Chicken Gyros with Homemade Whole Wheat Pitas

I was so glad I decided to take yesterday off from work.  We slept in until around 8:30.  Made some coffee, blogged, read blogs, relaxed.   I had the laziest breakfast ever – a 100 calorie bagel with a schmear of butter, a cheese stick and a juicy nectarine:

I started the laundry, cleaned the kitchen and then we had to drop off one of our cars for service.  I decided we try a new restaurant for lunch near my office.

Tony got a burger that was really juice and flavorful.  However, his coleslaw had no flavor at all.  I was eyeing the Reuben sandwich (or crack sandwich in my book!) when I spotted this on the appetizer menu:

Trinity Sliders

Out came three tiny corned beef sammies on pretzel bread.  These were really good!  The corned beef was tender, but the best part was the mustard they brought to the table.  How have I not heard of this mustard before?

it had a spice that almost tasted like horseradish, but there wasn't any in the ingredient list

With a side of fries that Tony and I split.  We brought almost 3/4 of them home and Hannah ended up eating the fries with the third slider I didn’t eat – she loved it too!

Last week I saw Beantown Baker make chicken gyros and I immediately put that on my list of things to make.  She even had a recipe for making homemade pitas, and since I had the time, figured yesterday would be the day.  Funny thing though, I am reading her recipe, and I read “mix oil and water and stir with a wooden spoon.”  I didn’t realize that she meant to add the oil and water to the flour mixture and then mix with a wooden spoon.  As I was mixing the water and oil I was like “what is the point of this??!!”  Duh!

the only change I made was using 1 cup regular flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour - and I used the sugar not the honey

complete unnecessary step 😀

I did all of the kneading in my stand mixer.  I let it run for 10 minutes.  If you want my Whole Wheat Pita print out with calories, check it out here.  You know you have the right consistency when nothing sticks to the bowl.

It has to rest for 90 minutes, so when Hannah got home from work we headed to our favorite thrift store and then to the grocery store.  They had a whole display of clowns which was kinda creepy.  Are you afraid of clowns?

creepers!

I was so happy I finally remembered to bring my reusable grocery totes!  We had a big freezer one too, so unloading the groceries was easy because we put all the fridge/freezer stuff in that bag.

By now it was time to punch down the dough.  I pre-heated the oven to 400 degrees.  I weighed my dough and divided by 8 and each ball should weigh 3.25 ounces.  Once formed, let rest for 20 minutes before rolling out.

My MIL was nice enough to bring me her baking stone – it doesn’t fit in her oven anymore and mine broke a couple years ago.  I heated the stone when I pre-heated the oven.  While they are puffy when they first come out, the air falls out pretty quickly.

I baked them for 4 minutes.  They were light, chewy and delicious!

While I was grilling the chicken gyros, I made twice baked potatoes on the side.  My pita was so filling though, I never ate one!

One slight problem, my chicken was sticking to the grill!  I managed to save them though 😀

The chicken was juicy, with a hint of the lemon mixture it was marinated in - I was literally stuffed after eating this 😀

Have you read about our 101 Days of Summer Challenger John?  He is attempting to do 40 races before he turns 40.  Stride Gum is sponsoring the event, and if he gets enough votes, he could win 10,000!  Voting begins today at noon.  John has already lost 105 since December 29, 2009 – keep up the great work John!

Guess what I am off to do . . . ride my bike outside! 😀   I am all set with my Road I.D.

Have a great Tuesday!