Air-Fryer Zucchini

For a healthy and yummy veggie option, I tried these air-fried zucchini slices and thought they were pretty good. Enjoy!

Air-Fryer Zucchini

Calories per serving: 30-50

Ingredients:

• zucchini
• desired seasonings (I used garlic salt and pepper)
• powdered Parmesan cheese
• bread crumbs

Directions:

1. Thinly slice one zucchini (makes approximately 3 servings, depending on size). 
2. Toss with your desired amounts of garlic salt, pepper, powdered Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs.
3.  Air-fry for about 12 minutes or until crispy at 400 degrees, tossing the pieces halfway through cooking.

Marsha's Notes:

I tried to make this with grated Parmesan, which just kind of clumped up and burned in the air-fryer, so be sure to use the powdered Parmesan that will more evenly coat and stick to the zucchini. Air-fry until either tender, or keep cooking longer until as crispy as you like. There are no real measurements because zucchinis vary in size, so just use enough of everything to lightly coat each piece and then adjust to your tastes.

Cowboy Butter Pasta: Diet-Friendly

At about 350 calories a serving, this recipe is easy to make into larger meal-prep batches for lunches for the week. Enjoy!

Cowboy Butter Pasta: Diet-Friendly

Calories per serving: 350

Ingredients: (makes 3 servings)

• 6 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
• 1.5 cups COOKED pasta (Barilla protein pasta)
• 1 TBS butter
• ½ tsp cowboy butter seasoning
• ½ tsp paprika
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBS parmesan
• 3 TBS light cream cheese, room temperature and cut into pieces
• ¼ cup shredded cheese of choice

Directions:

• Prepare chicken: Season with seasoning salt, pepper, garlic, paprika. Then air fry 400 degrees for 10 min., flipping the pieces halfway through. Let them rest a couple minutes before slicing or chopping into small pieces.
• In a skillet on medium heat, melt butter then add garlic and seasonings and stir until fragrant. Add milk and whisk until combined. Simmer for a couple of minutes to heat and thicken. Remove from heat before adding cheeses and cream cheese. Whisk until smooth.
• Do not let your cheeses boil, or they can split and become grainy.
• It is important that your cream cheese is room temperature and cut into pieces so it will melt faster in the sauce once removed from the heat.

Assemble bowl/tupperware in this order:

• 1/2 cup cooked pasta
• veggies of choice, to taste (see below)
• divide sauce evenly amongst 3 bowls
• 2 chicken tenderloins, sliced
• optional drizzle hot honey

*If eating leftover, store in air tight containers and microwave to reheat before eating.*

Prepare green veggie of choice, if using (I used air-fried zucchini in the picture).

Directions:

Thinly slice one zucchini (makes approximately 3 servings, depending on size). Toss with your desired amounts of garlic salt, pepper, powdered Parmesan cheese, and bread crumbs. Air-fry for about 12 minutes or until crispy at 400 degrees, tossing the pieces halfway through cooking.

Marsha's Notes:

When making this, I took boneless, skinless chicken breasts and cut them into tender-sized portions because it was cheaper and I didn't have to remove the tendon bit at the end of each chicken tender. 

Doubling this recipe, I was able to use 1/2 a box of protein pasta. If making a single recipe, you would need to measure out 1/4 of the box.

Since cream cheese blocks are measured in ounces instead of tablespoons, the 3 Tbl of light cream cheese called for in this recipe is 1 1/2 ounces. Since I was doubling it, that meant that I needed 3 ounces of cream cheese (or 6 Tbl). You can use the ounce-ruler printed on most cream cheese packaging to figure out how much of the block to cut off, or you can figure that 4 oz is half a block and go from there.

Because there is not a lot of heavy cream or cheese in this recipe, the sauce is rather thin in consistency, but that is probably to be expected. Each serving seemed to get about 1/2 cup of sauce, but that could vary depending on how long you simmer and reduce your sauce.

