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| Preparation of food |
Yogurt Cucumber Salad
1 1/2 large cucumber
1 cups 100% fat free Greek yogurt.
2 Tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 clove garlic minced
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
(optional 1/2 red bell pepper chopped fine for garnish)
The Greek Yogurt should be pretty thick with little to no water to it. If yours has water, take a couple of paper towels and line a strainer with them, then put in 1 1/2 cups of the yogurt. (this works with regular yogurt as well). Let stand like this in the refrigerator for several hours until it is thick and creamy. Take your 1 cup from this more solid yogurt.
Peel the cucumtber and remove the seeds with a spoon. Grate it (don't worry cucumbers are quick and easy to grate). Put the grated cucumber in a fine sieve (mesh strainer) over a bowl and put in refrigerator for an hour or two. Afterwards put it in either a clean hand towel or cheese-cloth and squeeze until you get as much of the juice out as you can. (Cucumber Juice is not mixed in this)
Then take all of the ingredients and mix together. (I suggest you garnish with red bell pepper because it looks great, tastes great, for vitamin C and crunch).
Serves 6 1/2 cup servings - 19 cals/1.5 carbs/3 protein/ less than 1 fiber, fat or protein per serving.
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Baked Chicken
1 3-4lb whole chicken (or 1 chicken halved)
1 1/2 lemons (1/2 lemon squeezed juice)
2 cloves garlic halved
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp Rosemary minced and 2 small branches of the herb chopped in half
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Take the chicken and wipe it down with paper towels. (Tip#2 Do not wash your chicken, you'll get chicken juice all over you and your kitchen.) If you decide to buy the whole chicken and butcher it yourself you can use the leftovers for broth. The reason i leave it in halves is because it keeps in more moisture than if you cut it in pieces before baking.
Spray the bottom of a large baking pan with the cooking spray. Cut one lemon into quarters and use a pinch of salt to sprinkle on top of it. Then place two of the quarters of lemon on the pan. Place a 1 clove of garlic (halved) along with the lemon and put 1 branch of Rosemary (chopped in half) on top of them. You then repeat the procedure on the other side of the pan.
Rub the olive oil all over the chicken. Then take salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary and rub into the chicken as well. Then place 1/2 the chicken on top of the lemon, garlic and rosemary on one side of the pan. Repeat the process with the other 1/2 of chicken.
Then use the 1/2 lemon and squeeze juice all over the chicken in the pan before placing into the oven for an hour at 400 degrees. Around 45 minutes, check with your meat thermometer that the thickest part of the chicken (thigh) is at 175 degrees. If it's not done but is as brown as you want it, take aluminum foil and tent over the chicken, finish baking. If it's not, leave uncovered and continue to bake for the hour. Remove from oven and let sit to cool for 5-10 minutes.
Butcher it into the regular pieces, breast, thigh, leg and wings.
Serves 6 thigh - 282 cal/15.2 fat, breast - 265 cal/11 fat (both happen to be 8 pts+)
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| Chop Finely! |
Greek Brown Rice
1 cup dry long grain brown rice
2 cups water
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic minced
Salt & Pepper to taste (can start with 1/2 tsp salt and work up from there)
You'll need a pot with a lid! Put two cups of water in the pot. Bring it to a boil. As SOON as it boils, drop in all ingredients (minus the pepper) into the pot. Bring back to a boil again. As SOON as it boils, cover and reduce temperature to lowest setting on your stove. You will be simmering the rice for approximately 45-50 minutes until all water has evaporated. Remove from heat and add pepper for taste and stir well.
Serves 6 1/3 cup servings - 110 cal/15 carbs/4.9 fat/1 protein/1 fiber (3 pts+)
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Lightened-Up Humus
1 1/2 cups or a can of chick peas (garbanzo beans)
2 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic minced or 1/4 tsp garlic powder ( depends on how much you like garlic!)
1/3 cup water
1/4 of a lemon fresh squeezed juice
Salt & Pepper to taste (personally I put one pinch of salt and couple of pepper)
You'll need a blender! Put all ingredients, except the water into the blender and start to blend. Slowly put the water in to get the consistency that you want. I like mine super smooth and garlicky.
Serves 6 1/4 cup servings - 107 cal/13.4 carbs/3 fat/3.4 protein/4.1 fiber (3 pts+)
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Garlic Sauce
8 Tbsp nonfat sour cream or 100 % fat free Greek yogurt
4-5 tsp of garlic powder
Put together and mix thoroughly. Put the garlic in to taste. You'll want to make sure the sauce is super spicy. I find it's addictive, so the more spicy the better (a little goes a long way).
6 servings - 1 heaping spoonful 14 cal/ 0.6 carbs/0.6 prot/0 fiber/0 fat (0pts)
The "pita" used here is Nature's Own Rounds. The whole meal has - 518 cals (thigh option) 23.1 fat 29.9 carb 20.4 protein 4.1 fiber (if you have Nature's Own Healthy Multi-grain Rounds then you add 100 cals 1 fat 19 carb 4 fiber 4 protein)
So when you sit down to your party of six (don't worry you'll cancel out each other's garlic breath) serve 1/4 cup of the Humus, 1/2 cup of the Yogurt Cucumber Salad, 1/3 cup of the rice, a piece of chicken and on the side of the plate a heaping Tbsp of the Garlic Sauce and don't forget a pita to lap it all up (check pita pkg to make sure there are 6). You will awe your crowd!
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