chicken gyros

guest blog with tricia binder
 
after having my second baby i quickly came to the conclusion that i needed to give my recipe repertoire an overhaul. complicated dinners that took a half hour or more to cook needed to be saved for sundays and weekday meals to feed my hungry toddler and baby had to be ready in twenty minutes flat – ideally ten. quick, simple, & healthy was my new motto and from this evolution came one of my husband’s favorite dishes. fortunately, it’s so fast and easy i never mind making it. so here’s my take on gyros (made with chicken instead of lamb) and a homemade tzatziki sauce that’s a cinch to throw together. from start to finish you’ll need only 15 minutes before this is ready to serve – and enjoy!

chicken gyros

1 pkg flatbread* (a.k.a. pitas – be careful not to buy pita pockets!)
2 – 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
¼ - 1/3 cup greek vinaigrette salad dressing, depending on amount of chicken (e.g. kraft® greek vinaigrette with feta cheese & oregano)
1 small white or yellow onion
1 cucumber, divided
1 3oz container feta cheese
1 tomato, thinly sliced (optional)

preheat an indoor or outdoor grill, adding chicken breasts when the grill is hot. while chicken is grilling, place greek vinaigrette in a small serving bowl and set aside. prepare toppings by first cutting the onion into thin slices and placing on a serving platter. cut 1/3 of the cucumber and set aside for tzatziki. with the remaining cucumber, cut into thin slices and quarter, adding it, tomato slices (if desired) and the feta cheese to the platter, set aside. check chicken, turning if needed.

next, prepare tzatziki sauce by combining all ingredients, mix well. when chicken is done, remove from grill and set aside to rest, cooling slightly. turn grill heat to low and grill pitas for ~30 seconds on each side or until heated through – being careful not to burn. when chicken is cool enough to touch, cut into cubes, add to greek vinaigrette dressing and mix until all pieces are lightly coated. serve with toppings and sauce on delicious grilled pitas.

tzatziki sauce
1 5.3 oz container oikos organic plain greek yogurt
1/3 cucumber peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
1/8 tsp lawry’s® season salt
1/8 tsp dill
1/8 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp salt
dash black pepper

*kangaroo brand flatbreads are readily available in the deli section of most grocery stores

cooks note: picky eaters? me too! if you have little ones that won’t go for this, take their pita, add pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, bake and you have a personal pizza in no time! even moms and dads will love using these flatbreads for a tasty ‘za. don’t have that on hand? set aside some chicken before adding the sauce and serve with cucumber slices and fruit or use the pita for a pita-pb&j.

vegetarian? yup, you guessed it … me too. skip the chicken, double up on the cucs and drizzle a little of the dressing on before adding the remaining toppings. delish!

"my cooking experience"

guest blog with shannon pogodzinski

yes, experience, as in, referring to a singular event, the one i’m about to describe as my first and only. you may be skeptical this can be true, and you may consider it an exaggeration if you, like me, typically consider throwing pasta noodles and sauce together, or stir frying frozen veggies as “cooking.” 

although still an experience, especially with a bottle of vino and some good tunes, this is not how others in the world define cooking.

to better understand the context of this mission, a little background may help. you see, bartsch and I have pretty much been bff’s since the day we met in college.  and since that day, i’ve spent many of random nights awestruck, watching her whip things up in the kitchen. i’ve sampled the crunchy bake, i’ve reveled in the chicken lasagna, i’ve demanded the chicken enchiladas and have even put aside my fear of meat on the bone to indulge in her random “chicken on the bone” entrees. At 19, stacy had created more dishes from scratch than I have in my entire lifetime. All the while, my job was to secure enough franzia for a good night.

stac in the kitchen is like a painter with a brush. she just throws sh$# together, only to create something so incredibly delicious, you’re left wondering “how the heck did she do that?!” her response to this, and it always is, “it’s easy, you just throw sh#$ together.” or so she’s been telling me for the last 10 years. we’ve maybe had this exact conversation 500+ times. and we can’t seem to find a middle ground. i can’t understand how this is easy, and she can’t understand why this seems hard.

for those of us without the cooking genome, working in the kitchen is nothing short of terrifying. it seems so complex and time consuming, not to mention dangerous. there is no such thing as a “simple recipe.”

so this brings me to today. stac created this blog to share her love of cooking with friends and food-lovers alike, and also, to demonstrate, really, how *easy* cooking can be. i somehow agreed (i’d like to believe, on a night when champagne was free-flowing) to make one of her recipes and live to blog about the ease of it. below is a recount of that experience...

saturday, july 16, 2011. c-day.

test recipe: veggie burgers (a la the april 27, 2011 post)

9:30 a.m. - create shopping list.

