Ranch Chicken Wraps

I'm not going to put amounts on this one because you can make however few or many you would like.

Tortillas (preferably the ones you cook)
Chicken
Romain or green leaf lettuce
Hidden Valley ranch dressing (the stuff you make not buy in the bottle)
Rice
Black beans (if they're canned just drain and rinse them really good)

Start cooking the rice. Season the chicken with just salt and pepper. Grill the chicken (or just slice it up and cook it in a pan). Cook the tortillas. Mix the ranch.

To make the wrap layer the rice, chicken, black beans, lettuce, then drizzle the ranch on top and you have a yummy, healthy wrap:)!

You can also mix it up by putting pepper jack cheese on it and baking the wraps in the oven at 375 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melty. Yummy and super easy.

Mexican Sunday Dinner

This week I ordered the Mexican Pack through my food co-op. It came with all kinds of yummy peppers (Anaheim, jalapenos, green), cilantro, garlic, limes, onions, and green onions. Well, today being Sunday I was going to make a traditional (for me) Sunday dinner with a roast, mashed potatoes, cooked veggies and fresh fruit, but after getting my yummy Mexican produce yesterday I could not resist trying to make a Mexican themed dinner.

We're going to have pulled pork on tortillas with Spanish rice and black beans. Okay, that doesn't do what is bound to be one of my best meals ever justice.

I'm using Paula Dean's recipe for the roast and Spanish rice. It's her Rockin' Roast Pork Shoulder with Spanish Rice. The order that I'm typing this is a little different than what she put down because I think my way makes a little more sense;).

First: Mix together the Sazon Seasoning. You can buy this at the store but I had the spices in my pantry so I just made my own.

1 Tbsp ground coriander

1 Tbsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp paprika

1 Tbsp salt

Super easy, right?

Second: Make the Sofrito

1 green pepper stemmed and chopped into about 1 inch chunks

1 medium onion chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/4 olive oil

Place all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smoothish

Third: Prep the pork shoulder. I'm sure you can use any cut of pork, this is just the most tender.

1 5 lb pork shoulder

12 whole garlic cloves, slightly smashed

1 1/2 Tbsp sazon seasoning

1 Tbsp adobo seasoning (I omitted this because I don't really like it)

1/4 c sofrito

Cut the fat off the pork. Make 12 slits in the pork and put one clove of garlic in each slit. Mix the sazon seasoning with the sofrito and rub it all over the roast. Place it in your slow cooker for at least 8 hours (Paula's instructions say to preheat your over to 300, wrap the roast in tin foil, cook for 3 hours, remove foil, increase oven temp to 400 and cook for another 20 mins until desired crispness).

Fourth: Cook the rice.

1/4 c diced pork (I'm omitting this, I don't know why but I just am)

1/4 c onions

5 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp sazon seasoning

1 Tbsp adobo seasoning (again, I'm omitting this)

2 c long-grain rice (I'm probably going to use brown rice)

4 c water

2 Tbsp sofrito

1 (16 oz) can pigeon peas (this is where I'm going to use black beans)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

"In large sauce pan on high heat, saute onions and pork in the butter until lightly browned. Add sazon, adobo, rice, water, and reserved sofrito. *Cook's Note: Do not stir at any point. Cook about 10 minutes on high or until the water begins to evaporate to almost the level of the rice. Add pigeon peas and cilantro. Cover with lid, reduce heat to low and let cook until water is totally evaporated and rice is tender."

Those are her directions. I'll probably saute the onions in the butter, add the sazon and sofrito, add the water, bring to a boil, add the brown rice and cilantro, reduce to low heat and cook for 45 minutes until the rice is done.

Fifth: Make the salsa verde (green salsa)

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com

• 1 pound tomatillos, husked
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 serrano chile peppers, minced (I used an Anaheim)
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano (I used 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste (I used only 1 tsp salt)
• 2 cups water (I'm omitting this because of a suggestion from one of the reviewers)

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smoothish. Once blended place all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and simmer for 15 minutes until tomatillos are tender.

I put the roast in the slow cooker this morning and cooked the salsa verde so when we get home from church around 4 I'll have everything ready to go. I just need to get the rice going and while the rice is cooking I'll cook the tortillas. Once that's done I'll shred the pork, drain and rinse a can of black beans and we'll be set.

We'll take a tortilla, put some rice, then pork, then beans, then salsa verde, and maybe some low fat sour cream (I've decided I need to start cooking lower fat and aren't Mexican dishes great for that?!). This whole setup sounds very time consuming and tedious but really I'm hardly dirtying any dishes and it will be ready in a snap!