Roasted Potato and Tomato Gyro Wraps

 

I can't believe it's been a week since the last time I posted! I have no good excuses, really. I typically try to write posts for the week in the evenings, but I've been preoccupied with other things. And by other things, I mean Game of Thrones (which Joe and I are finally watching!) and this amazing, incredible book, which I believe should be required reading for every single person, everywhere in the world.

One other current obsession, though, is this recipe, which I've been eating for lunch every single day for the past two weeks -- and I show no signs of getting sick of it any time soon. I had these wraps on one of our weekly menus but didn't make them for one reason or another, and, since Greek food isn't Joe's favorite, I decided to just make a big batch for myself for work lunches. Best decision ever! 

I can't get enough of these wraps. The combination of crispy roasted potatoes, soft and sweet roasted tomatoes, tangy feta, cool cucumbers, and creamy tzatziki is just perfect. I love these so much, there are just no words.

In the recipe below I have assumed that, like me, you will make a huge batch of these gyro wraps to eat all week long. If you don't want to do that (you'll be sorry...), you can easily adjust the measurements.

Roasted Potato and Tomato Gyro Wraps

inspired by Fitbie

2 pounds baby red potatoes, quartered

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 1/2 tablespoons Greek seasoning, divided

Tzatziki sauce (the sauce listed in this taco recipe is my favorite)

Feta cheese

1 English cucumber, diced

Flour tortillas

1. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees. Arrange the potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of Greek seasoning and distribute evenly using your hands. Roast potatoes for 25 to 30 minutes, until browned and crispy. Set aside.

2. Arrange the tomatoes on the same baking sheet. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon of olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon of Greek seasoning; combine with your hands. Roast for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes burst.

3. Place some potatoes and tomatoes in the center of a warmed flour tortilla. Top with tzatziki sauce, diced cucumber, and feta cheese. Wrap and serve.

Greek Turkey Panini

Very rarely do I have the opportunity to make dinner just for myself. I typically have three other mouths (two of them small, one of them large) to feed. If I do get an evening to myself, I usually just slap a piece of lunchmeat between a couple slices of bread or graze from the fridge throughout the evening. But recently, on an evening when Joe was working late and I gave in to the boys' cacaphonous pleas for Happy Meals, I decided to treat myself to a really, really delicious dinner. I decided to make myself a sandwich, but not just any sandwich: one loaded with Greek flavors, which are some of my favorite flavors. It's not a flavor profile Joe and the boys are crazy about, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to make something just for me.

Now, if you happen to be without two small boys interrupting you every three minutes, I imagine this would be a very quick dinner indeed. However, since I do have two small boys interrupting me every three minutes and opting to play RIGHT BY ME FEET WHY DO THEY HAVE TO DO THAT, it took me about 35 minutes. But by the time I finally got to sit down to enjoy this sandwich, it was completely worth it. Sun-dried tomato pesto, turkey, olives, feta, spinach, and a tzatziki sauce on the side for dipping...I really need to make dinners like this for myself more often.

Greek Turkey Panini

For the sandwich:

2 flatbreads

2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato pesto

1/4 pound smoked turkey breast

1/4 cup crumbled feta

1 tablespoon chopped olives (I like Lindsay Naturals California Green Olives)

1/4 cup baby spinach leaves, trimmed

For the quick tzatziki:

Half of a cucumber, peeled and shredded

1/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar, plus more to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat a panini press or skillet sprayed lightly with cooking spray.

2. Spread 1 tablespoon of sun-dried tomato pesto on each piece of flatbread. Top one flatbread with turkey, feta, olives, and spinach, and the other flatbread. Add to panini press or skillet and cook until both sides are browned and crisp.

3. To make the tzatziki, squeeze excess moisture out of cucumber using a paper towel. Combine cucumber, sour cream, Greek yogurt, vinegar and salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Refrigerate until serving.

4. Slice panini in fourths (for two servings). Serve with tzatziki sauce for dipping.

Mediterranean Chicken Skillet

As longtime readers probably know, most of the food I cook tends to be in the "quick and easy weeknight dinner" category, and something is about to happen to ensure that the food I cook stays in that vein. That's right, folks: Next week, I will officially be a soccer mom. My oldest son starts soccer practice next week, and to say that he is excited about it would be a massive understatement. As for me...I just can't believe my baby is old enough to play soccer.

