Chicken Shawarma

Chicken Shawarma
Recipe Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 4 Servings

Chicken: 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tsp curry powder, 2 tsp olive oil, ¾ tsp salt, ½ tsp cumin, 2 tsp minced garlic, 1 pound chicken, diced.
Sauce: 1 small container 0% Fage yogurt, 1 ½ tbsp tahini, 2 tsp lemon juice, ¼ tsp salt, ½ tsp minced garlic
Also: cooking spray, 4 pitas, 1 cup lettuce, 8 tomato slices
Options: 1 cup couscous OR 1 large pita

Combine first six ingredients in a bowl. Add chicken to bowl. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. To prepare sauce, combine all ingredients stirring with a whisk. Cook chicken over medium heat in medium pan sprayed with nonstick cooking spray, 4 minutes on each side until no longer pink.
Pita Option: Place pitas in toaster; cook for 1 minute or until lightly toasted. Place 1 pita on each of 4 plates; top each with ¼ cup lettuce and 2 tomato slices. Top each serving with a quarter of the chicken pieces and sauce. (to make it easier to eat – spread sauce on pita with the back of a spoon, then top with lettuce, tomato and chicken so they “stick” to the pita).
Couscous Option: Cook couscous per package instructions. Divide couscous across 4 plates. Then serve lettuce, tomato, chicken and sauce alongside it.

Nutritional Information (couscous option): 475 calories, 61 carbs, 7 fat grams and 39 protein grams.
Nutritional Information (pita option): 434 calories, 53 carbs, 7 fat grams and 39 protein grams.

Review: I really liked this light recipe. I tried it hot and cold (with the pita) and both were good. I preferred it cold and made it like an Indian Pita Pizza with the sauce as the base so the ingredients would stick – very good! My sauce mix was 200 grams total, so if you weigh it’s 50 grams of sauce on each one. This is a keeper. It was good with couscous as well – but not as filling to me.

A pic of it with the sauce on bottom and "toppings" above it!

Roasted Chicken Pattie & Guacamole Pita

Roasted Chicken Pattie & Guacamole Pita

Inspired by a Trader Joe's sample test

Makes 2 Servings

2 6-inch pitas (about 120 calories each)

2 Trader Joe's roasted chicken patties

4 tbsp Trader Joe's spicy pico/guac servings, divided

Toast pitas in the toaster. While toasting, heat the chicken in the microwave for 1 minute. Put chicken onto pita, and then spoon guac/pico on top.

Nutritional Information: 295 calories, 29 carbs, 7 fat grams and 27 protein grams.

Review: We LOVED it. Amazing. It’s not much to look at but AWESOME. Would be a good snack to split with someone too (split one of them!).

Pepperoni Pitza

Pepperoni Pitza

Makes 1 Serving

1/4 cup low-calorie spaghetti sauce

1 large Trader Joe's pita (about 8" or 220 calories)

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp minced garlic, jarred

28 grams fresh mozzarella (1/4 cup)

10 grams fat-free feta cheese (1 1/2 tbsp)

6 turkey pepperonis

Set oven to broil. Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray and set pita on it. Use rubber brush to spread olive oil on pita top evenly. Add sauce and brush to even, then sprinkle with red pepper flakes and garlic. Top with mozzarella and feta, then add pepperonis. Broil for 7-9 minutes, keeping an eye on it to ensure it doesn't crisp (they cook fast).

Nutritional Information: 371 ccalories, 51 carbs, 10 fat grams and 16 protein grams.

Review: This recipe is truly an old standby. We used to make these on the medium-sized pitas but you had to have 1.5 pitas to be full. We've tried more sauce and less sauce, more olive oil and less olive oil. We used to cut the pepperonis into small pieces. Point being, we've found that the recipe above is the best for us (love the addition of garlic!) and that 6 pepperonis is plenty, and didn't want the extra step of making them smaller. If you like your pitza crispy, air on the side of 8 to 10 minutes - even if it looks a little brown on stop - still amazing. We like ours "medium" so we usually remove at 8 minutes.

Herbed Greek Chicken Salad

Cooking Light.com
Herbed Greek Chicken Salad
Makes 2 Servings

½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp black pepper, divided
¼ tsp salt, divided
Cooking spray
8 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch cubes
2.5 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
½ cup plain fat-free yogurt (Fage 0%)
1 tsp tahini
½ tsp minced garlic
6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
8 grape tomatoes, halved
44 grams fat-free feta cheese

Combine oregano, garlic powder, ¼ tsp pepper and 1/8 tsp salt in a bowl. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken and spice mixture; sauté until chicken is done. Drizzle with 1.5 tsp lemon juice; stir. Remove from pan. Combine remaining tsp of lemon juice, remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, yogurt, tahini and garlic in a small bowl; stir well. Combine lettuce and tomatoes. Place mixture on each of 2 plates. Top each serving with chicken mixture and cheese. Drizzle each serving with 3 tablespoons yogurt mixture.

Optional: Serve with toasted pita wedges (like I did above; 1/2 6-inch pita) OR chop down salad with knives, toast 6-inch pita, cut pita in half, and stuff each half with salad making a Greek Chicken Salad Wrap. The salad is super “sticky” if you will (see 3rd picture!), making it easy to stuff in a pita!

Mixed in with a side of pita

Nutritional Information (without pita): 251 calories, 13 carbohydrates, 3 fat grams, 41 protein grams. Nutritional Information (with pita): 371 calories, 37 carbs, 3 fat grams and 44 protein grams.

