Savory Greek Yogurt Salad

Sometimes I wonder when I’m gonna get my actual act together and cook dinner on a weeknight like a real live adult. I start off the week with the best of intentions. There’s always meat in the freezer that could be thawed. There’s typically no shortage of vegetables in the crisper due to my weekly market run. I don’t have single girl syndrome to fall back on, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend of many years wouldn’t complain if my cooking-for-two was together enough to extend past Saturday and Sunday nights.

But then I get home at 7pm and I’m all like, “yea this single fried egg with hot sauce is a perfectly acceptable meal.” This brings me to the savory greek yogurt salad that has become a staple in my weeknight meal rotation. I’m not going to pretend that other grownups would consider this a full fledged main entree, but for me on a Tuesday night, it does the trick. 

It’s tangy and savory and has protein, there’s salty feta and an herby cucumber tomato salad and lately I’ve taken to adding lots of toasty sesame seeds and for the tiniest sweet touch, some golden raisins. I feel like it’s a lot more well rounded than my standard egg for dinner. I will admit it’s a very summery salad --- cool, crisp and full of summer fare. I’ve had this salad in my back pocket for awhile now, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for all the tomatoes to disappear all at once! But since the market had no shortage this past weekend, I have no problem telling to you make this immediately, before it’s too late!

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Savory Greek Yogurt Salad

Ingredients:

½ cup chopped tomatoes

½ cup chopped cucumber

1 teaspoon dill, finely minced

1 teaspoon parsley, finely minced

1 teaspoon mint, finely minced

1 teaspoon shallot, finely minced

juice of ½ lemon

tablespoon or so of olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

scant ¼ cup crumbled feta

1 cup greek yogurt

Optional, not pictured:

sprinkling of sesame seeds (or sunflower or pepitas...or all)

golden raisins

Directions:

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, shallot, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Put yogurt into serving bowl, spoon salad over top, dress with a touch more olive oil and fresh ground pepper, feta, and any other optional toppings if desired.

Serves 1

Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Do you remember when I teased you all with this on instagram approximately five million days ago?

I think I captioned it something like: “THIS IS THE BEST THING I HAVE EVER MADE. EVER.”

Although probably not so shouty on the gram caption. But that’s how I was saying it in my kitchen as I was shooting the photographs and shoving forkfuls of it into my mouth (in the name of taste testing, obviously.)

I think I also promised it would be posted super soon. According to instagram that was...a month and a half ago. Whoops. My bad.

And unfortunately plum season has come and passed. Again...my bad.

But listen, you could leave the plums out and it’s not that they wouldn’t be missed, but it wouldn’t be the worst. You still get a tiny pop of sweetness from the balsamic reduction to play against the saltiness of the prosciutto and feta. You also could hold off on this until we get back to stone fruit season. It might even be worth the wait.

I just can’t help sharing this now because it can be made other ways. Originally I had wanted to do this with fresh figs, which I am sure would have been hella dreamy, but I missed the season for that. Plums seemed like they would work just as well and clearly I was not disappointed. I was ALSO thinking that some grapes would be terribly delicious here as a substitute, which you could do right now. Whatdaya think?

If you try it with grapes, let me know how it is!!

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Stuffed Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Roasted Plums

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 cup crumbled feta (I used goat's milk feta, but any will do!)

salt and pepper

4 pieces prosciutto

5 plums, pitted and quartered

few sprigs of thyme

1 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a small sharp knife create a pocket in the middle of each chicken breast. Divide and stuff the feta equally among the four chicken breasts. Season each breast with salt and pepper and then wrap each breast in one piece of prosciutto.

Place chicken pieces in an ovenproof baking dish. Distribute plum slices around the chicken pieces. Scatter a few sprigs of thyme around the dish on top of the chicken.

Roast in oven uncovered for approximately 40 to 45 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked through.

While chicken is roasting, place one cup of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan. Bring vinegar to a boil and then reduce heat to low. Let vinegar reduce by half, until thick and syrupy. About 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool, and place in airtight container. Will keep, refrigerated, for many weeks.

When chicken is ready to be served, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar reduction.

Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Sometimes in life you just need to eat a big bowl of comfort. Amirite? Or amirite?