I'll be shuttling him to and from practice a couple of nights a week, and of course he'll have his games on the weekends, so our evenings are about to get crazy crazier. That's one reason why I'll be making this skillet dinner, and other meals like it, so often in the coming months.

Another reason why I'll be making this one over and over again is that it. is. so. very. good. Filled with artichokes, spinach, tomatoes, and olives, and topped with a generous sprinkle of feta cheese, this Mediterranean-style skillet meal is loaded with flavors my whole family loves. I served ours on a bed of pasta, which worked wonderfully, but brown rice, quinoa, or lentils would be healthy alternatives. The night I made this, Joe was on a business phone call upstairs while I was preparing dinner, so I even cooked this while wrangling two small boys with no assistance -- and it was still effortless. That is definitely my kind of meal.

Mediterranean Chicken Skillet

slightly adapted from The Sweets Life

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large or 4 small boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces

4 cloves minced garlic

5 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 14-ounce can of quartered artichoke hearts

1/4 cup sliced green or kalamata olives

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Greek seasoning

2 cups baby spinach leaves, thinly sliced

Feta cheese, crumbled

Cooked pasta or rice for serving, if desired

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook until chicken is browned. Add garlic; cook and stir for 30 seconds.

2. Stir in tomatoes, artichoke hearts, olives, and spices. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

3. Stir in spinach and cook until spinach is wilted. If desired, serve mixture over rice or pasta. Sprinkle with feta before serving.

Warm Greek Chicken Wraps with Roasted Tomatoes

I think lots of people probably have a cuisine that they crave every once in a while, and for me that cuisine is Greek. I crave it often, and there are times that I just can't get it out of my mind until I eat it. Here lately I'm craving it once a week, so Greek-inspired meals have appeared on our meal plans frequently.

These wraps are one of my recent creations and man, are they delicious. Tzatziki sauce, Greek-seasoned chicken, olives, feta, and roasted tomatoes...I couldn't ask for more out of a meal. The roasted tomatoes take these wraps to another level with their sweet flavor and soft, slightly charred texture. They're absolutely perfect with the tangy bite of the feta cheese.

You could use kalamata olives for these wraps, which I think would be delicious, but I used green olives since they're the only kind my husband likes. (We buy Lindsay brand, and he eats them like candy.) Possibly the best thing about this meal, aside from how delicious it is, is that it comes together in just about 15 minutes, so it's a perfect weeknight dinner.

Warm Greek Chicken Wraps with Roasted Tomatoes

For the tomatoes:

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

For the tzatziki sauce:

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/2 cup sour cream

1 clove garlic, pasted

1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

For the wraps:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Greek seasoning

Feta cheese, crumbled

Olives, chopped

Flour tortillas

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. On a foil-lined baking sheet, mix the tomatoes with the vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes, or until the skins have burst.

2. While the tomatoes are cooking, combine all the ingredients for the tzatziki sauce. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Refrigerate until serving.

3. Season chicken on both sides with Greek seasoning. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a medium skillet; add chicken and cook, turning once, until chicken is browned and cooked through. Remove to a cutting board and let the chicken rest while the tomatoes finish cooking. Slice the chicken thinly.

4. Spread a layer of tzatziki sauce on a flour tortilla and top with chicken, roasted tomatoes, feta and olives.

BLT Gyros

A month or so ago, a bunch of food trucks set up shop right in front of my office building, for one day only. To say I was like a kid in a candy store is a complete understatement. I was incredibly, dorkily excited about it, and it took me forever to decide what I was going to try. New York-style pizza? Duck tacos with fresh cherry salsa? A cheeseburger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as its bun? So many options!

I ultimately decided a BLT pita from the pita truck, and I was so happy with my choice (although I still want to try that burger...). It was loaded with bacon and generously drizzled with a creamy, delicious sauce. I went home and raved to Joe about it, who told me I should try to duplicate it at home. He just confirmed what I was already thinking.

