Just Add Yoghurt

Banana bread and cake is a favourite of mine. Not too sweet, moist and can be considered part of the fruit food group (kind of).   This yoghurt banana muffin recipe was inspired by a banana cake recipe on weightloss.com.au but it’s a little naughtier. I increased the sugar slightly, added honey, used butter instead of margarine, replaced some of the milk with yoghurt and decreased the number of bananas. Then I turned them into muffins, instead of a cake. Ok so I made a few amendments, but I wanted to give credit where credit is due. This is a quick and easy muffin recipe perfect for morning or afternoon tea with a coffee or cup of tea. Or if you are Mr Bball, a homebrewed beer.   Yoghurt banana muffins: Ingredients: 150g butter 150g white sugar 2 eggs ½ teaspoon vanilla essence 2 ripe bananas mashed (or one large one) 1 teaspoon of baking soda ¼ cup of milk 3 tablespoon of yoghurt 1 tablespoon of honey 2 cups plain flour 1 heaped teaspoon of ba...

My brother and sister-in-law got us a slow cooker for Christmas. As soon as I unwrapped it, I knew it was pulled meat time. Pulled pork, pulled beef, pulled chicken and of course pulled lamb. I’ve always been a little scared of cooking red meat – nervous about how easy it is to overcook. However after years of bragging about how good Greek food is, I had to deliver when having a few friends over for a Greek dinner party. I consider chicken yiros one of my specialities – it’s easy, light and delicious. However I was dying to try cooking a leg of lamb for the first time. So after being inspired by Kevin from Closet Cooking I ventured into new territory. Thanks Kevin for sharing your amazing lamb recipe! I made a few changes to Kevin’s recipe – more garlic (I love garlic), added some veggies plus I used Nostimini, a Greek spice mix.   Pulled lamb yiros: Pulled lamb Greek pita bread Tzatziki Lettuce Tomato Onion (I grill mine – raw is fine if you like raw onion). L...

After a two year break, I’m back to share some yoghurt goodness with you all. Where have I been the last few years? Well…I’ve moved house, started a new job, attempted to form a gym routine, finished a Graduate Diploma in Communications (Public Relations) and met (warning…cliché moment) the love of my life. While I haven’t blogged for the last few years, my passion for yoghurt, food and travel hasn’t wavered. I’ve still experimented with food (both failed and succeeded), eaten a lot of yoghurt and travelled. To ease back into it, I thought it fitting that I share a... “I can’t believe I found yoghurt here” story. In September 2014 my partner, let’s call him Mr Bball (he likes basketball – go 36ers! ), and I went to China for a two week holiday. If you haven’t been to China, I recommend it. Amazing food, beautiful sites, fascinating people and an amazing history. I knew that I would find a lot of familiar foods in China – dumplings, noodles, spicy soups, stir fry’s and even...

So it has been a while since I last posted. Moving back to Adelaide, starting a new job and a postgraduate course has left little time. However I am now committed to getting this blog back up and running and experimenting with cooking again. My cousin and his friend have just invited me to participate in our own My Kitchen Rules challenge. We each make a three course meal per week and score each other. The winner will get a free meal. Love the idea and can't wait to experiment. I do plan to have yoghurt as the main ingredient for at least one of the courses. I'll keep you updated on how I go! I will quickly share a new recipe with you...Salmon with tahini and yoghurt dressing. This meal I made for my Mum, Dad, Sister and Brother-in-Law - my Dad a very harsh critic. Salmon: I marinated the salmon is garlic (2 cloves), ginger (1 tablespoon), chili (1 teaspoon), lemon, olive oil and a soy, chili balsamic. Then cooked it on a grill, skin side down. I accompanied this...

This is a delayed post, however before leaving Sydney one of my workmates challenged me to cook something with yoghurt and peanut butter. I love peanut butter, especially in sweets. The most amazing peanut butter inspired dessert I've ever eaten was from a restaurant in Melbourne called Gills Diner . With a European inspired menu, Gills Diner served up a reeses peanut butter cup inspired dessert with a rich yet light chocolate tart accompanied by a peanut butter ice cream that made me giddy with every bite. The peanut butter ice cream was a perfect combination of salty and sweet and when accompanied with rich dark chocolate, became a match made in heaven. Check out Gills Diner below: It was amazing - it almost overtook my grandma's cheesecake, as the best dessert I've ever eaten. ALMOST! So with the idea of chocolate and peanut butter in mind, I made what I know and love - cookies. The cookies included: plain flour, sugar, butter, dark chocolate, peanut butter and...

The last 4 months have been crazy, with my big move back to my home town Adelaide. While I miss all my friends in Sydney, I love being back home with family, friends and a bigger Greek population! This is evident by the vast range of Yiros shops and lack of Kebab shops. It's a beautiful sight, seeing proper tzaziki on a yiros. Better yet, my Uncle Bill owns a yiros shop called The North Adelaide Burger Bar on O'Connell St - commonly called the the Red and White. The Red and White is home of the AB. The AB includes hot chips, layered with yiros meat, topped with real tzaziki made by my uncle, finished with tomato sauce. It is fantastic! Doesn't look amazing, but trust me...give it a go. I had my first AB only 3 weeks ago with my cousin. However it's amazing how when you turn to someone in Adelaide and say AB, they know exactly what you are talking about. The AB and the Red and White is now a South Australian institution, replacing the likes of pie floaters. The siz...

I've recently moved back to my hometown, Adelaide. However before departing I had to go back to one of my favourite Turkish places in Sydney. Lucky enough, my flatmates had the same idea. They kindly took me out to dinner to wish me luck and the destination,  The Cushion House in Glebe. Now for those who read my European Food Safari post, you would have seen that my favourite yoghurt based meal in Europe was a dish I had in Turkey called Iskender. The other dish I also love is called Manti. It's like little turkish meat filled dumplings with a beautiful yoghurt and garlic sauce, finished off with a rich tomato sauce and paprika. It's such a nice and fresh dish. Often meat filled dumplings can be heavy, however at The Cushion House the manti is done so small and so perfectly that with two bites, they melt. The yoghurt on top adds a tang and helps with digestion. A little tip, share a pide and manti with someone and get some turkish bread to dip in the leftover yog...