Greek Pitas with Homemade Pita Bread

These pitas are a Greek medley of flavors party in your mouth.

They just feel healthy. Healthy enough to eat a handful of dark chocolate Cadbury eggs and another handful of thin mints for dessert. It's March, so it's not summer yet here, but this makes it feel like it. I can't wait to bust out these babies in the heat!

And homemade pitas? You'll never go back to the expensive, dry, store bought ones filled with crazy ingredients and preservatives (save those for the thin mints, right?!)

I must first start out by saying that the whole wheat pita recipe is not mine, I used these. Since I followed this recipe word for word and had brilliant success, I won't be posting the steps here. But seriously, do not skimp on these! They are fluffy, soft, tasty, and I plan on using the leftovers (they make 12 whole pitas) for some hummus. I'm also thinking they would be great with a BLT filling, fajita fixings with avocados, you could even try our Pesto Pizza over one of these little babies.

Below are the makings of Tzatziki.

Say that ten times fast. This is a sauce common in Mediterranean dishes in pitas or gyros, in salads, as a dip, etc. It has such a refreshing, light flavor, I love it! I've seen it done with mint instead of/with the dill, but haven't tried it yet. I think it pairs well with lamb (as opposed to chicken).

Doesn't all this freshness make you want to squeal?

Greek Pitas

Ingredients

chicken:

2 chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 lemon

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t oregano

1/4 t salt

tzatziki sauce:

1/2 cucumber

1/2 t salt

8 oz. plain Greek yogurt

1/2 lemon zest and juice

2 t dill

2 garlic cloves

salt and pepper

garnishes:

2 diced tomatoes

feta cheese

olives

alfalfa sprouts

green leaf lettuce

red onions, sliced

Directions

1. Marinate chicken in juice from lemon, garlic, oregano, and salt several hours. Lay out on counter and bring to room temperature.

2. Skewer chicken pieces and grill, or cook in sauté pan.

3. Prepare tzatziki sauce. Peel cucumber and cut into four long quarters. Remove seeds (with one, long slice of your knife) from each quarter so that you are left with the rind of each quarter. Discard seeds.

4. Dice remaining cucumber, place in strainer. Sprinkle cucumber with salt, and let juices drain out of cucumber into bowl below. This is to dry the cucumber out. After 1 hour, squeeze cucumber dry with towel.

5. Blend cucumber and remaining tzatziki sauce ingredients in food processor until smooth. Refrigerate.

6. Prepare remaining garnishes.

7. After making whole wheat pita pockets, stuff pita pockets (or create wraps) with chicken, tzatziki sauce, and remaining garnishes. Enjoy warm or cold.

As a wrap...

Or a pocket....whatever you do,

Opa!

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Sweet and Sassy Chicken Wings

Equation of the day:

Superbowl=wings.

Unless you're vegetarian, then we have plenty of other options, but in non-vegetarians, this is fact.

As we girls were preparing for this Superbowl series, we were discussing what foods the men-folk would like. Instead of trying to think like a man, I turned to the hottie sitting next to me on the couch and asked him what he'd like.

Wings.

Wings it is, sweetheart, wings it is.

I was on a mission. I tried four different ways of preparing the wings, and four different variations of a basic sauce. I found that there wasn't much difference in the way I prepared them, and simultaneously created the perfect sauce that was met with happy grunts and sticky fingers, indicating I had pleased the man of the house. I chose to batter the wings, which created a light breading. You can certainly do it without this (just omit the egg and flour part and substitute coating the wings in canola oil and seasonings), but I found it added an extra dimension and something for the sauce to really sink into. I also tested eating the wings with the sauce simply coated on , then tried coating the wings and baking them with the sauce on, and much preferred the baked-on, caramelized sauce.

I did a little happy dance.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare your pan by lining it with foil, then a cooling rack, and spray the heck out of everything.

Dredge the chicken in the eggs and milk mixture in one bowl, then the flour mixture in another bowl. Place them on the cooling rack and lightly spray the wings with cooking oil.

Bake until crispy and golden.

While they're baking, make your sauce with the sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, garlic (minced), and Sriracha (or other hot sauce) to taste. I love the sweet chili sauce at Trader Joe's, and I know most of you have a TJ around you now, but many brands make the same stuff so that would do as well. I love it for dipping coconut shrimp or egg rolls in. It has some kick to it, so be careful when you're adding the hot sauce. I did find that the sauce was spicier before I baked it, so also keep that in mind.

