Chicken Gyros Pitas

I promised that I was going to write about these, and I have been remiss. So I will hammer out this recipe now just so I dont let it go. Remember that naan bread that was.. not quite as good as real naan bread but was still tasty? It was only a few recipes ago...

I would have had no problem eating that naan bread with curry again, but I wanted to try something a bit different, and a bit more exciting.

I had stumbled across the Chicken Gyros recipe on Annie's Eats, a pretty good blog site. I had saved the recipe for another time when I had the means to make it. So when the naan bread recipe started to resemble a sweet bread pita, the possibility became more of a reality. And while it is a little late in the season right now as I write this, its an excellent summer dish.

This recipe also calls for a tzatziki dressing on the inside, and while I have made one before, this supper was just supposed to be a quick one. So I got a little lazy and just bought a small container. If you do use my recipe, you should try to thicken it up a bit as mine might be a bit too runny.


Chicken Gyros Pitas

Chicken - 2 small breasts - bite sized chunks
Garlic - 4 cloves minced
Lemon  - 3 about 3 tbsps
Balsamic Vinegar - 2 tsps
Olive Oil - 2 tbsps
Plain Yogurt - 2 tbsps
Dried Oregano - 1 tbsp

Mix together the garlic, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, yogurt and oregano. Mix in the chicken and marinate in a casserole dish. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Grease a large frying pan and over medium heat, cook the chicken.

Serve on top of the pita's with desired ingredients. Just think Mediterranean! I used the following in mine, but try whatever you want!

Tzatziki Dressing (Much needed in this recipe for it to be a true Chicken Gyros!)

Red Onion              Lettuce              Tomato

Olives                Feta Cheese            Pita's (Or faulty naan bread)

Turkey Pot Pie

I am officially sick of turkey and all that goes with it. I've had more leftover turkey dinners than I care to imagine. Im used to leaving the turkey at other peoples houses, or at least getting the chance to share it with several other family members which at least makes the supplies disappear faster. It seems to be a stark contrast to my earlier ramblings of how great I found the idea of turkey dinners.

I have been a little slower writing than normal as I managed to find myself a job! Unfortunately, it runs a little later in the day so I dont  get a chance to write at night as I usually do. Its a little sad, and I should just find the time to do it.

This Turkey Pot Pie recipe is very close to my chicken pot pie recipe... I dont think that you can change pot pie recipes very much, but I gave it a shot. I wanted to make this very recipe very fall oriented. Thanksgiving Turkey dinners are supposed to focus around the fall harvest when farmers could enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of their labour.

So unlike the chicken pot pie recipe which is a bit more lighter, this pie reflects the harvest as well as I can possibly manage! Im sorry that this recipe isn't closer to the holidays itself so that people cannot use this recipe themselves, but hopefully the next time a turkey dinner rolls around, you readers will be more prepared.


Turkey Pot Pie

This is a big recipe. It makes more than two pies, so be prepared for the leftovers. You can always cut this recipe in half if its too much for you, although I would bet that you can freeze it.


Leftover Turkey - about 2-3 cups shredded/chopped
Butter - 3 tbsps
Onions - 1 - chopped
Garlic - 4 cloves - minced
Celery - 2 stalks - chopped
Carrots - 2 - chopped
Green Pepper - 1 - chopped
Sweet Potato - 1 - cubed
Frozen Corn - 1-2 cups
Flour - 1/4 cup

Paprika - 2 tbsps
Cayenne Pepper - 1 tsp
Allspice - 1 tbsp
Salt and Pepper - healthy pinches of both.

Turkey stock - 2 cups (Recipe provided)
Whipping Cream - 1 cup

Pie Crusts - 4

Despite the ingredients, this recipe is really easy to make. It just takes some prep work to chop up the veggies, but then you can be good to go. On a side note, I wanted to and forgot, to add an adobe hot pepper and some of its juices. I think it would have added some great smokiness to the pie and brought some serious flavour as well.

Add the butter to a large stock pot and let it melt. Add the onions, celery, garlic and let them saute until soft. Add the remaining veggies and stir them in together. Add the flour and make sure it coats all of the vegetables.   Let it cook for awhile and let them brown.

Add the Spices and Turkey Stock. Stir in together and bring to a boil. Slowly add the whipping cream and stir it in gradually. Lower the heat to a simmer. Add flour or cornstarch to thicken. Only add a little bit at a time until you have the desired consistency.

Ladle the turkey mix into two of the pie shells. Brush some water along the crust and lay the other pie crust on top. Brush the top with an egg mixture and place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees.


So take that turkey leftovers! I successfully turned you into another tasty dish, and one that I was able to handle for a long time. This leftover dish also makes some great leftovers itself. So dont be stuck eating those leftovers all the time again and again. Shake it up a bit!