Even though it’s warming up a bit this week, the Northeast lately has generally been fucking cold. The boyfriend and I hadn't realized until recently that our crappy old radiator in the living room had been essentially OFF for the past two winters. Oops. So until we came to our senses a few weekends ago, I had been serving us terribly comfy and warming dinners while we plunged into another weekend “Wire” binge-a-thon.

This was one of those meals. I mean, what’s more comforting than what’s essentially a heaping bowl of thickened heavy cream? Listen, there are vegetables and lots of protein in there so it’s decidedly virtuous. Especially more so than a bowl of cheese sauce and noodles. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against macaroni and cheese. I am the damn queen of macaroni and cheese. I am known for my macaroni and cheese. But on a regular old weekday or weekend night, I feel better about digging my frostbitten fingers into lots of vegetables with cheese sauce rather than cheese covered carbs.  

P.s. Don’t let that unassuming yellow hued iPhone photo dissuade you from making this exceptionally cozy dish. It’ll warm you right up.

p.p.s I just added a  "Subscribe" feature on the sidebar to the right! If you'd like to be notified when a new recipe is up, just type in your email address and hit subscribe and you'll get an email each time I post! Also don't forget you can also add me on instagram, facebook, pinterest and twitter! 

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Broccoli Cauli-Rice Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts with skin and bone (or about 2 cups cooked chicken)

olive oil

salt and pepper

1 head broccoli

1 head cauliflower

1 ½ cups heavy cream

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

¼ cup shredded parmesan

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese for sprinkling the top

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees

Roast chicken breasts in oven seasoned well with salt and pepper and drizzled in olive oil until cooked through and golden brown. About 40 to 45 minutes. ***(Or just use leftover cooked chicken, about 2 cups OR no need to use chicken at all! I used chicken to bulk this up to a main, you can leave the chicken out and serve as a side!)

Line a sheet tray with parchment paper.

Cut your broccoli into smallish florets and “rice” cauliflower in a food processor or using a box grater until you have approximately 2 cups worth.

Spread half the pan with the riced cauliflower and the other half of the pan with the broccoli, drizzle vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Throw into the oven with the chicken for about the last 20 minutes of the chicken’s cook time.

While chicken and vegetables are roasting, get cream reducing down in a small sauce pan over a medium to low heat. Season cream with salt, pepper and mustard and stir continuously. Using a whisk is best. Keep cream at a simmer, try to keep it from boiling. It will take about 15 minutes to start to thicken a bit. Once it’s pretty hot and starting to get thick, add in the shredded cheeses. Whisk cheeses into hot cream until they've melted into a creamy thick cheese sauce. Taste for seasoning. Remove from heat.

Remove chicken and vegetables from oven once done. Chicken should be a light golden brown and cooked through. Vegetables should be starting to get caramelized.

Lower oven heat to 350 degrees.

After removing the bones, shred the cooked chicken into bite size pieces and add to ovenproof casserole dish. To the chicken, add roasted broccoli florets and about 2 cups of the riced roasted cauliflower. Give this a good stir to distribute the chicken and veggies evenly. Pour the cheese sauce over the chicken and vegetables and stir again to distribute cheese sauce evenly. Sprinkle remaining ½ cup of shredded cheddar over the top of the casserole.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the top is a delightful golden brown.

Serves 6

(Reheats and freezes well)

Squash Pudding

Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday.

I think we were about 14 years old when my best friend Deborah and I were invited to eat at the “grownup” table. We were beside our selves, what with the pretty china and crystal glasses we’d get to eat and drink from, likely with our pinkies up.

It started off all well and good. But without getting into all the details, we were not invited back the next year.

At 26, we sometimes still eat at the children’s table.
 

It’s more fun there anyways.

Mama’s fall classics make their first appearance of the holiday season on Thanksgiving, another reason for it being my favorite. Things like her fresh cranberry relish, corn casserole, cranberry upside down cake, and her squash pudding.

The general atmosphere is one of love and thanks and lovely smells from the oven permeate the cozy air.

