Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps, aka Everything Good In a Sandwich

Posted on April 17, 2012 by admin

We don’t eat a ton of sandwiches at our house but I’m working on changing that. I know, I know, I’ve said I don’t love sandwiches. I actually love them when they’re made-to-order. I adore breakfast sandwiches too. I only dislike sandwiches that have been sitting around sogging all day inside a high school locker or if I can’t tell what’s inside the sandwich.

I had a lengthy discussion at work about hummus on a sandwich…or hummus in general. Did you know the USA has a dried bean and lentil council? This is my worklife. Anywho, back to the sandwich subject at hand.

I made Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps and they were really tasty.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup milk
¼ cup ranch dressing
1 tbs dried ranch dressing powder mix
1/3 cup panko & 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg + 1 tbs water, whisked
Wheat tortillas
Lettuce
Tomato
Shredded cheddar
¼ cup ranch dressing
4 strips of bacon

Directions:

Marinate the chicken in the milk, ¼ cup of the ranch dressing, and dried ranch powder for a few hours.

Remove from the marinade and dredge in eggwash then breadcrumbs and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Cook the bacon, then crumble it.
Assemble the wraps with lettuce, tomato, chicken, bacon, cheddar, and ranch.

You don’t really need a recipe for this but I thought the marinade and breading was spot-on so I wanted to share it. I liked that these were filling and fresh but not fried. I have an aversion to frying foods. The wheat wrap and real lettuce (iceburg = not real) make this slightly healthier than your local pizza place’s version of the same thing since my chicken isn’t fried either.

Like most things I cook, the chicken could be prepped in advance and popped in to speed up the dinner, or prepped and frozen for next time.

If you’re lucky like me, when your sis comes to have these for dinner she’ll also bring treats from her favorite bakery!

Greek Meatball Wraps

Posted on March 19, 2012 by admin

On one of those beautiful pre-spring days I wanted to put something together for dinner that was filling but lighter. This hit the spot. These Greek meatball wraps were warm, cool, crispy, meaty, and crunchy. I was really happy with these and will definitely make these again.

Ingredients:

16 oz ground chicken
1 tsp ground garlic
1 ½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
1 egg
½ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup oatmeal
1 shallot, chopped

Directions:

Mix meatball mix together and let sit for 5 minutes before baking.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll into balls and bake for 30 minutes.
I use a cooling rack ontop of a baking sheet. It helps keep the meatballs crispy and not soggy from the grease (there’s not much grease since I used ground chicken rather than beef).

I served them on wheat naan wraps with tzatziki, veggies, hummus, and feta. Check out whose nose was a bit too close for comfort!

These were really good. The meatballs were crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I don’t fry my meatballs since a) I hate frying for the mess & the oil and b) it’s much easier and healthier in the oven.

I liked the wraps. The naan was perfect. Since it’s more pricy, leftovers were in wheat pitas. The pitas worked fine. I liked how doughy the naan was.

Curry Chicken Salad fit for Dr. Seuss

Posted on March 2, 2012 by admin

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! This Curry Chicken Salad was the best I could do to honor the late writer of The Butter Battle Book, the Lorax, and Sneetches as an example of ooblek or wumbus because of the zing, bam, wow, pow this has.

I expect my birthday tomorrow to have the same kind of impact! My birthday food theme might be my best yet!

I pretty much only like sandwiches when I make one myself and eat it immediately, or if it has all sorts of crazy things on it and it gets pressed, and occasionally when a restaurant makes it. That might sound like all the sandwiches you can think of, BUT I don’t bring them to work as lunch. If I’m going to have one, it has to be packed separately and assembled and eaten immediately.

I thought of curry chicken salad because it doesn’t have to be a sandwich and it is different. It was a great use of some leftover rotisserie chicken.

Ingredients:
2 cups, chicken breast or rotisserie chicken
2 tbs curry sauce
1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
1 tbs light mayo

Directions:
Shred chicken into bite size pieces

Mix chicken with curry sauce, grapes, and add mayo to taste.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

This made about 3 size-able servings. I had one as a sandwich and two other servings topped salads. I think the grapes are necessary to cut the spice with some sweetness. The zing makes this great.