10:00 a.m. - head to target to purchase silverware and serving dishes for entertaining.  (there is a story here, perhaps my next blog post, which could be titled, “how you can eat every meal with chopsticks.”)

1:00 p.m. - grocery store extravaganza. on the list: black beans, cannellini beans, red pepper, jalapenos, onion, artichoke, a boat load of spices, egg, bread crumbs and oats. contemplating making my own guac to complete the full cooking everything from scratch “experience.”

1:10 p.m. - feeling awesome and official shopping from a list. bean aisle. check.

1:12 p.m. - eggs, check.

1:20 p.m. - near meltdown, spice aisle.

1:22 p.m. - text to stac “do all spices need to be purchased in the spice aisle or produce section?” (bottled spice names overlap with fresh produce ingredients, fyi).

1:25 p.m. - text from stac confirming sage can be purchased in the spice aisle. parsley needs to be fresh, and she’ll bring the oregano...from her garden.

1:30 p.m. - on the hunt for breadcrumbs

1:33 p.m. - circling the store for breadcrumbs

1:40 p.m. - WHERE ARE THE BREADCRUMBS?

2:00 p.m. - leaving the store. pre-made guac in tow. reality of having to make something with these seemingly unrelated ingredients is setting in.

3:00 p.m. - a quick run to soothe the nerves. the pre-game warm-up if you will.

6:00 p.m. - stac and nicole arrive. stac compliments my new serving dishes. (sweet).

7:10 p.m. - the cooking begins. rules: stacy will only answer two questions. (not sweet).

step one: chop veggies. involves the food processor. (q: can I just throw the veggies in? a: “yes”).

somehow the “chop” button led to pureeing the ingredients. (i later find out i was supposed to “pulse”...twice. would have been good to know up-front and i’m still confused about why “chop” is labeled as such, and also, what the “puree” function does if “chop” purees...but, I digress).

step two: (q: do i still saute the pureed veggies? a: “yes.”) so we saute veggies. realization: “oh wow, this is the first time i’m using my stove.”

step three: mash beans, egg, oats and breadcrumbs. (messy.)

realization: “apron’s must actually be functional, wish i had one.”

step four: add pureed, and then sautéed, veggies to above mixture.

step five: more mashing.

step six: form patties and freeze.

step seven: drink wine, congratulate yourself on a job well done and wait until patties are kinda sorta frozen. (note: bean burger batter may be everywhere).

step eight: after about approx. 40 minutes, pan-fry burgers stove-top style.

step nine: serve with salsa, guac, sweet potato fries.

step ten: cheers and enjoy.

afterword: “was it easy?”

the recipe itself actually was very easy, and i absolutely will make it again. (to date, i’ve told just about everyone i know, that i now know how to make veggie burgers). the stressful part was all of the pre-game prep and the difficult part was all of the hand/eye coordination needed to successfully maneuver the equipment and tools to get the ingredients into a place where they could be cooked. it felt super awkward, like what i would imagine dancing with two left feet to feel like.

so, to confirm, i’m not a natural in the kitchen. and to confirm, i am in even more in awe of stacy bartsch and fellow friends who find the time, effort and energy to create masterful homemade meals. i take my hat off to you ladies. and, the next time you invite me to dinner, i will smile, say yes...and ask what i can bring to drink.

pasta carbonara

guest blog with emily knoelke

i am having one h-e-double hockey sticks (keeping the language kid-friendly) of a week. my husband and i just moved into our first home four weeks ago, and already we are jumping right into the joys of homeownership. flooded basement, check; broken water heater, check; electricity shut off, check and check…did i mention this all happened within 24 hours? so, last night in the midst of the chaos, i turned to one of my favorite recipes for some good old fashioned food therapy. nothing like creamy bacon & pasta goodness to make a girl feel better. that, and a glass of wine…

pasta carbonara

1lb bacon
2tbsp olive oil
1lb spaghetti
4 eggs
5oz parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes (to taste)
one bunch of asparagus (optional)

1. cook the fat in the fat. put the 2tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat (any higher and you’ll be covered in pin size burns from the popping oil- learned that lesson the hard way). cut the bacon into small chunks and add to the oil.
2. while the bacon is cooking, heat up the water to cook the spaghetti noodles. add lots of salt to the water- when it tastes like the ocean, it’s perfect. cook the noodles according to the package directions. optional: last few minutes of the pasta cooking (i’d say about 4-5), throw in bite size pieces of asparagus. my personal preference is to keep the asparagus crispy- if you like it more on the mushy side, throw it in right away with the pasta. when you drain the pasta, save some of the salty water- more to come on that.
3. beat 4 eggs in a large bowl (large enough to hold the spaghetti). add the 5 oz of parmesan cheese, and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes (optional) and mix.
4. when the bacon is cooked nice and crispy, drain the oil/grease into a glass container. take 4 tbsp of the oil/grease mixture and add it to the egg/parmesan cheese mixture. throw your spaghetti noodles (and asparagus) and bacon  and toss it with the egg/parmesan/grease mixture.
5. if necessary, you can add some of the salt water to make it more creamy. generally, i never have to, but if you like it extra creamy, add salty water until you get the consistency you enjoy.  
6. (my favorite step) stuff your face until your flooded basement sorrows go away and you drift into a food induced coma.