But remember, it's the SupaBowl, you kinda have to eat spicy chicken wings.

Coat the chicken in your sauce, and crank up the heat to 450 degrees.

Place back on your cooling rack and bake for another 7-8 minutes, until the sauce has thickened a bit, but is still slick and gooey. Don't wait until it's dried out.

Sprinkle with green onions.

Perfect for sticky fist bumps and high fives.

Finger-licking good. Man-tested and man-approved.

Sweet and sassy chicken wings

Ingredients

2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken wings (about 30 wings)

2 c sweet chili sauce

1 1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c soy sauce

2 T fresh ginger

5 cloves garlic

Sriracha (or other) hot sauce to taste

2 eggs

1/8 c milk

1 c flour

1 t salt

1 t pepper

1 t paprika

green onions, sliced

Directions

1. Heat sweet chili sauce, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, and 1/2 t Sriracha sauce in saucepan on stove over medium heat.

2. Simmer while stirring until sugar has melted and sauce has thickened. Add more hot sauce if desired.

3. Whisk eggs and milk in bowl.

4. Whisk flour, salt, pepper, and paprika in separate bowl.

5. Coat chicken wings in eggs mixture.

6. Next, dredge chicken wings in flour mixture.

7. Spray wings with cooking oil.

8. Line cookie sheet with foil, place cooling rack over cookie sheet. Spray cooling rack with cooking oil.

9. Bake wings on cooling rack at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, until crispy and golden.

10. Remove wings from oven, increase temperature to 450 degrees.

11. Coat wings with sauce, move back to cooling rack and bake for additional 7-8 minutes.

12. Sprinkle with green onion slices and serve

Serves 6-8

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Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Is it possible to think of football and not have the 'Monday Night Football theme song blasting through your head? ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!!queue guitar and drums. and fireworks. 

Too bad ol' Hank Williams Jr isn't hanging around on ABC still... asking if your ready for some football...Maybe if he was, I might actually be ready? and might watch.. ha. ok maybe not. None-the-less, ready or not- Football is coming!! not on Monday, on Sunda. And there is going to be this big ol' Supabowl Party you are either invited to or hosting right? And now you need to come up with somthing to bring! ah. 

We are here to save you. 

(sigh. love thoughts pulsing through your brain of us)

My Auntie Cammy made this for us over Christmas break, we were hosting a baby shower and she showed up to save us! (sigh.love thoughts pulsing through my brain for her) 

***

a quick run to Costco and she had everything she needed. 

 yummm. isn't pesto so grand. 

obviously you can make much of this from home. or all of it. or buy half of it and make half.... and you don't have to buy it from Costco either, but since you are going there anyway, you might as well. 

Your going to be very addicted to this meal and will need it in bulk....hehehe. 

so here is what you need. 

bread : baguette for smaller sangwhiches. 

artisan loaves for large sandwhiches *see uncooked pics

Pesto

Grilled Chicken

onion :purple are prettiest : slick thin

tomoatoes- nice and ripe! sliced thin

cheese of your choice, pictured below is Mozzarella and Parmaigina (all from costoca)

to assemble:

line a baking sheet with foil and place slice bread

Spread a healthy layer of pesto

tomato

chicken

onion

cheese

since we were feeding a large crowd we had extra foil and sandwiches ready to go. when a batch would come out we just pull the foil onto the baking sheet and cook.

Place in 350 oven till cheese is melted.

for smaller baguettes broiler works great too!

This is Aubrey. My sis. Sometimes, often, people get us mixed up. so I thought I would clarify. this is her,  and I, des. am talking. 

She is the prettier one. :) 

Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich

Ingredients

Baguette or Artisian bread from bakery (or any loaf)

Pesto

a few ripe tomatoes

purple onion

Mozzarella cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Grilled Chicken

Directions

Slice bread, tomatoes, onion, and chicken.

On a foil lined baking sheet place bread and layer:

Pesto

Tomatoes

Onion

Chicken

Cheeses

Bake at 350 or broil till cheese is melted.

Baking is recommended for the larger sandwiches so ensure that it is heated through. but for smaller baguettes they heat pretty fast.

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Thai Peanut Saute

This is an older recipe from the blog, but honestly....it needed a lot of help. I mean, even the pictures were pretty sad. no wonder it had never been pinned.
(no! you cannot see them anymore. They have magically disappeared.)

