Chicken, Bacon, Parmesan Ranch Wrap

This Chicken, bacon, lettuce and Parmesan ranch Wrap was delicious!

Chicken, Bacon Wrap

This wrap was like eating a Salad topped with chicken and Ranch dressing along crunchy bacon bits!

I have been craving this for the whole week and it has been a crazy one, that I just had to make this the first thing this morning.  I purchased a Rotisserie Chicken but I would have easily cooked up a chicken breast and sliced it up in to strips or chunks.  The best dressing for this is “Marie’s Parmesan Ranch Dressing” found in the Produce section of the Market.  It is full of wonderful flavors and I use it often not only on Salads but in Wraps like this one or as a veggie dip.

Again I used the flavored Mission Brand Tortilla Warps as I did when I made my Turkey Club Wrap http://winterwheat1.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/turkey-bacon-club-wrap/ in and earlier post.

Marie's Dressing

Chicken, Bacon & Ranch Wrap

1 Spinach Tortilla (I used Mission Brand)
Handful Shredded Rotisserie Chicken
1 Table Spoon diced red bell pepper
1/2 diced medium tomato
I/2 shredded carrot
8 leaves of baby spinach
1/4 cup shredded iceburg lettuce
2-3 table spoons Marie’s Parmesan Ranch Dressing
1 slice cooked crumbled bacon

Layer and roll up tortilla and cut in half and serve

ready to roll

Just cut in half

Chicken, Bacon with Ranch Dressing Wrap

Flautas with Slow Cooked Shredded Pork Loin

I love Flautas!  I think they are better than taquitos and and not full of grease that you get from all of the oil you have to fry them in.  I started my Labor Day holiday with a 3lb Pork Loin Roast, crock pot, 2 cups of beef bouillon and 1 cup of water for liquid on top of a large sliced onion.  6 hours later the meat was falling apart and I had many options for the weekend meals!

Flauta

These are so easy once you have you shredded pork ready.   Mixed enough pork roast about 1 1/2 cups, with a couple of tablespoons of Taco seasoning and placed about 2-3 tablespoons of filling on one edge of a medium flour tortilla, I and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese and a roll up like a cigar and place on a  baking sheet, lightly coated with Canola spray.  Repeat until you have used up your seasoned pork.   Makes 6 good sized flautas.  Spary the tops with the oil and bake at 400 for about 15 minutes turning 1/2 way into cook time.  I toped with a handfull of cheese and returned to the oven to melt.  Serve whole or cut in half with sour cream and salsa!

Fresh out of the oven

Orzo with Sauteed Vegetables with Roasted almonds

This was supposed to be a side dish, but I turned it into my meal!  Just saute your favorite diced vegetables in a Tbl spoon of butter and add the Orzo and broth and create your signature side dish!

Orzo side dish or meal

Orzo With Sauteed Vegetables and Roasted Almonds

1 sweet onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 diced red bell pepper
1 stalk celery diced
1 Tbl spoon Butter
3/4 cup Orzo
1 tsp dried Basil

1 can chicken broth
2 thinly sliced green onions
1/4 sliced or slivered almonds
3 Tlb Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in medium sauce pan and add onions, garlic and red pepper.  Cook until onions are soft then add celery cook additional 5 minutes.  Add Orzo, Basil and chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook about 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.  While mixture is cooking down, heat small pan over medium heat and roast almonds.
Add roasted almonds, sliced green onions and Parmesan cheese.  Stir to mix and serve.

Vegetables added to Sauce pan

Add a little S&P and it is ready to serve

This was a great tasting healthy dish, loaded with crunch!  It was all I had for dinner tonight and all I needed with leftovers for tomorrow night.

Turkey Bacon Club Wrap

I have been craving a Club Sandwich for about a week now and I have not given in to my craving because I am trying to cut back on alot of bread.  I picked up some sun dried tomato wraps the other day and decided to give them a try with turkey, bacon and lettuce filling.

