Sunday, July 24, 2011

Greek Turkey Buger Pita Recipe

Tonight, I made Greek Turkey Burger Pitas and they were so delicious I just had to share the recipe! My husband Joe is a tough critic when it comes to trying my new recipes, and he said this deserves to be in the family cookbook (only my Shrimp and Grits and Bourbon Pecan Chicken have made it so far), so that shows you how incredibly delicious this dinner is! It was super easy and took less than 30 minutes to make! Not only was it easy, but healthy too! This is definitely going to get eaten a lot in our house from now on!

Enjoy!


{via}

Greek Turkey Burger Pitas
Inspired by a Cooking Light recipe

For Burgers:
1 pound ground turkey breast
1/2 cup panko or whole wheat breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped cucumber
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried dill
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups arugula, or your favorite kind of lettuce
2 (6-inch) whole-wheat pitas, grilled and halved

For Sauce:
(I just buy ready made tzatziki sauce at the store to make it easier)

1/2 cup low-fat plain greek yogurt
1/3 cucumber, peeled and seeded (the kind that come in the plastic wrapper are best)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper


Preparation:
Combine first 8 ingredients in a bowl; mix until combined. Divide mixture into 12 portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick round patty (2 should fit in a pita half). (I find that it is a lot easier to make these smaller falafel sized patties rather than full sized ones)

Heat a nonstick grill pan coated with cooking spray to medium-high heat. Add patties to grill; cook 6 minutes on each side or until done.

While the patties are cooking, make the tzatziki sauce: Combine 1/2 cup plain low-fat, Greek-style yogurt; 1/4 cup finely chopped seeded cucumber; 1/4 teaspoon salt; and 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper.

Place 2 patties in each pita half, with a healthy dollop of the tzatziki sauce.

Other great toppings would be: lettuce, red onions, sliced cucumbers, feta cheese, sliced bell peppers

Friday, July 15, 2011

Roadtrip #520495

Joe and I are headed out on what seems like our millionth road trip of the summer, but I couldn't be happier!
Can't wait to be in Pittsburgh with his wonderful family!
Happy Weekend! :)

Dining Room Makeover

My parents bought their matching dining room suite right after they first got married. It is still in great shape, but my mom was growing tired of all of the wood tones in the room. She wanted to be able to makeover the room on a small budget, and I think she did such a great job! 

One of my biggest decorating pet peeves is a room full of matchy matchy furniture! I can't stand a set of furniture that is all exactly alike (hope I'm not hurting anyone's feelings!) I read somewhere that your home should be full of furniture that looks like it was collected over time, and not bought at on the same day at some big box store. I absolutely love shopping for furniture at thrift and consignment stores. The prices are always amazing, and the pieces usually have a lot of character! A lot of people have the same problem as my mom, and already have an old matching dining room suite that is in need of an updated look.


She decided to paint her dining room chairs a crisp white, and it is such a great contrast with the dark wood of the table now. She also recovered the chair cushions in a fun pear green animal print and it instantly updated the room. It was a really easy fix and only cost the amount of a few cans of spray paint and a yard of new fabric! Told you it was easy!

Here are some pictures of some other dining room's with the same idea.
Source: houzz.com via Molly on Pinterest



Source: google.com via Molly on Pinterest


So, if you have an all wood, matching dining room suite and are in need of a quick change...go paint your chairs white right now! You'll thank me later. Promise!

Her walls were already a gorgeous color (Blonde by Sherwin Williams), so she focused most of the rest of her budget on new drapes. She had custom drapes before and the floral fabric was pretty, but the shape and fringe were screaming 1990's! She found a beautiful, modern floral printed fabric at a great price, and actually had the fabric store make four lined panels for a great price (I can't remember exactly how much she paid.)

We are also in the process of redoing my little brother Ben's room while he's in Africa (we thought it was time to give him a big boy room since he's 21 and all..haha!) and had a leftover bookshelf that he didn't need anymore. I had a lightbulb moment and thought about how cute it would be in my parents' dining room as a little bar area! I was right, it is perfect in there! I quickly styled it with stuff my mom already had, but I absolutely love the way it turned out!

She is on the hunt for a new chandelier and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all done! What a transformation for hardly any money!
I'll be back home in a couple of weeks, so I will take good pictures with my big camera!


Lessons Learned:
How to bring your dining room out of the 90's!

1. Get rid of that matchy matchy look and all of that wood, and paint your chairs (or any other piece) white or maybe even a fun color!

2. Go buy a yard or two of fabric and recover those chairs!
3. Slap some fresh paint up on the walls!

4. Shop for some new accessories or furniture pieces from your own house...it's totally free and I guarantee you will find a new love for these pieces when placed in a different room!

5. Change up the window coverings! You can find fun and inexpensive bamboo shades to update your windows, or get some new drapes (whether they be custom made or even cheap ready made ones from Target or Ikea!)

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Carolina In My Mind

I am back from an amazing trip to South Carolina! I had so much fun at the lake with all of my sweet family (minus my little brother who is in Africa for the summer...missed you Ben!) at the lake, and also at my parents' house in Greenville. I took my big camera with both of my lenses and had all intentions of taking a million pictures...then I only managed to take a few pictures with my phone. I was too busy having fun to get out the camera, I guess! Anyway, I am usually sad when having to leave home, but wasn't this time because we will be back in the good ol' SC in a few weeks for my sweet friend Alisha's wedding!

I got to see my sweet nieces and nephew and loved being able to spend so much time with them! I hate living so far away from them and missing them grow up, so I cherish every little second I get with them!
How sweet are these babies:
O'neil...the little charmer!

Our 5 am party!

Lainey Kate is such a sweet big sister!



Super excited for our next trip down to see these two love birds tie the knot!

Allison Elizabeth Photography

Monday, July 4, 2011

Happy 4th!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Here's to lots of delicious food, soaking up some sun, laughing with sweet family, and gorgeous fireworks!

Source: google.com via Lisa on Pinterest




Friday, July 1, 2011

sneak peaks

Here are a few sneak peaks of the rest of the rooms in our new apartment. 
Lots of pictures and posts to come!