Protein Pancake Bowl- Single Serving

 I have a couple of protein/healthy breakfast pancake options on the blog. This one is similar and yet slightly different, so I wanted to include it as well. You can see some of my other options here:

Protein Pancake Bowl: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2025/08/protein-pancake-bowl.html

Baked Oats Breakfast Square: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2025/05/baked-oats-breakfast-square.html

Protein Deep Dish Cookie Pie (Single-Serving Breakfast Muffins): https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2024/09/protein-deep-dish-cookie-pie-single.html

Protein Pancake Bowl

Approximately 350 calories

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 50 g Greek yogurt
• 70 ml milk
• 35 g plain flour
• 25 g protein powder
• small drizzle of maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• berries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a small, single-serving oven-safe dish with non-stick spray.
3. Combine all your ingredients together (except the berries) and pour into your prepared dish.
• You can also leave the maple syrup out and drizzle it on top after everything has baked, if desired... or you can add syrup to the batter and then top with more after baking anyway.
4. Top with berries and bake for 25 minutes, or until everything is starting to brown and batter is cooked through in the center.
• Bake times can vary depending on how tall and narrow your baking dish is, making the pancake thicker or thinner. It can also depend on if you use fresh or frozen berries.

Marsha's Notes:

I found that if you mix the berries into the batter, then they can all sink to the bottom and disappear, so it is good to sprinkle them on top. I also found that whole raspberries can make kind of wet pocket of juice in your pancake, so I preferred to take frozen raspberries and smash them into little pieces so they spread out more evenly in the pancake and never got over wet.

Here is the first one I did where my berries sunk.

Overnight Oats

Overnight oats have been around for a long time, and the first time I tried them, I didn't like them. The texture wasn't good. The flavor was lacking. So, I sort of gave up on them and decided they just weren't for me. However, I love most other oat things, so the thought kept nagging in the back of my mind that if I could just find the right recipe that used the right kind of oats, that maybe I actually WOULD like them... and then I found this recipe!!! I have eaten these oats four times now, and I really enjoy them... like... a lot. (I've had them many more times since writing this intro...)

So, if you were ever hesitant about overnight oats, or maybe you tried some and didn't think they were that great, I would encourage you to give this recipe a try. It calls for a very specific kind of oats that I found at Costco, which may be what made a huge difference for me. It also calls for add-ins, which I think also helps a ton.

Overnight Oats

Calories per serving: 216

Ingredients: (Makes 3 Servings... Additional Single Serving Recipe Below)

• 1 cup (105 g) old-fashioned rolled oats or sprouted rolled oats
• ¼ cup (45 g) chia seeds (optional)
• Pinch salt (a bit less than 1/8 teaspoon)
• 2 to 2 ¼ cups (500 to 525 g) milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)
• 1 tablespoon (22 g) pure maple syrup (I used low/no sugar syrup)

Optional Add-Ins: (I put these in every time, so for me, they are not optional.)

• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, more or less, to taste
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• frozen berries, if not using fresh

Optional Mix-ins for Serving:

• Greek yogurt
• Fresh berries, like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc.
• Chopped nuts, like almonds, pecans or walnuts (I like sugared/candied nuts)
• Brown sugar (I use a zero-calorie brown sugar)

Directions:

1. In a container with a lid, toss together the oats, chia/basil seeds, and salt. Add additional add-ins, if using, like cinnamon and/or protein powder.
2. Add the milk and maple syrup. Mix well, scraping up seeds from the bottom.
• Add frozen berries here, so they can thaw in the oats overnight.
3. Cover the container and refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours.
4. Scoop out desired portion. Serve with Greek yogurt, fresh berries, chopped nuts, and additional milk, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

If the oats are not sweet enough for you, I like to sprinkle in candied/sugared nuts for sweetness and crunch, and/or a sprinkling of brown sugar. Because I try to keep this breakfast as low-calorie as I can, I often us zero-calorie brown sugar, low calorie maple syrup, and almond milk, but you can totally use the full fat, full sugar versions of these items.