I adapted the food truck pita in a few ways. While the pita had shredded mozzarella, I chose feta instead. And I used a traditional tzatziki sauce. For the tomatoes, I used some sweet little yellow guys from a friend's garden that were just bursting with flavor. These were absolutely delicious, and such a fun new spin on a BLT.

BLT Gyros

inspired by Pitabilities

12 slices bacon

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Shredded lettuce

Tzatziki sauce

Feta cheese

4 pitas or flatbreads

1. Cook bacon to desired crispness; drain on paper towels.

2. Spread a layer of tzatziki sauce on each flatbread. Top each with lettuce, three slices of bacon, some of the tomatoes, and a sprinkling of feta cheese.

Greek Meatball Lettuce Wraps

More and more, I’m loving lettuce as a replacement for bread and/or tortillas. I love that something like the lettuce wrap, which used to be so decidedly Asian in nature, has expanded to other cuisines as well. In this version, Greek-flavored meatballs are placed inside romaine lettuce leaves and smothered in tzatziki sauce, tomatoes, and feta. Yes, they are as delicious as they sound!

I made my meatballs pretty small, so I thought romaine was the perfect vehicle for them (I love the crunch of it). But if you make your meatballs bigger, romaine may not be hearty enough. I’d imagine you could use any type of lettuce for these and have similarly delicious results. The boys popped the meatballs like candy, which left me wishing I’d doubled the recipe. You could use ground turkey or chicken to make these even healthier. I served the lettuce wraps alongside Greek quinoa, and this lighter, Mediterranean dinner really hit the spot!

Greek Meatball Lettuce Wraps

adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen

1 pound lean ground beef

1 small onion, grated

1 tablespoon Greek seasoning

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning

Romaine hearts

Tzatziki sauce

Cherry tomatoes, halved

Feta cheese

1. Place the beef in a medium bowl. Add the grated onion and all of the spices. Using a tablespoon-sized measuring spoon, scoop out the meat to form meatballs.

2. Heat a frying pan with olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook, turning often, until they’re well browned and cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes.

3. Separate the romaine hearts, setting aside the biggest leaves to use for the lettuce wraps. Put four meatballs into each lettuce cup. Top with tzatziki sauce, cherry tomatoes, and feta.

Greek Quinoa Salad

Earlier this week, glasses of wine in hand, my best friend and I watched The Bachelorette, just like we do every week (don't judge). In part of the episode, the bachelorette took two bachelors with her on a date. When they got their meals, both of the guys remarked on the “quinn-o-ah” on their plates. They talked about how much they liked “quinn-o-ah” and how healthy it was. They were, of course, talking about quinoa.

Maybe it was the wine, but I couldn’t stop giggling over their mispronunciation – even though I didn’t really know how to pronounce the word correctly myself until relatively recently, and to this day, when I say “quinoa” in my head, I still pronounce it exactly the way they did. I think it was the fact that both of these guys thought they were pretty awesome, so it was kind of fun to laugh at their mispronunciation when they were so obviously trying to impress a girl.

Regardless of how you pronounce it, quinoa is pretty amazing. In this recipe, it gets a Greek twist with the addition of spinach, chickpeas, feta, cucumbers, and lots of other yummy, healthy ingredients. It’s a feast for the eyes and for the body; it’s just as pretty to look at as it is healthy and delicious to eat, and I happily took this to work for lunch for more than a week. Even Andrew and Will loved this!

(P.S. Add kalamata olives if you’ve got ‘em. Joe hates them, so I left them out, but I missed them!)

Greek Quinoa Salad

adapted from Sweet Peas and Pumpkins

2 cups cooked quinoa

1/2 cup fresh baby spinach leaves, rolled into a chiffonade and thinly sliced

1 cucumber, diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Juice of one lemon

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, spinach, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, chickpeas, and feta. Toss to combine.

2. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper. Stir until combined.