A few weeks ago I was craving some thai peanut sauté done right! boom baby!
I decided I wanted to try making this recipe better. In the end it was SOO much better.
Smooth. Creamy. Spicy. Noodles....with cilantro.
(before, if you tried it... it was a little too much like eating spicy peanut butter coated noodles, I'm so sorry)
I put it up (the new and improved! version) on instagram and my facebook and it all wild.
 I'm really sorry it took so long for me to put it here! Holidays does do that to us doesn't it?

You know who at this the best? my 18 month old. what gives? its noodles!

so.
I give you.
for your viewing pleasure.

THAI PEANUT SAUTE! (crowd goes wild, wahhhhhhhhh) 

here is what you will need:..
(for a Vegetarian version, leave out chicken...sub tofu?... and sub chicken broth for veggie broth)

4 chicken Breast, cut into stripes or bite size pieces
2 TBS evoo
3 limes...1 juiced, 2-3 sliced
3 minced garlic
1 T fresh ginger minced (I used the fresh ginger in a tube)
2 T soy sauce
1/2 package of linguine noodles (about 8oz)
1 cup shoe string carrots
1 cup chopped (fairly small) Broccoli florets
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
2 chopped green onions
1/2  bunch of cilantro chopped

side note- My mom bought me a titan peeler from Bed Bath and Beyond years ago, and this handy dandy thing came with it. perfect for these carrots. The package was only like $15 and they have seriously been the best investment! 

Start the noodles in a large stock pot. 

and make your peanut sauce* in a small sauce pan. *See below

In a separate, large skillet saute chicken, chili paste, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt. 

when chicken is almost, mostly, fully cooked add veggies.{NOT cilantro} 

--your veggies will only need a few minutes to cook- so that is why I advise for you to have the peanut sauce and noodles prepped and done by the time the veggies enter the skillet. 

Drain the noodles and add them, with the peanut sauce to the chicken/veggies skillet. 

Toss until everything is well coated. 

Add Cilantro at this point. lightly toss.

 If the peanut sauce has thickened too much {from the starch of the noodles} add a few Tablespoons of chicken broth at time till it reaches desired consistency. 

Garnish with Lime, and peanuts, and maybe a little more cilantro. :)

Peanut Sauce

1+ can chicken broth

6 T peanut butter

1 tsp (more if you like it hot hot hot!)  of Sriracha chili sauce, or some type of chili paste 

3 T honey

6 T soy sauce

5 garlic cloves minced (or t mined)

In your sauce pan combine all ingredients over medium heat. Stir until sauce is smooth and blended. It will thicken as it stands. so, as mentioned above, add more broth till reached desired consistency. but it should be pretty runny. 

trust me. by the time its combined with all those startchy noodles, and the veggies has soaked some up, and its sat at the table while everyone is called. and called. and then yell/called again to come to the dinner table- it should be perfect. 

Thai Peanut Saute

Ingredients

4 chicken Breast, cut into stripes or bite size pieces

2 TBS evoo

3 limes...1 juiced, 2-3 sliced

3 minced garlic

1 T fresh ginger minced (I used the fresh ginger in a tube)

2 T soy sauce

1/2 package of linguine noodles (about 8oz)

1 cup shoe string carrots

1 cup chopped (fairly small) Broccoli florets

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

2 chopped green onions

1/2 bunch of cilantro chopped

Peanut Sauce

1+ can chicken broth

6 T peanut butter

1 tsp (more if you like it hot hot hot!) of Sriracha chili sauce, or some type of chili paste

3 T honey

6 T soy sauce

5 garlic cloves minced (or t minced)

Directions

Start the noodles in a large stock pot.

and make your peanut sauce* in a small sauce pan. *See below

In a seperate, large skillet saute chicken, chili paste, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, salt.

when chicken is almost, mostly, fully cooked add veggies.{NOT cilantro}

--your veggies will only need a few minutes to cook- so that is why I advise for you to have the peanut sauce and noodles prepped and done by the time the veggies enter the skillet.

Drain the noodles and add them, with the peanut sauce to the chicken/veggies skillet.

Toss until everything is well coated.

Add Cilantro at this point. lightly toss.

If the peanut sauce has thickened too much {from the starch of the noodles} add a few Tablespoons of chicken broth at time till it reaches desired consistency.

