BBQ Chicken Naan Wraps

So it has been quite a while since I've posted anything.  I feel like I'm doing and making a thousand different things that I want to share, but the problem is that I'm so busy doing them that I don't have any time left over to actually share anything about them! :)

One thing that I've wanted to post for a long time now is this delicious recipe that has become a weekend staple for Chad & me.  We've been making it almost every weekend for months now (sometimes twice a week even), and every time we have it Chad always pauses halfway through and says, "Yeah, this has got to be one of my favorite meals ever."  We've dubbed this awesomeness: BBQ Chicken Naan Wraps.  I was not at all familiar with naan until late last summer when Chad's mom introduced us to this delicious bread!  She made us a very similar recipe that was so good we decided we had to recreate it!

There are so many reasons I love this meal besides the fact that it tastes amazing.  It is so easy and fast to make that it's one of those "last minute" meals for me (or in our case lately, a great "weak end to the weekend" meal, for when we have a lot of things to get done and I don't want to or have the time or energy to spend all evening in the kitchen).  Plus, it's super easy to customize it to your own specific tastes just by making small changes.  For us this is also a tag team meal so it involves both of us, and not only do I love that I don't have as much work to do, but also that we're spending more time together.  I defrost and season the chicken, and then while Chad is doing the actual grilling, I get out all the yummy condiments. Easy peasy.  Another reason I'm really happy about this meal is that I've been trying to make sure Chad & I eat healthier lately, and while I haven't calculated the calorie aspect of it, I'd say this is fairly healthy based on everything that goes in it!

This recipe is something that, had I seen it in a cookbook or food blog, I would have skipped right over it.  It just doesn't seem like my style of food, but I'm so glad that I gave it a try that first time!

To start off this meal, I usually just grab 1 boneless skinless chicken breast out of the freezer and defrost it in my microwave.  If you're wondering size-wise, I usually go for one that is around 7-10 oz.  Then I cut that into usually about 5-8 long, thin strips.  I try to keep them small enough that they can easily fit into a wrap, but large enough that Chad doesn't lose them down the grates of the grill.  Also, sometimes at my grocery store they have chicken "cutlets" which are great for this as well because they are usually already about the same size and shape as the strips I cut out of the chicken breast.  If I'm using those instead of the chicken breast, I usually grab about 3-6 depending on how big they are. (I sometimes cut any of the larger cutlets into 2 smaller strips or do this later after they've been grilled, when I put them on the naan).

(At this point let me just say that this recipe is not really a recipe at all.  I pretty much just eyeball everything that I use so please view any measurements I mention as mere suggestions and ballpark guesses of what I probably use - I really never measure any of the ingredients for this particular meal.  You really can't go wrong.)

So after those are nicely portioned, I very generously sprinkle Garlic Powder and Season All over them, making sure they are very well covered.  Then flip them over and do the same to the underside.  I probably use about a tsp of each of the seasonings, but since I don't measure, this is about how they look when I'm done:

 

Then I just pour over them a few globs of Jack Daniels Honey Smokehouse BBQ Sauce and rub that into them with my fingers.  Again, flip them over and make sure they are completely covered.

Meanwhile Chad comes and whisks those away to the grill.  He usually has the grill preheated to about 450-500 degrees F. and does them for about 4-5 minutes on each side.  Mmm! The BBQ sauce on these gets the outsides so crisp and smoky around the grill lines and it's still so tender and moist inside - the flavor is great!

There are 4 types of Stonefire Naan according to their website.  My grocery store carries 3 of them, and the 4th one (Sweet Chili flavor), I don't feel at all tempted to try anyway.  But I have used all 3 of the other flavors to make this wrap and they are all equally delicious, so really just pick whichever one sounds best to you.  The options are: Original, Garlic, & Whole Grain.

