GG's Yogurt

Let me start off my saying. OMG!

Kristi and I have found our new heaven, and it is GG's Yogurt on Jamacha Rd. Now if you talk to most East County people about where to find the best FroYo, most will unabashedly claim, Yogurt Mill. Now as much as I LOVE Yogurt Mill, it is kind of a drive for me, so I only usually go there if I'm in the area. They have a good selection and they, for the most part, are pretty inexpensive. But let me tell you, GG's is just BETTER. Take Yogurt Mill and add to it, better quality, amazing customer service and an AMAZING weekly selection and you've got GG's.

GG's Yogurt
Corner of Jamacha and Chase
in Rancho San Diego

The owner, Sam, runs this small shop on the corner of Jamacha and Chase in the 7-11 shopping center. It's right in between Subway and my friend from high school, Chris Rubio's dance studio. (Shameless plug?)


The yogurt is creamy, and refreshing, and we go at least 3 times a week. By far their most popular flavor is the Tart Raspberry, which they have everyday, along with the classics, Vanilla, Chocolate, and Peanut Butter. My favorite is Pistachio with the 7-nut Topping, but the Boysenberry with Yogurt Chips is a close second. They offer a great selection of Non Fat and Sugar Free flavors, and are always looking for new ones.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter with Gummi Bears

The portions are generous for the price, Sam says he likes to offer a good selection of high quality yogurts because to him it's more about the customer than it is about the money. A 12 oz cup with topping will run you just under $5.

Acai Smoothie!

This is the recipe for my daily Acai smoothie recipe. Feel free to change things in order to make it suit your needs best.


1 awesome blender (I use a Vita-Mix and I have never been let down EVER)
Frozen fruit of your choice (I use a frozen berry blend and mangoes)
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt (not frozen)
1/2 cup acai juice (I use Sambazon)
2 tbsp flax seed
1 tbsp honey (Hollis Natural Honey)


My cousin Holli gave us some honey awhile back which I use and it's the best honey ever. I guess she had a bee problem in her BBQ, so she turned that problem into honey. You can use any kind of honey you want, but the fresh stuff is the best.


Blend til smooth, and enjoy. :)

Tzatziki!

I've been asked by a few what exactly tzatiki is. It's basically a sauce made from yogurt, lemons, garlic and cucumber and, albeit time consuming, it's surprisingly easy to make at home!

This recipe is my tweaked version of the one from the blog Fields of Cake, and Other Good Stuff. I'll take you through it step by step with pictures. Don't worry.

First you need the basics.

32 ounce tub of plain yogurt, I used low fat,but whole or fat free would also work.
1 English cucumber; shredded
1/2 tsp lemon zest
juice from one lemon
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dill weed
1 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper

Start with the yogurt. I knew I wasn't going to be in the need of 32 oz of tzatiki, so I halved it. It was enough for dinner, plus leftover, plus extra. It's great to dip pita chips into.

In a strainer lined with cheesecloth or a coffee filter, propped over a clean bowl, strain yogurt. This way you can get rid of any excess liquids. I strained mine for 2 hours, but you can do it overnight in the fridge.



Instantly it should start to drain. I lost about a 3/4 of a cup of liquid over the course of 2 hours.



Next you are going to want to prepare your cucumber. English cucumbers work best because they don't really have seeds. You can usually find them in your market. If you can't grab a regular one and de-seed it. Peel the skin off.



Next you want to shred your cucumber. I used a food processor becuase its much easier and it helped me get rid of any extra juice. If you don't have a food processor, you can grate it with a cheese grater and then squeeze off the liquids in a paper towel.



Once you've removed the liquids, you are going to just quickly run a sharp knife thru it to make sure its thoroughly chopped.



Transfer the drained yogurt into a bowl and add the cucumbers to it.



Next comes the lemon zest and juice. If you don't have a lemon zester, you can once again use the rough side of a cheese grater or even the edge of a knife. Zest about 1/4 a tsp off the rind and mix it in. Juice the lemon. I recommend using a separate bowl so you don't get any seeds into the sauce.



Press 5 cloves of garlic and add that into the mix as well. I like to press the garlic because it really releases the oils and flavor, but not everyone owns a presser, so if you are one of those people, buy one!! To hold you off until then, smash garlic under a knives blade with the palm of your hand (like below) and mince.



Add the rest of the spices into the yogurt and mix well. Allow the flavor to develop for at least 20 minutes. It should look something like this when done.



It keeps for a few days in the fridge and is wonderful on pita, lamb, burgers, and the shwarma recipe as well.

PINKBERRY!

Ok, so I will say that mostly, when I tried it, I hated Pinkberry. Adam and I went there a couple years ago when one opened down the street from his old apartment. When I tasted it, I LITERALLY said aloud, "This tastes like a yeast infection".

What I meant by that was, supposedly when you get one, you should eat yogurt? Cuz it like helps you out or something? I dunno. After saying it, I thought, "Oh god, you're so dumb people are going to think you know what a yeast infection TASTES LIKE..."



But Pinkberry really does taste like sour yogurt. I'm used to the faux ice cream tasting yogurts of olde, in crazy flavors like Snickers Pie and Pistachio, not this Original, and Green Tea crud. I think I hated it the first time cuz I got Oreos and nuts expecting vanilla and instead got sour plain yogurt.


Since then, I've had Pinkberry a few more times, and I've tried other flavors and liked them a bit more. One time I got coffee, with oreos, chocolate chips and almonds and it tasted like a sour version of a mudpie.

THIS TIME they had a new flavor.



POMEGRANATE!! I opted to try it since I think that pomegranates are slightly sweet and sour anyway and they had a pomegranate topping as well.



I got the small pomegranate pinkberry with pomegranate seeds and yogurt chips. This was funny to me cuz my toppings were exactly what I was eating. Pomegranate and yogurt chips on pomegranate yogurt.



I ended up taking forever to eat it because I'm not a fan of chewing up the seeds, so I got a little cup to spit them into. By the time we walked back home mine was pretty much melted but it was still good. I'm going to recommend the Pomegranate Pinkberry to all those Pinkberry haters out there cuz it's not a bad flavor, and I think maybe good ol' Pinkberry deserves another shot.