The Hawthorne Chilluns Love Rosie's Wraps.

Whenever the Hawthorne Children go out to eat, they inevitably order some type of wrap. I decided to show them what a real wrap is about.

I started off with black beans, not from a can. You could use canned beans if you must, but be sure you wash off all the nasty slime and the black. What? You'd rather cook them from scratch? OK. First rinse off the beans. Pour the beans in a pan of salted water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. After 20 minutes, drain the beans, refill the pan with fresh water, add salt and the beans, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20-25 minutes, or until done. I like my beans a bit al dente. You may like them mooshier. If so, then just cook longer until they're the consistency you like. Taste test all along.

I also cooked some Jasmine rice.

I had almost a pound of chicken breast tenders for $1.91.

For a little extra oomph, I added the zest of one lime to the beans.

My ingredients for the wraps: chopped red onion jullienned carrot thinly sliced cucumber strips green bell pepper strips minced red jalapeno

Grated Pepper Jack cheese.

I cut my chicken into bite-sized cubes and added freshly ground salt and pepper and a sprinkling of cumin.

I sauteed the chicken a batch at a time, in 1/2 LOLB and 1/2 ELBOO. (Land o' Lakes Butter and Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil) Rache has her EVOO. I want my LOLB and ELBOO in the lexicon of American cuisine.

Cook for a few minutes until nicely browned and drain on paper towels.

I happened to have an avocado on hand.

Slice lengthwise through the avocado and twist to separate.

Spoon the flesh out and cut into thin slices. Drizzle lime juice over top to keep the flesh from darkening.

Here are all the fixin's for my wraps: From top left, kinda clockwise, shredded Pepper Jack cheese, chicken cubes black beans Jasmine rice tortillas cutting board with red onion, carrot, red jalapeno green pepper cucumber And in the middle, cutting board with avocado.

First I laid down a bed of rice and beans and put the chicken on top.

Then I added the rest of the ingredients - the carrot the cucumber the green pepper the hot red jalapeno the red onion the avocado ...

... and sprinkled Pepper Jack over top. Roll up the fat tortilla and top with more cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes until the wrap is heated through and the cheese is slightly browned on top.

We loved all the flavors in this wrap. The heat from the jalapeno and Pepper Jack cheese was tempered by the coolness of the cucumber. The textures complimented each other - from the fresh crunch of the vegetables, the toothiness of the black beans, the familiar smoothness of the rice, the meatiness of the chicken to the rich creaminess of the avocado. And the melted cheese oozed lovingly throughout.

Fresh salsa, sour cream, and cilantro accented the wrap. For the cilantro haters out there, substitute parsley. I loved the flavors. I loved the colors. And the Hawthorne children loved the wraps.

Rosie Makes A Chicken Wrap For Middle Hawthorne.

Middle Hawthorne came home Friday for lunch and asked if I could make him a chicken wrap like at Mama Kwan's. "How do they make them?" "With chicken and cumin and Jasmine rice and cheese and onions and lettuce and tomato and sour cream."

"Not a problem." From Mama Kwan's menu:

Jerk Chicken Soft Tacos

This was our most popular lunch special over our first 2 years. Jerk Seasoned Chicken Breast, grilled and served with mixed greens, diced tomatoes, Cheddar Cheese, onions, jasmine rice, salsa and sour cream with soft worm flour tortillas.

$7.99

I opted NOT to go with the soft worm flour tortillas. I also have a problem with the national cuisine of a country described as JERK. I made this meal within 25 minutes. Take that, Rache!

One cup of Jasmine rice and 2 cups of my chicken consomme.

I brought the consomme to a boil and added in some salt, butter, and the rice. Covered and barely simmered for 20 minutes.

1.13 pounds of chicken breast tenders for $1.80.

I cut the chicken breasts into strips and seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper and cumin and coriander.

Then placed in a hot pan with hot oil and butter.

Saute maybe 4 minutes each side. Until it's just past pink inside. As with pork, most people tend to overcook chicken. This only serves to make the chicken or pork dry, tough, and tasteless.

My accoutrements: shredded lettuce red onion shredded Monterey Jack cheese homemade salsa homemade creme fraiche

I placed the sliced sauteed chicken slices overtop the rice on a tortilla.

Added the Monterey Jack cheese. A Pepper-Jack would do very nicely here.

The heat of the chicken and rice will melt the cheese. Then I added some red onions.

I added salsa.

And a ribbon of creme fraiche.

And added the shredded lettuce.

Press the top of the tortilla over. Serve with more salsa and creme fraiche.

If you like, when you layer the rice, chicken, and cheese, you could nuke it to melt the cheese a bit more.