On the top sorta bubbly side of these, I sprinkle a small amount of garlic powder because Chad and I both looove garlic, but you can skip this step if you're not wild about it, especially if you're already using the "garlic" flavored naan.  (Although, I usually just end up going ahead and sprinkling garlic powder on that one, too).  Then flip it over to the bottom flat side and pour a small about of olive oil onto each piece of Naan.  I usually just rub this all around the back surface with my fingers to spread it out, but you can use a basting brush if you prefer.  I probably only use about a 1/4 tsp of this - you really just need enough to slightly moisten the back simply so it doesn't stick to the grill grates.

Chad adds these to the grill during the last two minutes of cooking the chicken, flat oiled side down.  He says they shouldn't stay on the grill for anymore than 2 minutes at the absolute longest or they will get hard and crumbly.  At 2 minutes though, they are soft and warm, with gorgeous grill lines on the bottom-side.

After the grilling is done, assemble the wraps by laying the naan on its flat grilled-side down, and then add half the grilled chicken to each and the condiments of your choice.  Really you can use whatever you want, but the ones I recommend are: mayo, lettuce, tomato, sweet onion, olives (Kalamata, green, or black), 7 day sweet pickles, and shredded cheese (cheddar & Monterey Jack is great on this).  My absolute favorite combination of these is mayo, tomato, sweet onion, 7 day sweet pickles, and shredded cheese.

I don't know if you have access to 7 day pickles - they are usually pretty easy to find at local markets or produce stands - but if you can't find them, I highly recommend finding a recipe and making them yourself just to put them in this wrap.  There is something about the way their tangy, sweet flavor melds with the BBQ chicken that is just amazing.  It's good without them, but I'm almost tempted to say that they are what really make this wrap so delicious for me!

So really it's as fast and easy as that.  The pictures don't do it justice! You just have to try it for yourself! Enjoy!

BBQ Chicken Naan Wraps

Yield: 2 large wraps

Ingredients:

1 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (about 7-10 oz.) -or- about 3-5 chicken cutlet strips

1 tsp (or to taste) Garlic Powder

1 tsp (or to taste) Season All

1/4 cup (or to taste) BBQ Sauce (I use Jack Daniels Honey Smokehouse Barbeque Sauce)

1 package Stonefire (Original, Garlic, or Whole Grain) Naan

1/2 tsp olive oil, divided in half

1/4 tsp garlic powder, divided in half

Condiment suggestions:

Mayo (I use light)

Lettuce

Cherry Tomatoes, sliced or diced

Sweet Onion, slivered or diced

Olives (Kalamata, Green, or Black)

7 Day Sweet Pickles

Shredded Cheese

My First Ever Layer Cake

So I successfully made a chocolate layer cake a few days ago! I did this purely out of stress.  I like to bake when I’m stressed.  So I spent four hours baking and making my kitchen look horrendous and my cake look pretty.  I posted a picture of it already on facebook, so most of you have probably seen it, but here’s the final product:

I brought this along to our weekly family gathering for dessert.  And of course I had to warn everyone that it was my first time making a layer cake and it didn’t turn out quite how I expected, so I wasn’t sure how good it would taste.  Well, of course we all forgot about the cake when we sat down to a table so full with my mom’s delicious dinner that we literally couldn’t even fit all of it on there along with our dinner plates.  She is the most amazing cook.  So all of us were very full when it came time for dessert.  But everyone thought they might have room for a little sliver of my cake.  As we were finishing up our last bites of ham and roast and mashed potatoes and salad and biscuits and fruit salad (and I’m sure there were other things, too, that I’m forgetting), Jessie asked me, “so what’s in this cake??”

“Okay,” I said resolutely, “Let me tell you the story.”  At this point you could see everyone around the table brace themselves in resignation.  They all know me well enough to know how my stories often happen to be epic retellings that never seem to end and tend to spiral off into completely different topics in a never-ending sort of way.  Well, this is what I had to say about baking my cake and why I was pretty sure it hadn’t turned out exactly like it was supposed to.

