Spicy Chicken Shawarma

 A shawarma and a Morgan!

Anyone from the Mankato area will tell you that Massad's is the place to eat if you are at the mall. The chicken shawarma's there are to die for, even if they leave you with unfortunate breath for a day or two. Since I no longer live in the area, I have been forced to find my own version, and this one comes pretty close. I don't think Massad's could ever be replicated unless you got the actual recipe, but this one comes close enough to tide me over until the next guarantee of a Massad's shawarma, Black Friday. An bonus, it's pretty healthy!

Spicy Chicken Shawarma
Source: Adapted slightly from Cooking Light

Ingredients:

• 2  Tbls  finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2  tsp  salt
• 1/2  tsp  crushed red pepper
• 1/4  tsp  ground ginger
• 1/4  tsp  ground cumin
• 1/8  tsp  ground coriander
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbls  plain low-fat Greek-style yogurt, divided
• 2  Tbls  fresh lemon juice, divided
• 3  garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 1  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
• 2  Tbls  extra-virgin olive oil
• 1  Tbls  tahini
• 4  (6-inch) pitas, halved

Optional toppings:

• 1/2  cup  chopped cucumber
• 1/2  cup  chopped plum tomato
• 1/4  cup  chopped red onion
• lettuce

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in 2 tablespoons yogurt, 1 tablespoon juice, and 2 garlic cloves. Add chicken; toss to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken mixture to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until browned and done, stirring frequently.

2. While chicken cooks, combine remaining 1/4 cup yogurt, remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, remaining 1 garlic clove, and tahini, stirring well. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt mixture inside each pita half; divide chicken evenly among pita halves. Fill each pita half with desired toppings.

Caribbean Jerk Turkey Burgers

Victory for turkey burgers everywhere!! I am so happy to have finally found a turkey burger that has tons of flavor, holds it shape relatively well, and actually tastes good enough to mask the fact that it is turkey and not beef! These burgers are constructed unlike any I have made before, and I believe it is part of the reason for the ultimate flavor. These are also a bit spicy, so they made the hubby happy. And topped with guacamole.....amazing.

Caribbean Jerk Turkey Burgers

Source: Homemade By Holman, adapted from Good Things Catered
Makes 4 burgers

1 lb ground turkey breast
4 T soy sauce
4 T red wine vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp garlic salt
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground ginger

4 hamburger buns
Guacamole
Red Onion

In a shallow bowl, mix together soy sauce, vinegar and brown sugar. On a plate, mix together all spices. Divide meat into 4 equal portions and form into patties, making them slightly thinner in the middle. Roll patties in spice mixture until coated on all sides. Dip patties into soy sauce mixture and transfer to a plate or rimmed baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.

Refrigerate about 1 hour.

Heat a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat with a tablespoon of oil. Cook about 5 minutes on first side until browned. Don't try to flip to early or they will have a tendency to stick. Cook on remaining side about 5 minutes more until cooked through. Toast buns under the broiler for a couple minutes until golden brown. Top burgers with a tablespoon of guacamole and a couple slices of red onion.

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken

(sorry, no picture of the finished product this time, just the ingredients)

Where should I begin with this dish? How simple it is to throw together? How it has a sweet taste with a fiery kick? How there are multiple uses for leftovers? Or how delicious it is?

This pulled chicken really has it all. I've never been a fan of pulled pork or anything with barbeque sauce, but this chicken is a winner. The chipotle chilies give it a smokey flavor, while everything else meshes together wonderfully without tasting too much like barbeque.

This makes a lot of food, and you can get creative with the leftovers. Mix up some chicken with black beans and cheese and you have an awesome quesadilla; heat up and serve over rice; whip up a small batch of enchiladas; and obviously, serve on a bun.

Slow Cooker Pulled Chicken
Source: Apple a Day, adapted from http://www.eatingwell.com/

Ingredients:
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce
2-3 chipotle chiles in adobo, finely minced
1/4 c. cider vinegar
3 TBSP honey
1 TBSP plus 2 tsp. sweet or smoked paprika
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
3 tsp. dry mustard
1 TBSP chili powder
1 tsp. salt
3 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs and breasts, trimmed of fat (I used 1 1/2 lbs. of each)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

1. Stir tomato sauce, chiles, vinegar, honey, paprika, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, chili powder and salt in a 6-quart slow cooker until smooth. Add chicken, onion and garlic; stir to combine.

2. Put the lid on and cook on low until the chicken can be pulled apart, about 5-6 hours.

3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board and shred with a fork. Return the chicken to the sauce, stir well and serve. Serves 8-10.

Chimichurri Steak Sandwiches

We ended up having enough Pepper Crusted Steak leftover that we decided to make sandwiches out of it for dinner the next night. As I googled ideas on what to make, chimichurri came to mind, even though I've never tasted it. Then I found a recipe on the Food Network website and decided it could easily be adapted to what I wanted.

These sandwiches turned out great, but almost a little overpowering with the parsley. I don't know how, but Rainbow was out of flat-leaf parsley so I ended up with curly parsley. I made the sandwiches on what we had left of the Roasted Garlic Ciabatta bread from Costco, and they were definitely a mouthful!

Chimichurri Steak Sandwiches

Source: Adapted from Food Network

Ingredients:

1 cup flat-leaf parsley

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 Tbls olive oil

3/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. pepper

Provolone cheese slices

Directions:

Pulse parsley and garlic in blender or food processor until finely chopped. Remove to a bowl and stir in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let sit until ready to assemble sandwiches.

Spread parsley mixture evenly over both sides of bread; place sliced steak evenly over bottom half. Layer provolone cheese on top (use as much or as little as you want). Place open sandwich in broiler until cheese is bubbly and top half is crispy.

Enjoy.