Four Leaf Clover

Posted on August 22, 2011 by admin

I’m lucky to work in the heart of downtown Boston with more lunch restaurants around than I know what to do with. I rarely take advantage of them. One hot hot hot day my office had plants to rendez-vous with our sister office at the Dewey Square Farmer’s Market for lunch.

It was so hot hot hot that I’m surprised I could remember what I ate (or how good it was)! Clover was a welcome relief from the mind-numbing heat. They worked the crowed and kept it moving. I was so impressed with the ordering process via iphone and the options. Check out how many of them there were working inside the truck! Wow!

I didn’t check out twitter that morning to see what they were serving but was pleasantly surprised and was too hot to ponder. I quickly chose the chickpea fritter sandwich.

It was really good, though I’m not sure what made it different than falafel. It had great flavor. The chickpea fritters were soft with a light crunch on the outside and a surprisingly fluffy center. The sandwich was on an oversized pita with carrot and cabbage slaw.

Somebody got rosemary fries. It was such a lovely flavor added to really great quality fries.
clover_fries_290_200
Their food is so good and I really need to eat at Clover more often. Do you watch Great American Food Truck Race? It’s awesome and a truck from Boston, called Roxy’s Grilled Cheese, is on!

Guest Blog: The Fabulous Food Truck Festival

Posted on June 13, 2011 by admin

Allow me to introduce a guest blog post from Justin! Justin writes:

Lately, I hadn’t been out taking as many photos as I usually do, and when I saw The Fabulous Food Truck Festival advertised on Boston.com, I knew it would be a great opportunity to get some photos and try some local food truck fare.

It was advertised that all items were $7 and under, and that quantities may be limited, so it was encouraged to arrive on the earlier side of the day. I am definitely glad I got there when I did – about 30mins after it started – because it gave me a chance to get some photos and still have time to get in lines for food.

I walked around taking photos for a bit, then decided to get into the line at Grilled Cheese Nation. It was the longest line at the time, so I thought it would be good to get that one out of the way. I also thought it was a good plan to start with a grilled cheese – not too heavy – before going on to something else. I went with the Brie Me Up – Blythdale Farm Brie with sliced local Asian Pear on Iggy’s Organic Pain de Mie Bread. I wanted to go with something a little more daring than a traditional grilled cheese and was glad I tried this. My only critique would be that Brie doesn’t hold up well when melted, so the sandwich looked a little bleak when it was handed over. The flavors were great, though, and I love pear.

Brie Me Up

After that, I noticed most of the lines getting longer and longer, as it was around a typical lunchtime by then. I got into the line at The Eat Wagon and quickly realized that the sun was more intense than I thought, as I ended up standing in line for at least 30mins and got a little burn on my head, neck and arms. When it was my turn, the staff let me know that they were out of cheese, and I could wait or have it without. I decided a burger without cheese just isn’t fair, so I waited another 10mins or so. I went with the Eat Burger – Grass fed beef, lettuce, cheese, onion dip, potato chips. I’m not sure if it was the long wait or that the ingredients were that good, but it was a GREAT burger, cooked to a perfect medium as I like it. The onion dip and chips were such a great idea, and a great combination of textures. I normally eat my burgers with blue cheese dressing, so I was especially partial to a burger with a dip for a condiment.

The Eat Burger

I originally had wanted to get a couple things for dessert – there were cupcakes and a frozen yogurt truck on site, so I had to choose one first. I went with The Froyo Truck first, as the line was a little shorter. By the time I was done there, Kickass Cupcakes had sold out; I was a little bummed that I missed them because I haven’t had them since living in Massachusetts. At The Froyo Truck, I had California Tart, with dark chocolate chips and mango. I would typically go with a chocolate option, but because I don’t regularly eat a lot of fruit, I thought Emily would be proud that I hopped off the normal path and went with a lighter choice. The staff at The Froyo Truck mocked me a bit for getting the small size, but I was trying to eat from as many trucks as possible, and it turns out the small was a little bigger than what I would picture.

California Tart

It was a great day, and the weather was perfect. I got some good photos, and got to try some great mobile food. Emily wasn’t able to make it, and I know she would have loved it, so I will be sure to keep my eyes peeled for another event like this.

Would you like to be a guest blogger? Email emily@thethreebiterule for more details!