All the little Hawthornes loved this. And Middle Hawthorne told me: "This chicken wrap is a lot better than Mama Kwan's. And Mama, you know what? Creme fraiche is a lot better than sour cream."

Hallaleujah!

He's seen the light.

May Day Dinner.

Happy May Day everyone!

I've just come inside from exciting May Pole activities involving rent-a-kids
and I'm ready to fix dinner.

Remember this EPISODE
from Sandra Lee.

Here is one of my all time favorite SLoP arussippees.
From that EPISODE.

Can you imagine actually feeding that to a child?
This recipe was designed to be fed to the children
(Sandy's rent-a-kids)
frolicking around the Maypole.

Look closely at the picture in "SLoP arussippees."

What, at first glance appears to be 6 bite-sized pieces of dainty sandwich, is actually, on closer inspection, one great, big, honking FLOWER CUTOUT that's big as crap, with the
6 dainty sandwiches being petals (???).

The six "petals" are weighted down with Sandy Krap.
Sandy Krap inkludes salmon cream cheese, tarragon, and capers ... for CHILDREN!

And if one were so inclined,
how the hell is one supposed to eat that konkokshun?


OK, back to dinner:

I had bought numerous chicken bosoms on sale the other week for $1.49/pound and pulled two out of the freezer.

And now I'm thinking to myself, " Self, how can I do chicken differently?"

Hee! Who else would I be thinking to?

Oh, I know, I know. Imonna think to the DOG. "DOG, take the garbage out and pick up all the pine cones in the yard and put them in a neighbor's yard. Good DOG! Good DOG!"

It's like Daddy used to say, "... in my own mind ... ."
And Mama would say, "Well, who the hell else's?"
Oh, God. I'm turning into my mother.
But I digress.

Not knowing exactly where I'm going with the chicken, I start getting my ingredients together.
Right now, I'm playing it by ear.

Here, I have black sesame seeds, sesame oil, Mandarin oranges, Grey Poupon Dijon mustard, some almonds, fresh asparagus out of my garden, snow peas, cucumber, and lemon.

I'm starting a dressing here. I used the juice of one lemon, then added some of the Mandarin orange joose, and then decided it needed the juice of one lime.
Some Dijon mustard and sesame oil go in, then I whisked in some Bertolli Extra Lite Olive Oil.
Ooh, ooh! Looking at the picture, I remember now that I put some minced garlic in it too.

It needs some more, so I added chopped cucumbers and black sesame seeds.

Next, I toasted the sliced almonds and chopped the snow peas, asparagus, and green onions.

I salted and peppered the slightly pounded chicken bosoms and sauteed them in a combination of butter and olive oil (Land o' Lakes unsalted and Bertolli Extra Light Olive Oil).

After the chicken was done, I tossed in the snow peas and asparagus for a minute or two.

I chopped up the chicken and added the snow peas, asparagus, almonds, and oranges.

This is looking pretty good.

Then I added the sesame/cucumber dressing.

Oh, I forgot.
I decided to add in some chili-garlic sauce to the dressing, about 1 teaspoon.

Add in the scallions and toss thoroughly.

Place on a tortilla with shredded lettuce.

Wrap the tortilla up (And yes, I used toothpicks.), place in the toaster oven, and toast all over.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know this one is a tad overly "toasted."
But I like it like that.

Youngest Hawthorne ate two wraps.

This was different and quite good.

I have some leftover chicken mixture which would be really good on a salad.


OK, next up ... the cleaning of the stove.

Me: The stove is filthy. I've cleaned it the last 12 times. It's your turn.

Mr. H.: I don't want to.

Me: I know you don't want to. Neither do I. But I'm tired of doing this crap all the time while you just sit there and watch TV.

Mr. H.: Quitcher naggin'. I wanna see the news.

So's, I go take the grills off the stove top, sighing heavily and quite audibly, and commence to rip off about a dozen sheets off the paper towel roll.

Mr. H: What the hell are you doing?

Me: I'm cleaning the stove.

Mr. H.: But you're wasting paper towels!

Me: No I'm not. I need these to clean the stove with.

Mr. H.: Oh for crying out loud. Get the hell out of the way and let me do it.
You're doing it all wrong

Me: Well, if you really think so.

Mission accomplished.
Heh.

I don't know if I've mentioned this or not, but Mr. H. is a Virgo.
Attention to detail.
Here, he's taken the burner tops off and is cleaning underneath.

There was some particularly stubborn matter next to this one burner.
Mr. H. is using is finger nail to scrape it up.

If I said he was anal, that would be a bit of an understatement.

I'm surprised he doesn't suck up the furniture when he sits down.