Garnish with Lime, and peanuts, and maybe a little more cilantro. :)

Peanut Sauce Directions:

in your sauce pan combine all ingredients on medium heat. Stir until sauce is smooth and blended. It will thicken as it stands. so, as mentioned above, add more broth till reached desired consistency. but it should be pretty runny.

trust me. by the time its combined with all those startchy noodles, and the veggies has soaked some up, and its sat at the table while everyone is called. and called. and then yell/called again to come to the dinner table it should be perfect.

PS I accidentally bought Fettuccine noodles.. don't mind those. you will want the LINGUINI noodles. 

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Basil Chicken Parmigiana

What's the difference between Chicken Parmesan and Chicken Parmigiana?

Nothing!

'Parmigiana' means 'from Parma', a city of Northern Italy. NOT Parmesan cheese (although it is not a Northern Italy dish, it's a Southern Italian dish--from Sicily and Campania).

'Parmesan' is the English word for 'Parmigiana', therefore, they are interchangeable.

Who doesn't love this dish? Veal Parmigiana if you are of the adventurous persuasion, Eggplant Parmigiana if you are of the vegetarian persuasion, totally versatile.

You can make this with some bottled spaghetti or marinara sauce pretty easily, but I personally LURVE this version with extra oomph much much more. It's like the Target to your Walmart. Gruyére to your American cheese. Versace to your Forever21. Kate Middleton to your Lindsey Lohan.

Keep it classy, people.

With fresh basil. Lots.

If you could smell my kitchen right now, your mouth would be salivating. You're going to chop half of an onion and a bunch of garlic. Again, I like lots. Sauté the garlic and onion in 1 T butter. Then add an undrained can of petite diced tomatoes. Pure, unadulterated tomatoes. I really dislike those cans of 'flavored' tomatoes...the Mexican ones, the Italian ones, they all taste funky and just have a lot of fake ingredients in them. Go natural here.

Chop a handful of basil and mix it in there.

Add 1/2 t salt, 1/2 t sugar, and 1/4 t red pepper flakes.

Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the colors have darkened and the liquid has reduced a bit, producing a deeper, richer flavor.

Take your raw chicken breasts and pound them to about 1/4"--1/2" thick. I usually do this in a gallon-size plastic bag so I don't have raw chicken all over.

In one bowl, pour 1 c flour and 1/2 t salt. In the next bowl, beat 1 egg and 2 T milk. The last bowl will be  1 c panko bread crumbs, 1/2 c parmesan cheese, 1 T oregano, and 1/2 t salt.

In a large, deep frying pan, heat 2 T EVOO and 2 T butter on medium. The EVOO gives it good flavor (and healthy fats) and the butter also gives a different flavor and more of a browning/crisping action. You can reduce the amount of oil and butter to make it a bit healthier and it will turn out great. Or you can crank those fats up and get more of a fried chicken, also tasty results.

When the oil/butter is hot, dip the chicken first into the flour bowl to coat, then the egg and milk bowl also to coat, and last the panko crumbs bowl....you guessed it, to coat. Really press those crumbs and cheese into the chicken.

Place the chicken in the pan (don't crowd the pan) and it should immediately start sizzling a little. If there's too much sizzling, the outside will cook before the inside does so you'll want to turn the heat down slightly.

At this point you want to be cooking your spaghetti noodles (whole wheat in this house), and spaghetti sauce for your noodles (remember, not for the chicken!). Or you can use the flavorful tomato mixture for your noodles (like I like to do). Also, turn your oven (or toaster oven) on broil.

When the chicken is done, top each piece with the aromatic tomatoes mixture. Top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, then set in oven to broil and melt your cheese.

Seriously right now?

Sprinkle chicken with more fresh basil, and serve with your spaghetti.

It's 9 am, I haven't had breakfast, and I'm seriously craving this.

Basil Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients

1/2 onion

5 cloves garlic

1 T butter

14 oz. can petite diced tomatoes

1/2 t sugar

1/2 t salt

1/4 t red pepper flakes

fresh basil

4 chicken breasts

1 c flour

1/2 t salt

1 egg

2 T milk

1 c panko crumbs

3/4 c freshly grated parmesan

1 T oregano

1/2 t salt

2 T EVOO

2 T butter

1/2 c mozzarella

Directions

1. Saute onion and garlic in 1 T butter. Add undrained tomatoes, salt, sugar, red pepper flakes. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in basil. Keep warm.

