Homemade Grub

Okay, I know that most of you make all your food at home and from scratch everyday, so why should I be so pleased with myself? Well, I am proud of myself because cooking is so hard for me and something I don't necessarily enjoy. Ever since our move we have been committed to eating at home and only out at restaurants on occassion. This is a true accomplishment for us considering we used to eat out about 4-5 times a week when we lived in SLC. Granted we were both busy with school and work and a child, so somehow we justified it. But now I've got so much more time on my hands and I cook dinner every night unless it's a special occassion or the weekend. Oh, and Mike helps out a lot too, so I can't take all the credit. Anyway, this week we were craving some Greek and Indian food so we whipped up our own version of gyros and made a side of hummus for the extra pitas.

Mike seasoned the chicken and cooked it on the outside grill then cut it up into small peices.

Real gyros are typically made with lamb or beef, but chicken can work too. Add onions, tomatos and tzatziki sauce and you're done! That poo looking substance to the left is the hummus.

The pitas only take a few minutes to bake. It might be hard to tell from my picture, but they puff up like a balloon when they're done.

The great thing about them ballooning up like they do is that they make a little pocket perfect for stuffing food in!

Pita Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour*
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons melted butter
1 1/4 cups room-temperature water

*You can substitute any amount of whole wheat flour for white flour, although the dough may require additional water to be soft and malleable.

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in large mixing bowl or heavy duty mixer. Add butter and water and mix by hand on low speed with mixer for about 1 minute. Knead or use dough hook on mixer (med. speed) for 10 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic (this is why I love my KitchenAid.) Add flour or water as needed. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky. Transfer dough to a glass bowl brushed with olive oil. Turn the dough over once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until doubled in volume (1 to 1 1/2 hours.) Punch dough down and divide it into 8 equal balls. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. On a lightly floured surface roll out each ball to a thin 8 inch round. You can bake these on a pizza stone or an upside-down baking sheet. Spray the stone or baking sheet with a mist of water, wait 30 seconds, then place as many rounds on the hearth as possible. Bake until dough puffs up like a balloon, which is about 3 minutes. Remove each bread to cool on a rack. Note: If you leave the breads in the oven too long, they will not deflate to flat disks.

Tzatziki-- (cucumber sauce for gyros)

Ingredients:
2 cups plain yogurt
2 teaspoons pureed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, grated (use large holes on grater)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
pinch of salt

For best results drain yogurt for 1 hour in a cheesecloth lined strainer. (We didn't do it because we were short on time) In a bowl, combine yogurt, garlic, pepper and salt. Sprinkle a little salt on grated cucumbers, drain for 10-15 minutes. Add drained cucumbers to the yogurt mixture then mix in olive oil and you're done!

Hummus

Ingredients:
2 cups canned chickpeas rinsed (or 3/4 cup dried chickpeas)*
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3 Tablespoons tahini
2 garlic cloves finely minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
Sprinkling of hot or sweet paprika
Salt to taste

* If you use dry chickpeas, it takes a lot longer. You must pick over, rinse and soak. Then boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Too much work for me, but if you're into that sort of thing, don't let me stop ya.

Place chickpeas in a food processor and add the lemon juice, tahini, garlic, and salt. Puree until smooth adding 2 to 3 tablespoons of warm water as needed to obtain a creamy consistency. Remove to a shallow serving bowl and garnish with olive oil, parsley and paprika.