Southwest Chicken Wraps

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. Husband likes to try to sneak in a dinner with each of our “couple” friends before the holidays. I’m completely on board with that! I love having an excuse to cook for our friends and it’s so nice to just spend time with the people you love. Hopefully in the future we will have a bigger house that is more suited to entertaining all of our friends at once, but until that happens I am so happy to entertain our friends in my little cozy kitchen. I have beautiful visions of holiday open houses complete with festive cocktails and jazzy Christmas music.

G and Mrs. J
at the Bacardi factory in Puerto Rico

The friends we had over have been our friends for over five years. I met Mrs. J while working for the school district before I was engaged to husband. The first time Mr. J and husband met you could almost see fireworks in the room. They became friends instantly which makes hanging out with the J family so so so much fun. While our busy schedules keep us from spending as much time together as I would like, when we do get together I always end the evening with a warm fuzzy feeling.

I’m thankful that our friends know me well enough to know that I have no problems treating them as guinea pigs. Usually when we sit down to eat I will announce that it is the first time I have ever made this recipe and if it’s not good we can order pizza (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before). My feelings aren’t hurt if not everyone likes what I cook, after all I’m usually following a recipe so the concept isn’t mine.

This recipe went over well. Husband and I decided we did need to kick up the spices a notch or two but overall it was very tasty. Pulling this together actually happened quickly because I prepped everything the night before. I cooked the chicken and rice, chopped the veggies and mix everything that needed mixing except for the cilantro. Then I popped everything into the fridge and headed to bed. I added the cilantro right before cooking time. Since the wraps don’t spend much time on a heat source I do recommend heating up the chicken mixture before spreading it on the tortillas. If your tortillas look like they may crack when you fold them, go ahead and warm them up in the microwave for a few seconds.

Enjoy!

½ cup rice
1 cup chicken, shredded
15 oz. black beans, drained and rinsed
1 green onion, finely sliced
½  red bell pepper, diced
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 lime, juiced
1 T. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic salt
2 cups cheddar, shredded
6 burrito sized flour tortillas

½ cup sour cream

Cook the rice in a rice cooker. Once the rice is cooked mix the rice together with the beans, green onion, bell pepper, cilantro, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and garlic salt.

Lay out the tortillas on a work surface and evenly sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving ½ inch border around edges. Arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla.

Fold the tortillas like a burrito.

Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and place over medium heat. Arrange two or three wraps, seam side down, and cook until golden brown, about two to three minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps.

Serve with a side of sour cream and a green salad.

Adapted from http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/09/crispy-southwest-chicken-wraps.html