I’d searched allrecipes for the best chocolate cake and came up with this Too Much Chocolate Cake.  That looked really good to me.  But I didn’t have the bundt pan it called for so I decided to make it into two 9 inch pans and do a layer cake instead.  And it called for one 18.25 ounce package of Devil’s Food Cake mix, but I didn’t have that.  I did have some sort or another of a triple chocolate cake mix, so I used that instead.  However, it was only 14.something ounces so I decided to cut back on all the other ingredients just a bit as well.  Instead of one cup of sour cream and vegetable oil I did just slightly more than ¾ cup.  And I didn’t really measure the warm water.  It called for half a cup, but I probably put in about half that amount cause it seemed like it would be too runny otherwise.  Well then it called for a package of instant chocolate pudding.  But I didn’t have chocolate pudding.  So I put in a package of instant vanilla pudding instead and added a huge heaping tablespoon of cocoa power.  And then it called for two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  But I didn’t have two cups.  I had about ¼ cup, so I put that in and then I just dumped in the rest of a bag of dark chocolate chips that I had laying around instead (they’re practically the same thing right??).  And then it called for four eggs, but I didn’t have four eggs (yeah, yeah, I don’t have anything – I haven’t been to the store in a while).  So I put in three eggs instead.  So, my cake batter ready(ish), I filled my cake pans and popped those in the oven.  It called for them to be in there at 350 degrees for 50-55 mins! (what?) that seemed like a really long time to me… But I set the timer for that anyway (after ten or fifteen minutes… I forgot right away… oops.)  But then like 35 minutes (I think) into baking it seemed like they were done - actually getting a little overdone - the edges were starting to shrink away from the pan and get a little hard and my tooth pick came out completely clean, so I pulled those babies out and let them cool.

Anyway, in the mean time, I decided to start my icing.  I’ve been really hungry for cherries lately, but I didn’t want to ice my entire cake in cherry frosting.  So I decided to do that between the layers and then do chocolate on top and around the sides! Yum!!  Well it turns out that it is extremely hard to find a good cherry frosting recipe.  I looked forever!  I didn’t really want a buttercream or creamcheese one because I didn’t feel like that was in keeping with the cake.  So finally I ended up with this recipe.

Well that was all well and great, except I didn’t have frozen cherries or fresh cherries.  What I did have was cherry pie filling.  So I just picked out the cherries in that and scrapped all the gooey stuff off and put them in my food chopper (I don’t have a food processer) and chopped them up until they were nice and pureed.  Oh, and I didn’t have unsalted butter so I just used salted sweetcream butter and omitted the pinch of salt.  Mmmm.  Usually icings for me turn out awful, but this was really good and light and fluffy with just the right amount of cherry flavor.  It was supposed to be "the texture of icecream" but I'm glad it didn't turn out that thick.

Then I choose this Creamy Chocolate Frosting, WHICH I DIDN’T CHANGE AT ALL!! (I know. It’s a miracle!)

And I must say, I didn’t realize how much I’d deviated from the recipes until I was sitting there telling everyone (who were all in tears, by the way, laughing so hard at my interesting choices in substitutions).  No one had much hope after that of it actually tasting any good, but for all those changes, it actually turned out quite yummy!  I think everyone was pretty suprised.  Maybe not the best cake in the history of cakes, but definitely a great first-time success!!

So, here are the recipes (and my changes, too, if you're crazy enough to want them!):

Too Much Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• One (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix (14 ounce package of whatever chocolate cake you have)
• One (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate (vanilla) pudding mix (+ a heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder)
• One (slightly more than ¾) cup sour cream
• One (slightly more than ¾) cup vegetable oil
• Four (three) eggs
• ½  (¼) cup warm water
• 2 (¼) cups semisweet chocolate chips (+ some random number of dark chocolate chips)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs and water. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan (2 slightly greased 9-inch cake pans).
3. Bake for 50 to 55 (35-45) minutes, or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate if desired (on cooling rack for however long it takes) and, dust the cake with powdered sugar (make a ridiculous amount of frosting to cover - recipes below).  