I also feel like the chia seeds are optional, but they add bulk, fiber and keep you fuller longer. They don't bother me at all, but some people might prefer to leave them out.

The original recipe is marked as 216 calories per serving if you use almond milk and chia seeds. Adding in the optional protein powder and toppings/mix-ins will of course change your calories.

Mixed in the container.

A serving without toppings.

A serving with added fresh berries and sugared nuts.

These are the oats I used: One Degree sprouted rolled oats from Costco. I have also seen them listed for sale at Walmart and Thrive Market.

Single Serving Overnight Oats

Calories per serving: 300 w/o fruit

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 2 tsp chia seeds
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• spoonful of yogurt of choice
• 1 Tbl zero-calorie sweetener of choice
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 2/3 cup almond milk
• fresh fruit of choice

Directions:

1. In a single-serving container with a lid, mix together all of the above ingredients.
2. Add the fruit now, or when serving. (Add frozen fruit now to give it time to thaw.)
3. Store in fridge overnight. Stir and enjoy.

Marsha's Notes:

I also like to add sugared nuts or granola to mine for crunch. Each serving is about 300 calories, more with the fruit.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Overnight Oats

Calories per serving: 480

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 2 tsp chia 
• 1 heaping tbsp powdered peanut butter 
• Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• maple syrup (optional)
• 1/2 a mashed banana
• a little less than 1 cup Blue Diamond Chocolate Protein Almond Milk

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a single-serving container and store overnight.
2. Optionally, you can add chocolate chips or chocolate shell to the top of your jars.

Marsha's Notes:

I tried to put chocolate shell on the top of mine and it all sunk into the oats and hardened into blobs in the oats. I could still break it up into fudge-y pieces with my spoon, but I didn't exactly get the nice hard disk of chocolate on the top of the oats like the recipe implies. Instead, I would probably opt for chocolate chips instead, as mentioned above.

Pumpkin Fluff

My online feeds are all geared up for fall and posting all kinds of yummy looking recipes, most of them pumpkin. So, here is another one I tried that I really liked. 

*I put this under the "beverage" tag because you can use it as a beverage topping.

Pumpkin Fluff

Calories per BATCH: 625

Calories per serving: 1/4 cup for 39

Ingredients:

• 1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)
• 1 tub thawed whipped cream topping, 8 oz., Zero Sugar
• 1 box pudding mix, sugar-free
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• dash of vanilla
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Mix all of the above together until smooth.

Marsha's Notes:

• You can use any flavor of pudding mix you like, even the zero-sugar stuff. The spices are to taste.
• You can store this mixture back in the tub the whipped topping came in.
• You can use this as a dip for apples, cookies, crackers, pretzels, etc. You can put this on ice cream or as a topping for your hot beverages (i.e. coffee, chai tea lattes, hot chocolate). This would also be good on a bagel, toast, or eat it in a bowl as pudding topped with some extra whipped topping.
• If you use the zero sugar topping and sugar-free pudding mix, this entire tub is about 750 calories.

Ocean Water

While Sonic has a flavor packet that is actually called Ocean Water (which is blue in color with a light coconut/tropical flavor), but you can also use any blue flavor packet that you like to get the same color-effect. However, many blue packets are blue raspberry flavor, so the taste will be different, but still delicious. While I have used the blue Sonic packets before, our stores were currently sold out, so I used a blue Jolly Rancher packet instead just to document this recipe.

Looking for a yummy AND beautiful drink with summer vibes and tropical flavor? And one that is also low in calories and sugar? This is it!

