Homemade Gyros & Tzaziki Sauce!

*I know it's a horrible picture, I don't have an actual camera at the moment so be gentle in judgement*

First off: This is the best if you let the meat mixture sit for a few hours (so a whole day in the fridge) and the tzaziki sauce as well. I made the sauce and meat mixture at 5am (doesn't have to be that early of course) and it sat in the fridge until 5 tonight and it was great since the flavors were combined!

Gyro:

1lb gr chicken
3/4lb gr beef (we don't have lamb where I am)
1/2t ground oregano
1/2t crushed red pepper flakes
1t garlic powder
1t onion powder
Lawrey's seasoning/salt
Pepper
2T scallions
3 minced garlic

I had some leftover scallions and minced garlic so I put that in the meat too. Combine in a bowl and leave overnight preferably but you can just put it in the crock pot in a loaf form.

Brad & my awesome friend Nathan didn't think it would turn out good in the crock pot so I put it in the oven at 375F. I shaped the meat into basically a disk so it'd cook faster & have shorter slices. It cooked for 40 min at that temp, then turned it up to 400F for 20-30min until fully cooked, then I broiled it for 5min. Let it rest for 5-10min. Thinly slice as needed.



Tzaziki Sauce:
1c plain Greek yogurt **
1 clove of minced garlic
1 medium cucumber (seeds removed), small dice
4 scallions (green & white parts), sliced thinly
lemon juice (to taste)
1 1/2T Fresh mint, minced
salt
pepper

I wasn't able to get Greek yogurt so I drained the yogurt in cheesecloth in a mesh strainer over night. If you have to drain the yogurt you can make the tzaziki right away in the morning and by supper it should taste pretty good!

I had homemade bread to use so I served mine with toasted homemade bread (you can use pita bread), sauce on the bottom, then meat, tomato, & lettuce.

Brad said it tasted weird but he's never had a gyro and he doesn't like meat mixed together. I however thought it was delicious! Highly recommend this if you like gyros or would just like a change of pace!

Valentine's Day Supper

Pan Fried Pork Temple Cutlets with Cream Gravy, Coleslaw, and Greenbeans

1# Pork temple cutlets
4T minced white onion
1/4t minced garlic
butter
salt & pepper
2c milk (I used whole but 1%-2% would work)
1T corn starch
2T corn starch
1 can green beans
1 bag coleslaw
1/3c sugar
celery seed
3/4c miracle whip
lawrey's seasoning salt

1. Make the coleslaw.
1. I like to combine the miracle whip, celery seed, sugar, salt and pepper, and from 1/2- 1c of milk in the bowl and stir it all together. Just eyeball the milk, you'll know what consistency you'd like better than me.
2. Then I stir in a little bit of the coleslaw at a time, seems to work better at combining that way.
2. Season the raw temple cutlets with lawrey's seasoning salt and pepper.
3. Heat 2 pans (one large & one small) with nonstick spray and butter. Mince the garlic and onion. I put most meat in one pan and then like 6 pieces in another small cast iron pan so that I'd get the brown bits from the meat for flavoring the gravy.
4. Once the meat in the small pan is browned, transfer to the large pan, add water, cover & let steam.
5. Sautee the onions and garlic in the small pan with a little more butter. Add 1/2c milk and let it cook.
6. Make the slurry of cornstarch and water & SLOWLY WHILE STIRRING add the cornstarch. I didn't need all the slurry so don't dump it all in!
7. Let the gravy thicken, I had to add more milk to thin it back down so whatever you feel is the consistency you like go, with that.
8. Time for the green beans. We put our's in a microwave safe bowl, drained of course. Add a T of butter and sprinkle of lawrey's seasoning salt and microwave on high for 2min.

By then everything should be done. Put the gravy over the cutlets and enjoy. :)
I would've loved to have some delicious fudgy brownies with ice cream but we have neither so just popsicles is what we get I guess!

I DONE GOOD.

Tacos for supper.

I made that guacamole of course and let it meld for 6 hours or so but make sure to leave the seed in the guacamole to help prevent browning in an air tight container!

