a rough pencil sketch that you add colorful paints and details to. It can make for a beautiful landscape, a diverse melting pot, or a bunch of colors that just don’t match– and flavors that don’t sit the best with the family members. So watch how you tweak!

I started out with what was left, that is, most of, a 32 oz. tub of plain yogurt, an entire cucumber, a tablespoon of lemon juice, and almost a tablespoon of minced garlic.

Having put the yogurt in a glass bowl, I began to prepare the cucumber. I was a little irked that I had to use four different tools to get the job done; I tend to use one tool all around (so it’s not just a guy thing), but if I get into dental hygenics, I guess that’s a habit I will have to break.

First, I peeled the cuke with a vegetable peeler, cut it into quarters, then scooped the seeds out with a spoon. The recipe explained that you may either dice or grate the cucumber, so I decided to try a little of both in the same recipe. The first quarter I diced (but forgot to get a picture; sorry. You see, I was talking to my Mom, and you know what happens when you start talking with your Mom. You get so caught up and distracted you forget what you were doing). The remaining three quarters I grated, as seen.

The smell of cucumbers was driving us absolutely nuts! After stirring in the shredded cuke, I added the lemon juice and minced garlic. Once that was all done, it was time for the spices! The recipe called for parsley and salt to taste. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the parsley, but we did have dill weed, so I added some of that with the salt, and then proceeded with the official tasting-test!

Wow, it was good! But we needed a bit more spice, so I sprinkled in more dill weed and salt, then tested again.

Better, but it still needed some kick. And what do chefs think of when they need kick? Well, I had already used garlic, and knew that wasn’t what it lacked. Of course, paprika! A sprinkling of that with some dried minced onion, then it was time for Test 3. Oooo, that was SO much better! Now what could the next step be? Discover popular opinion! Time to test somebody else! So I got our family Greek food lover/ top chef/ expert taster, Mom! She took the broccoli, dipped it in ever so delicately into the glass bowl covered on the sides by the drips that had resulted from the spills associated with vigorous stirring and multiple recipe alterations.

Verdict? Mom’s approval= it’s a hit. Success! She even decided to make fish and rice for dinner, so that we could enjoy the latest gastronomical creation to it’s fullest.

But this dish does not need to be reserved just for the dinner table; it’s a perfect lunch or snack condiment to accompany vegetables, flat bread, even crackers or sandwiches. I’ll even dip pizza in it. To my knowledge, it’s not incredibly fattening like most dips and dressings out there (or like pizza), so we’ll call it a healthy snack! And best of all: yes, you can try this at home!

Woohoo! How did she do with her first cooking post, huh? Get that gal a blackberry curve or something! Thanks, Alice, for all your hard work. As we speak, the dip is GONE. Told ya it goes fast.

Yummy Chobani Yogurt

In my continuing quest to eat healthier more frequently (she says as she wipes pizza crumbs from her mouth), I found this very unusual yummy and healthy yogurt recently. Well, actually, the Hubs discovered it. It’s very pricey, and am usually blind to any yogurts over 50 cents a pop.

It’s Greek yogurt. It has NO corn syrup!! This strawberry yogurt does have some sugar, but I ate the honey yogurt and that had no added sugar!! And the protein amount is higher than many other yogurts. It’s also loaded with all that happy bacteria that is good for the digestive system. Yum. While eating Chobani may not qualify you for lower term life insurance quotes, you will feel better after eating it.

Like I said, the yogurt is pricey– it’s $1 for a small container at my local Hannaford’s. The nice thing is that the yogurt is firmer and a lot less sweet than other yogurts, so the kids dislike Chobani. Which leaves all the more for me.