Greek Tacos With Lamb & Tzatziki Sauce

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Gina Marie

Greek Tacos With Lamb & Tzatziki Sauce | So...Let's Hang Out

Things that I have learned this week:

1) Blow drying your hair while it’s 90 degrees outside is not ideal. You will sweat. A lot. Put on your mascara AFTER you are done if you do not want to look like one of those sad ceramic clown masks from the 80′s. Or heck, let your locks air-dry. You can call your semi-curly mullet “beachy”. It’s totally the season for that. Ugh. It’s a hot mess. Literally.

2) Going to the gym at two in the afternoon is the best. No one is there. Except that one guy, with his button down shirt tucked into his jean shorts. He is looking at your butt. You can see him doing it. There are mirrors everywhere. Okay. Maybe it’s time to change machines. Definitely.

3) I would like to hang out with a Capybara. I imagine us dressing up in matching outfits, walking the streets and dancing to this song. My brain lives in these places. It can get kinda weird in there.

4) I cannot be trusted to be alone with half of a watermelon. I will consume it. I will get a belly ache. I will not learn my lesson.

5) If you decide to walk/jog with your dog when the sun is setting, you should do so with your mouth shut. If it is not shut, you will most likely swallow a host of bugs. I might have Googled ”Can you get mosquito bites on the inside?” Might have.

6) Mondays are sometimes the best days for margaritas!

7) I learned that if you really want a taco but you also really want a gyro, you can totally solve that problem. TACO + GYRO = GREEK TACOS! Oh, yeah. It’s a thing. It’s delicious. Let’s get our fusion on…

First, let’s make the sauce. This is not a traditional tzatziki. This is mostly because I do not have the patience. I wanted a taco, and I wanted it exactly now. You know how it is. I did not add sour cream, I did not squeeze the water out of my cucumbers, I did not strain the whole mixture. I did however mix yogurt with garlic and lemon and some grated up cucumber. It was delish. No regrets.

Next on the list… you are going to saute some red onion with a little bit of garlic. After that, in goes the lamb. Spice it up and brown it until it’s all cooked through and ready to get taco-fied (legitimate verb).

Now you are only some chopping and some tortilla warming away from THESE!

They were so good. My husband and I talked about them for two days.

The best part is how easily they come together. It’s not very much work, for a big flavor pay off! This would be a fun and totally non-traditional way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, right? But, with some guacamole on the side. I can’t handle Cinco de Mayo without a large quantity of guacamole. Pair these bad boys up with my Watermelon Margaritas for an all out flavor explosion.

These could easily be made paleo if you decided to use a lettuce or cabbage leaf instead of the corn tortillas! Options!

Happy Friday, Friends! Wishing you a weekend full of tacos, margs, and an embarrassingly large quantity of guacamole. Olé! Or should I say Opa!? Olé-Opa! Settled.

Greek Tacos With Lamb & Tzatziki Sauce

Ingredients

Tacos

1 lb of ground lamb
1/2 medium red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Olive oil, to coat the pan
Salt
Pepper
Granulated garlic
Spinach
Tomato, chopped
Avocado, chopped
Corn tortillas (lettuce or cabbage leaves for paleo)

Tzatziki Sauce

1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
Juice from 1 lemon
2 tsp minced garlic
3/4 cup grated cucumber

Instructions

Coat the bottom of your pan with a thin layer of olive oil (1 tbs or so) and allow it to heat up over medium heat.
Add in your onions and garlic and saute them until they are translucent and fragrant.
Add in your ground lamb and generously spice it with salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Brown your meat and allow it to cook through all the way with the onions and the garlic.
Slice up all of your veggies and set aside.
While you meat is cooking, you can start making your sauce. Combine the yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice in a bowl and stir together. Add in your grated cucumber and stir again until it all comes together. Set aside.
Heat up some corn tortillas (or rinse off some lettuce or cabbage leaves) and assemble your tacos.
Enjoy!

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Arugula Salad With Sausage And Strawberries | {Paleo Friendly & Gluten Free}

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Gina Marie

Arugula Salad with Sausage and Strawberries | So...Let's Hang Out

Have I taken it too far? I have put strawberries in very close proximity to your sausage and your caramelized onions. We have a bit of a sweet and savory situation.

