FAGE Good Living (Part 1): Vegetarian Gyro Bowls and Healthier French Onion Dip

I've been able to travel a lot in my life, but one place I haven't been and is on my list of places to visit is: Greece! When I got an email that FAGE Total Authentic Greek Yogurt was giving away an 8-day trip to Greece to a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher I got very excited. Of course, FAGE hasn't forgotten about all of you!  Go here to enter to win a trip for yourself too! Foodbuzz wants to know how we as bloggers, "combine good food and fine taste for a positive, healthy life--just like the Greek tradition of
 "good living"."
      
       So when I think about "good living" it brings me to thinking about the way I lead my own life. I feel like life is too short not to enjoy the things that make you happy. If you love chocolate, eat the chocolate. If you love salty things, eat those things. However, I also truly believe in enjoying everything in moderation. If you indulge in the rich things then you might have to work out and exercise a little harder to even things out. This doesn't work for everyone but I feel like when you don't allow yourselves to indulge in your favorite things sometimes then you'll never learn to live equally and healthfully with them. Positive health and well-being is something I've always believed in. These are ideas and notions that originated with Plato and the ancient philosophers.

      I love finding ways in my cooking to make my favorite recipes a little healthier so that I can enjoy them more often then just on a special occasion. The thing I love about Greek yogurt is that it is such a versatile cooking tool for doing just that. It can be used to replace sour cream and mayonnaise in most recipes. It's delicious in oatmeal and great mixed with berries for a fresh dessert.

    I decided to take one of my favorite childhood dips and use Greek yogurt to update the recipe. Growing up, my mom use to get the Lipton French Onion soup mix and make dip which was always served with potato chips. I loved this dip and always ate too much of it! At age 28, I still love that dip and when I find it at parties I still get excited.........

But here is a new version of the recipe, one that I actually think tastes better than the original! I've used it all week in other recipes but it is really tasty in the Gyro Bowls below:




French Onion Dip With Greek Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbs. unsalted butter
• 1 large yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup Fat-Free 0% Greek Yogurt 
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• Vegetables or chips  for serving 

Directions:

In a fry pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and salt and cook, stirring often, until soft and caramelized, about 20 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the Worcestershire sauce and stir to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. Transfer the onion to a small bowl and let cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt, mayonnaise, cayenne pepper and black pepper. Stir in the onion. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 week. Serve with chips and vegetables for dipping. Makes about 2 cups.

*adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Once I made this dip I knew I had to try it on top of one of my vegetarian gyro bowls. I came up  with this recipe awhile back when I was eating Field Roast's Wild Mushroom Loaf and thought that it tasted a lot like gyro meat to me. This recipe is so easy to make on a weeknight. I usually use a box of Near East cous-cous. So here is the gyro bowl recipe.....so we can pretend we are in Greece, in case we don't win the trip!

Vegetarian Gyro Bowls

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon

1/2  Field Roast Wild Mushroom Loaf, chopped 

1 box Near East Cous-Cous (any variety)

1 tomato, diced or sliced

4 Tablespoons French Onion Dip

salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

1. Prepare cous-cous according to the directions on the box.

2. Meanwhile in a separate skillet add oil and cook Field Roast and saute until edges start to brown. 

3. Fluff cous-cous and divide between two bowls. Top each bowl with tomatoes, Field Roast, and 2 tablespoons of French Onion Dip, salt & pepper. 

 "As part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway"

Ciao!

Betsy