Chicken Gyros

A little while ago, my friend Bec made these for dinner.

They were so good and fresh and summery tasting.

Jim and Clara totally loved them too and kept asking me to make them.

Bec made her chicken in a slow-cooker with amazing results.

(Those of you with a slow-cooker try it out. Here's the recipe.)

Because I don't have a slow-cooker, I used this very similar oven baked recipe.

My kids eat these as more of a salad on their plate with the pita on the side.

I'm not sure if this looks labour intensive, but it's really not.

It comes together really quickly.

You could even marinate the chicken all day in the fridge, do all the toppings ahead of time and just cook the chicken at supper time.

Chicken Gyros

Recipe found here

Serves 4-6

2 teaspoons garlic, minced 

Juice of 1 lemon, I also added some of the zest

2 teaspoons apple cider or red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 heaping tablespoons greek yogurt 

1 tablespoon dried oregano

salt and pepper

4-6 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves

Combine all of the above ingredients except for the chicken in a baking dish, and whisk together to make a marinade. 

Add in chicken, and turn to coat. Cover, and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour to marinate.

Cook the chicken in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the toppings and make the tzatziki sauce.

1 tomato, diced

1/2 cucumber, diced

8-10 greek pita or pita pockets

crumbled feta

lettuce or spinach

red onion slices and chopped parsley, optional

tzatziki sauce, recipe below

Tzatziki Sauce

16 ounces Greek yogurt

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and very finely diced

1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic, I skipped the garlic

1 teaspoon apple cider or white wine vinegar

Salt, pepper, and fresh lemon juice to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and refrigerate until dinner.

Chop the cooked chicken into large chunks or strips.

Set out bowls with the toppings.

Heat up the pitas and serve.

Create gyros to your liking.

**I'm adding a few pictures of Jimmy eating his Gyro...and getting increasingly annoyed that I'm photographing him in his work clothes.

I love you, Jimmy.

Blueberry Spinach Juice

I'm really enjoying this juice combo after exercising these days.

Lots of soy milk, blueberries, and yogurt, a bit of almond butter and a huge handful of spinach.

It's pretty simple and doesn't have my usual overload of banana.

I love banana but I wanted to switch it up a bit.

Blueberry Spinach Juice

1 1/2 C Soy Milk or whatever milk you drink
1/2 C yogurt
1/2 C blueberries
pinch cinnamon
1 heaping Tbsp almond butter
large handful spinach
2-3 ice cubes (optional)

Blend.

Guest Post by Clara Stowe: Granola Parfaits

Mom suggested that we make parfaits for our snack.

So, I started making mine.

When I was almost finished making mine, I started making one for Mom.

They tasted awesome!

Mom and I had to add more granola while we were eating them.

Now I'm going to tell you how to make them!

I hope you like them as much as we did.

~Clara

Fruit and Granola Yogurt Parfaits

~your favourite granola (For mine, I used a peanut butter granola that my mom makes for me.  For my mom's I used her granola with nuts and cherries.)
~your favourite yogurt (Mine: Strawberry Rhubarb. Mom's: Vanilla)
~sliced strawberries
~fresh and/or frozen blueberries
~strawberry or mint leaves for garnish

Fill about 1/3 of the jar with yogurt, then fill 1/3 of the jar with granola, then another 1/3 of the jar yogurt again.
Then put on your sliced strawberries. (Just do one layer of strawberries.)
Then do one layer of blueberries.
(I put a small circle of frozen blueberries on the top of mine.)
You use the yogurt like glue so everything stays.

Garnish.

Key Lime Yogurt

I've been noticing tons of Greek Yogurt in the grocery stores lately.

When I was first married, I used to buy regular, plain yogurt, strain it through cheese cloth for a day to get the liquid out and then add a bit of sugar and some lime juice and zest. (Serve that on some grilled peach halves, it's amazing.)

I stopped doing that pretty soon after I started because it took up precious space in my fridge and took way too long for me.

Greek Yogurt is thick on its own and that's what I love about it.

I've started making my Key Lime Yogurt again since discovering Greek Yogurt.

