Tzatziki Yogurt Dip

I am a fan of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. Dolmathas, hummus, spanikopita, babaganoush... you name it. One of my favorite dips is this creamy, flavorful, and savory cucumber yogurt dip. My mom made a similar dip when I was home during winter break, so I decided to create my own! With two special spices from Penzey's, I made my own version! This is a flavorful, high protein, low fat, and versatile dip that can be used with veggies, breads, chips, and anything else that suits your fancy!

Tzatziki Yogurt Dip
By Caroline Mac
Ingredients:
2C plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1T extra virgin olive oil
1T lemon juice
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1T fresh dill, finely chopped
1T fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
1/2t Penzey's Zatar seasoning
1/2t Penzey's Turkish seasoning
1/2 large cucumber, peeled and chopped

Stir all ingredients except for the cucumber together until smooth. Add cucumber and mix again until thoroughly blended.

Serve as a dipping sauce for chips, crackers and veggies, or as a bread topping. 

Enjoy!

What I Buy: Siggi Yogurt

I used to hate yogurt. I rarely ate it unless it was in a recipe. That was then. Now, I eat yogurt at least every other day. In fact, yogurt is one of the few dairy products that I still consume! I rely on yogurt as a source of protein and calcium to get me through a long day of dancing. However, I don't eat your average, nonfat yogurt. I always buy either Greek yogurt or my new favorite, Siggi Icelandic Yogurt! I believe it's actually called Skyr, but no one would understand me if I referred to it by that name.

You're probably wondering what's so special about this yogurt besides the fact that it's expensive and Icelandic. Like Greek yogurt, skyr has LOTS more protein than regular yogurt. In fact, one container of  nonfat Siggi has 14g of protein, versus a single- serving container of Brown cow yogurt, which has only 6.
Another plus is the low sugar content. I'm a person who doesn't particularly like the taste of plain yogurt (It reminds me of bile... not good.), which means I either have to buy a flavored yogurt or add applesauce, agave or some other kind of flavor. With a typical yogurt I would shy away from buying a pre-flavored variety, as a Brown Cow strawberry yogurt has 23 grams of sugar. Even a strawberry Chobani Greek yogurt has 19 grams! When I saw that Siggi only has 9 and still tastes equally delicious, it became the obvious choice.

Besides Nutritional information, the flavor assortment makes Siggi even more appealing. The vanilla, which happens to be my favorite flavor, tastes like less-sweet vanilla bean ice cream. When the vanilla gets boring I can spice things up with flavors like orange- ginger, grapefruit, pomegranate- passion fruit,  and acai-berry. What's not to love about this healthy, tasty, and sustaining food?

Learn more about Siggi here: Siggi's Wesbite