The Thanksgiving Dinner Adventure

Ah, Thanksgiving! One of my favourite holidays of the year. How can you not love an occasion when family comes together, and a massive turkey dominates the center of the table. A turkey dinner has always been one of my favourite meals. When my late-grandma was alive, she made the best turkey dinners around. I would start drooling before we even got to her house. When the door opened, the sweet aromas just hit you full in the face. 

The Canadian Thanksgiving is different from the American version. We celebrate good food and the harvest instead of immigrating to America. No pilgrims in these parts!

Of course turkey is usually reserved for Thanksgiving or Easter dinners, but I would occasionally get one when my birthday swung around. The stuffing, the gravy, potatoes, vegetables... the whole deal was amazing. Even my grandmother's corn was a step above everyone else. She was an amazing woman in the kitchen, and the food reflected the love that she put into it. 

This was the first Thanksgiving that either my girlfriend or I have ever hosted and it was a little terrifying. Fifteen people were expected to attend! I would rather have started with a simple gathering of around four people to avoid stress, but why not take on the whole family! Of course every first turkey dinner is rumoured to have some sort of disaster. I managed to get the turkey defrosted on time, dressed properly, removed off giblets, stuffed with...stuffing. I even had started the roasting early in the day in order to have it completed on time for dinner.

 However, the stove decided to not play along with my perfect planning. For some reason, only the top element would work. The top of my turkey was well roasted and cooked, but everything else was red and raw. What a disappointment! We still managed to feed the entire group off of the cooked breast meat, but drumsticks and wings were not going to happen. We ended up cooking those later on the bbq in order to get the meat, but we lacked it for the dinner. 

In the end though, we still had a great meal, despite the issues around the stove, we still had a great meal. But perhaps while the importance is placed in the food, what makes it great is the gathering around the food. 

Naan Bread - Attempt 1

Making my Sweet Potato Chicken Curry the other night wasn't enough of an adventure for a night of cooking alone. I needed to push the envelope! What curry isn't complete without naan bread? Its, light and fluffy, and one of the best dipping tools that I have ever used. The exotic spices in the curry are just calmed down by the bread. They just seem to go together!

However, im going to warn you right now, that this attempt was not the most successful. The bread was still delicious dont get me wrong, but it wasn't as good as other naan bread I have had. Genuine naan bread is more light and fluffy than this particular experiment of mine. The end result of my cooking was more like a sweet bread pita than naan bread. 

The only thing that seemed to be missing from this bread recipe was the light and fluffy part. But that may have been how I decided to cook it. I baked the bread in a frying pan on the stove while I believe that there must be a different way to get them to fluff. It will take more research for the next time that I make them. For even though the bread didn't turn out as expected, I will definitely be making it again. Not only did it work out with naan bread, but it made some darn good Chicken Gyro Pita's! I'll be sharing that recipe in a bit!

I got this recipe from a fellow food blogger at Lets Dish, who shares some great little recipes! I'd suggest that you check out this website as well!

Naan Sweet Bread

Yeast - 1 tbsp
Warm water - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Milk - 3 tbsps
Egg - 1 beaten
Salt - pinch
Flour
Garlic - 1 clove minced
Salt - pinch
Butter

In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast and sugar to the warm water. Leave for about 10 minutes until it becomes frothy. Stir the egg, milk and salt into the mix, then gradually add the flour until it become soft and dough like. Knead until the dough forms a ball. Place the dough in a greased bowl (I used olive oil) and cover with a damp cloth for an hour. Let the whole shebang rise for an hour before removing.

Punch that bread down when time is up and then tear off a piece, forming a golf ball sized bread lump in your hand. Place on a greased baking sheet and cover for another half hour.

Once they have risen a second time, take out a rolling pin and flatten into thin circles. Melt some butter and add the minced garlic and a pinch of salt.

Now, the author of Lets Dish says that you should grease an indoor or outdoor grill for the bread to go on. I used a frying pan on the stove top, which may have resulted in the less than fluffy nature of the bread. In any case, grease the equipment that you choose and then slap on one of the pieces of bread at a time, for about 1 minute a side. You want it nice and golden, not blackened. It took me a couple tries before I knew what was best. When the bread is on the one side, brush on the garlic, butter, salt mixture. Flip the bread and brush again.


Its still a really really tasty recipe, and was some good bread. I have snacked on it and found some other good ideas, so dont let this one go. It may not be the naan bread you dream about, but its still got character! Enjoy.

Sweet Potato Chicken Curry

The girlfriend was out of the house for a night, so I wanted to make a dinner that she normally wouldn't like. Its also a good excuse for me to make a complete disaster of the kitchen without worrying about the dishes for awhile. Of course I dont want it to seem like a celebration, but I might as well be doing something while home alone! 

Curry has always been a challenge, became I can never quite get the flavour quite right in my mind. It just never tastes as good as I hope. Sometimes I just cheat and I just pour in an already made curry mix. Its a good quick supper every now and then when heading out or you dont know what to make for supper. However, these simple dishes can never really replace a good homemade meal, either in taste or health.