Turkey Club Wrap

Turkey Club Wrap

1 Sun Dried Tomato Tortilla Wrap
1-2 Tbl Whipped Cream Cheese
1 Tbl Diced Red Bell Pepper (if yu like the added flavor, I do!)
1-2 Tbl of Crumbled Bacon
A couple of shakes of Italian seasoning
5 Slices of Roma Tomato (Thin)
Baby Spinach Leaves
Iceberg or Romaine lettuce leaves
2 Thin Slices of Baby Swiss Cheese
Thinly Sliced Turkey Breast to Cover Filling

Assemble as shown.  I start with a sheet of wax paper to prepare the wrap on and when I have finished with the sliced turkey over the top, roll the wrap as tightly as you can and the roll the whole wrap in the wax paper and fold the ends.  Refrigerate about 30 minutes and the unroll and slice in half.  I sliced mine in about 1 1/2 inch slices to make it easy to eat on the run or just not as messy.  Yum!  I will definitly make this again to take to the office for lunch.

Ready to Assemble

Spread cheese, add peppers, seasoning and sliced tomato's

Add baby spinach and lettuce

More fillings Swiss and Bacon bits

Top with Sliced Turkey

Rolled Wrap

Ready for the fridge for at least 30 min

Sliced into 1 1/2 inch pieces

This was so good that I will make another tonight to grab in the morning for tomorrows lunch!

Shredded Pork Taquitos!!!

That slow cooked pork loin, I always had a plan!!  Pork taquitos and enchiladas

Start with a pork roast or in my case a pork tenderloin (on sale, make;s it so much better). Put about 3 lb roast in the crock pot  over 1 sliced onion and pour 2 cups beef broth (I used beef bullion) and 1 cup water and cook for 8 hrs. ( just had several typo’s as I am eating the Taquitos).

Taquitos ready to serve

The cooked pork roast (for about 6 taquitos)  is shredded and mixed with about a Tbls of Taco seasoning ( I used costco brand).

Seasoned shredded pork

Heat corn tortilla in pan spayed with canola oil or whatever you have on hand.  About 10 seconds on each side to soften.

Heat Tortillas

Add pork to tortilla close to one edge of tortilla so you can roll as shown.

Ready to roll!

I was feeling rather lazy and used just a piece of foil to place the filled tortillas, but it works great and is fast for cleanup!.    I then spray tops with oil before placing in 400 degree pre-heated oven .

Ready for the oven

Bake for 7 minutes the turn and top with a handful if shredded cheese, bake an additional 5 minutes.  Serve with sour cream and your favorite salsa!!  Super easy and they were great!  Enchiladas will have to wait until tomorrow!!

Topped with cheese and ready to eat!!

Blueberry Muffins The Easy Way!

A rainy morning after a cray night of a Arizona Monsoon (finally!), it was nice to have rain all night my plants loved it.

I know it seems crazy to post a picture of clouds and even RAIN clouds, but we hardly ever see this in sunny Arizona.  I love it!  It was only 75 degrees this morning and I had to take this picture.  I have been out of town all week and my flight was delayed 2 hours and from Milwaukee to Minneapolis to Phoenix brought me home about 8:30pm in the middle of the storm without my luggage.  Needless to say no time to go to the grocery store.

Storm Sky

I decided to make some Blueberry Muffins from a package in the pantry since I am waiting for my luggage to be delivered.  I used a packaged muffin mix, frozen blueberries and rice milk and a tablespoon of yogurt.   They came out pretty good.  I put 3 frozen berries in the middle of the mixture while filling the muffin cups to prevent the berries from sinking to the bottom.

Filling the cups

Top with more mix

Muffin filled with blueberries

Love the extra berries!

The sun is starting to come out so that means a hot and muggy day.  We hope for another storm tonight and I will be safe at home with my camera ready for that perfect shot of lightning!

Another trip to see Razor & the Lake Elsinore Storm

We had a great time at Cross Creek Golf Course in Temecula.

Tee time was 9:00am and the fishing stared around 10:30…you heard right..fishing on the golf course.  That is Razor.  One of the only people I know who always carry a fishing pole in the golf bag.  On the 9th he landed 4 bass before his putt.

Yes that is Bass number 1

Left for the Foursome behind us

At the Diving Range

As always, alot of fun

Just Finished Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher Novel “Gone Tomorrow”

Lee Child "Gone Tomorrow"

This was another good read from Lee Child!  I love Jack Reacher!  He is the Al American Hero who I would love to see rooming the streets today!

I went through this quickly, reading late at night when I should have been sleeping.  A lot of twists in unexpected area’s.  I can’t wait for the next one!