3. Pour the dressing over the quinoa. Stir well to fully coat the quinoa and vegetables.

Burger and Fries Friday: Greek Burgers

Another Friday, another burger! And this one is absolutely delicious and positively packed with Greek flavor. I adapted this recipe from my friend Leigh, who is always there to help me out when I’m lacking kitchen inspiration. Since I love Greek food, I was pretty sure I’d love these burgers – and not surprisingly, I did!

The burgers themselves are loaded with feta cheese, sundried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and red onion, and they’re topped off with tzatziki sauce, which is probably one of my favorite condiments in the entire world. The feta in the burgers themselves gave the entire meat mixture a great tanginess and kept them really moist. The only thing I wanted to add to the burgers, but didn’t, was kalamata olives. I love them, but Joe isn’t a fan, so next time I’ll just add the olives to my own burger.

If you’re a fan of Greek food, these burgers will remind you exactly why you love it.

Greek Burgers
adapted from One Day at a Time – From My Kitchen to Yours

1 pound ground beef
2 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup finely chopped baby spinach leaves (I roll them up like basil and chiffonade them)
1/4 cup feta cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced or pasted
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon Greek seasoning
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Tzatziki sauce
Hamburger buns

1. In a large bowl, combine beef, tomatoes, red onion, spinach, feta, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, Greek seasoning, and salt and pepper. Divide into 4 equal patties.

2. In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add burgers and cook to desired doneness.

3. Place each burger on a bun, and top with tzatziki sauce and any desired toppings (cucumber, tomatoes, onion, etc.)

Greek Beef Tacos

New favorite dinner alert! We had these on Saturday night, and I just couldn’t wait to share them with you. This simple, delicious, Greek version of tacos was a huge hit in our house and has skyrocketed right to the top of the list of my most favorite dinners, ever.

The meat mixture itself is ground beef, garlic, diced tomatoes, Greek seasoning, and spinach. We topped our tacos with cucumbers, olives, feta cheese, and a tzatziki-like sauce that I made with sour cream, shredded cucumber, and red wine vinegar. The result was very similar to a gyro and equally as delicious, in my opinion.

I don’t really know what else to say about these. They’re just delicious, and you should make them ASAP.

Greek Beef Tacos
adapted from Taste of Home

For the tacos:

1 pound lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 teaspoons Greek seasoning
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups fresh baby spinach
Splash of red wine vinegar
Whole wheat flour tortillas

For the sauce:

1 cup sour cream
Half of a medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and shredded
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

For topping:

Black olives
Feta cheese
Diced cucumber
Minced red onion

1. In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomatoes, Greek seasoning, garlic and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until thickened. Add spinach; cook and stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Add a splash of vinegar, if desired.

2. To make the sauce, squeeze as much liquid out of the cucumber as you can. Combine sour cream, cucumber, and vinegar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Spoon some of the beef mixture into each flour tortilla. Top with sauce and desired toppings.

Roast Beef Gyros

I have such a quick, easy, delicious, and relatively healthy recipe to share with you today. If you love gyros, but don’t have the time to marinate chicken, and don’t have the money to buy lamb (*raises hand*), then this is the recipe for you. These gyros, which use deli roast beef, are not at all authentic – but who cares? They’re amazingly good, and they go from skillet to table in the time it takes to pronounce the word “gyro” correctly.

Tzatziki sauce is one of my favorite condiments, for Greek food or anything else. It’s delicious on gyros, but it’s also good on a plain old chicken sandwich or as a dip for pita chips. I’ve made tzatziki sauce a few different ways now, and the one I’ve listed with this recipe is my favorite version. I use a combination of Greek yogurt and sour cream, which is probably also very unauthentic, but I really like the extra tanginess the sour cream provides. I also don’t like a lot of “stuff” in my tzatziki – just cucumber, a clove of pasted garlic, and a splash of vinegar. It can be made way ahead of time, which makes this meal come together even more quickly. Make the sauce the night before, then just throw the roast beef in a skillet five minutes before dinner time.

These were a big hit with my family, and I found that one package of deli roast beef, bought right in the lunchmeat aisle, provided enough for all four of us (although I still wish I would have had more). Greek food tastes so fresh to me, and since I love the flavor profile so much, I’m really happy to have this quick recipe in my arsenal.

