Chicken Pita Wrap

I found some restaurant style pita breads at the farmer's market perfect for making wraps...

So I chopped up a couple chicken breasts, green peppers and onions in big chunks... I marinated this in olive oil, salt and Thyme for a couple hours...

Meanwhile, I brushed each bread with a bit of Olive oil and Zatar and baked until warm and soft... Also, frying the chicken and peppers until chicken was done...

After the bread came out of the oven, I spread each with a bit of hummus, placed some chicken, peppers and onions in the middle, wrapped it up, and...

We enjoyed! :)

Never get tired of wraps...

I knew I wouldn't buy another pack of tortillas after I made my first wrap using a chapati/roti. That time, I had fried my chicken, onions and peppers, but this time I decided to roast them so they would be a bit dryer on the sandwich. This way there was no dripping every time I picked it up to take a bite :) I season the chicken and peppers with something different every time. It's easy to use a pre-mixed spice, like McCormick or Mrs. Dash's.

There is my chapati/roti behaving and puffing like a good bread!

Here's the roasted chicken, peppers and onions.

And the finished product... wrapped up with whatever you like on your sandwich. I used some mayo, tomatoes, and pickles. Enjoy :)

Gyros w/ Mom's Tzatziki Sauce

My mom made Gyros frequently when I was growing up. I remember how awesome the sauce was she put on them, and I have tried so many tzatziki sauce recipes, but I could not replicate the flavor of my mom's. Then, I came across her recipe and figured out how she made it SO delicious. She used mayonnaise instead of yogurt! So, I had to try it again, and it was just as awesomely delicious as I remembered! I think I will be making these more and more frequently now! The marinade for the lamb I adapted from a kabob recipe from Faye Levy's feast from the Mideast. This makes enough for about 2 people. Now, on to the recipe!

For Lamb:

• about 1 lb lamb, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• drizzle of Olive Oil
• 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 small onion, grated
  

Combine all ingredients and marinate lamb overnight. When ready to use, fry in a little bit of oil until cooked and tender. Remove and reserve for sandwich.

For Tzatziki sauce:

• 1 medium cucumber, peeled and chopped small
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon dried mint leaves (my mom actually used chives, which are amazing, too!)
  

Blend everything well, and chill at least one hour.

For Sandwich:

• whole wheat pita breads, warmed and sliced
• 1 sliced tomato
• dill pickles, chopped
• reserved lamb
• tzatziki sauce
  

Fill pita bread about 1/3 full with lamb. Add some tomato, pickle and tzatziki sauce. Enjoy with some fries, or whatever sounds good to you :) Enjoy!


~ I don't have to agree with you to like and respect you - Anthony Bourdain ~

Chicken Chapatijita's & Two Years!

My favorite way to eat a Fajita is without a lot of spices or flavor added... at least nothing that is too overpowering... I'd rather get the flavor from the bell peppers and onions. I don't have a set recipe that I use and I never measure while making them. This time around, whatever I did made one hell of a Fajita! The easy combination worked out so well that I wanted to make note of it here... and it wasn't just the filling that was so delicious!... I made some fresh chapati's instead of tortillas (hence "Chapatijita"), and it made such a difference! I served it with some fresh tomatoes instead of salsa (which makes this very portable), and had some rice on the side. It was so good, I was sorry I hadn't made more!

For the Fajita, I sliced up 2 chicken breasts, 1 bell pepper, 1 onion, 1 green chili, and 1 clove garlic. I tossed these into a hot pan with some olive oil and sprinkled this with, McCormick Garlic & Herb, McCormick Onion powder w/ parsley & green onion, Spike, about 1/4 teaspoon sugar, salt, pepper, and some dried cilantro. I squeezed 1/2 lime over this and finished cooking until the chicken was done and the peppers were tender-crisp. I chopped up a tomato to put in each Fajita.

And here it is, all ready to be rolled up and enjoyed on a fresh Chapati!

Today my blog turns two years old :) Happy Birthday and/or Anniversary to what was once My Humble Kitchen and is now For The Love Of Food :D

Niya's Chicken Shawarma & Potato Wedges

I found a recipe for Chicken Shawarma on Niya's World and tried it out... It's very tasty! The only problem I had is, when I added the lemon juice to the tahini, it started to solidify and turned into the consistency of peanut butter. I'm not sure what I must have done wrong, I was stirring while I was adding, but it didn't help. The flavor was good, but I was looking for more of a sauce and not a spread. Either way, the flavor was nice. I wrapped them in foil and let them heat through the pita. They were good warmed up the next day, too. I made some potato wedges on the side, I coated some cut potatoes with olive oil, salt and Zatar and baked at 450 degrees farenheit until crispy. I got the recipe for pita bread here, as I do not like any store bought pita breads.

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Black Eyed Burgers

I haven't tried any kind of veggie burgers on my daughter before so I didn't tell her that it was anything different from a regular burger. She ate it up...and I'm surely not telling her the secret now!

Ingredients for 6 - 8 burgers:

• 2 cans 16 ounce black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbs. Mexican chili powder
• 1 tbs. cumin powder
• 1 cup quick rolling oats
• 2 eggs

Method:

In a bowl, mash beans with a fork completely. Add eggs, onion, garlic, chili powder & cumin powder, mix well. Add oats and combine. At this point I like to put this in the refrigerator to make shaping the patties easier. When ready, shape thick patties (thicker ones will hold together better) and fry them in a little oil till a nice brown develops on both sides. Enjoy!

~ A loose tongue often gets into a tight place ~

Cold Chicken Salad

Here is one of my favorite summer dishes. Everything is adjustable, but this is my favorite way to make it.

Ingredients:

• about 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 5 cups water with chicken bouillon
  
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 onion, chopped fine
• 1 rib celery, halved and sliced
• 3/4 cup red seedless grapes, halved
• 1 cup walnuts, broken up
• about 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
• salt & pepper to taste
• 2 tbs. lemon juice

Method:
Simmer chicken in bouillon water until done and easily pulls apart with a fork (save that water for stock!!!) Cool chicken and pull part into smaller pieces. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Add remaining ingredients, stir and chill. Serve on bread or buns.

For chicken stock:
Throw a rib of celery with leaves in the reserved water along with a carrot and onion, cut up...simmer and reduce. Strain and refrigerate, or freeze, for later. ~ Don't talk unless you can improve the silence ~

Some kinda' Sandwich

My daughter wanted lunch and I had no idea what to make... NOTHING sounded good to her... So I shuffled her out of the kitchen and came up with this... She ate it all and asked for another :)

I warmed up a pita bread, split it in half...I put a bit of baba ghannouj in each half, along with some baby spinach, lettuce, carrot, cabbage, thinly sliced onions and tomato...that's it!

~ Prejudice is being down on what we are not up on ~