Ocean Water

Calories per serving: 60

Ingredients:

• 6 oz Dole LIGHT pineapple juice
• 1 packet Sonic Ocean Water flavoring packet
• splash of sugar-free creamer of choice
• sugar-free lemon lime soda

Directions:

1. Fill your drinking glass about halfway full of ice.
2. Pour in your pineapple juice and flavor packet.
3. Top off the glass with lemon lime soda, leaving a small bit of room at the top to add your desired amount of creamer.
4. Stir and enjoy.

Marsha's Notes:

If you are mostly going for the pretty blue color, you can use any blue flavor packet that you like. But if you want a true tropical flavor with hints of pineapple and coconut, you will want to use the Sonic Ocean Water packets. You can also boost the coconut flavor by using a sugar-free coconut creamer.

The acidity of the pineapple juice can make the creamer split, so if that bothers you, then feel free to leave it out and still have an amazing drink.

Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

When you are looking to shave off a few calories and add a little bit of filling protein to your breakfast muffins, I found this recipe hack that is simple, yummy, and versatile. With only three ingredients, it doesn't get much easier than that! Enjoy! (You can also use higher calories/lower protein mixes, yogurts, and shakes, if dieting is not your concern and you just want some yummy, easy muffins.)

Cake Mix Muffins (Diet-Friendly)

Calories per serving: approximately 100 per muffin

Ingredients:

• 1 box cake mix, any flavor (preferably Zero Sugar)
• 1 cup yogurt, any flavor (Oikos Triple Zero tends to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• 1 protein shake (Core Power also tens to have the lowest calories for the highest protein)
• Optional Mix-ins

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare approximately 18 muffin cups (spraying your pan with non-stick spray or using silicone muffin liners).
2. In a large bowl, mix together your cake mix, yogurt and protein shake until just incorporated. Depending on the mix-ins you use, either add them now, or add them to each cup of muffin batter in the next step. 
• I found that mixing blueberries into my lemon muffin batter at this stage made it hard to control how many blueberries ended up in each muffin, so next time I will probably add them individually to each muffin in the next step.
3. Divide your batter evenly between your prepared muffin cups. Add any other mix-ins, like sugar crystals on top.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool for a minute or two, then remove from muffin pan to prevent sweating.

Each muffin is roughly 100 calories depending on what ingredients you used. To make these lemon blueberry muffins a more protein filled meal, I added two string cheeses to my plate and called it breakfast.

Protein Pancake Bowl

Trying to find more diet-friendly options that include protein to keep me fuller for longer, I stumbled on this protein pancake that bakes in a bowl. Very customizable, so feel free to change up flavors, toppings and mix-ins. Mine (pictured below) uses the base ingredients listed below, and then I added cinnamon chips. Many of the base ingredients are measured by weight (for more accurate baking results) but I will try to remember the next time I make this and see if I can figure out the measurements in a way that you don't need a cooking scale for.

Protein Pancake Bowl

Calories per serving: 350

Base Ingredients:

• 25 g flour
• 1 scoop protein powder (25-30 g)
• 10 g zero calorie sweetener (Stevia, Monkfruit, etc.)
• 2 g cinnamon
• 2 g baking powder
• 1 egg
• 100 ml milk

Optional inclusions, frostings, and add-ins.

Directions:

1. Spray a small baking dish with non-stick spray. 
2. Add all of your base ingredients together until smooth. 
3. Add any additional inclusions (such as chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruits, or swirl in a cinnamon sugar/butter mixture). 
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until done.
5. Top with any desired frostings, syrups, toppings or whipped cream.

Marsha's Notes:

The original recipe I saw was for a cinnamon roll pancake bowl where she made a slurry of cinnamon, zero calorie sugar or brown sugar and some melted butter. Then she placed globs of it on top of her pancake batter and swirled it in with a knife. Then she made a simple white frosting to put on the top once it was baked and cooled. Probably from milk/water and zero calorie powdered sugar.

However, this would also be delicious with fresh fruit on top, candied nuts, chocolate chips, or any other mix-ins that you like combined with any flavor of protein powder that you want to use.

