Bad Habits

And my bad habit of taking blurry cell phone pictures strikes again! But honestly, when you have all this made and ready to go, plated and on the table and all that, you can't really expect me to run upstairs to get my camera, right? 

Anyhow, I made this chick pea salad with inspiration from a dish at my place of employment. My plan was to add lots of goodies to some chick peas and cover it in a yummy dill vinaigrette, but since it turned out I didn't have dill, but I did have everything else I needed, I certainly wasn't going to make a trip to the grocery store just for the dill!  Ah, the cooking of the lazy. 

There was a lot of overlap with the chick pea salad and the Italian pasta salad. They both have mozzarella, roasted red pepper, red onion, and red wine vinegar, so they actually taste good eaten together. I bet right about now you're thinking "man, would that be a great lunch-to-go." I was thinking that, too! Make it the night before, put it all on a bed of lettuce in a tupperware, and you have lunch for the next day. Maybe even the next couple of days if you play your cards right.

Chick Pea Salad

Recipe...

• 1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
• roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1 small cucumber, sliced
• 1/4 c pepperoncini, sliced
• mozzarella, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/4 c sliced red onion
• red wine vinegar
• lemon juice
• Greek seasoning mix
• canola oil
• S&P

1) Place the chick peas through the red onion in a bowl. 

2) In another small bowl, combine a couple Tbsp of red wine vinegar with a squeeze of lemon juice and 1 Tbsp. Greek seasoning mix smooshed between your hands. Drizzle in some canola oil while whisking. Modify the vinegar/oil ratio to your taste. S&P to taste. 

3) Pour the vinaigrette over the chick peas and season to taste. Chill before serving.

Italian Pasta Salad

Recipe...

• bow tie pasta
• roasted red pepper, chopped
• 1/4 c sliced red onion
• mozzarella, cut into bite-sized pieces
• salami, cut into chunks
• 1/4 c pepperoncini, sliced
• red wine vinegar
• Italian seasoning mix
• canola oil

1) Cook bow tie pasta according to package directions.

2) In a large bowl, combine roasted red pepper through pepperoncini with the bow tie pasta.

3) In another small bowl combine 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar with 1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning mix. Drizzle in some canola oil while whisking. S&P to taste. Adjust vinegar/oil ratio to your taste.

4) Pour vinaigrette over the pasta. Chill before serving.

More soosakooki, please!

Greek Pita w/ Lamb and Tzatziki

"May I have some more soosakooki, please?"

Um... what?

Last night we stuffed greek salad into a pita with mini lamb burgers and tzatziki. Or if you're my dad, you slathered it with "soosakooki". This recipe came from Great Food Fast and it's just that: it tasted great, it was food, and it was totally fast. Plus, with the unseasonable 60-something temperatures we've been having here in Michigan, grilling up those lamb burgers on the grill was a real treat!

Greek Pita w/ Lamb                                                              Printer friendly

Recipe...

• 1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano (or 1 tsp. dried)
• S&P
• 4 Pitas
• Greek salad (follow your heart on this one)

1) First, make the lamb patties. Put the lamb, onion, parsley, and oregano in a medium bowl and mix it together with a fork. Gently form the mixture into about 16 small patties being careful not to over-handle them. They should be about 3/4" thick.

2) Start the grill. While it is heating, put salt on the cucumbers for the tzatziki to draw out the water. Combine the rest of the tzatziki ingredients in a bowl while the grill heats up.

3) When the grill is hot, put the lamb burgers on and cook until medium-rare (about 2-3 minutes per side). When those are done, put them on a clean plate and "tent" it with foil (don't cover it tightly- leave the sides not pressed down). Go back to the cucumber and squeeze it to get the water out of it. Mix it in with the rest of the tzatziki ingredients.

4) Put the pita on the grill for a quick minute to get it warmed up. And now it's time to eat! Spread some tzatziki in the pita, stuff some greek salad in there, and add a lamb burger or two.

Note: This is supposed to serve 4, but I found that there were lots of extra lamb burgers.

Tzatziki

Recipe...

• 1/2 English cucumber, peeled, seeded, and grated
• 1/2 c plain yogurt
• 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh mint
• 1 small garlic clove
• S&P

1) Sprinkle the tzatziki with salt. Let it sit for a few minutes on a paper towel and then squeeze out all the liquid.

2) In a medium bowl, combine the cucumber, yogurt, lemon juice, mint, and garlic. Season with S&P to taste. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready for it.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6jKB4i4wlA8cXFWNWluM1hSeFdZSkpnZGg2S2V3Zw