I stuck to the basics this recipe, without trying to add too many ingredients and just keeping the whole thing simple. There are of course, a wide variety of curry's out there, most of which are called curry's but have their own distinct flavours and spices. Each variety of curry is so different from the other. There are three different types of curry paste, yellow, red and green. Green is supposed to have the most heat behind it, while yellow has the least. Red is supposed to be in the middle somewhere. There is also curry powder, but more people seem to use the paste instead. However, the choice is yours. 

My curry has no particular allegiance to a region or a style of curry. Its just a combination of ingredients that I believe make a good curry taste. I hope you like it. 




Sweet Potato Chicken Curry


Olive Oil 
Onion - 1 chopped
Garlic - 3-4 cloves - minced
Ginger - a piece, 1 inch worth - grated
Curry Paste - 3-4 tbsps (I used Green)
Chicken - 2 breasts - bite sized
Sweet Potato - 1 chopped
Green Pepper - 1 chopped
Coconut Milk - 1 can (14 oz)
Salt and Pepper


Heat a large frying pan to medium heat and add the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until they grow soft, then add the ginger and curry paste. Cook for about 2 minutes, or until the paste has broken down. Add the chicken and vegetables and cook for about 5 minutes. Make sure that the chicken is cooked through. Add the coconut milk, stir, and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cover with a lid. You're all finished once the sweet potato is soft. Serve over rice or potatoes. 

Southwestern Omelet

So much for university classes getting you a job right out of the gate. I believe that there is a myth around post-secondary education. The common conception is that you go to university to get a better job and that something will be waiting for you when you get out. So after people go to school for 4-6 years working towards their degree, they expect to have a job right away. Sad thing is, most of the graduates I know are still working their jobs at department stores, retail outlets and hockey rinks.

Of course there are a few notable exceptions where people have gone on to better things, but the vast majority are still in the throes of confusion and no planning. On top of it all, there appear to be a limited amount of jobs available right now. And despite me filling out resumes and applications galore, I haven't heard of much.

As a result, I have been sitting around the house with long hours, something that school and work has never really made possible for me. So for a silver lining, I get to spend more time cooking than before.

While an omelet may seem like a fairly simple egg dish to create, it's one that I have always struggled with. I think I get too cocky with my cooking abilities, and I always try to flip the whole thing early. Trying to flip a gooey egg is never a good thing. The reason however that I wanted to write about this particular omelet was... that I flipped the perfect omelet! One flip of the frying pan, the perfect egg consistency and thickness, and I may or may not have given a bit of gleeful shout when I did it.


Southwestern Omelet

Eggs - 3
Milk - dash
Butter - 1 tbsp
Salsa  - 1/4 cup
Ground Beef (Perfect from a leftover taco night as I did)
Cheese -Grated - handful
Green Onion - handful
Jalapeno's - 1 or 2, chopped up
Sour Cream - a few dollops

The amounts are only approximates. You'll know how much you need when you make it, trust me!
Whisk the eggs and milk together. Add butter to a frying pan and melt on medium heat. Add the egg mixture.

Wait until the egg looks solid on the top before flipping. Give it a jiggle in the frying pan to see if there are any loose parts still on top. It took me several practices before I ever managed to get it done in one turn. Often it takes a couple attempts and the use of spatula to get it right. Dont worry, scrambled eggs are just as easy just in case!

Cover half the omelet with chosen ingredients, be adventurous! Fold the omelet over the ingredients and cook for a minute until cheese is melted. And now you should have at least started the process of mastering the omelet! Good luck!

Stuffed Zucchini Update

It is about my final chance to do something with those delicate zucchini flowers outside in my garden. Fall is fully on us, filling the trees with brilliant hues of reds, yellows and browns. With Fall comes frost, so my garden's days are limited. 

In hope of giving some of the remaining zucchini a couple more days of growing, I've been keeping a sharp eye out for encroaching weather and so far things have been going well. Hopefully they can grow for a few more days and become an edible dish. 

However, I have no such hopes for the remaining zucchini flowers that still struggle to appear. I wanted to use those flowers up as to not let them go to waste. The last time I made zucchini blossoms, they tasted just fine, but were lacking some of the ingredients. I used an old cheddar cheese the last time I made this recipe, and it worked out okay, but not as well as I had hoped. 

This time I had some Mozzarella just sitting in the fridge waiting for the chance to shine! And it was certainly an asset to the stuffed flowers. I was also fairly generous with the cheese this time as well, just make sure they don't overflow and you'll be fine! 

This particular group of stuffed flowers had several variations. I made a couple with olives, some with capers and some with jalapenoes. In a word.... delicious. Especially the jalapenoes! Imagine a jalapeno popper built out of a flower. Of course that probably isn't what the original food artists had planned and I have now destroyed a perfectly elegant dish by comparing it to a jalapeno popper... but thats what it is! 

The basic point of this meandering post is that you should go all out with stuffing the flowers next time you get the chance. Especially the jalapenoes!