What a Bunch of Dips!

My weekend wasn't horrible, didn't drink (although the boys did) and ate fairly healthy. We went bowling, followed by karaoke on Friday, and visited with family on Saturday. I made us dinner on Friday: mushroom soup, burgers with jalapeno cheese, and taco salad. We were visiting my boyfriends cousin on Saturday night, and we ordered Chinese food, I tried to watch my portions and had lots of veggies. His cousin's children made chocolate chip cookies, and I had one. Just one. I'm calling that a victory. :)

Today was a little more ambitious. I went to my group this afternoon, and then walked home. Edmonton is a river city, and downtown is built right on the edge of the river. Beautiful views? Check. Lush green trees? Check. Walking trails? Check. Ample pedestrian crossings and easily accessibly sidewalks? Ummm... not so much. I took the wrong set of stairs down into the valley, and ended up having to climb a big hill and then back tracking to get going towards the right part of town. My steps for today are 12,500, and I figure the walk home was about 8 km. The stairs out of the river valley were a pretty harsh go. I know that they will get easier as I drop the excess weight.

I wasn't very impressed that my iPod Nike+ seems to have kicked the bucket. I've only had it since September, and they're supposed to last at least a year. I'll have to see if they will replace it for me. It would have been nice to have had that updated on the Nike website.
I made Tzatziki sauce on Friday, and Hummus today.

Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients

• container low fat greek yogurt
• 1 long english cucumber
  
• juice of 1 lemon, plus a little lemon zest
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh dill (I used lots, I love dill)

Directions

• Peel and seed the cucumber, reserve a couple of strips of the peel
  
• Chop the reserved peel very finely
• Grate or finely chop the cucumber, then remove as much liquid from the cucumber as possible (I placed paper towel in a bowl, put the cucumber in and squeezed the heck out of it)
• Combine the yogurt and cucumber (drained and the finely chopped peel) in a bowl
• Add the finely minced garlic and fresh chopped dill to mixture, fold in with spatula
• Juice one lemon, fold in to mixture
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Refrigerate Tzatziki for at least one hour before serving! It is important for the flavors to have time to mix, or you will end up serving something that tastes like plain yogurt with small weird chunkies in it. After the flavors have had a chance to meld together you will have a refreshing, crisp, wonderfully cucumbery, cool dip that is great for pitas or dipping veggies.
  

My Tzatziki was runnier than the stuff you would find in the store or in a restaurant, although it still tastes great. I assume it's because I used a 'Balkan-style' yogurt, and not actual Greek yogurt. Many recipes suggest straining the Greek yogurt through cheesecloth for a few hours in the fridge to get the firmer texture.

Hummus
Ingredients

• One can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), with 1/4 cup of the liquid reserved
• 2-4 cloves garlic (depend on how garlicy you like your hummus)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Tahini Paste
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

• Finely mince garlic
• Combine all ingredients in blender, blend until smooth

Mine turned out a little garlicky, but it's got a wonderful little bite to it. I can't wait to have this with some celery tomorrow!