Fabulous Foodie Finds: Part Two

The next dish in my FFF series comes from one of my new favorite food blogs, the Yummy Mummy Kitchen.  I love her aesthetic and her cooking style, as well as her sunny photography, and I just pinched a brilliant quickie weeknight dinner from her site: Gyros a la Trader Joe's. As she says in her post, this is less of a recipe and more of an idea/shopping list, but I love those, especially for weeknight cooking.  There is nothing better than a dinner that comes together more as a result of well-executed grocery shopping than of blood, sweat and tears over the stove.  These gyros totally fit the bill.

Her recipe:
1 package Trader Joe's flatbread
1 container Trader Joe's tzatziki sauce
shredded chicken or grilled fish
sliced onion
chopped tomato

Warm flat breads. Spoon tzatziki sauce inside and fill with your favorite fixings!
Done.

Let me divert for a minute to say that anyone who went to college in Burlington, Vermont (as the husband and I did), will remember a certain Ahli Baba's Kabob Shop with fondness.  Many a hangover was nursed and many a midnight, post-bar hankering was fulfilled there back in our day.  The husband often reminisces soulfully about their gyros, wishing we had some on hand in the here and now.  Well, thanks to the Yummy Mummy, I was able to fulfill that fantasy this week for all of about $10 spent at Trader Joe's.

While you could probably shop for this recipe at almost any market, there is something special about TJ's flatbread and tzatziki.  Besides being ridiculously affordable (like everything else at TJ's), they are also exceptionally healthy.  If you get the whole wheat flatbread, you get a fiber punch for the day, as well as delicious moist chewiness usually not found in whole grain anything.  And the tzatziki is low fat (I've seen some supermarket versions that really pack on the calories and fat) and full of sliced cucumbers and fresh herbs; quite delicious and it truly tastes like you made it yourself, slaving for hours over a mandoline to get those cukes just so.  Not bad for $3.

For our version, I also bought a small package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and marinated them in a little olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh ground pepper.   The husband grilled them to perfection, and I chopped them, as well as some fresh tomatoes to go alongside.  And as long as he had the grill fired up, I also tossed some zucchini, summer squash and a halved leek in olive oil, salt and pepper, and he grilled them for me as well.  I chopped all those veggies and tossed them with cooked Israeli couscous, quartered grape tomatoes, feta cheese and a balsamic vinaigrette.  This couscous salad is one of my favorite summer sides, and I tend to whip some up whenever the grill is being fired, as the leftovers make a perfect lunch served over a bed of greens.

But, again, I digress.  This post is really about the Yummy Mummy's brilliant gyro idea, so let me wrap it up (ha!) by saying this: do yourself a favor and put this into your weekly dinner rotation ASAP.  It hits the quick, easy, healthy and delicious marks with flying colors, and truly takes next to no effort.  If grilling is too much, buy some rotisserie chicken or grilled chicken from your deli counter and use that instead.  Veggie friends, a quickly sauteed portobella 'shroomie would be equally delicious.  Suffice to say, this was one of those meals that was eaten in total silence due to both of us being in a full food swoon.  I could tell we were mentally side by side back on Church Street, grubbing on a gyro after a great show at Toast (Which no longer exists.  Sigh.  We are old.), and that, my friends is truly priceless.

Stay tuned for part three!  Have an almost empty jar of peanut (or almond) butter on hand?  Don't throw it out!  I'll be back with my next foodie find, and you'll want those dregs, I promise!