Soccer-Mom Friendly Dinner: Chicken Caesar Sandwiches

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate JUST a bit. I was working on my meal plan over the weekend and browsing Twitter instead of focusing on the task at hand. Fortunately, I follow Jeff Young, the Catholic Foodie, and he tweeted a link to a recipe for Creamy Chicken Caesar Sandwiches.

My kids are fans of Caesar salad, especially when there's chicken involved. (Little Brother will eat just about anything if it includes croutons; in his world, croutons should have their own food group). With Little Brother and his crouton obsession in mind, I decided to serve these sandwiches on garlic bread instead of just plain rolls. (If you're local, I got the rolls from DeLuca's in Riverside.)

The original recipe is linked above; I'm writing it here as I made it.

Get the recipe at Cook and Count!

French Dip Sandwiches (Slow Cooker)

This is a perfect busy-day recipe. You put it together in just a few minutes, then let it cook all day. 

1 bottom-round roast, about 3 pounds
2 cups beef broth or consomme
Seasoning: freshly-ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, kosher salt

Season the meat on all sides. Place in slow cooker and pour broth over it. Cook on HIGH for 1 hour, then turn down to LOW for about 7 to 8 hours.

Trim fat off the meat and cut into a few chunks, then shred with 2 forks OR if you have a stand mixer, try this really easy way: Put chunks of meat into the mixer. Using the paddle attachment, spin it a few times on LOW. Rearrange the contents of the bowl and spin a few more times. Watch carefully as there's a fine line between shredded and pureed.

(Hat tip to Gluten Free Homemaker for the stand-mixer idea! It really works!)

Serve on Italian rolls with the juice from the crockpot for dipping.

Chicken Pita Sandwiches

This one was inspired by Barbara's take on a Jamie Oliver recipe.  I took the meat off the kebabs, used chicken instead of pork, and omitted the pepper-relish topping.   Delicious!  It's a great dish to make in the summer.

CHICKEN PITA SANDWICHES
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8 pita breads

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips

For the marinade:
1 TBL dried mint
1 TBL dried oregano
juice of 1 lemon
2/3 cup olive oil
2 TBL minced garlic from a jar
1 TBL red wine vinegar
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt

For the tzatziki:
½ a large cucumber
6 oz. Greek yogurt (3/4 cup)
1 TBL minced garlic from a jar
1 heaped tsp dried mint
1 ½ tsp red wine vinegar


Mix marinade ingredients together. Pour over chicken strips in a ziplock bag or container. Marinate several hours.

Meanwhile, make tzatziki by coarsely grating the cucumber into a sieve set up over a bowl. Add a few good pinches of salt, then use your hands to squeeze out as much water as you can. Mix cucumber with other tzatziki ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat a griddle pan over a high heat. Cook the meat on the screaming hot griddle for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally until done on all sides. Warm pitas in the oven or in a hot dry pan while chicken cooks.

Put a dollop of tzatziki and the meat on each warmed pita. Serve with raw vegetable slices.

Turkey Gyros

This is my take on a Rachael Ray recipe. That link is to the original. My recipe is below. With enough pitas, this would have been enough to feed 8 people. I wound up freezing the extra meat.

For the meat:
* 1 (10-ounce) package frozen spinach, thawed
* 1 pound ground turkey
* 1 tablespoon grill seasoning
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 tablespoon coriander
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 2 pinches ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup feta crumbles
* 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the sauce:
* 1 cup Greek yogurt
* 1 small clove garlic, grated
* 1/2 tsp cumin
* 1/4 cucumber, peeled and grated
* 1 lemon, juiced (1 to 2 tbl lemon juice)

And the rest:
* a handful of grape tomatoes, halved
* 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced
* 8 pita breads

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Place turkey in a bowl. Add grill seasoning, cumin, chili powder, coriander, oregano, cinnamon and feta crumbles. Wring the spinach dry in a paper towel and add to meat. Mix the meat and form a long 3-inch roll on a baking sheet. Coat with extra-virgin olive oil and bake 30 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to verify doneness.

Mix yogurt, a grated clove of garlic, cucumber, the juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 teaspoon cumin. Slice and reserve the tomatoes and cucumbers.

Soften pita (wrap in foil and place in oven for a few minutes).

Slice meat loaf into 1/4-inch slices. Spread sauce on pitas and top with 2 slices of meat, tomatoes, and cucumbers.

This tastes JUST like the gyros I used to get at the mall during college. Delicious and filling.

I think that the meat can be mixed ahead and just ready to bake, or even baked ahead and warmed later. The yogurt sauce is best chilled, so definitely make that ahead if possible. If I had the meat baked ahead, this would be a great "Saturday night after church" meal, or a good go-to meal during the week when I need dinner to be quick and easy.

Middle Sister didn't like it but otherwise it got good reviews. Little Brother just ate the meat and had his vegetables on the side. No sauce. That was fine with me.