Chicken Caesar Salad "Smash Burger" Wrap

These are incredibly easy and delicious. You can change things up by what kind of bread, meat or toppings you use, so the sky is the limit. But for this post, here is the basic Caesar recipe. Enjoy!

Chicken Caesar Salad Smash Burger Wrap

Calories per serving: 450 (if using a Joseph's™ Original Pita Bread)

Ingredients: makes 4 servings

• 1 lb. ground meat
• seasoning (I used "Everything But the Bagel")
• tortillas or pita bread
• salad kit, Caesar

Directions:

1. Divide up your meat evenly into however many wraps you are making.
• For a 1 lb. package, I was able to make three sandwiches pretty easily. If using a big tortilla, the meat may not go all the way to the edge.
2. Press the meat onto one side of your tortilla or pita bread, spreading out evenly and thinly.
• The meat needs to cook through quickly from one side, so don't make it too thick.
3. Sprinkle your seasoning over your meat, as much as you like.
• You can use any combination of seasonings that you like, but for this recipe, I used Everything But the Bagel.
4. Place on your griddle (sprayed with non-stick spray if using a low-fat meat such as ground chicken) and cook until your meat is done.
• I prefer to start with a cold griddle that I spray with non-stick spray, place my bread and seasoned meat "meat side down" and then turn the griddle on to 325 degrees. I feel like this gives the meat more time to slowly cook on the griddle and get done all the way through, as opposed to putting the meat on a hot griddle and then it's done on the surface before it's done all the way through.
• I cook until the meat is golden and cooked through, maybe 5 minutes or so with the idea that I could take it off the heat at this point and serve it.
5. Flip and toast the other side of your bread, if desired.
• I do this because I want my bread toasted on the other side and I want to give the meat a little more time and heat to keep cooking, if needed.
• I sprayed my bread-side before flipping and it came out nice and crispy once toasted.
6. Top with your salad kit and serve.

Marsha's Notes:

Be sure to use some kind of baking spray or butter on your skillet if using a low-fat ground meat like chicken, because things can (and will) stick during the cooking process. I thought I sprayed my griddle really well, and my ground chicken still stuck just a touch, so next time I might spray both the griddle and the meat itself.

This recipe would be great with any ground meat and any kind of salad kit/toppings. I am imagining using this some day for our Star Wars Ronto Wraps with ground pork.

Here are two pitas and one tortilla with the meat pressed onto one side and seasoned. I formed them on the griddle just to make sure all three were going to fit.

Here they are after I sprayed the (cold) griddle, flipped over and (griddle turned on and) cooking at 325 degrees.

Meat side is done! Everything is flipped to toast the other side.

I have seen people put these in a taco form to help them cool into more of a taco shape, but I just put mine flat on my plate and then folded up the sides burrito-style to eat.

Baked Oats Breakfast Square

Tried this recipe for healthy baked oats for breakfast today and really enjoyed it. This version uses vanilla protein powder, banana, and I added cinnamon chips to it, but I am sure you can change it up as much as you like. As is, it has about 32 grams of protein.

Baked Oats Breakfast Square

Calories per serving: 400

Ingredients:

• 55 g rolled oats (1/2 cup), processed in a blender into oat flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 30 g vanilla whey protein powder (1 scoop)
• 130 ml of milk (about 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbl.)
• 1 ripe banana (or 1/2 cup applesauce)
• inclusions of your choice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 4x4 baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Place your oats in a blender and process into a flour (if you haven't already done so).
3. Add the rest of your ingredients and blend just until combined.
4. Pour into greased baking dish, add any desired inclusions, and bake for around 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Marsha's Notes:

You could change up the flavors of this with different kinds of protein powder, different inclusions, and probably by using other things besides a banana, like pumpkin, applesauce, or peaches. Here is a chocolate looking one I saw on the Internet, plus I have seen ones with white chocolate and raspberries that looked really good.