Roast Beef Gyros
gyros adapted from Tasty Kitchen; tzatziki sauce is my recipe

For the filling:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package deli roast beef
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
2 dashes lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

For the tzatziki sauce:

Half of a seedless cucumber
4 ounces Greek yogurt
4 ounces sour cream
1 dash white wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, pasted with a little salt
Salt and pepper to taste

For assembly:

Naan or other flatbread
Half of a seedless cucumber, diced
Halved cherry tomatoes
Feta cheese

1. To prepare the tzatziki sauce, shred half of a cucumber. Place in a kitchen towel and squeeze as much moisture out of the cucumber as you can. Add to a bowl with the garlic. Stir in sour cream, Greek yogurt, and vinegar. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

2. Heat olive oil in a skillet and add beef, Worcestershire sauce, lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Heat the beef through, then cook for a few minutes on low heat.

3. Spray the flatbread with cooking spray and put it under the broiler until it is soft and warmed through. Fill it with a generous amount of roast beef, followed by lots of tzatziki sauce, feta cheese, tomato, and cucumber.

Greek Grilled Chicken Orzo Salad

This, right here, is the kind of food I crave. Lots of people crave sweets (and that happens to me occasionally), but I usually crave things that are tangy, sour, and savory. That bowl of food, right there? It’s my idea of perfection.

For weeks, I couldn’t get my mind off of a gigantic Greek salad with all the fixins: cucumber, red onion, feta, a tangy vinaigrette. I finally got around to putting it on our menu, but when I spotted some orzo in the cupboard, I decided to make a pasta salad rather than a traditional lettuce-based one. I basically emptied out the fridge and the pantry with this one, composing the salad with what I had on hand: half a cucumber, a couple of handfuls of feta crumbles, a can of green olives, half a red pepper and half a red onion. I also stirred in some chicken that I marinated and grilled, and topped it all off with a tangy, slightly sweet red wine vinaigrette.

This was so incredibly good, I can’t even begin to explain it. Even the boys ate more than their share. The char on the chicken added such wonderful flavor to the salad. The wonderful thing about orzo is that it plumps up so much when you cook it, so just using a couple of cups yielded enough pasta salad for me to take the leftovers for lunch for the rest of the week. Some baby spinach would be delicious stirred in here too.

Greek Grilled Chicken Orzo Salad

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin
Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups orzo
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 1/2 cups pitted green olives, sliced (you could use black or kalamata, but I prefer the flavor and brininess of the green; these are our favorite)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. In a large bowl, combine lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, oregano, and salt and pepper. Add chicken and toss to combine. Cover and marinate at least 30 minutes. Grill chicken until cooked through, then dice.

2. Meanwhile, cook orzo according to package directions in boiling salted water; drain in a fine mesh strainer. Rinse with cold water, drain again, and set aside.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together remaining 1/2 cup olive oil, the red wine vinegar, the honey, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Set aside.

4. To assemble the salad, stir together the orzo, chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, tomatoes, olives and feta. Pour vinaigrette over salad and toss to combine. Refrigerate until serving.

One year ago: Broccoli, salami, and mozzarella pizza pockets

Greek-Style Chicken Skillet

This recipe has been sitting at the top of my “coming soon” list for weeks now, just waiting to be shared. Poor little recipe. Just because I’ve waited so long to share it certainly doesn’t mean it’s not delicious, because oh, it is. For something that comes together so quickly -- and uses a can of condensed soup to boot -- you won’t believe how flavorful this dish is. The bell peppers are sweet, the zucchini and garlic are savory, and when they’re combined with the tangy, sharp bite of feta cheese, this meal really does offer the perfect balance of flavors. We served ours over plain orzo pasta, although the couscous mentioned in the original recipe would be a great choice too. Even my two-year-old loved this and asked for seconds. That alone means this meal will surely be repeated in our house!

Greek-Style Chicken Skillet
source: very slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 pounds total)
Salt and ground black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini (1 medium)
3/4 cup chopped green bell pepper (1 medium)
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
1 10.75-ounce can condensed tomato soup
2 cups cooked orzo pasta
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Sprinkle chicken with salt and black pepper. In a 12-inch skillet, cook chicken in hot oil over medium heat for 12 to 15 minutes or until juices of chicken run clear, turning once. Remove chicken from skillet; keep warm.