It is so good as a dip for fruit, sprinkled with granola or on its own.

Here's how I do it.

Key Lime Yogurt
*I tell you to use sugar here but I've also done it sugar free and drizzled individual servings with a bit of honey. I love it that way too.

1 tub Greek Style, Plain yogurt (500g)
2-3 Tbsp sugar (*optional)
zest of a lime (about 1 Tbsp)
1-2 Tbsp lime juice

Open the yogurt container and mix all ingredients together in the tub.

Chicken Pita Sandwich with Cucumber Yogurt

Warm, herb flecked, chicken bites layered in a pita with slices of feta and tomato and topped with cucumber-chive yogurt is the perfect dinner on a very hot, late spring night.

We had some hot weather here this past week. Not wanting to turn the oven on, an abundance of fresh herbs in the garden and being inspired by Everyday Food's Chicken Koftas, I made these lovely little sandwiches.

I loaded the chicken up with chives and parsley and seasoned them with salt, pepper and cumin but left the rest of the toppings pretty basic.

This came together so quickly. With some sparkling lime water, it was a cool, refreshing way to end a hot spring day.

Chicken Pita Sandwich with Cucumber Yogurt

(Everyday Food, Martha Stewart June 2011)

1 1/2 lbs ground chicken

1/4 C minced chives

1/3 C minced parsley

3/4 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced small

1/2 C plain yogurt

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp veg or canola oil

1-2 medium tomatoes, in thin wedges

feta, sliced or crumbled

pitas

fresh chives or mint for serving

In a large bowl mix together chicken, chives, parsley, cumin, salt and pepper. Form into 8 oval and slightly flattened patties.

In a small bowl, toss together cucumber, yogurt, salt and pepper.

In a large skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Cook patties until brown and cooked through.

Divide patties among pitas.

Top with tomatoes, feta, yogurt sauce and herbs.

Fold in half and serve.

Orange Yogurt Cake

It's good to have something that you make with some regularity for when people come over unexpectedly or at the last minute.

I'm usually all about scones of any shape or flavour. Scones are pretty easy to whip up but are also a little fancy.

I remember my mum making scones so many Sunday nights when we'd have people back from church. I was always proud because I knew my mum would make a fresh batch of these perfect little scones and serve them with butter and marmalade or strawberry jam. I loved the predictability of it.

I'm about to make this cake for the second time in 24 hours and it may become the equivalent of my mum's scones. This cake takes about 4 minutes to prepare and 24mins in the oven. All the ingredients get tossed in a big bowl and whisked together somewhat haphazardly. No fuss.

You would never know by what ease it is made after it's done though. Damp and subtly sweet with little flecks of fresh orange zest running through it, dusted with a bit of icing sugar.

Orange Yogurt Cake

(from a vintage Martha Stewart Magazine)

1 C flour

1/2 C plus 2 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 C yogurt (I used banana yogurt)

1/4 C vegetable oil

1 orange zested

1 Tbsp orange juice (1 Tbsp of grand marnier here would be decadent!)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

(icing sugar for dusting)

~Preheat oven to 350*.

Grease a 8inch round cake pan.

Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Pour into pan.

Bake until cake tester comes out clean, about 24mins.

Cool.

Dust with icing sugar.

Jib suggests having this cake with a cup of tea.

Yogurt Pops Hit the Spot

It has been another hot week here so we searched out a recipe for popscicles. I found this recipe on the popular food blog, Orangette.

Clara and Jibs loved them. Jibs ate half of my popscicle off the stick and then another whole one broken into a dish. These are so fresh tasting and delicious. We are already plotting our next batch and the flavour combos we will try. The ease of these made it possible for Clara to make these almost entirely on her own and that made her very happy.

Yogurt Pops

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz

2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries or other fruit combo
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in the jar of a blender, and process until smooth. Set a strainer over a bowl (or other vessel) with a pour spout. Press the mixture through the strainer to remove seeds. Pour mixture into popsicle molds.

To serve, briefly run the sides of the mold under tepid water to loosen the popsicle, and gently twist or wiggle the popsicle stick as you lift.