Gingerlocks' Kitchen: Greek Chicken Pita Sandwiches and Rice

Everyone says they have the best friends in the entire world. Some may think they are being truthful, but they clearly don't know the caliber of ladies I hang out with. I had the crazy idea I could just do my own wedding flowers. Against several people's advice, I followed through with this plan.

The only reason it worked was because I had some amazing people come to help me out! 125 orange roses, 200 white roses and approximately 45 giant hydrangeas were all arranged by my special work force of nine lovely ladies. When asking such a giant favor of your friends, food is crucial to the process and the morale of your voluntary troops.

Here is a picture of about half of the flowers. They were so beautiful!

The night I coined "Flower Power" I made a really tasty meal for my buddies to say thank you for all their hard work. These chicken pita sandwiches are so delicious! Everyone loved them. The chicken is tender, juicy and so flavorful. It goes really nicely with the roasted vegetables and the Greek Yogurt sauce I served with it. If you need a dish to serve to a hungry crowd, this is it!

There are a few different parts to it so I will do my best to prevent confusion. Make no mistake, this is very easy. There are a few steps, but they are all really simple.

There were also a few parts that did not get photographed because I was cutting the stems off of the 300ish flowers in a half an hour or so. My greatest apologies for the lack of pictures of the chicken and yogurt sauce. It's all pretty simple, just cover everything with lemon juice, olive oil and Cavender's seasoning and put it into a pita!

Chicken Pita Sandwiches

6 chicken breasts

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Cavender's all purpose Greek Seasoning

2 lemons, zest removed and juiced

1/4 cup olive oil

assorted pitas for people to choose from (wheat, white, sesame)

Sprinkle the chicken with the salt and Greek Seasoning and bake this in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 to 35 minutes depending on the size of the chicken pieces. If you are unsure if it is done, just cut the biggest piece open to make sure the meat is not pink. Once this is done, just let the chicken rest a few minutes until it is cool enough to cut into bite sized pieces.

While the chicken is cooling, combine the lemon zest, juice and olive oil. Mix this very well. Cut the chicken into small pieces and add it to the lemon juice and olive oil mixture. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or Greek seasoning if it is needed.

Ok, veggie time!

Vegetable Topping

6 red bell peppers, chopped

2 small zuccini, chopped

2 small yellow squashes, chopped

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 -2 teaspoons of salt

2 teaspoons Cavender's Greek Seasoning

Take the chopped peppers and place them onto a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle over half the olive oil and seasonings and toss to coat well.The remaining veggies get the same treatment.

This is the same process, just a few different ingredients. Place the squashes and onions on another cookie sheet. Drizzle over the remaining olive oil and add the seasonings that are left.

Roast both of these pans in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes (super handy since it's the same time as the chicken).

You will know the veggies are done when they are a bit soft and look a little wrinkly around the edges like this.

I combined all the veggies into a bowl and placed it next to the chicken so my guests could add as much or as little of each as they wished.

I also served a really tasty Greek Yogurt Sauce to go on the top of the sandwiches.

Greek Yogurt Sauce

2 cups plain Greek Yogurt

1 lemon, zest removed and juiced

1 teaspoon Cavender's Greek Seasoning

1 large cucumber, peeled and diced

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine all the ingredients into a small bowl and chill until you are ready to serve.

To go with these tasty sandwiches, I made delicious Greek Lemon Rice.

Greek Lemon Rice

6 cups of white rice, cooked

2 lemons, zest removed and juiced
2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons Cavender's Greek Seasoning

1 teaspoon salt

Combine all of the ingredients while the rice is still pipping hot. If this cools down too much for your liking before you serve it, just pop it into the microwave for about one to two minutes.

To serve all of this, I just had it out for people to take and make the pita they wanted. All the ladies were big fans of the roasted veggies. They really add a lot of flavor to the sandwich. My husband's favorite way to eat these pitas is to put some of the rice in the pita pocket itself.

Here are some of the combinations the ladies came up with!