Cherry Frosting

Ingredients

• ½ cup frozen whole cherries, thawed (cherry pie filling, gooeyness removed) 
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• Pinch salt
• 3 ½ cup confectioners sugar, (sifted)
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place cherries in the bowl of a food processor (chopper) and process until pureed
2. Use an electric mixer to beat butter and salt until light and fluffy. 
3. Slowly add confectioners sugar and beat until well combined. Add vanilla and cherry puree, mix until just blended. Frosting consistency should be dense and cr eamy, like ice cream. (fluffy).

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside
2. In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.

Yay for cake!! :)

Yes, Please.

I usually have a list going of things I’ve seen around that I think are awesome and that I need (want).  Please?  <insert irresistible smile>.  But I think at the top of my list right now is the (drum roll…) Zoku Duo Quick Pop Maker.  ($36.95.  Williams-Sonoma.)

Oh my, the popsicles this thing makes look good.  Like, really good.  The main reason this is at the top of my list right now is because it is smack dab in the middle of summer and it is HOT out, and don’t you always crave a nice icy treat when it’s this hot out?? Yes, please!  Plus, this baby is available at Williams-Sonoma, which just happens to be one of the places we received a nuptial-prompted gift-card.  One of the many wedding gifts we love!  (I will definitely talk about more of them in later posts).

What sets the Zoku maker apart from other ice pop products is the speed with which you can create popsicle masterpieces.  The Duo (with 2 popsicle slots) can make 2 popsicles in as little as 7 minutes!  This is because you keep the Zoku base in your freezer so it is super cold when you pour the liquid of your choice into the molds.  With the Duo, you can make up to 6 popsicles at a time before refreezing is required.  There is also the normal Zoku Quick Pop Maker, which can make 3 at a time and up to 9 before refreezing! ($49.95.  Williams-Sonoma.)  There are also several “add-ons” for this thing to make your popsicles even cooler (and your wallet even lighter)!

They have a set of Zoku Tools that allow you to make prettier ice pops, adding stars or hearts to your popsicle or slanted layers. ($19.95. Zoku Store.)

Extra Sticks & Drip Guards are available if you are going to make more ice pops than what sticks already comes with your Zoku Maker.  ($11.95.  Zoku Store.) And a Storage Case to keep them in!  ($19.95.  Zoku Store.)

Williams-Sonoma also has a Character Tool Kit which would be super cute to do with kids cause they can make all kinds of cool/funny faces.  (14.96. Williams-Sonoma.)

And (I could go for this one, too) there is a Zoku Recipe Book that gives you lots of cool ice pop flavor ideas. ($16.95.  Williams-Sonoma.)  You can also find some really yummy-sounding free ones on Zoku’s Website and on Williams-Sonoma’s Website.

There’s no way I’m kidding myself into thinking that my popsicles would look anything as nice as the ones they show in all the advertisements, but I’m sure they’d taste just fine.  

There are only a few things holding me back from running down to Williams-Sonoma right now and picking this baby up.  The first was a good question from Chad: "Are we (his nice way of saying 'you') going to use this a few times and then forget about it?"  That is a fair question since it does tend to happen with me sometimes.  I get really excited about something and have to have it and then barely use it. (sigh...) I think I would use it a lot!  Especially since it's so fast and easy!  But would I??  

Also, a few reviewers had a lot of trouble with their Super Tool (which is a tool that comes with the Maker that allows the popsicles to be pulled out of the mold).  Apparently, if this doesn’t work, there isn’t any getting those ice pops out.  You basically have to defrost the entire thing.  Furthermore (and this is much less of a concern for me, even though it really should be), you cannot make sugar-free popsicles with this maker.  It seems that something about the sugar is what allows them to easily be pulled out of the molds after they are frozen.  If it doesn’t have enough sugar content, you can’t get the popsicles out.  Zoku’s website has some healthier recipes, though, that still have enough sugar to make a good popsicle, and with the Tools, you can add in shaped (or not shaped, if you’d prefer) fruit pieces to your ice pop!  Pretty and pretty healthy!

What do you think?  To buy or to pass by?  Anyone have one of these?

Hmm… maybe I will just pop (pun! hehe!) down to Williams-Sonoma after all…