Gyros my way

I'm not the most adventurous with food, but there is a great Greek/Mediterranean place here in OKC called Zorba's. I don't particularly care for lamb, but I do enjoy the chicken "gyro" that they make there. You can have it with fries or tabbouleh, another middle eastern/mediterranean delicacy I enjoy from time to time. I haven't been there since, oh, last fall. We had planned to go at lunch one day, but there weren't any parking spaces anywhere near it!

We ended up going to an awful hamburger place. Good fries, but my god, my husband's burger disgusted me...it had three kinds of meat...and I'm a meat girl!

So I got the bright idea to make my own chicken gyro/pita thing. I'm still trying to figure out what to call it. The sauce was very tasty, and the whole thing was SO incredibly good for you!

This is what I did, feel free to mess with it. It certainly isn't patented!

For the cucumber-lemon-yogurt sauce

1 cup plain yogurt (I used full fat, it's not that bad)
Strain the yogurt in this fashion (by all means, if you can get Greek yogurt, go for it, but I can't for the life of me find it!): Put a strainer over a bowl where the strainer doesn't hit bottom, about 1 inch difference. Place a paper towel (or cheesecloth) in the strainer, spoon the yogurt in, and top with another paper towel. Refrigerate for awhile. The liquid should drain out of the bottom and you will be left with a nice, thick concoction!
1/2 peeled and seeded cucumber, diced
Juice of 1 half lemon
About a tsp minced garlic
S&P to taste
1 TBS fresh parsley

Whiz all this up in a small food processor/chopper and you're good to go!

We made two gyros all together.

2 flat pita breads (the kind I found had plant sterols and were only 60 cals each and had 5 grams of fiber...feel free to use something else :) )
1 chicken breast
1 tomato, seeded, cored, and chopped
1 roasted red pepper (I just used one from a jar)
2 green lettuce leaves (or your preference)
2 TBS chopped red onion

I roasted the chicken breast at 400°F until done, about 25 minutes or so. I just seasoned with S&P. Warm the pita bread in the toaster oven or regular oven, or microwave if you must.

Assemble: Pita bread on plate, spoon about 1TBS or so of the sauce on 1 half. Top with onion, tomato, peppers, and some chopped roasted chicken. On the other half, spread a little more sauce, and place the leaf. Fold over and fasten with a toothpick.

I still had 1/2 the chicken breast left over! The chicken wasn't really the star of this meal--the freshness of all the wonderful veggies and the tangy sauce were!

Served with a side of nicely roasted red potatoes instead of the usual fries to keep it healthy.

I had enough sauce left and chicken left over to make my lunch for tomorrow.

Here is the final product:


Enjoy!