Take Out Fakeout: Grilled Chicken Pita

My friend Dy used to live in an apartment building with its own drycleaners, indoor and outdoor pools, grocery, bar and restaurant. "Restaurant" as we called it had the most bomb-diggity chicken pita sandwiches and was often our spot for a cheap bite on Friday nights.  Dy might have moved on, but my cravings for chicken pita sandwiches did not.  Rather than stepping out into the all-day monsoon we've had to go to the next best pita joint, we decided to recreate these pitas at home. These are so simple, fast and tasty.  We winged it but if you want a recipe, this one is similar and tasty.

Cast of Characters:
- Chicken Breast Tenders
- Italian Seasoning/Dried Oregano
-1 Lemon, zested and juiced
- Fresh Pita Bread
- Grape Tomatoes, halved
- Onion, diced finely
- Lettuce, chopped
- 1/4 cup of non-fat Greek yogurt
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 English cucumber, grated
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, diced

1) Season your chicken with salt, pepper, and dried oregano or Italian seasoning.  Add to a skillet with a tsp or two of olive oil.  Halfway through, add half the zest and lemon juice. Cook through.

2) Grate your cucumber using a box grater.  In a small bowl combine the grated cucumber and yogurt.  Add in garlic, salt and pepper to taste.  Add in the rest of the lemon zest and juice.  Stir to combine.  If your sauce is too thin, add more yogurt (this will depend on how much water your cucumber give off.)

3) Warm or toast your pita bread and then make your pitas to your liking.

These were really tasty, almost like Restaurant's! They took 15 minutes to prepare, and about the same time to inhale :)  I like that they provide a protein, dairy, fruit, veg and carb in one meal.

Take-Out Fake Out: Pad Thai

Does anyone else have a tough time making home cooked meals every night? I certainly do.  Some Thursday nights I am plum tuckered out and we order pizza/Chinese/Thai/sushi and I always feel guilty about it.  One of our combined New Year's resolutions is to limit our take-out consumption and learn some quick substitutions for the things we typically order in.  I am hoping to feature some of our make-in(stead) recipes with all of you in a new feature called Take-Out Fake Out.*  First up, at home pad Thai.  I followed a Martha Stewart recipe that is not online anywhere but I followed her recipe almost exactly (with an addition and a substitution.)

Cast of Characters:

- 8 oz dry wide, flat rice noodles (I used Udon as that's what I had on hand)
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice plus lime wedges for serving (3 limes were needed)
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce or fish sauce (I used fish)
- 1 Tbsp Sriracha
- 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 package of firm tofu, sliced and patted dry (we subbed 1/2lb of shrimp as we aren't tofu lovers)
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup of bean/mung sprouts (not in the original recipe but I love them)
- 8 scallions, thinly sliced
- Coarse Salt
- 2 Tbsp roasted, salted peanuts chopped (I used wasabi, soy sauce almonds)
- Chopped cilantro

1) Soak noodles according to the package's instructions, drain and set aside.  If you go the shrimp route, cook shrimp and set aside.

2) Whisk together the lime juice, soy/fish sauce, chili sauce and brown sugar. Set aside.

Pictures like this don't help my egg issues, ick.

3) Cook your eggs.  Martha suggests folding them into a threefold omelet and thinly slicing into pieces once fully cooked.  I'm not that fancy, so I just scrambled them dry and set them aside.

4) Add 1 1/2 tsp of oil to a wok or large skillet and add carrots, garlic, sprouts and scallion (white parts only) and cook down for 5 minutes or til soft.

5) Add lime juice mixture and bring to a simmer.  Add your noodles from Step 1 and cook, stirring frequently.  Add eggs and tofu/shrimp and gently toss to combine.  Season to taste with salt.  Top with nuts, cilantro, scallion greens and lime wedges.

We loved this at-home version, it was more spicy and not as sweet or heavy as takeout pad Thai.  I really liked the addition of the wasabi nuts on top for an added kick.  Each serving (with tofu) has approximately 450 calories and 18g of fat so its definitely better than the take-out version.

*I thought I was so clever coming up with Take-Out Fake Out, and yet Real Simple magazine ran a feature last month with the same title, boo! For the record, I did think of it before reading the magazine.

I would love to know, do you have any take-out fake out recipes of your own, or any you'd like me to try to re-create?  Let me know!