Grilled Ground Beef Gyros

Recipe:

Grilled Ground Beef Gyros

Ingredients:

1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt
1/3 cup chopped seeded cucumber
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions (I did omit since we don’t like onions)
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon sugar
Filling
1 lb lean ground beef (or you can use ground turkey)
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper
4 pita breads (store-bought or you can try my easy bread machine pita)
3 cups shredded lettuce
large tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped

Directions:

1 In a bowl, combine first 5 ingredients. Cover and refrigerate. In separate bowl, combine ground beef and seasonings. Mix well. Shape into 4 patties. Grill, covered, over medium to high heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, turning once. Cut patties into thin slices. Stuff into pitas. Add lettuce, tomato, and onion. Serve with yogurt sauce.

Prep Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 22 mins

Recipe Source: Food.com

Chicken Tacos

I hate to admit it, but I didn't think tacos with anything other than hamburger would taste good.  I love chicken, but it never even occurred to me to try chicken tacos.  They just didn't sound that good to me at all.  But when my boyfriend and I were in CA visiting his family last year, his sister made us chicken tacos.  Other than the onions she put in them (yuck!) they were delish!  So we got the recipe from her and now we eat them about 2-3 times a week!

If you like onions, then dice some onions and cook them by themselves until they are caramelized, and then add the following ingredients.  If you don't like onions, then this is how we make them:

All you need is chicken breasts, garlic salt and pepper.  Yep, that's it!

Cut up your chicken breasts, I like to dice them into small pieces.  Sprinkle some garlic salt and pepper on them, and then put them in a hot pan with just a little bit of oil that is already hot.  We like canola oil, as it's healthier than vegetable oil.  Fry the chicken breasts and keep seasoning them with the garlic salt and pepper to taste. 

When the chicken is cooked it will look like this:

  

Now, while I'm cooking the chicken, my boyfriend is frying up some corn tortillas in canola oil.  I used to also think you could only eat processed shells like Ortega.  Wow, was I wrong.  These corn shells fried in oil are the BEST!!

The next and most important step - fill the taco shells, and devour!  My boyfriend likes cheese in his, I like mine just chicken and shells.  Fill with whatever you like.  You will love these!

Enjoy!

CHILI'S chips & salsa recipe!

So, my boyfriend and I are big fans of the restaurant Chili's.   We eat there maybe once or twice a month when possible.  We absolutely LOVE their tortilla chips & salsa.  So much in fact, that we even ordered some to bring home with us a couple of weeks ago.  The other night I decided to do some research and see if I could find their salsa recipe.  And bingo!  Found it.  And I can say this because we made this last night and it smelled and tasted just like we got it at Chili's!

For the chips you can buy chips already made in the stores, but Chris made these from fresh corn tortillas and they were DIVINE!  Just cut up some corn tortillas into triangles, and fry them in canola oil, and then let them drain on paper towels.  Salt if you like, but I actually prefer them unsalted.

And now for the salsa recipe!

Ingredients:

(1) 10 oz can of Ro-Tel

(1) 14.5 oz can whole peeled tomatoes (do NOT drain)

1 1/2 Tbsp finely diced raw jalapeno (include seeds only if you want the salsa hot!)

1/4 cup diced onion

3/4 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp sugar

Directions:

1.  Place jalepenos and onions in a food processor and run for approx 5-10 seconds.  

2.  Add Ro-Tel, tomatoes, sugar and cumin.

3.  Process all ingredients until thin, but not completely pureed.  Just think of the consistency of Chili's Salsa and aim for that.

4.  Place in a covered container and shill for two hours.

5.  Serve with warm tortilla chips.

ENJOY!