Easy Greek dinners...even when you can't stand up in the kitchen!

I recently broke my toe - yes, you can break your toe at an adult age!  It was a silly accident that involved me being in a hurry and my living room sofa being in my way. As a result, I was stuck at home for several days, with my foot up on a pillow, forced into a much slower, sedentary schedule….and not able to run around shopping or stand in my kitchen to cook!

It made me think a lot about always being in a hurry, and I realized that one of the reasons I started Zelos, without even knowing it, was to help deal with the frenetic pace of our lives. I wrote in the beginning of the Zelos journey about growing up in a foodie heaven (read my first blog post here), but I’ll be the first to admit that it wasn’t easy living up to my mother’s and grandmother’s level given our crazy lives. And while my original motivation in starting Zelos was to help our Artisans and bring that truly healthy Greek cuisine to the US, it was also pretty exciting to see just how many of our products let me recreate the home-cooked meals of my childhood without too much effort. So even though I was pretty much stuck all week with this broken toe, I was still able to raid my pantry and pull together very easy, healthy Greek dinners, without having to spend hours in the kitchen...and without having to compromise on the flavor and quality! 

Here’s a selection of what I managed to whip up (with minimal standing on my foot!):

One night, I grilled the chicken breast I luckily had in my fridge, having first tossed it with Sparoza’s cooking blend with herbs and lemon zest and some of Philippos’ organic extra virgin olive oil….mouthwatering!

Twice I made an Agrozimi pasta with one of Elli & Manos’ Greek Flavor Bursts.  These tomato coulis felt so much better than those big-jar pasta sauces.  I cooked the orzo (one day the egg version, another day I tried the spelt), drained it, poured over Elli & Manos’ Tomato based miracle-in-a-jar, and drizzled some of Philippos’ olive oil - all natural, and super tasty!

I also made Agrozimi trahaná, which by default is the ultimate Greek comfort food. My grandmother used to make it on cold winter nights for a quick warm dinner, and sometimes even for breakfast. She used to add homemade croutons for garnish, but mine was with crackers, equally delish.

I admit that the depression of being stuck on the couch also led me to raid my stash of Citrus loukoumia and I can now attest that all three kinds available on our Zelos site are the perfect bite-sized treat...assuming you stick to a bite or two ;-)  It helped that I washed them down with some of Sparoza’s Aurora tea - I had throwbacks to my childhood, since the smell reminded me of my parents and grandparents drinking Greek mountain tea every single day of their long lives, either at breakfast or before going to bed, or both. It is naturally fragrant and was so comforting - just what I needed to beat the blues.

It was a tough week but it forced me to slow down and also ended up being kind of fun, as I discovered that I could still eat delicious healthy Greek food without spending endless hours standing in the kitchen…so another benefit to my Zelos adventure! What about you? What’s your favorite dinner shortcut or go-to pantry staple? Are you using any of our products in a fun, creative way? Let me know in the comments below!