I have used both a 2 cup 4x4 baking dish and one of my grandma's vintage Corelle baking dishes that was about 7x2 inches. The more shallow dish (obviously) cooked faster, more like 20-25 minutes. I just keep checking until the top starts to brown and a poker comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

Buffalo Chicken Protein Bowl

I stumbled across this recipe and had to give it a try. Some people will find it completely unappealing, but I just happen to enjoy tangy, sour, tart things, so pickles, blue cheese, and buffalo sauce are all okay in my book but you could certainly do something similar with ingredients you enjoy more. For example, you could make this into a pizza bowl, taco bowl, or BBQ bowl!

Buffalo Chicken Protein Bowl

Calories per serving: 400

Ingredients:

• 1 serving cottage cheese, I used about 1/2 cup
• 1 serving cooked bite-sized chicken of your choice (I used popcorn chicken)
• sprinkle of blue cheese crumbles
• sprinkle of ranch seasoning powder
• drizzle of blue cheese dressing
• drizzle of buffalo sauce
• handful of pickle slices (cut up, if you prefer)

Directions:

1. Place everything into a bowl in your desired quantities.
2. Stir and enjoy!

Marsha's Notes:

As mentioned above, it would be easy to sub different ingredients to make a pizza bowl (cottage cheese, popcorn chicken, pepperonis, pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and any other pizza toppings you like) or a taco bowl (cottage cheese, taco meat, cheddar cheese, taco sauce/salsa/pico, lettuce, olives, corn, beans, onions, tomato, etc.) or a BBQ bowl (cottage cheese, chicken, BBQ sauce, shredded cheese, onion (or grilled onions), peppers, etc.).

On another day, I took a few pictures of my assembly process.

Diet-Friendly Breakfast Casserole or Burrito

I saw a lady on TikTok make these breakfast casserole dishes and I thought that looked simple, easy, and great for either eating as prepared or stuffed inside of tortilla for a burrito. With my new Rubbermaid Brilliance glass food storage containers, I can prep the casserole right in my dishes and pop in the oven for cooking.

Breakfast Casserole

Calories per serving: 300 for one burrito, 300 for a single casserole

Ingredients:

• frozen breakfast hashbrown patty
• Egg Beaters
• breakfast meat/toppings of your choice
• tortillas (if making a burrito)

Directions:

1. Spray your baking dish with non-stick spray (I believe I used two of my two-cup Rubbermaid Brilliance container, which was perfect!).
2. Place two hashbrown patties side by side in a baking dish.
3. Pour 1/2 cup of Egg Beaters over your hashbrowns (or enough until they are covered). 
• Or you can scramble two regular eggs if you aren't worried about the calories.
4. Sprinkle over the top any of your desired toppings (shredded cheese, crumbled bacon or breakfast sausage, diced veggies of your choice, etc.).
5. Bake in a 350 degree oven. My hashbrowns were frozen, so it took about 20 minutes until the eggs were completely cooked through, puffed up, browning on top and no longer runny. It might take more like 10 minutes (+) if your hashbrowns are thawed.
6. Let cool slightly in container and then serve. 

Make it a burrito!:

If you are making it a burrito, for dieting I like to use a lower calorie/carb tortilla. Take half of one of your pans of casserole (or just one of the hashbrown patty sides) and place it on a tortilla and roll up. I made two pans, which in turn made four burritos (see the above pictures), so I rolled up three of them in paper towels and stuck them in the fridge for future meals. You could also place them in the freezer if you aren't going to eat them in the couple of days.

Marsha's Notes:

For one hashbrown patty, you are looking at about 100 calories. For the Egg Beaters and a mindful amount of toppings, another 100 calories, and then the diet-friendly tortilla was about another 100 calories, making each burrito about 300 calories.

As a casserole, if you eat the entire dish (both hashbrown patties, but no tortilla) you are still looking at about 300 calories.