Review: You guys – it was SUPER good. I ended up eating half the salad with ½ a pita (2 small triangles), then stuffing the other half of the salad in another ½ of pita. YUM. It was so creamy and thick and fabulous – DEFINITELY making again. This would be a good one to bring to work too, could just pack it up and bring a pita, toast the pita in the toaster in the break room and stuff it up! Easy peasy!

Curried Tuna Pitas

Curried Tuna Pitas
Recipe from Cooking Light
Makes 1 Serving

3 oz. drained water-packed chunk light tuna (1 can)
1.5 tbsp fat free mayonnaise
½ tsp curry powder
1 tbsp celery, finely diced
2 tbsp sliced almonds (14 grams), diced
1 pita pocket cut at top (removes ¼ of it)!

Combine mayonnaise and curry powder. Stir, then add celery and almonds. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired, then stuff into pita. Serve.

Nutritional Information: Each pita has 271 calories, 24 carbs, 9 fat grams and 17 protein grams.

Review: You could easily cut this back by only using 7 grams almonds (what the recipe called for!), or you could beef it up some by adding more celery, lettuce, tomato, etc. I liked it how it was though – nom nom nom. I’ll be making it again – too easy not too! Oh – you should know that it called for ½ tsp of celery seed but I couldn’t find that spice to save my life (could have SWORN I had it).

Chicken Souvlaki

Chicken Souvlaki
cookinglight.com
Makes 2 Servings

2 6” pitas (I used Trader Joe’s)
1 oz. crumbled fat-free feta cheese
¼ cup plain fat-free yogurt (2 oz.)
½ tbsp olive oil, divided
1 tsp minced garlic, divided
¼ tsp oregano
8 oz. chicken
½ cup lettuce
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 tbsp onion, diced

Combine feta, yogurt, ½ teaspoon oil, and ½ teaspoon garlic in a small bowl, stirring well. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining ½ tsp garlic and oregano to pan, and sauté for 20 seconds. Add chicken, and cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Toast pitas, cut them in half and open each half. Place 1/4 cup chicken mixture in each pita half, and top with 2 tablespoons yogurt mixture, 2 tablespoons shredded lettuce, and 1 tablespoon tomato. Divide onion evenly among pitas. Serve with couscous.

Nutritional Information (without couscous): 330 calories, 34 carbs, 5 fat grams and 35 protein grams.

Review: We really liked it you guys! Super creamy and flavorful – I went a little heavy on the garlic especially since I omitted the dill. We’ll definitely have it again but next time I won’t even bother with the couscous – if anything I’ll just do a side of hummus/carrots! There will definitely be a ‘next time’ though – yay! I think I’m going to try many more Mediterranean recipes.

Chicken Pesto Salad Sandwich

Chicken Pesto Salad Sandwich
Food Network magazine
Makes 1 Serving

4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast
19 grams sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
1 tbsp fat-free mayonnaise
½ tbsp pesto
Salt and pepper to taste
1 six-inch pita pocket cut at top
Red lettuce leaves

Place chicken and tomatoes in a large saucepan and pour enough water to cover by 2”. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Cook 8 minutes until chicken is tender. Drain and cut chicken into 1” cubes and tomato into ½” strips. Transfer to bowl, add mayo and pesto and season with salt and pepper. Spoon mixture into pita pocket lined with lettuce leaves.

Nutritional Information: 360 calories, 33 carbs, 10 fat grams and 31 protein grams.

Review: Great, filling sandwich! Has a different flavor with the pesto mixed in, but we both really liked it and will make it again! Nice summertime sammy.

Pizza Pasta Salad

Pizza Pasta Salad
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 2 Servings

2 oz. uncooked rotini pasta
3 oz. artichoke hearts (from jar), drained
1.5 oz. turkey pepperoni
1 oz. fat-free feta cheese
1 oz. fat-free mozzarella cheese
10 grape tomatoes, quartered
4 oz. roasted red peppers (from jar), drained
¼ cup Light Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing (I used newman’s)
2 basil leaves, minced
1/8 tsp pepper
Optional: ½ cup mushrooms; ¼ cup green pepper; ¼ onion diced

Cook pasta; drain, rinse with cold water and place in bowl #1. In bowl #2, combine artichoke hearts, pepperoni, cheese and tomatoes. Stir in salad dressing, basil and pepper. Place roasted red pepper in blender; process until smooth. Add pepper mixture to pasta/bowl #1. Stir. Add pasta mixture to artichoke mixture and toss well. In bowl #3, combine lettuce, mushrooms, onions and green peppers. Toss. Add artichoke/pasta mixture to bowl #3. Toss well! Serve with pita (1 pita smeared with 1 tsp olive oil and sprinkled with rosemary and kosher salt baked for 5 minutes at 450 degrees).

Nutritional Information: 450 calories, 61 carbs, 13 fat grams and 26 protein grams (with pita). For You Low-Carbers: Without pita: 370 calories, 49 carbs, 11 fat grams and 26 protein grams. Without noodles AND pita: 270 calories, 28 carbs, 10 far grams and 22 protein grams.

Review: Great salad! Very flavorful with the pepperoni and balsamic. I also liked having it with the pita to dip in the dressing - yum! Yes, I’m the only person on earth who can make a salad with almost as many carbs as my fried rice recipe!! Haha I knew the noodles would push it over but didn’t realize how all of those veggies would add up – who knew??! Anyway – we loved it! Super filling and fabulous, definitely hit the spot. Can’t wait to make another salad and try more salad dressings. Speaking of – the dressing was GREAT – I’m a fan – I want more ASAP.