You are either shaking your head at me and wondering things like “Why do they allow her to have a food blog?” OR you are intrigued. Thank you for your adventurous palate and inquisitive spirit, Friend. I dig you. Plus, is it really that crazy? I’ve seen crazier. I’ve made crazier. This afternoon I ate smoked salmon and blueberries together. Crazier.

I have always been a fan of the sweet and the salty together. My husband and I like to make a meal that we simply call “Sweet and Savory Toast”. This is not so much a meal as it is us, taking two slices of bread, toasting them, putting something like ham on one half and something like PB&J on the other half and eating them in quick succession. I am the kind of gal that would not shy away from putting bacon into your chocolate chip cookies. It just sounds good to me. I like sea salt on my chocolate. I know you do too, be straight with me. There is something about the salt that brings out the sweet, and vice versa.

So, for the last five days I have been trying something a little different. I have decided to eat Paleo/Primal for 30 days. I have not tried it before, and wanted to get a sense of what it is all about. Some of you are probably asking “Wait… isn’t that called the Whole30 challenge?” To which I will say, probably, but cool it with the labels. Maybe I will have a glass of wine in these 30 days. Don’t judge me. However, for the most part, I am trying to eat really clean. I am taking a break from grains, legumes and dairy and replacing them with organic meats, tons of veggies, a little bit of fruit, nuts and delicious fats like avocado and coconut milk. Oh yeah, no processed sugars either… I know, I know, this sound’s restrictive. Are you crying on the inside because I will not be posting dessert recipes for 30 days? Dry your eyes, Friend. You know me. I baked something on the second day of this challenge. Yes, I spent over an hour trolling the internet, frantically typing things like “Paleo Desserts” and “IS CHOCOLATE PALEO?!?” into Google. Normal. I found things. It was fine. I adapt. We are cool. Things could be way worse. I’ve been eating pretty darn well, and feeling pretty darn good. I will keep you posted. I totally reserve the right to freak out about this in a couple more days.

Until then, I bring you this glorious salty and sweet bed of greens. It’s as easy as cooking up a sausage, caramelizing some onions, slicing some strawberries and tossing it all together over some arugula. I know you, and you could do that in your sleep. I would, however, advise not cooking in your sleep. I would also advise wearing pants when you cook sausage. It can splatter. This splatter will be very alarming when it touches your bare thigh. You might yelp. You might try to climb into your kitchen sink in order to run cold water on your thigh. It’s not a sexy moment. Just put on pants. I learn these lessons for you so you don’t have to learn them for yourselves.

Enjoy! xo

Arugula Salad With Sausage And Strawberries

Ingredients

1 uncooked sausage link (I used Andouille for this recipe, but you could sub in your favorite sausage)
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
4 strawberries, washed, hulled and chopped
1 bag of arugula (I purchased mine at Trader Joes)
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

Instructions

Heat up a small amount of olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.
Remove your sausage from its casing and place into the hot pan along with your onions.
When the sausage begins to brown, chop it up with a spatula and continue to cook it until there is no remaining pink and it is cooked through. Your onions will also cook down and begin to caramelize. Make sure you stir your mixture occasionally to prevent your onions from burning to the bottom of the pan.
Add your arugula to a large bowl and dress it with a little bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Toss your greens in order to make sure they are fully dressed.
Layer your cooked sausage and onions on top of your dressed arugula.
Finish by adding in your strawberries.
Serve and enjoy!

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Avocado Egg Salad | Please Don’t Pinch Me

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Gina Marie

Avocado Egg Salad | So... Let's Hang Out

I am not great at St. Patty’s Day.

When I was a kid, I was almost always the gal who forgot to throw on something green on St. Patrick’s Day. When I arrived at school there would usually be an enthusiastic red-head waiting in the wings to pinch me silly. You know this kid. There was one at every school. My defense in this matter was to lie and say that I was totally wearing green underwear or to quickly craft something green and attach it to my person. I once wore a paper chain around my neck that I crudely colored in with a green crayon. Times were tough. It was a matter of survival. Pinching hurts. Green paper-chain jewelry can help.