If you don't have the Rubbermaid Brilliance containers, you can accomplish the same thing by using any baking dish you like that fits your hashbrown patties. I haven't tried it, but I am thinking you could fit 4-6 patties in a square baking dish.

Here is what it looks like before you take these out of the oven and during assembly.

Hashbrowns in a sprayed dish.

Cover with egg beaters.

Today I sprinkled some sausage and cheese on top before baking.

I also made larger batches of these in bigger containers to meal prep burritos for the freezer for the boys.

Mediterranean Bowls and Tzatziki Sauce

I bought some quinoa to try because I've heard good things about it, but I wasn't sure how to use it so it just sat in my cupboard for a while. Then my friend told me about how she made Mediterranean bowls for dinner one night, and kind of like Hawaiian haystacks or homemade pizza, you can really customize things however you like, so I thought it might be a great way for the boys to be happy while trying something new.

Scott and I were pleased with the meal, however, we did think our personal preference would be to use brown rice for the base instead of quinoa. The quinoa was very similar to rice (not super flavorful unless you add things to it, which makes it good for a base) except it was much smaller and more "seed-like" in texture. Once cooked, it was soft like cooked rice, but it still had that small seed-like feel to it.

Tzatziki is a nice cool, refreshing dill and cucumber sauce made from yogurt (some recipes call for sour cream or a combination of the two), so kind of like a ranch sauce but different.

Mediterranean Bowls and Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki Sauce: 360 calories per batch

• 1 cup whole-fat Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped or shredded cucumber
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill or 1 tsp. dry dill
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, optional for heat

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine yogurt, oil, and lemon juice. Add cucumber, garlic, and dill; season with salt, black pepper, and red pepper.
• Serve with pita and vegetables (if using). Tzatziki can be made 4 days ahead. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate.

Calories per bowl: (without bread) 500-600

Mediterranean Bowls:

• grilled meat of choice (see note below)
• cooked brown rice or quinoa (and/or lettuce if making your bowl more like a salad)
• feta cheese, crumbled
• Tzatziki sauce
• veggies of choice (chick peas, black beans, sliced olives, carrot shreds, diced cucumber, diced red onion, etc.)
• lemon wedges
• Pita bread (or Naan) on the side

Directions:

1. Prepare your grilled meat of choice. We used chicken breasts that had been marinating for a day in just a little cooking oil, splash of lemon, and Green Goddess seasoning, but you can use any meat you like. Then we grilled our chicken until cooked and diced it up.
2. Build your bowl by laying your desired ingredients over the top of your base. Squeeze a lemon wedge over the entire bowl, if desired. Serve with a piece of pita bread.

Marsha's Notes:

I felt like the squeeze of lemon really brought out a lot of flavor in the dish, because the chicken, quinoa, feta, and lots of the veggies weren't exactly the most flavorful. Also, use enough Tzatziki sauce to add more flavor and creaminess to the dish. The sauce and the lemon (along with your chicken if seasoned properly) are really where most of the flavor comes from unless you use strong flavored veggies, such as red onion.

Because the quinoa was so... bland... I am considering cooking it in chicken broth next time instead of water. But for my first experience, I really wanted to just follow the package directions. Once cooked and taste-tested, I did add some salt, pepper, and garlic butter to the quinoa to help it out some, but only because I had some garlic butter to use up. 

Everyone really liked the chicken, but most of us are more familiar with rice and thought that brown rice would be a more comfortable option for us in the future instead of the quinoa.

I got my Green Goddess seasoning at Trader Joe's. If you can't find it, Trader Joe's Green Goddess Seasoning Blend contains dried minced onion, salt, granulated garlic, ground black pepper, dried chives, dried green onion, spinach powder, dried parsley, lemon juice powder, and safflower oil, so you can just use some of the same seasonings to kind of get the same idea... or there are also a lot of other seasoning/marinade packets that would work just as well, including some labeled as "Mediterranean."