Low Fat Potato Salad with Dill

BBQ season is here and what is better to go with your steaks, burgers and dogs than potato salad?!

This zingy, crunchy super tasty potato salad with dill will have you totally hooked! And best of all - it is low fat! Say good-bye to drenching your poor little potatoes in mayo and give this recipe a try.

What You'll Need:

• Large pot with lid
• Large bowl and small mixing bowl
• Spatula
• One bag of mixed mini potatoes (I like the bags that come with red, yellow and blue)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 stalks of celery for that crunch
• 4 Tbps of chopped green onion
• 1 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbps light mayo (I used Miracle Whip)
• 3 Tbps cider vinegar
• 1/4 honey mustard (not the overly sweet kind. I chose a honey, Dijon mustard for a little extra bite)
• 1/2 cup of relish (I used the basic Heinz variety)
• 1 Tbps 'fresh' dill (I used the kind that comes in the tube...classy, I know). You can also use dried dill or dill from a fresh dill plant - up to you and what you have available at the time
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

What You'll Do:

• Fill your large pot halfway with water, sprinkle in your salt, cover and let boil
• Chop your mini potatoes into halves or quarters (depending on the size)
• Once the water has boiled, gently spoon in your potato pieces
• I boiled my potatoes for around 12 minutes, but the key is to not have them go too soft - then your potato salad with be a sad mushy consistency
• Boil them until they are soft enough to stick a fork in without being too soft they break apart
• While boiling, dice your celery into tiny pieces and chop your green onion. Set aside in your smaller mixing bowl
• Combine your fat free Greek yogurt, light mayo, cider viegar, honey mustard, relish, dill and freshly ground pepper into the small mixing bowl
• Using a spatula, stir the contents together until they are evenly distributed. Cover and set in the fridge to stay cool
• Drain your potatoes and allow to cool on your countertop for at least 20 minutes. You don't want to pour the dressing on hot potatoes
• Once cool to the touch, remove your dressing from the fridge and cover the chopped potatoes
• Using your spatula, gently stir to ensure all potatoes are covered evenly
• You can serve this right away or let it sit. You can keep this salad up to three days if you keep it cool - so this dish is great as a make-ahead dish

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 1.5 - Quite pretty with the mixed colours of the potatoes

Taste: 2+

Ease: 1 (You will need about one hour or so to make)

Easy Chocolate Brownies

This recipe couldn't be easier, or tastier! These chocolate brownies turn out exactly how brownies should be - soft in the centre with a crispy crust on top. This recipe is definitely not low fat but they are super chocolatey, so a little goes a long way! I usually half this recipe as there is just two of us and a full batch is a lot of brownies!

What You'll Need:

• Cake tin - 12 x 9
• Electric mixture or hand mixture and medium-sized bowl
• 1 cup softened un-salted butter
• 1.5 cups white sugar
• 4 Large room-temperature eggs 
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup self-raising white flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (this is optional, but I find it makes this recipe go above and beyond...the way Martha likes it)

What You'll Do:

• Pre-heat your oven to 350F
• Grease your cake tin with butter or oil
• Using a large bowl and hand mixer (or ideally a mix-master) combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth and well combined
• Spread the mixture evenly in your baking tin
• Bake for 30
• Do not over bake as you want the centre to be ever-so-slightly soft and under-baked
• Let cool a little bit (as nothing beats a warm brownie) and serve with ice cream or whipped cream

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 2 - the easiest recipe! Trust me.

Pulled Chicken Pita Recipe

This recipe is easy, tangy and fresh.
Pulled chicken breast packed into toasted garlic butter pitas loaded with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.

The below recipe is in three parts (the pitas, the chopped salad then the pulled chicken)

I hope you like it as much as I do!

