Two-Pea Chicken Salad #MadeWithChobani

It’s no secret that I am a fan of greek yogurt. I like the slight tang that it offers and the thicker consistency. Even my cat, Leopold enjoys it!

When I received a lovely package from Chobani as part of their #MadeWithChobani campaign, we were so excited!

Leopold inspecting the Chobani

We’ve already set to work putting the greek yogurt to use in many ways.

Replacing Sour Cream or Mayonnaise

Using Greek Yogurt is a great way to make a dish healthier while still keeping the tang of sour cream or mayonnaise. Some ways that I’ve used greek yogurt to replace those ingredients are:

Healthier Spinach Artichoke Dip

Pesto Chicken Salad Sandwich

Nachos

Macaroni Salad

Adding Creaminess to Sauces and Soups

Sometimes you need just a little more creaminess in a dish but you don’t want the added fat. I often add some Greek yogurt to my dishes to help emulsify sauces or thicken broths. Recently I boiled some pasta, added some Indian Vindaloo sauce, mixed it with Chobani Greek Yogurt and Voila!.

Vindaloo & Greek Yogurt Shells Topped with Scallions
Thai Basil Pesto Penne & Shrimp
White Chicken Chili

VIndaloo Yogurt Pasta

Pesto + Greek Yogurt

White Chicken Chili

In Desserts

Yogurts are a good dairy-alternative in baked goods as well, especially breads and muffins.

Cherry Scones

Black Tea Banana Bread

As the Star

And of course, who couldn’t love an amazing yogurt dip to cool a hot dish or a frozen yogurt?

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (my favorite yogurt recipe to date!)
Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes with Tzatziki Sauce

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

Tzatziki

Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes with Tzatziki

Other uses for Greek Yogurt

Check out Chobani’s recipe section for more inspiring recipes using greek yogurt!

Product provided for review. All notes & opinions are my own.

Quinoa Sorrento Salad

It’s been sticky and humid this summer so it’s refreshing to bite into something that doesn’t require heating up the whole house. I don’t typically like salads because I start feeling like a rabbit chomping on grass. The addition of protein-rich (and easy to cook!) quinoa into this salad mix mixes it up. One scoop is good as a side along dinner, or a big bowl of it will make a tasty lunch.

The vinaigrette made out of shallot and red whine vinegar is acidic and robust without being to pungent. It’s easy to add whatever pits of crunchy, sweet, or salty items you have laying around the house too. Any dried fruit or nut mixture will work, but make sure not to skip the cucumber — it’s crucial to the lightness of the salad.

Hawaiian Mac Salad

Hawaiian macaroni salad, part of the holy trinity that makes up plate lunch, is something close to my heart. Everyone has their own special recipe and every since I visited Helena’s Hawaiian Food this past fall, I’ve been trying to figure out what made it taste so good. My dad clued me in that he uses whole milk in his mac salad which makes it taste creamier and mellows out the vinegar.

So when I saw a recipe for Hawaiian Pasta Salad on Kim’s blog Feed Me Seymour, my mind was made for this month’s Secret Recipe Club pick. Kim prides herself on recipes that aren’t daunting or scary such as: Black Tea Honey Scones, Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows, Butterbeer Cupcakes, Rolo Cookies, and Nutella-stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Since I made this mac salad in the middle of a snow storm, I had to improvise. There was no macaroni pasta at the store so I picked the closest thing; I had to make my own mayonnaise out of olive oil, egg yolks, mustard, and salt; I used almond milk instead of regular milk. Using a more traditional milk, especially whole milk, will make this much creamier and less tangy.

Regardless, this was a mighty fine macaroni salad — 2 scoops of this and some Honey Garlic Chicken really hit the spot.

Continue reading →

Thai Cabbage Salad

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired up with Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. It was incredibly hard to decide what to pick from her wonderful assortment of recipes. I had “narrowed” it down to sixteen finalists and had to tap my fiance to help decide.

Karen has some beautiful bread recipes, including Danish Apricot Braid, Demerara Sugar & Honey Challah, Gruyere Cheese Bread, Hokkaido Milk Bread, Kimmelweck Rolls, and Whole Wheat Challah. I have never made bread before (unless you count banana bread or zucchini bread!), so I was excited to try one of her recipes, but in the end I chickened out.

I wanted something pretty easy and quick since I wanted to make the recipe as soon as possible when SRC buddies were announced. We had just put an accepted offer on our first home and the thought of packing and baking at the same time was overwhelming. Plus, we recently discovered a Lao/Thai restaurant nearby that makes amazing salads and thought this might be a close re-creation.

If you have a food processor, this salad is easy peasy. If not, you might want to buy pre-shredded ingredients. I like the color that the purple cabbage adds, but it is noticeably tougher in texture than the green cabbage. In the future, I’d use 3/4 green and 1/4 purple cabbage, or all green cabbage.

I made extra dressing because that’s the best part. I plan to have it tomorrow with some spinach, broccoli/carrot slaw, and baked tofu.

Checkout the other recipes in this month’s Secret Recipe Club round-up, or head over to Karen’s Kitchen Stories and check out other amazing recipes such as Spicy Parmesan & Herb Grissini, Biscoff Cheesecake (!!), Boca Negra Cake, Boston Cream Pie (my all time favorite dessert), Chocolate Hazelnut Madeleines, Ovaltine Macarons, Asian Take-Out Style Spareribs, General Tso’s Chicken, and Mini Chocolate Espresso Pots de Creme.