For the longest time growing up I always scoffed when my mom said we’d be having gyros for dinner. I was grossed out by the meat and never knew what the sauce was made of but decided against it never the less. I even wrinkled my nose at the name. GEER-OHS? What kind of a name for food is that?! Twenty some years later when I decided to dabble in some personal growth I was corrected at a Greek restaurant. It is pronounced YEE-ros. Maybe it was the new awareness that I had been saying it wrong my whole life, but low and behold I actually enjoyed eating them! Since then Chet and I have tried many a Greek restaurant making note of which had the best sauce and most flavorful lamb. There is a restaurant in Appleton called Apollon, which serves delicious greek food–and a very tasty gyro. It is somewhat pricey, so we usually save it for special occasions, but it is well worth the price! If you ever go, be sure to get the flaming cheese for fun!
I think it is safe to say that those of you who are fellow Pinners on Pinterest are guilty of boards filled with “Pin now-read later” content. Personally, my food board contains close to 600 pins. That is just my generic food board, never mind those that have more specific filters. This year I’ve been making more of an effort to make home made meals. What better way to try out new things than to actually MAKE those pinned recipes. Now I have a secondary pinterest board called MAKE ME INTO A RECIPE CARD, STAT! This is where the delicious first time successes or tried and true recipes are transferred to. Whether or not those cards will be made remains to be seen, but hey, baby steps are just fine.
I tried a new take on the gyro thanks to a recipe I found at http://www.liveeatlearn.com/. I love chick peas and was curious how it would pair with tzatziki sauce. Turns out, they pair beautifully! The tzatziki sauce is incredible, though I’ll admit I added more garlic than it called for because we are garlic nuts. I ended up regretting it, only because I ate them on lunch at work and then couldn’t get rid of my garlic breath. 🙂 Since I cook for just two people, I modified the sauce recipe so I didn’t have a ton of left overs. For the original proportions please consult the link above. I also modified some of the spices with what I had on hand. Enjoy the recipe and read through more of liveeatlearn.com for lots of great vegetarian options.
Homemade Tzatziki Sauce
*Please note to make this first so all the flavors have a chance to marinade. You can make a head of time if you’d like*
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup seeded cucumber, shredded (about one large cucumber)
- 1 tablespoons lemon juice or white wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Finely shred your cucumber. I used a cheese grater with a medium grate. The cucumber will have lots of moisture. After grating, wrap in a paper-towel and squeeze as much water as you can out. Repeat as many times as needed until most of the excess moisture is removed. I did it about two times and was good to go.
- Combine all of your ingredients into a small container that can be covered. Allow sauce to sit for at least 30 mins, or overnight.
Roasted Chick Peas
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp Spanish smoked paprika
- ½ Tbsp ground black pepper
- ¼ Tbsp chipotle powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- Gently toss chickpeas with oil, paprika, black pepper, chipotle powder, and salt.
- Spread chickpeas onto a foil lined baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
Chick Pea Gyros
- 4 pita flat breads
- 1 cup tzatziki
- 1/2 cup of roasted chick peas
- ¼ red onion, cut into very thin strips
- romaine lettuce roughly chopped
- 1 tomato, sliced
- Microwave pita flat bread for 30 seconds to allow bread to become somewhat flexible. This will help your pita to not crack in half! Be careful when removing as the bread will be hot, handle gently.
- Sprinkle however much lettuce you would like on the flat bread.
- Add your tomatoes and onion on top of the lettuce.
- Dab a generous amount of tzatziki sauce ontop of your veggies.
- Top off with a generous spoonful or two of roasted chick peas.
- Garnish with fresh dill.
Charlene Champion Photography 
Sounds yummy! Will give this a try. I make roasted chickpeas every couple of weeks to eat as a snack or as salad croutons. They don’t usually last very long!
ooooh!! Alta that is a great idea to use them in place of croutons! I’ll have to try that. 🙂
Looks delicious–never would have thought to use chick peas. Will try it!
Please do, and let me know what you think!