Thursday, June 15, 2017

Greek-Inspired Chicken Gyros

Hello!

Welcome to my first recipe!

  You may ask if this came from Food Network Magazine.  It didn't, and I will tell you why:  we moved to Germany about 3 1/2 weeks ago, and are still living in temporary lodging, meaning I don't have my recipe binder, I don't have my usual cooking utensils, implements, or spices.  We are eating very simple meals.  But, simple doesn't mean that you sacrifice taste, and I always enjoy coming up with new recipes, so here you go!

I'll apologize now that I don't have pictures of this terribly delicious, want-to-have-again dish that I made up for dinner the other day.


Greek-Inspired Chicken Gyros 
20-minute prep
Serves 4

                                                        
For the Tzatziki sauce:
1/2 large English cucumber, peeled and finely minced
2 TBS. fresh dill, minced
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 clove garlic, minced, or substitute 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 cup full-fat plain Greek yogurt, or sour cream can be substituted

In small bowl, add yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic, and seasonings, and stir together to combine.  Refrigerate until ready to use.


For the chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Kosher salt
Pepper
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 TBS fresh dill, minced
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Juice of 1/4 lime

Over medium heat in a medium skillet, heat olive oil until hot, but not smoking.  While oil is heating, season chicken breast with a sprinkle of Kosher salt and black pepper.  Add chicken to pan, and sauté, 10 minutes, turning halfway-through, until lightly browned.  Transfer chicken to cutting board, and slice into small chunks.  Transfer to serving bowl.  Add dill, garlic powder, and lime to season, and stir to coat evenly.

Accoutrements:
Salad greens
1 bell pepper, any color, seeded and chopped
1/2 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and sliced thinly
1 large tomato, chopped
Feta cheese crumbles, or marinated Feta, if you can find it 
Flour tortilla boats (I saw these for the first time!), OR flour tortillas, OR pita bread

To assemble gyros, place tortilla boat (tortilla or pita bread) on plate.  Spoon in chicken, and top with salad greens, bell pepper, onion, cucumber, tomato, Feta cheese, and Tzatziki sauce.

Serve with rice (I did Rice-a-Roni rice pilaf) and side-salad, if you enjoy vegetables as much as my family does.

**I believe that you could have great leftovers with this, but we snorked it all, so I'll be doubling the recipe next time

Enjoy!

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I look forward to coming up with more recipes to post here, and expect that they will be "TLF (Temporary Lodging Facility) approved, and Jamie-originals, until we receive our household goods.

Thanks for stopping by!





Welcome, Friends!

Welcome to my blog, Katze in the Küche!

We are all friends here: friends who like to try new recipes, and friends who like to eat!

I love this quote from Julia Child:

"People who love to eat are always the best people"

My name is Jamie.  I love to eat. :-)  

The reason I started this blog is that I have subscribed to Food Network Magazine for YEARS!  I love reading the magazine, cutting out the recipes that sound like something I would like to make, and organizing them in a binder for future use.  

Future use has arrived.

For the past two years, I have had a job.  One that I loved, and that was in addition to the job that I already had, which was a stay-at-home-mom and wife.  The job that I had for the past two years could be time-consuming, and took a lot of the joy that I had out of the blog that I started years ago:(www.methinksshethinks.blogspot.com)  This blog was a spot for me to put recipes that I had made up, but also included posts about our travels around South Korea (where we were stationed), and our adventures in Asia.  It was a good blog, but after donning all the hats that I had worn, it didn't have direction, nor a specific topic.  I also started to dislike posting, because after all the computer-work I was doing every day, I didn't want to be on the computer any more!

So, as we moved away from South Korea, not even a month ago, I was cleaning out cabinets to get ready for packers, and found my recipe binder.  I took a few minutes to page through, and realized that I had a TON of recipes that I had cut out, but never tried.  Then, I had the idea of a new blog.  One that is dedicated to cooking, but not just cooking.  Cooking the recipes that caught my eye in Food Network Magazine, but also posting my results, and what I would do to change the recipe if it didn't turn out.

I'm not a star chef.  I'll say that now.  I love cooking, and am in my happy place when I am making dinner for my family, chopping ingredients, sipping a beer, with good tunes on the speaker.  

I make up a lot of the recipes that I could on a day-to-day basis, with the knowledge that I have about what works together.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and that's okay.  Another way I love to cook is to re-imagine leftovers, because as my husband would say, I would rather be lit on fire than eat leftovers.  I think he's a bit overdramatic with that, but don't tell him I said that.


So, I am inviting to you on my culinary adventure, to cook through the recipes that I have cut out.  All recipes will be followed exactly, and my opinions (maybe my husband's, too) will be posted after the results.  I'm excited to have you on this adventure, too, and please let me know if you decide to make the recipes yourself!  

I'm so jazzed that we are now in Germany, and have access to so many fresh ingredients!  If any recipes call for an ingredient that isn't available locally, I will make note of what is substituted or omitted, if I need to do that.


Please Note: Though I am cooking the recipes from Food Network Magazine, my opinions are my own, and do not reflect the opinions of the magazine, and I am not being compensated for my cooking/opinions.


With all that...

WHEN DO WE EAT?