Avocado Egg Salad | So... Let's Hang Out

When college came around, it was less about dodging pinches and having to lie about the color of my underpants, and more about it being okay to start drinking dark beer at 9am. You totally don’t have to be Irish to play that game. I will warn you though, it isn’t a good move. Hear my words. You will be seduced into doing things called “Irish Car Bombs”. The hangover will prove to be much more painful than both the physical and psychological effects of a childhood full of reckless pinching. If I were your college-aged self, I might dare to be the only one not drunk in your 9am English class. Maybe go crazy and have corned beef and cabbage for lunch. Splurge on a single Guinness. Hit the books. Go to bed by 10pm. You will high-five me when you see your friends tomorrow. I promise.

Avocado Egg Salad | So... Let's Hang Out

Would you believe me when I tell you that the best St. Patty’s day I ever had included exactly no amounts of Guinness-fueled comas and absolutely no lies about the color of my underpants or frantic adornments of paper chain jewelry? Of course you would.

The first year I taught in a Kindergarten classroom, I was educated on a few things. St. Patrick’s Day was to be a magical day where Leprechauns were out and creating havoc. I was instructed the leprechauns were sneaky, mischievous, trick playing little creatures. There would be magic. There would be duping. There would be exactly NO pinching. I could totally get behind this. For the first act of magic, a child’s lunch would disappear and inside of their lunchbox they would find a giant rock. You should have seen the look on that kid’s face. Don’t worry; his lunch was located after a bit of a hunt. The water at snack time turned green. That was a huge hit. I watched in amazement as these kids hydrated themselves silly and gained green tongues. I admittedly got slightly carried away by lunch time. I took out all of the wooden animal figurines and started to create a tablescape. I wanted it to look as if the animals had briefly come alive and had taken over the lunch table. I crafted ramps and pulleys that they would have used to gain access to the high table. I sprinkled some crumbs and made it look like the tiny wooden porcupines had a feast. There was a tiny duck figurine in a child’s water glass. The kids were totally into it. However, someone totally put that wooden duck in their mouth. Normal.

Avocado Egg Salad | So... Let's Hang Out

So, instead of pinching you, or making you lie about your underpants, or creating a paper chain necklace tutorial or replacing the contents of your lunch with a rock, I will instead simply make you an ordinary lunch and turn it green. Magic.

In this simple recipe, mayo is swapped out for avocado. Hello, healthy fats. There is a little bit of a kick from the brown spicy mustard. If you don’t like spicy, or are making it for your kids (they might think this recipe is leprechaun magic!) you can use normal table mustard instead. Alright…get to it. Let’s turn some stuff green. If you want to be even greener, serve it up with some green juice or a green smoothie!

Wishing you a week filled with 100% more magic than pinching. Come Sunday, I am probably going to wear green anyway. Just in case. Please don’t pinch me.

Avocado Egg Salad

Ingredients

2 eggs, hard-boiled
1 tbs spicy brown deli mustard
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tomato, sliced
2 slices of bread, toasted (I used, Udi's gluten-free bread)

Instructions

Hard boil your eggs and allow them to cool. Peel them and place them in a bowl.
Cut up your eggs and mush them with a fork until they have crumbled into bite sized pieces.
Add in your avocado and your mustard and mush together with a fork until the avocado and mustard and completely mixed into the eggs, and there are no longer and chunks of avocado.
Add in your spices and mix again.
Serve on toast, garnished with tomato slices.

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Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Posted on February 26, 2013 by Gina Marie

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out

Look-y here. I’ve managed to make you something that isn’t breakfast. I’ve apparently been on one serious breakfast-y kick. I’ve been turning out waffles, quiche, and smoothies galore. I point out the fact I’m bringing you something non-breakfast since I am pretty sure tomorrow (or at least soon) I am posting something breakfast-y. Sorry (not really).

So…yesterday got weird. Mostly because I’m me and can’t seem to stay off the internet no matter how terrifying it can be. I had a weird tingle in my leg, which I promptly Googled (bad move). Don’t do this, friends. Don’t Google every twinge or tingle or pain that happens in your body just because you can. I’ve been telling myself this for years, but I can’t seem to take my own advice. When you Google a symptom, no matter what your symptom is, it usually leads to “OMG, I AM DYING!!!” Since I was experiencing a weird leg tingle, the sage and soothing advice of the interweb made me believe that I was probably, most likely, right in the middle of a stroke. Things got dramatic. I started pacing back and forth, thinking “OMG. I am having a stroke. This is not good. This is extremely bad.” The dog looked at me suspiciously and without major concern. Aren’t dogs supposed to be sympathetic? Geez.

