Pizza Chicken Bacon Wraps

Thursday is a good day to have a quick recipe for dinner or lunch. So, it comes as no surprise that I have something in mind. I got a phone call from the producer of the Valley Dish - 12 News. I am excited to be able to be on the show upcoming August 5th at 4:30 pm. It will be a little different than the morning segments I'm used to, and at a different TV station.

I need some help from you, my wonderful friends. I have come up with this recipe that is basically a wrap version of my husbands favorite Sundried tomato blush sauce and pasta, only it's on chicken with bacon. It will be a competition between myself and one other chef to see who's meal is the most "lunch" worthy. So...I was hoping that I could bounce this recipe off of my people here. Tell me what you think. Keep in mind, kids have to like it as well as adults. It has to be made in 6 minutes or less (and meat has to be cooked in that time). Try it out. Let me know how your family likes it. On the plus side...it's also a quick dinner! Call it a pizza wrap and I promise there isn't a kid in America who won't like it. Okay...unless they don't like pizza. Those are the same kids who don't like chocolate or marshmallows...or ice cream.

Pizza chicken and bacon wraps

Ingredients

4 oz light cream cheese, softened

2 clove pressed garlic (1 tsp minced)

1/4 cup Sundried Tomato Pesto from the solar oven
or 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped

4 slices bacon, chopped and cooked crisp (turkey bacon okay)

3 spinach-flavored flour tortillas (9-inch diameter) or 3 large hoagie buns, toasted

1 lb chicken breast, chopped fine... seasoned well with Italian Seasoning (to your family's taste) , salt and pepper,
1 1/2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In large skillet, cook chicken breast and pressed garlic for 3-4 minutes on high heat. Add Tomato pesto and the cream cheese until well combined. Cook one or two minutes more until chicken is fully cooked, season well. At the same time you are cooking the chicken, cook the bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes. Gently stir bacon into the chicken mixture.

2. Lay out tortilla. Top each evenly with chicken and lettuce; top with Parmesan cheese. Roll up tightly, folding ends in. Cut in half and serve warm. Alternately, can be served in a hoagie bun as a hot sandwich.

Chicken BLT Salad

Cussing Granny is hilarious. I must say I do enjoy her crazy whit. Do you know anyone who likes BL T sandwiches (that's bacon, lettuce and tomato...)? Well, Granny here has been absolutely obsessed with them for a long time. We are now to the point that if we don't buy pre-cooked bacon and keep it in the fridge at all times...there is trouble. Not that Granny ever freaks and flips her dentures...but let's just say we have an understanding. She is a very sweet lady. So, in the middle of this whole diabetic diet she has I realized a few things and one of them was that we really needed some lean protein along with the bacon. This is the recipe I came up with that she loves. It's loaded with all the good stuff. Chicken, low fat cheese, bacon, and celery, and onions.

BLT Chicken Salad

4 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped (about 4 cups)

4 slices of pre-cooked bacon, chopped fine or 1/2 cup bacon bits

1 stock of celery, chopped

1/2 medium onion, minced

1/2 cup low fat sharp cheddar, grated or cubed

1/2 cup low fat or fat free mayonnaise

1 clove of garlic, minced

cracked black pepper and salt to taste

Combine all ingredients.

I put it on an oat bread that I had been tweaking. The recipe for that will be coming soon, as I know it has been helpful for her blood sugar levels to have a lot of whole grain rolled oats in the bread. Plus the bread seems to satisfy hunger much better than other bread. It was a pretty hearty meal and the good news...her blood sugar stayed pretty regular for the rest of the afternoon. Yes!

Now here's the post script. Little Man wanted to stay home from school the other day. There was a bowl of this chicken salad in the fridge. I heard this retching noise in the bathroom. In horror, as most moms are when they hear this said noise, I rushed into the room. Little man was on the floor acting very ill. Then he said, "Look.." meaning... obviously I have tossed my cookies. There in the toilet was a huge wad of chicken salad. Yea, he totally tossed it in the toilet hoping I would think he vomited. What a waste of perfectly delightful chicken salad. Argh. Totally had to go to school. I'm so mean...

Ace, the foremost expert on skipping school, informed me however that the best medium for faking "that" is a can of vegetable soup. Great...now I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for floated alphabet noodles...ahhh. The joys of motherhood.