2. Add zucchini, green pepper, onion, and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper to skillet. Saute for 5 minutes, adding more oil if necessary. Add garlic; cook and stir for 30 seconds. Stir in water and soup, scraping the browned bits from the bottom of skillet. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring once.

3. To serve, divide orzo among dinner plates. Place chicken on orzo. Spoon vegetable mixture over chicken and orzo. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Greek Chicken-Stuffed Pitas

First of all, I have to say that these were actually supposed to be chicken gyros, but I couldn't find pocketless pitas in my grocery store. Therefore, they became Greek chicken-stuffed pitas. Ah, well -- it certainly didn't affect the flavor at all, which was pretty amazing.

I've seen this recipe floating around on a lot of blogs recently, and I was really excited to try these. There's quite a bit of prep work invovled, so this is perfect for a weekend meal. The chicken is tender and flavorful thanks to the marinade, and the tzatziki sauce is completely addictive. I served these with Greek-style potatoes, and I even dolloped some of the tzatziki sauce on those (it was delicious!). Joe, Andrew and I all really liked these, and I will definitely be making them again!

Greek Chicken-Stuffed Pitas
source: slightly adapted from elly says opa!

1.25 pounds chicken pieces

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 heaping tablespoons plain yogurt

1 tablespoon dried oregano

Salt and pepper

Tzatziki sauce (recipe follows)
Sliced tomatoes

Sliced red onions

4 pitas (pocketless for gyros; sadly, I could only find pita pockets)

1. Whisk together the garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, oil, yogurt, and oregano in a bowl. Add the chicken and rub the marinade in. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

2. Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides, and then saute until cooked through.

3. Heat the pitas. Top (or, in my case, stuff) each pita with the chicken, tzatziki, tomatoes, onions.

Tzatziki Sauce
source: adapted from elly says opa!

16 ounces plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

1 cucumber, seeded

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Salt and a little pepper

Squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

1. Strain yogurt using a cheesecloth over a bowl (if you don’t have that, a strainer lined with a coffee filter will work) for several hours or overnight to get out as much moisture as possible. (I used Greek yogurt, which has already been strained, so I skipped this step.)

2. Peel and seed the cucumber. Shred the cucumber and squeeze them in a clean towel to get as much moisture out as possible.

3. Mix together the yogurt, shredded cucumbers, garlic, vinegar and lemon juice. Salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate 30 minutes or more before serving so flavors can meld. Before serving, drizzle a little olive oil over the top.

Greek-Style Potatoes

I have a confession to make: I have never been to a Greek restaurant. I haven't tried a lot of traditional Greek dishes, so I can't tell you how much these potatoes taste like the ones you'd get in a Greek restaurant. What I can tell you, however, is that they are really good. Joe didn't really like them, but that's because he's not a huge fan of lemon, and these potatoes are very lemony. I knew when I started making them that he probably wouldn't like them, but you know what? Sometimes I have to make something just for me.

Some of the commenters on Allrecipes said the potatoes were bland, so I did a couple of things to combat that: I added lots of salt and pepper, and I used fresh herbs. If you don't like the flavor of lemon all that much, definitely cut back on the amount of lemon juice you use. Or, you know what? If you don't like the flavor of lemon, just skip these and make something else. Since rosemary and thyme both have lemony overtones, the dominant flavor in these potatoes is definitely lemon.

I liked them a lot and had two helpings. Andrew ate his fair share, too, so I guess he's following in my footsteps instead of his father's and is embracing citrus for all it's worth. Good boy.

Greek-Style Potatoes
source: adapted from Allrecipes.com

1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/4 cups chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
6 potatoes, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, chicken stock, garlic, lemon juice, thyme, rosemary, and salt and pepper.

3. Arrange potatoes evenly in the bottom of a medium baking dish. Pour the olive oil mixture over the potatoes. Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven, turning occasionally. Uncover and cook for another half hour, until potatoes are tender but firm.