I attached the review from Amazon.com:

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Book Description
New York City. Two in the morning. A subway car heading uptown. Jack Reacher, plus five other passengers. Four are okay. The fifth isn’t.

In the next few tense seconds Reacher will make a choice–and trigger an electrifying chain of events in this gritty, gripping masterwork of suspense by #1 New York Times bestseller Lee Child.

Susan Mark was the fifth passenger. She had a lonely heart, an estranged son, and a big secret. Reacher, working with a woman cop and a host of shadowy feds, wants to know just how big a hole Susan Mark was in, how many lives had already been twisted before hers, and what danger is looming around him now.

Because a race has begun through the streets of Manhattan in a maze crowded with violent, skilled soldiers on all sides of a shadow war. Susan Mark’s plain little life was critical to dozens of others in Washington, California, Afghanistan . . . from a former Delta Force operator now running for the U.S. Senate, to a beautiful young woman with a fantastic story to tell–and to a host of others who have just one thing in common: They’re all lying to Reacher. A little. A lot. Or maybe just enough to get him killed.

In a novel that slams through one hairpin surprise after another, Lee Child unleashes a thriller that spans three decades and gnaws at the heart of America . . . and for Jack Reacher, a man who trusts no one and likes it that way, it’s a mystery with only one answer–the kind that comes when you finally get face-to-face and look your worst enemy in the eye.

Stuffed Chicken Breast with Prosciutto, Basil, Garlic & Fontina Cheese

This stuffed chicken breast is one of my favorite dishes!  Prosciutto ham, garlic, basil of of course, fontina cheese.

Stuffed Chicken Beast Sliced

I am cooking for just myself these days as Razor is still in the on the road with the team.  Albertson’s had boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.57 lb this week at the meat counter and they looked great.  I have these handy herbs in  squeeze tube’s (Gourmet Garden I get them fromSafeway) that I love to use on stuffed meats as it makes it quick and easy (fast cleanup!) to put a beautiful and yummy meal together.

Herbs in squeeze tube's

Stuffed Chicken Breast

1 or 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 tsp Gourmet Garden Basil or pesto of choice
A small Squeeze of Garlic (Your choice of how much)
2 thin slices of Prosciutto chopped per breast
Thin slices of Fontina Cheese

Brown the chicken breasts in small amount of olive oil (about 2 min per side)

Make long slit in each breast but NOT all the way through. Cut into the opening along the sides to create pocket to stuff remaining ingredients in.    Place chicken breasts in glass dish sprayed with cooking oil or a little oil.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes the turn heat to Broil for an additional 5 minutes to brown.

Browned and Stuffed

Sliced Fontina Added

Slice and Serve with a Side of Pasta

Browning the chicken first keeps  the meat very juicy.  You can stuff them with whatever you have on hand.  Sometimes I use some chopped sun dried tomato’s  with the garlic basil and prosciutto.   You can top with a variety of sauces and one of my favorites is a lemon  butter sauce but I did not take the time tonight.  Just get creative and stuff the chicken with your favorites and you have a wonderful meal!

Gnocchi in Gorgonzola Garlic Cream Sauce

Gnocchi Gorgonzola garlic cream sauce topped off with Asiago shredded cheese was a perfect combination!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love garlic!  I have been craving Gnocchi and Gorgonzola cheese sauce for about a month and the addition of garlic made this dish very satisfying.  You can delete the garlic but as I always say add more!

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Garlic Cream Sauce

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Garlic Cream Sauce

1 Package of Gnocchi (I used Trader Joe’s)
3 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 Tablespoon butter
8 oz Whole Cream
1/2 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
Shredded  Asiago Cheese to sprinkle on top

Cook Gnocchi according to package directions.  Strain and set aside.
Combine butter and garlic in small sauce pan and saute about 5 minutes
Add cream heat to simmer then add crumbled Gorgonzola cheese and stir to melt .  I had to add a teaspoon of flour to thicken the sauce and salt and pepper to taste.  Heat on medium low and stir often to make sure it does not burn.  Pour sauce over Gnocchi and mix well.  Serve and top with shredded Asiago or Parmesan cheese.

Cooked Gnocchi

Gorgonzola Sliced and Chopped

Sauce Simmering

Ready to Serve

This will serve 2 generously.