2. Pound chicken breasts to 1/4"--1/2" thick.

3. In three bowls, first combine 1 c flour and 1/2 t salt, then in next the egg and milk, then the last combine the crumbs, 1/2 c parmesan, oregano, and salt.

4. Heat 2 T EVOO and 2 T butter in large frying pan. When hot, fry chicken until crisp.

5. Turn on broiler. Top chicken with tomato mixture, then with mozzarella and remaining parmesan. Broil until cheese melted.

6. Serve with spaghetti.

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Chicken and Rice with Crispy Onion Strings

This. Is. Comfort food.

Creamy rice, soft and hearty veggies, juicy chicken thighs, and salty onion strings.

I've had this basic recipe for a while now, and every time I make it I am pleasantly surprised how delicious this simple meal with simple ingredients is. The leftovers are also just as good, and soul-warming on a cool, fall day. Leftover turkey would also substitute the chicken perfectly.

Preheat your oven to 350'.

Heat 1 t EVOO in a large pot. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and cook a couple minutes on each side until lightly browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.

*If you're using leftover turkey instead of the chicken, you'll skip this step. Obvi.

Add another 1 t EVOO to the pot and throw in your veggies, saute for a couple of minutes until they've softened a bit.

Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray. In the pan, pour your chicken broth, rice, bouillon, salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese. Mix it up all nice and mixified.

Bouillon. A lot of bouillon out there has MSG in it. With all of the controversial studies out there on the stuff, I prefer to stay away from it. This stuff has been just perfect! Found it at Sprouts.

 Freshly shredded parm. 

Is there a better cheese out there freshly shredded? I submit that there is not.

Spoon the veggies onto the rice and broth mixture in the 9x13 pan, then snuggle the chicken (or leftover turkey) in among the rice and veggies. Cover pan with foil and bake 30 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Now for the guilty pleasure of the dish, the crispy onion strings topping.

Not only are these fabulous on top of the dish, but the huge plate of onion rings was quite divine.

I may or may not have eaten most of them and only hoped to have enough leftover to top the rice dish.

Start out by slicing the onion into thin little slices, then soak in buttermilk at least an hour.

In a bowl, mix your flour, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, and paprika.

 Heat up your vegetable or canola oil in a large, deep frying pan on medium heat to 375 degrees or until when you flick water into the oil, it immediately starts sizzling. If it's not hot enough, the coating will fall off and you'll have slimy, oily onions. Blech.

The other key is to fry small batches at a time. If you do too much, they all cling to one another, lower the temperature too much, and again, you'll have slimy, oily onions.

Blech.

Dip the buttermilked onions into the flour mixture (small batches) and coat onions well.

Gently place them in the oil, and they should immediately start sizzling.

Once the bottoms are starting to brown, flip onions over.

When they're done, take those crispy babies out and place on a plate covered with layered paper towels.

Taste them (for seasoning purposes only of course), and add salt while they're still hot if they need it.

 Top the chicken and rice dish with the crispy onion strings.

Try to stop staring at the golden, salty, crispy nuggets of onion.

Chicken and rice with crispy onion strings

Ingredients

2 t extra virgin olive oil

6 chicken thighs (or leftover turkey)

salt and pepper

1/2 yellow onion

1 c peeled mini carrots

1 c fresh green beans

1 c mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 c chicken broth

1 c rice

2 t chicken bouillon

salt and pepper

1 c freshly-grated parmesan

1 yellow onion

2 c buttermilk

2 c flour

2 t salt

1/4 t cayenne

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t paprika

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute chicken in oil until lightly browned on the outside, set aside.

Saute veggies in oil for a couple of minutes.

Grease 9x13 pan, pour in broth, rice, bouillon, salt and pepper, and parmesan. Mix well.

Place veggies on top of broth and rice mixture, then add chicken (or leftover turkey).

Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes, or until rice is tender.

Slice onions for onion strings thin, then soak in buttermilk for at least an hour.

Heat oil in frying pan to 375 degrees.

Mix flour, salt, cayenne, garlic powder, and paprika in bowl. Coat onion slices in flour mixture, then (in small batches) place onions into oil and fry until lightly browned. Let dry on paper towel-lined plate.

Top chicken and rice with onion strings.

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