Turkey Wrap

As you can see, I've got a new thing for wraps. Looking back at my first wrap photo I was a little disappointed in my 'wrapping' skills. They have become much more pretty as I've been practicing my wrap techniques. Lil' Wayne ain't got nothing on me. Get it. Yeah, that just happened.

I honestly didn't have enough left over grilled chicken to fill two wraps so I ended up making one chicken wrap (minus the baccccon) (I just used a cliche French accent while saying bacon in my head...*ahem*) and then I assumed my husband was pretty much as hungry as a baby dinosaur and figured I should come up with something to feed him as well. Well, I ended up using all the same ingredients but I added cracked black pepper turkey and I tried out a new flavor of wrap, which is at the moment absent from my head, but it was onion and herb or something like that and swapped out the swiss cheese for pepperjack because hey, everyone needs a little spice in their life, anyways, wha-la. I even thought it was better than the chicken wrap, however, those were pretty tasty, not to mention they had bacccccon in them. That my was second attempt at the French accent, I'm glad that it sounds so good in my head because for whatever reason I feel like saying it aloud might get me some strange looks from my husband who is totally and utterly obsessed with this new nerdtron of a game. However, I suppose I can't be too upset that he's playing it since I was the one that text messaged him while I was running errands and asked if he'd like me to pick it up for him while I was out. (insert palm to forehead here)

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

So, I forgot about my one and only baking activity since I've been back to Georgia thus far. The first couple of nights my husband was home he was a bit sick and going to bed pretty early so one night I decided I'd use up the too-ripe-to-eat-not-too-ripe-to-bake-with bananas I had sitting in the freezer. I browsed around Food Gawker for a recipe to follow for some banana muffins but I decided that banana wasn't enough, oh no, not enough my blog-babies. We needed some chocolate. So I went on the hunt for some banana-y chocolate-y goodness. I followed this link . The only thing I changed was using mini chocolate chips instead of the normal ones and wha-la. Okay so my pictures didn't turn out quite as cute as the other persons, but in my defense, I finished baking these around 10:30 at night and by the time I started my photo op I was a bit tired so, sorry for the not-so-adorable photo.

Smashed Potatoes

Mmmmmm. Well while I've quite enjoyed eating whatever I please the first two weeks of my husband being home, I figure it's about time to hop back on the 'watch what you eat' thing again. I made these twice, I figured they were so good the first time it was worth making them again while my in-laws were in town. What could be better than potatoes? Mashed.. er.. smashed potatoes. My staple food as a child, my ridiculously chubby cheeks didn't thank me later in life but hey, you've got to indulge from time to time, right? Right.

Pretty much I went about making these like I do any other type of mashed potato, but I went ahead and left the skins on. Surprisingly growing up I was quite fond of the skin on my potatoes and can't believe I hadn't left the skins on for mashed potatoes before the ripe age of.. dun dun dun.. 22. So, I saved myself the agonizing task of peeling potatoes and I left those suckers on. Take that you darn potato peel... TAKE THAT!

So, I'm not going to lie, I can't really remember how many potatoes I used and I NEVER measure out my milk. I will however let you know that the secret to amazing mashed-smashed potatoes in my family is butter. Lots of butter. I believe an entire stick went into this delicious bowl of starchy goodness. I will add that my legs are screaming 'nooooo' everytime I put shorts on so, we'll blame the potatoes. Darn them.

Anyways, to sum it up, I used white potatoes, 2% milk, unsalted sweat cream butter (yeah, that's right butter, an entire stick to be exact, and don't go telling me how Paula Dean ended up with diabetes after using all THAT butter on her famous cooking shows and such. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention the insane amount of Lawry's Garlic Salt (course ground with Parsley) my all-time favorite container of seasoning. Mm-hmmm. And if you haven't caught on by now, it's pretty much assumed you put in black pepper, because well, who doesn't love black pepper.. in... every.thing.you.cook. Yes. Black pepper, garlic salt, potatoes, milk, and buttttttttttter.

Shrimp & Rice

This was seriously the easiest meal ever. I figure since my husband is now sick and in bed early, I'd take some time to get back into the blog of things. So, I'm not going to lie, it's been nice getting back into the swing of cooking again but even great chefs like to take the easy way out sometimes right? Okay, really, I just didn't feel like waiting for meat to defrost so I figured it'd be easy enough to thaw some uncooked frozen shrimp and go from there. So, here's what we ate for dinner.

Ingredients:
1 cup white rice
1 chicken bouillon cube
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
18 large uncooked peeled shrimp
1 tbsp butter
2 tsp. seasonings (I used a premixed grinder my dad got me awhile back, a little garlic powder, and yes, more black pepper!)

Directions:
Start your rice, I add my seasoning to the water before it begins to boil. Thaw your shrimp and take off tails. Add butter to saute pan on medium heat and allow it to melt. Add desired seasonings to butter and add shrimp. Your rice will probably be done by now but I usually allow it to sit under the lid for longer than the normal amount because hey, I don't think it seems to hurt. Allow shrimp to saute for about 5 minutes. Wha la. I threw on a side of green beans for the husband just because he complains if he doesn't get a vegetable, him and the dog split those!

Chicken, Bacon, & Swiss Wrap

I'm backkkkkk! Well fellow bloggers, after a very long at times/short at times year, my husband has returned from his one-year tour in Afghanistan. So, I'm now back at Fort Stewart and officially back in my 'own' kitchen. Our place is smaller than our last and we by no means have less stuff! As time has progressed so has my kitchen collection! My cabinets are full of my kitchen gadgets and goodies again. I've had this new found love for wraps for awhile now and thought I'd go ahead and try to make a couple up for lunch today. They were a hit and really quite simple. And that's a wrap! (I had to do it!)

Ingredients: (for 2 wraps)
Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Wraps
2 chicken breasts, sliced in 1/2 inch strips
3 tbsp. ranch dressing
3 slices of swiss cheese
2 cups lettuce
4 slices bacon


Directions:
Sizzle your bacon up in a large pan on the stove. Set aside on paper towels to absorb excess grease, drain most of the drippings from the bacon pan, add chicken. Cook chicken on medium heat until cooked through. I seasoned mine with a bit of black pepper and garlic powder.

Once your chicken is cooked, I let mine get a good little golden brown on it, I assembled my wrap. I placed 1 1/2 slice of swiss cheese on each wrap, topped with bacon, chicken, lettuce, and finally the ranch. These turned out quite a bit more filling than I imagined but my husband can't seem to stop eating since he's been home so he polished off 1 & 1/2 of these bad boys. Definitely something that I'd recommend making if you've got left over chicken as well, or making ahead for lunch and wrapping them up, they should keep quite nice in the fridge for next days lunch. I guess I should add that I ended up with an extra cup or so of chicken that I just set aside for a salad for tomorrow, so in the event you're trying to over stuff your wraps with mouth watering chicken and you can't seem to close the darn thing, just set some aside for something else! =)