Healthy Tzatziki {A Quick Homemade Version}

 

The other day me and the hubs, and the three screaming children we are raising, found ourselves browsing the isles of our local Costco. If you didn’t know it yet, we loooove Costco as much as we love garlic.

We love the food samples with the itty bitty spoons and they way our kids run back for more deliciousness. Most of all we love how after a trip to Costco the kids are stuffed so full of samples that their Mom and Dad don’t even have to cook supper.

The Costco employees may even know us by name, and we may know a little too much about their personal lives too. I’m totally blaming it on the giant ice cream cones you can buy there and how girls obviously blab on and on about their boyfriends past and present while they indulge in a swirly mountain of vanilla goodness atop a warmed waffle cone.

Us and Costco, we are tight. 

But lets not get sidetracked.

We are talking about healthy alternatives today.

So, while the hubs and I ignored the children clamoring for more cheese string samples and for tiny crackers piled high with that crab dip we all love, he showed me a premade container with the label “Tzatziki” written across it.

I of course, with the intent on saving calories for ice cream, turned the container over and feigned concern at what was IN the Tzatziki.

There ended up being more fat, calories and preservatives then I would normally buy. So, with a shake of my head, I insisted that the grilled chicken we planned on having later would be better with HOMEMADE tzatkiki. The hubs does not argue with “homemade” so he put the preservative filled container back and instead we picked up our regular choice of Costco brand plain Greek yogurt.

 The fact that this Greek Yogurt comes in a three pack for $8.97 just means we love it That. Much. More.

Well priced, delicious, fat free and mostly natural, we seriously love this stuff. (We aren’t even getting truckloads of this goodness in compensation for this post! But, I will totally move the van out of the driveway if someone wants to drop off a shipment.)

We just seriously use this product all the time. We use it as a delicious substitute for sour cream and on top of bowls of berries; so creamy and so good. It is packed full of protein as well which makes this vegetarian Mama pretty darn excited about it…if you couldn’t tell.

 With our three pack of Greek yogurt in hand, we went home (stuffed full of samples and ice cream) to try our (my) hand at homemade Tzatziki.

 Get ready, all my garlic loving friends, this recipe I quickly ended up whipping up is S-I-M-P-L-E!

First use 250 grams of Greek yogurt (approx half a tub) Simply remove half of the tub into a separate container.
Then thoroughly wash and grate half of an English cucumber (I just used my hand cheese grater) into the tub of Greek yogurt.
Peel and crush four fresh garlic cloves into the tub. (Use more or less depending on your families obsession with all things garlic).
Measure and pour one tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into the tub.
Measure and pour one teaspoon of fresh squeezed lemon in with the rest of the ingredients.
Garnish with salt and pepper to taste.
Refrigerate for an hour so all the tastes become melded together.

Serve and use on top of salads, roasted meats, falafal, or along side pita or bread for dipping.

This tzatziki tastes better then any premade variety. It tastes like the kind your little Greek Grandma would make if you were so lucky to have a little Greek Grandma. Sealed in the fridge, this sauce just gets better with time. I kept and used mine for a week in the fridge and enjoyed each garlicky mouth full.

 It fits the bill around here. Quick, easy and oh-so-flavorful. The cheese-string-loving-kids even approved and asked for seconds with their barbecued chicken.

 One more point for this Mama.