Greek Salsa Chicken

Can I just say "Wowza!"  This was amazing and I am definitely going to be adding it to the standard rotation.  Seriously cannot express how wonderful this was.

Greek Salsa Chicken

Ingredients: 

                         for salsa

• 4 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• 1 cup halved grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
• 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano

                     for chicken

• 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (7 ounces each)
• pepper to taste
• kosher salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 lemons, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°.
2. In a large bowl, combine feta, tomatoes, olives, parsley, lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil and oregano. Cover and chill in refrigerator.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large roasting pan over medium-high heat. Season chicken with kosher salt and pepper. Sear chicken, about 1-2 minutes each side; remove from heat.
4. Squeeze lemon wedges over chicken to coat. Place the squeezed lemon wedges around the chicken breasts. Roast until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 160°, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer chicken and lemons to a large platter. Top with salsa.

My Changes:

• I only used 2 pieces of chicken...big mistake b/c both me & the husband immediately wanted more (we used the excess salsa as a snack with Roasted Garlic Triscuits, delish).
•  I used dried oregano & Italian seasoning rather than fresh parsley & oregano.

Tzatziki

I have a bit of a love affair with tzatziki.  It's delicious.  Well, at least when made correctly.  This recipe did not work out well for me.  It was okay, but it was not nearly as good as true tzatziki.

Tzatziki

Ingredients

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 medium cucumber, cut in half longwise and thinly sliced
• 1 tsp chopped, fresh dill
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl and mix.
2. Chill until serving.

My Changes

• I have never had chunky tzatziki.  Ever.  From respectable nice Greek restaurants to fast food Middle Eastern grills, I've never been served chunky tzatziki.  And this was very chunky.  I tried to mash the cucumbers with a potato masher, I tried to use a blender...all that happened is that I ended up with wannabe tzatziki sauce EVERYWHERE.  Perhaps this is my fault and I just didn't mince them as finely as the author meant...I don't know.  But it wasn't pleasant.
• This was too lemon-y for me.  I have another recipe that doesn't use lemon, and I'll be trying that next.
• I could not find fresh dill.  At all, and I looked hard.  I used dill weed (which just does not sound like something I should be cooking with at all), and I don't think it was the same.  But it may have been thrown off by the lemon or something, I don't know.
• Also, I used traditional plain yogurt instead of Greek yogurt which may have also affected the flavor.  I'm going to continue trying to use it in other recipes since I bought a huge bowl of it, but I definitely plan to try both types eventually.

Greek Meatloaf

This was the first recipe I made off of my huge list, and it was a huge hit.  Hubs says it's one of those things that gets better the longer it sits, so every day it tastes better haha.

Greek Meatloaf

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1/4 cup coconut flour (or 1/2 cup bread crumbs)
• 1/2 cup chicken stock (reduce to 1/4 cup if using bread crumbs)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 325.
2. Heat oil in saucepan.  Add onions, salt, and pepper.  Heat until translucent.  Add spinach and stir until heated throughout.
3. Mix onion mixture, turkey, flour/breadcrumbs, chicken stock, egg & Worcestershire sauce.  Mix until well combined.
4. Place half of the mixture in a baking sheet and evenly spread flat.
5. Cover with feta cheese.
6. Place the remaining mixture on top of cheese and evenly spread flat.
7. Bake for 1-1.25 hours, or until internal temperature reaches 160.

My Changes

• I used plain breadcrumbs instead of coconut flour...because I don't have coconut flour.  
• I added some Italian seasoning & cilantro because the original poster from the above site suggested that it needed some more seasoning, and I forgot to look for her suggestion of gyro seasoning at the grocery store.  It worked nicely.
• I plan on using more feta next time I make this.  The idea of putting it in the middle instead of mixing it up as in a traditional meatloaf was nice, but for our preference (me & hubs) it could have been stronger.
• I also want to make this using ground lamb.  Hubs LOVES lamb and I feel like that would really take this recipe to the next level.