There you go. Um...with making the salad.

Red Bell Pepper Relish

One of my favorite sandwiches on earth has 3 ingredients. Fresh Organic tomatoes, mayonnaise, and red bell pepper relish. These things coupled with hunks of my homemade bread are enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes. It's honestly one of those simple pleasures in life.

Bell pepper relish is one of those crazy sauces that once you've tasted it, you will crave it forever. Its tangy and sweet and remarkably simple to make. I make jars of it and use my home cannery so I can enjoy it all year round. I make it in the summer when bell peppers are in season! Yes it's that time. I'm loading up.

The main ingredients are bell peppers and onions. I chop them by hand, but use a food processor if you want. It goes much faster.

Red Bell Pepper Relish

6 red bell pepper, chopped

1 1/2 cup red onions, minced

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup sugar(or honey)

1T salt

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/4 cup minced garlic

1 tsp ground fennel seed

Directions: Mix all ingredients in a large pot and simmer 30 minutes. Spoon into clean hot jars, fill with the cooking liquid, leaving 1/8th inch head space and seal. Process in boiling water-bath caner for 10 minutes. Yield about 4 1/2 pint jars.

If you don't jar it for the winter...you can just put it in the fridge for up to one month.

Smear it on a slice of bread with some mayonnaise.

I add thick slices of those gorgeous Organic Tomato Farming treasures. Thank you Jim for letting me raid the farm! I'm in heaven now.

There you go. Love in sandwich form.

The Cheeseball...melt.

Come a little bit closer. This is not the typical grilled cheese sandwich. I realized today that I have a perfect shortage of amazing sandwiches on my blog. How can a bread baking queen (of love and glory) not have about 50 gorgeous sandwich entries? I have one now. This is it. The melted cheese ball... (click on this picture for a full size view...it's totally amazing)...

Next time I'll double the filling for the photo (and myself). Just know that even with a smaller amount and my low fat kick, it was really outstanding. I literally took the gooey goodness of a cheese ball without nuts, and made it into the filling for a grilled cheese sandwich. That complex flavor was the perfect companion for the slices of homemade overnight started bread . I love it with seeds all over the crust. Did you miss that tutorial? ( seeded bread tutorial ).

The cheese ball recipe I got from my sister in law. All too often I will get some of my best recipes from my family and friends. This fact held true. Meet the Cheese ball. Please.

There are two things I loved about the cheese ball. First, it could be used as a spread or as a cheese ball. Second... freaked me out(in a good way) because it has crushed pineapple in the mixture, but it's the perfect combination of salty and sweet. Add to that the crunch of toasted bread and you have a winner. In fact, this is the only cheese ball cool enough to be wiped all over my bread, bagels, soft pretzels, homemade crackers and then grilled on toast. Now that is an honor worth blogging about. Right? The other good news...it has a really small list of ingredients. That can only help endear it to me.

Gwen's Cheese ball

("cheese ball" here is not actually a reference to my brother in law...grin...)
yields 2 average cheese balls

(or one giant mother-of-all-cheese balls...again not my brother-in-law)

2 packages cream cheese (8 oz each)

1 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup minced celery

1/2 cup minced red onion

4 oz crushed pineapple (squeezed until all the juice is out and it's almost dry)

2 tsp pepper

2 tsp garlic

Allow cream cheese to soften to room temperature. Pot into a Kitchen Aid with paddle attachment. Combine all ingredients on speed 2 about 2 minutes. Scrape cheese mixture out of bowl and form into 2 rough balls. Put on a plate cover with plastic or a glass dome thingy...(sorry for the technical wizardry of the moment there) and chill in the fridge 2-4 hours before serving. I think it's best after 24 hours.

Grilled Cheese ball melt

Scoop 2-4 T of mixture onto a slice of bread. Spread mixture to edges and top with a second slice of bread. In a lightly oiled skillet, cook the sandwich over medium high heat until center is melted and the bread is toasted (4-6 minutes). Enjoy with a cup of cream of tomato soup. Haaa guess what I am blogging about next? Homemade cream of tomato soup that doesn't curdle. It can be done!

Enjoy.

There you go.