Tzatziki Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups

I always love Greek flavors.
Plus, I love Costco rotisserie chickens.  What an easy way to make a $5 dinner, or two.

This one came together in about 15 minutes as my significant other unloaded the car from a trip to Costco.  You unpack, I'll make dinner.  Seems like a good trade, huh?

This is a happy, healthy fresh thing to make for dinner that comes together super fast.
For a Monday, that's good enough for me.

Originally a Cooking Light recipe, find the original here. I made a couple changes... like topping mine with feta and tomatoes and serving them in lettuce cups (might be brilliant, just sayin'). I do think that it would be totally yummy with pita chips too, or even on regular ole' bread as a sandwich.

(I forgot to photograph the English cucumber)

Makes enough for 3-4 
Ingredients

2/3 cup Greek yogurt

1/4 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 lemon, juiced

2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 English cucumber, diced small

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast 

Diced tomatoes
Crumbled feta cheese

Lettuce cups or pita chips

  

Dice or shred the chicken, add the small diced cucumber and minced red onion & garlic.  Add the dill (I used dried) and lots of salt and pepper.  Add yogurt and stir together.  Add the lemon juice and taste for flavor.  Let it sit for 15-20 minutes for the flavors to develop.

Spoon the salad onto small baby romaine leaves and top with diced tomatoes and crumbled feta.  A really nice, refreshing lunch or dinner.  Low fat, low carb, low calorie.  

Note- I used English cucumbers which you do not have to "seed".  If using the regular cucumber, take those out, or the mixtures may be a little too watery.

Here it is before I mixed it:

Here it is, all ready to go for dinner.  We ate half for dinner for the two of us, and the rest made a nice little lunch.

Garbanzo, Arugula and Dried Fruit Salad

 

 

Okay, this sounds a bit nutty, but I had lunch at Matt's at the Market in Seattle's Pike Place about three years ago.  This salad was a side dish to my lamb, goat cheese, onion jam burger (yum!) and the salad was totally unexpected. At first, I just wasn't sure when I took a look at it, then I tasted it!  Fantastic, and so different. 

This one differs a bit from the original, because when I finally got around to making this salad, I only had 2-3 Tbsp of golden raisins (as the original salad had), so I decided to add a combination of dried apricots, cranberries and those raisins.  I must say, we totally loved this.

Tangy, crunchy, chewy, sweet and satisfying.You could also add cooked couscous to this salad to make it a bit more 'main course' like and filling, or even, quinoa.

Some of my friends might laugh at me, knowing I do not like balsamic vinegar too much.  My main dislike of it is that it turns everything brown!  In this dish, it DOES dull the colors a bit, but I think it tangy sweetness does add a great taste to the salad.

 (not pictured- celery )

Serves 6-8
Ingredients

2 cans Garbanzos, drained
1/2 red onion, chopped
2-3 Tbsp gold raisins
2-3 Tbsp dried cranberries, or cherries
2-3 Tbsp dried apricots, cut into quarters
1/2 cup celery, minced
2-3 cups arugula
2-3 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt& Pepper

Drain the garbanzos, add in the chopped onions, dried fruit (either a bit of each as shown above, or about 2/3 cup of one type), celery, arugula and parsley.  Add the balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  Mix well.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve at room temperature.

Here is is before I added the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Next time, I might try it with the white balsamic vinegar to see if that helps keep the pretty colors in tact.