Who Is This Person--& Where Have You Taken Shauna?

I had some chicken drumsticks and thighs that needed to be cooked on Sunday. So I thought I'd make my family some fried chicken, the kind that is cooked in oil. My family doesn't really know fried chicken. I think I have made it once or twice in the last 25 years. I thought it might be a nice surprise.

Nick came into the kitchen while I was stripping the skins off of the thighs and drumsticks and asked why I was doing that. I told him because the skin is gross. Sometimes it has little feather-things sticking out of it. He asked if they do that at KFC? I told him "probably not" as I continued ripping the skins off.

I made the fried chicken and it was a hit. I, myself, didn't eat any of it because it looked too much like the animal from which it came. When it comes to eating animal parts I have to have it as far removed from the original animal as possible. That means only boneless-skinless chicken breasts. And I only buy the kind that has no added hormones or antibiotics. None of those "enhanced" huge chicken breasts, if you know what I mean.

(However, I also made Blonde Brownies, or Congo Bars-as they say in these parts, for dessert, and I did eat those.)

Yesterday I felt so bad (not really too bad) about feeding my family fried chicken that I wanted to make it up to them. 

So I decided to make pita bread sandwiches for dinner.

I started making the pita bread in the afternoon.

And I felt really good about all the work I was doing so that my family could eat something healthful.

And whenever anyone came into the house they said it smelled so good. Have you noticed how any kind of baking bread always smells so good? That's one of the hints to remember if you are ever trying to sell your house: bake bread just before you show your house. Or onions in butter. That's also supposed to make your house smell like the kind of place where someone would want to live.

I made 20 pita breads. 

"Load up the camels, Omar! And don't forget the hummus and figs!"

While the pitas were baking I made the filling.

I used my knife for chopping olives, onions and tomatoes. It was wonderful.

This filling is so good I could eat it by the spoonful.

And I did, in fact.

Stuffed pitas. I felt better about feeding this to my family.

But I feel like I'm spending way too much time in the kitchen.

And just in case you want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, especially after you've ALREADY spent a lot of time in the kitchen the day before making fried chicken...actually, this was the third day of spending a lot of time in the kitchen because Saturday was our home-made pizza and movie night and I made 5 pizzas. 

Okay. Anyway. Here are the recipes:

PITA BREAD (I actually doubled this recipe last night)

6 cups flour

2 tsp. salt

1 TB. yeast

2 cups warm water

1 TB honey

Let yeast dissolve in the warm water. Stir the honey in the water and yeast mixture. Add the salt and flour slowly. Stir until it becomes too tough to mix. (This is where a Bosch comes in handy, although I'm sure the nomads were fine using their hands.) Put dough on a surface lightly covered with flour. Knead dough for 10 minutes. Place dough in a buttered (I just used spray oil) bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or damp dish towel. Let dough rise about 2 hours, it should be doubled. Punch dough down, shape into 10 balls. Set aside for 10-15 minutes, then shape into approximately 6"-7" round shapes (like mini pizza crusts). Preheat oven to 450*. Place dough on cookie sheet (I used our oven brick and made sure it was good and hot) and bake on lowest rake in oven for 10-12 minutes.

The bean filling came from this book...

...which I love, but my children were known to moan when they would see it on the counter. They're more grown up now so the moaning isn't so bad.

One of the reasons I love this book so much is because for a meatless book it relies on really basic food that you might already have or can easily find in the grocery store in towns like ours, small and basic. I don't use my Laurel's Kitchen or Moosewood Cookbook as often because they seem to call for more obscure or fancy ingredients that I just can't get out here.

Bean and Cheese Wrap-Ups (makes 4 servings) (I actually doubled this last night, also)

2/3 cup cooked kidney beans (4 ounces) (I used one can, or two if I'm doubling, drained and rinsed)

1/4 cup finely chopped onions

1 cup finely chopped tomato

4 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (1 cup) (I admit to really packing the cup)

10 small black olives, chopped (I just chop up a small can)

1 TB. plus 1 tsp. Italian dressing (experiment on which dressing you like to give the flavor you enjoy) (I'm not sure what's with the 1 TB and then 1 tsp. When I doubled I just used 3 TB. You just don't want it to be too oily or your pitas will get soggy.)

4 1-0z pita breads

Preheat oven to 400*

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients, except the pita breads. Mix well. (This is exactly what it says in the cook book! Don't you think folks would know not to combine the pita breads?!)

Split open one end of each pita. (I cut mine in half and then split each half open.) Divide filling evenly and spoon into open end.

Wrap each sandwich tightly in a piece of aluminum foil.

Bake 15-20 minutes

Serve hot.

These are really good. We also add avocado after they've baked. Last night we also spread baba ghannouj on the pitas. 

There you go!