chimiccuri & the best potatoes ever

guest blog with kailyn garro

not gonna lie, i think this was the tastiest meal i’ve ever cooked. i normally wouldn’t pat my own back but jake and my good friends, the bartschs, sang praises over this meal. i completed it with a yummy, hearty salad and key lime pie bars. since I’m an amateur blogger - this is my very first time, thanks to miss stacy, I’m going to keep it to two recipes. speaking of stac, thanks for allowing me to be a guest blogger!!
my ever-so-talented husband grilled up some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and strip steaks for this sauce. he liberally salted and peppered each side then threw ‘em on the grill. jake sampled both the chicken and the steak and said the sauce was better on the chicken… but i’ll let you be the judge. to get an idea of how much meat works with this recipe, it calls for 10 ten-ounce strip steaks, but feel free to cut the recipe down if you’re cooking for a smaller crowd. this recipe is packed with flavor and makes a great, fresh summer meal.

chimichurri sauce

¼ c vegetable oil

¼ c EVOO

½ c fresh parsley

½ c chopped cilantro

4-6 roasted red peppers in oil (i used peppers from the antipasti bar but you could also use jarred)

4 cloves of garlic

2 tbl onion

2 tbl fresh squeezed lime juice

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

1. put all ingredients in a food processor and stream in oils. pulse until the mixture is well combined but still thick enough to spoon out.

2. put in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours or overnight. bring to room temperature before serving.
3. spoon over meat and enjoy.

i thought i’d go out of my comfort zone with this recipe, and i’m really glad i did. i don’t eat bacon and rarely eat onions, but i must say, i enjoyed this recipe (minus the bacon that ended up piled on the side of my plate).

grilled potato and onion salad with blue cheese and bacon

1 lb bacon

3 red onions cut in 1-in chunks (so they don’t fall through the grill cracks)

3 ½ lbs small new potatoes, cleaned

½ c mayo

½ lb blue cheese (I used gorgonzola)

salt and pepper

olive oil

1. fry bacon until crisp. let cool and crumble.
2. bring potatoes to a boil in a pot of salted water. simmer for about 5 minutes, just until tender. drain and cut into 1-inch chunks.
3. put potatoes and onion in a large bowl, toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. put potatoes and onion on the grill. grill until lightly charred and tender. potatoes may take a few minutes longer than the onion. 
4. mix the mayo, blue cheese and bacon in a large bowl. add the grilled potatoes and onion and toss to coat.

adapted from food & wine

 

"i really likes this"

guest blog with liz girsch
it is an honor to be stacy’s first guest blogger. it was a lot of pressure to deliver a recipe, and i think i spent a bit too much time obsessing about what would be the right fit. should it be kid-friendly, delicious for grown ups, easy to make, a soup, one of our house’s standard favorite, slow cooker fare? i could go on and on – ask stacy, i did.  and after all of my analysis, i’m sharing with you something brand new to me. i made this for the first time last night. my four-year-old announced “I really likes this” and a friend of my seven-year-old walked in our house and asked “what smells so good?” so that answers that… kid-friendly, check… easy to make, check.

i served with rice – sticky chicken and sticky rice are always a great combination plus a salad on the side. martha stewart served a napa cabbage slaw on the side. i didn’t want to push the envelope with my under 8 audience too much. next time around we’ll try that.

honey-teriyaki chicken is now in our family’s regular dinner rotation and i hope it will be in your’s too.

honey-teriyaki chicken

½ cup honey
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbs peeled and finely grated fresh ginger (actually I say buy the stuff in the jar. it’s much easier than grating fresh ginger.)
coarse salt and ground pepper
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 3 pounds total)

1. preheat oven to 475°.
2. line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. in a large bowl, mix honey, vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and 1 tbs salt and ½ tsp pepper.
3. add chicken and toss to coat. transfer chicken and sauce to baking sheet.
4. bake chicken, skin side up, until well browned and cooked through, about 25 to 30 minutes. serve chicken drizzled with pan juices.

adapted from martha stewart