Taco Meat:
3/4lb ground beef
3/4lb ground pork
2c of water
2 taco seasoning packets

I cooked the meat together (I don't think Brad even realized I used pork!), then strained it. Then I put the water and taco seasoning in the pan and mixed it up and added the meat back after draining for 5 minutes. Cooked until sauce had thickened. Brad didn't like there being that much sauce so he strained his but I liked it so you may need to adjust your water amounts based on your preferences.

Spanish Rice:
1/2 small white onion, minced
3T diced red bell pepper
1/4t (pinch) of minced garlic
1T butter
1/2c minute rice
1 1/2c of pureed tomatoes & enchilada sauce (equal parts)
2c water
1/2t salt
1T sugar (the canned tomatoes were a little bitter for my taste)
1/4t black pepper
1 shake of crushed red pepper flakes

Sautee the onion, pepper, and garlic in butter until browned.
My tomato mixture was frozen from another time so I had to put that in the pan until it was melted.
Add seasonings.
Add the rice and water and bring to boil. Boil for 5-7min, shut off burner and cover. Let sit covered for 10-15min stirring a few times.

This rice was a little liquidy too but I don't mind it so I enjoyed it. Brad doesn't like sticky rice so we cook our rice like pasta (1c rice to 4c at least of water, then we strain it). With the amounts of liquids I had for this rice there wasn't a lot of excess liquid but I'd rather have it that way than dry!

Optional toppings:
doritos
lettuce
diced tomatos
red bell pepper (add a nice crunch and sweetness!)
sour cream
cheese
taco sauce
guacamole

For my salad I layered it:
crushed doritos
lettuce
tomatoes & peppers
meat
rice
cheese (so it melts better on top of the hot items)
taco sauce
guacamole and sour cream

This was delicious!!!!

Oh and as you can see the guacamole didn't brown over the 6 hours of "meld" time with the pit in it! :)

EASIEST & MOST DELICIOUS GUACAMOLE EVER!

My version:

Probably one of the best guacs I’ve ever made.

For some reason I rarely make it the same twice? IDK.
1 avocado (Brad hates avocado and guacamole so I don’t need a lot) plus I found these different types of avocados, they’re not Haas but some other type so they were pretty huge compared to the usual size.
1/2 roma tomato
1/4 minced garlic (I just sprinkled some in because I buy it in a jar)
1/2t salt (VERY IMPORTANT)
1/4t black pepper
3T sour cream

It’s delicious ok. I usually add lime juice but I forgot to buy one but I like this version without it better personally. Another typical ingredient is cilantro but the store had crappy cilantro, I don’t use a lot of it or often enough to buy it and it tastes like dish soap water to me so I didn’t add either of those.

A nice tip I learned tho is put the avocado pit in the guacamole to help the avocado from turning brown. :)

EDIT: I had to mash all this up with a hamburger masher (it’s like this kind of hard plastic fan pin wheel thing, worked really well actually) then I had to stir it with a baby spoon. I did get the dishes in the dishwasher tho so we will have normal eating utensils at supper time. :)

Carrot Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

2c flour

2c sugar

2t baking soda

2t cinnamon

1/2t nutmeg

2t baking powder

1t salt

1 1/2c oil or 1c oil & 1/2c applesauce**

4 eggs

3c carrots (grated)

2 brown bananas

1/2c chopped nuts (I used walnuts cause I had them on hand)

1/2c shredded coconut

Frosting:

1 (8oz) cream cheese block

1/2c butter (softened)

2t vanilla

1c (adjust to your preferences) Powdered sugar

Mix dry ingredietns, stir in oil, eggs, carrots, and bananas. Mix to moisten and pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350F for 45min. Cool completely.  Frost with cream cheese frosting and top with coconut if desired.

A few notes.  It's a denser cake because I didn't have enough oil for the cake so I only got half cup of oil and put in about a cup of applesauce. The banana kind of overpowered the carrot but that's ok cause banana cake is delicious too! So, maybe just use one banana if you don't want as much banana flavor, my mom had them on her counter browning so I used them up! I also used up coconut on the top of the cake because mom had some left over and we don't use coconut very often! Tasted great on the cake! Hope you like it!