Veggie Gyros with Tzatziki

So, since the Boy was visiting for a few days, and since it was almost his birthday, and since I knew he LOVED Gyro sandwiches, and since I knew he had been dying to try this vegan version, which they don't sell in Albuquerque... well, what can I say? I decided it was a good reason to treat him (and me!) to something fun and different.
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The product is a nicely seasoned strips of some seitan-sort of veggie "meat". I have to admit, I was skeptical that these little bits would have any spectacular flavor as I tend to pooh-pooh commercially made seitan products. They never seem to be seasoned enough for my "salt" tooth, or flavored to my liking. Well, it certainly didn't impress me when they all stuck together in a funky blob when I dumped them into a fry pan to warm them up. (There are no cooking instructions on the package.) I admit I raised my eyebrows.

But, after they warmed up and simmered in the bit of "sauce"...Wow!
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Let me give them a total thumbs up review!!
The flavor was RIGHT ON and the texture was great, not as rubbery as seitan can be, and yet not squeamishly meat-like either. Probably one of the best faux-meats I've tried.
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We made these really cute little sandwiches, (because mini-pitas were the only vegan ones I could find). Sorry for the unusually bad light but I was in a hurry, dammit.
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We loaded them with tasty bite-size amounts of Gyro "meat", lettuce, onion, Greek olives and some chunky homemade Tzatziki sauce and oh, my gosh... they were delightful! Perfect! Definitely will have to make them again! I'd say one package feeds two generously, because we were quite stuffed.
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As for the vegan Tzatziki sauce? One of the first recipes that came up when I Googled, was a great looking one from Vegan Dad's blog. I went with a similar idea I confess, but since I changed up the recipe quite a bit (due to having different ingredients and I don't like dill) I thought I'd post it. For the record, his looks excellent too - in case you don't have the ingredients for mine!

Vegan Tzatziki Sauce
~ About 2/3 of a carton Tofutti Sour "Cream"
~ 1/4 a tub of water-packed tofu (you probably don't even need this)
~ juice from 1 lemon and a few tiny shreds of the peel
~ 2 cloves of garlic
~ 1/2 - 1 tsp salt
~ freshly ground pepper
~ 20 - 30 leaves fresh mint (small handful)
~ about the same amount of fresh parsley
~ pinch of cayenne
~ 1 English cucumber (because I like them and the peel isn't so tough)
~ 1/2 a very sweet (Maui, Vidalia, Walla Walla) onion

Cut onion and (peeled if you want) cucumber into chunks. Put fresh herbs, cucumber and onion in bowl of food processor. Coarsely chop vegetables and herbs in food processor by pulsing off and on just a few times as needed. (I like it chunky).

Remove vegetables from food processor and set aside.

Put Tofutti Sour Cream, tofu, lemon juice, garlic, and spices together in food processor and blend until creamy. If too thick, add a splash of soymilk, though the cucumber will "juice up" and make the dip thinner as it sets.

Mix vegetables with creamy mixture. Serve. If waiting a while to serve, stir well before serving.

The Tzatziki is GREAT as a salad dressing the next day, though it will tend to separate, just whisk it a bit and it's fine. It really makes far more than you need for two people...

Hope you all have a great night, and "Kalispera", which loosely translated, means Good Evening in Greek.

Curried "Chicken" Pitas

I'm probably more of a "fake meat" fan than many veg. type people, but I swear I don't use it ALL the time.
It seems that recipes I post often do have it for one reason or another. Maybe because these seem to be the recipes that people request and are the most popular with my friends and family? Who knows.
You could probably use tofu, tempeh crumbles or any "chicken-y" seitan product here, I just happen to like the taste and texture with the Morningstar product.
At any rate, here's our lunch.

Curried "Chicken" Sandwiches

1 Package Morning Star Farms Chicken-Style Meal Starter Strips,
thawed but NOT cooked
(or other vegan "chicken"-strip style product).
2 stalks celery
1/2 small, mild onion
3 Tb. Vegenaise or to taste (depends on how much dressing you like)
1 Tb. sweet pickle relish or to taste
2 tsp. Madras curry powder, or to taste (I use lots more)
pinch salt
pinch sugar
pinch sage
couple grinds black pepper
1/4 cup golden raisins or dried cranberries
2 Tb. chopped, roasted cashews (or peanuts or almonds)

Leaf Lettuce
Pita Bread
Mango Chutney (optional but it's good if you just happen to have a jar of it randomly sitting in your fridge).

Put "Chicken" in bowl of food processor and pulse several times until chopped medium-fine (or as chunky as you like it - my kids like it finely textured, I like it very chunky).
Dump in a small mixing bowl.
Put celery and onion in food processor and chop coarsely.
Add to chicken.
Put Vegenaise, relish and seasonings in small bowl and whisk with a fork. If too thick add a bit of soymilk.
Mix dressing into chicken mixture.
Adjust seasonings to your taste.
Stir in raisins and nuts.
Serve in pita bread, with lettuce and chutney.
Insanely yummy-liciousness.
Makes about 3 or 4 pita

----Thanks to fellow VBer "sallyomally" for the wonderful suggestion of adding chutney and almonds (sorry, all I had was cashews and they tasted pretty good so I went with those). I think chopped apples or grapes would be good in this too!