I needed to be talked off the ledge and the dog’s cavalier attitude led me to believe she was not the one for the job. I called my mother. “Mom, I am fairly certain,with the advice of the internet, that I am having a stroke.” It turns out that if you have the where withal to call someone semi-casually, and the strength to pace your hallways over and over, you are probably not having a stroke and most likely just have some sort of pins and needles situation from sitting on your leg for too long at the computer. You are however, probably in the middle of a WebMD-induced panic attack. After a pretty grandiose freak out, some light tears and some heavy breathing, I managed to pull myself together. Long story short…WebMD is not a real doctor, Moms are good people to call when you are having non-strokes, and I can be an over-dramatic hypochondriac. This is my real life brain in ultimate crazy-mode. It happens. We all have our things.

After one is done having a non-stroke, one gets hungry. At least, this is my personal experience after said non-stroke. I took out some hearty healthy veggies and began to work some healthy magic. I chopped a cauliflower into florets. I diced up a couple of cloves of garlic very finely. I broke out the fancy Copper Hill olive oil and poured a couple of tablespoons over my cauliflower and garlic mixture. All good things at work here. This is definitely healthy eating. (I know this because I Googled it. Old habits die hard, no?)

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers | So... Let's Hang Out I tossed the mixture with my fingers, making sure that all of the florets were covered with the olive oil and the garlic mixture. I roasted the cauliflower until it became tender and golden brown. This gives it a lovely, nutty taste.

I indulged in a little more chopping therapy, and minced some kalamata olives and some green onions. I measured out capers and juiced a meyer lemon.

Once the cauliflower florets had cooled enough to be handled, everything went together in a bowl to mingle and get cozy. I tossed the mixture again with my hands. There is something therapeutic about using your hands. It’s the same feeling you get when you are kneading biscuits. It just makes sense for me. I topped the whole mixture with a couple more tablespoons of olive oil.

I filled a plate up with fresh spring mix and put a generous helping of the cauliflower mixture on top. You don’t even need to dress your greens, because the olive oil and the lemon juice mixture will seep down into them. The whole mix is packed with flavor. No salt is needed, since the capers and the olives pack a salty punch. I grated a bit of freshly-cracked black pepper over the top just to add a little bit of a kick. This dish is simple, clean and completely satisfying.

Be cool, eat your veggies, and lay off the internet medical advice. High fives all around.

Disclaimer: The nice people at Copper Hill Olive Oil sent me some samples for recipe development and testing purposes. However, all opinions are my own.

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
4 tbs high quality olive oil (I used Copper Hill's Koroneiki Olive Oil)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs capers
15 kalamata olives, diced
1/3 cup diced green onions
Juice from 1 meyer lemon
Spring mix
Freshly cracked black pepper, to top

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Remove the stem from your cauliflower and chop up into florets.
Mince your garlic and add into a medium sized mixing bowl with your cauliflower florets.
Add in two tablespoons of your olive oil and massage with mixture with your hands until the cauliflower is completely coated and the garlic is also distributed evenly throughout.
Lay the cauliflower out flat onto your aluminum foil lined baking sheet, and pop into the oven for 10 minutes. Once ten minutes has gone by, remove the cauliflower from the oven and flip each piece. Put the pan back into the oven for 10-15 minutes or until your cauliflower is fork tender and lightly golden brown on the edges.
While your cauliflower is baking, prepare your other ingredients. Chop up your olives and your green onions, juice your lemon, and measure our your capers.
When the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, put it back into your mixing bowl with your other ingredients and using your hands mix together. Top with the remaining 2 tbs of olive oil and mix again.
Serve over a bed of spring mix and top with freshly cracked pepper.

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So…Let's Hang Out

Tag Archives: lunch

Greek Tacos With Lamb & Tzatziki Sauce

Arugula Salad With Sausage And Strawberries | {Paleo Friendly & Gluten Free}

Avocado Egg Salad | Please Don’t Pinch Me

Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Olives And Capers

Disclaimer: The nice people at Copper Hill Olive Oil sent me some samples for recipe development and testing purposes. However, all opinions are my own.