I took my mama’s squash pudding and put a slight spin on it. Instead of regular old oats, I switched them out for some Bob’s Mill gluten free ones. And in the spirit of avoiding refined sugars, I traded brown sugar for coconut palm sugar and white sugar for honey. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Squash Pudding

Ingredients:

Topping:

½ cup crushed pecans

½ cup gluten free oats

⅓ cup coconut palm sugar

pinch of salt

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

Pudding:

1 large butternut squash, cooked, scooped out of skin, and mashed (approx. 2 cups of mashed squash)

½ cup of coconut palm sugar

¼ cup of honey

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup of grassfed heavy cream or whole milk

4 tablespoons grassfed butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine the pecans, gluten free oats, coconut palm sugar and pinch of salt. (Do not add melted butter yet! ) Set topping aside.

In the same large ovenproof casserole dish you will be using to bake the pudding in, make sure your squash is thoroughly mashed and no large chunks remain. Add the sugars, ginger, vanilla, cream, butter, and eggs to the squash and whisk to combine well.

Spread the topping evenly across the top of the pudding. Lastly, pour remaining melted butter evenly over topping mix, so that most of the topping has absorbed the butter.

Bake in the oven for approximately 40-50 minutes or until the topping is a nice crisp golden brown.

Cauliflower Falafel

This truly needs no introduction.

No better way to end this Mediterranean week.

Cauliflower really wins the prize here. It does the job. I was super surprised at how well this actually turned out. And man, did it hit that falafel craving spot.

The end.

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Cauliflower Falafel

guided by this recipe and this one

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower, riced to the size of couscous

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup parsley, finely chopped

1 ½ tablespoons almond flour

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

2 eggs, beaten

oil, for frying

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix cauliflower, onion, garlic, parsley, almond flour, spices, and eggs together until well combined.

Cover and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes. (Don’t skip this step, it helps to keep them together.)

Once the falafel mix has chilled long enough, heat up a small saucepan with approximately 2 inches of oil.

The cauliflower falafel mix will have let out a lot of liquid. Don’t worry.

When the oil is ready, scoop a couple tablespoons worth of falafel mix into your hand and shape it to about the size of a golf ball. While you are shaping it, squeeze as much liquid as you can out of the ball you are forming.

A few at a time, place the falafels in the hot oil.

Gently turn them over once they have begun to turn a deep brown color on one side. Remove them once both sides are a deep golden brown. Lay them to drain on a paper towel covered plate.

Yield: about 10 golf ball sized falafels

Serve with Spicy Delicata Hummus (if you’d like!)

Plum Cake

I’m not to be trusted, clearly.

Well I’m here though, now, let’s focus on that. And with this cake no less.

So funny thing, I thought the plums would be on top, similar to another olive oil cake I’ve made. I guess this batter was a bit less structurally sound. 

I peeked in about halfway through and saw they had disappeared. Oops. 

I had one of those, well let’s hope for the best moments and went on with the baking.

Lucky for me, you, and the party I went to later that night, it was for the best! 

And those cute little jammy surprises were as lovely as you might imagine they would be.

Eat up buttercup!

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This is essentially the same cake that I used here.

Plum Cake

adapted lightly from this cake from Canelle et Vanille

Yield: 1 nine inch round cake

Ingredients:

small amount of butter for greasing/flouring pan

3 eggs

1 cup raw sugar

1 cup full fat greek yogurt

1/2 cup olive oil

Zest of 1 lemon

1 cup brown rice flour (mine was sprouted and organic), plus a bit extra to flour pan.

1/2 cup millet flour

2 tablespoons tapioca starch

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 italian plums, halved and pitted

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Line a round 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper. Then butter and flour the sides of the pan.

Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, yogurt, olive oil and lemon zest.

Once mixed, add in the brown rice flour, millet flour, tapioca starch, baking powder and salt. Whisk again to thoroughly incorporate.

Pour into the cake pan and spread it out evenly.

Gently place plum halves all over the top of the batter. 

Bake cake for 30 to 40 minutes or until it’s edges have turned a lovely golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Let cake cool in pan and then run a knife around the edges and flip onto a plate. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake then take your serving plate or platter and flip cake again so the top is now the top once more.

I served mine with a dollop of greek yogurt on top.