What You'll Need:

• 4 Pita breads (whole wheat is nice)
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1tsp garlic powder
• Baking tray
• 1/4 length of fresh cucumber
• 1 dill pickle
• 1 tomato
• 1/8 cup of vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sugar (or sugar-substitute, I used IDEAL)
• Medium-sized bowl
• Cooked Pulled Chicken - you can see how to make that, here
• 1 cup of My Tangy BBQ Sauce (or your favourite tangy BBQ sauce)
• Large saucepan

What You'll Do: The Pitas

• Cut each pita in half
• Place the halved pitas on your baking tray
• Mix your room temperate butter and garlic powder together
• Spread the garlic butter mixture lightly on the top of each pita
• Right before your pulled chicken and Tangy BBQ Sauce are combined, pop into the oven for 5-8 minutes at 350

What You'll Do: The Chopped Salad
This kebab-shop inspired salad is super easy and something you can store for a few days if you don't use it all up inside your pitas

• Using the same dicing technique shown here in my 'How to Dice an Onion' post, dice your tomato, dill pickle and cucumber
• In a medium-sized bowl, add in your diced veggies, then toss in your vinegar and sugar (or sugar substitute)
• Stir until you can't feel the sugar granules
• Pop into the fridge

What You'll Do: The Pulled Chicken with my Tangy BBQ Sauce

• Inside your large sauce pan, take your pre-cooked, pre-pulled chicken and slowly stir in your pre-made Tangy BBQ Sauce
• On a medium-heat stir the chicken until completely saturated in sauce
• (Pop your pitas into your pre-heated oven)
• Let heat through until piping hot

What You'll Do: The Assembly

• Now that everything is ready, this is the fun part - stuffing your pitas full!
• Take your pitas out of the oven
• Take your diced veggie salad out of the fridge
• Remove your BBQ sauce soaked chicken from the heat 
• Open your pita and stuff its brains out with the above

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 2 (this is a really fast recipe to make unless you need to make the pulled chicken and BBQ sauce, then the time for this recipe increased about 45 minutes)

Turkish Inspired Stuffed Peppers

While in Istanbul last week I ate the most incredible foods.
One dish that stood out was a stuffed tomato I had as part of a mixed mezze platter.
The tomato was baked and filled with an aromatic rice, nuts and onions. The best part was the hint of cinnamon.

As I had no tomatoes large enough, I used red peppers I bought from the local market instead. Instead of rice, I felt like couscous, so I used that. I also tossed in some dried apricots as a lot of Turkish dishes have apricots and I think they make everything tastier. Martha would agree.

They turned out like heaven. Simple, easy, tasty heaven.

What You'll Need (four servings):

• Four large red peppers
• Tinfoil
• Baking pan
• 1 cup or 250 g of Couscous
• 1 cup or 250 g of boiling water
• 1 Onion
• 1/2 cup or 125 g of chopped Green onion
• 1/4 cup or 63g of fresh pine nuts
• 1/4 cup or 63 g of dried apricots
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 Tsp of your best cinnamon, I like this one from The Silk Road Merchants in Calgary

What You'll Do:

• Dice your onion into small cubes, like this
• Dice your dried apricots into small pieces
• Chop your green onion into fine pieces
• In a small, non-stick frying pan, add in your diced onion, just covered in water, and simmer until softened
• Cut the top of each pepper off and empty all the seeds
• Trim down the bottom of each pepper, so they stand straight up in the pan
• Pre-heat your oven to 190C or 350F 
• Line your baking tray in tin foil to help prevent the peppers from sticking
• Boil one cup of water on the stove top
• When boiled, add in your couscous and remove from heat, cover with a lid
• Place your empty peppers into the oven to cook for about ten minutes
• After five minutes of resting, fluff your couscous (as it can get sticky) and add in your cinnamon, a twist of freshly ground pepper, sauteed onion, chopped green onion, chopped apricot and pine nuts
• Stir until thoroughly mixed
• Remove your partially cooked peppers
• Stuff each pepper with enough couscous mixture to fill it to the top
• Bake the peppers for another ten minutes

Enjoy!

These babies go great with chicken or salmon...or on their own. So easy, so tasty.

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2 (they are so colourful...just like Martha's language)
Taste: 2 (the hint of cinnamon makes them taste so exotic)
Ease: 2 (if they were any easier, they would be my sister....I kid, of course)