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Chicken Avocado Lettuce Wraps

My son has activities on Monday and Wednesday nights. We have to make dinner in advance so we can eat right when we get home. This leaves us with three options: crock pot, salad or sandwiches. This can get old, so we’re always looking for something to mix it up. These chicken avocado lettuce wraps are fabulous because we can make them in advance and they’re super yummy.  Plus there’s usually enough to have leftovers the next day for lunch. As a busy mom, those are always my favorite kind of meals.

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Start by cooking some chicken breasts. I always poach them because it’s a fast way to cook chicken. You can also use store-bought pre-cooked chicken. Then work some magic. Put the cooked chicken in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.

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Turn it on and… VOILA! Yep. That just happened. Since I learned this trick, I never used two forks to shred chicken.

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Then add the avocados, lime juice, cilantro, salt and pepper and mix again.

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I like to serve this in a lettuce leaf. I generally use green leaf lettuce, but romaine or even iceberg would work fine. If you really don’t like lettuce wraps, serve it in a whole wheat tortilla. I personally love the crunch the lettuce gives.

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Better than Restaurant Pico de Gallo

Whenever I go to a Mexican restaurant, I always load whatever I’m eating with pico de gallo. Did you know pico de gallo is healthy? And did you know it’s extremely easy to make? I know that now and my life is much better because of it.

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Here are my top five favorite uses for pico de gallo:

  1.  Rather than spending a lot of time making a salsa or buying one full of preservatives, make a batch of pico de gallo and use this in place of salsa for tortilla chips.
  2. Use it on top of enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas or nachos to make them taste extra fresh and yummy.
  3. Top a salad with pico de gallo instead of dressing. Eating healthy means a lot of salads, so this helps to change things up a bit
  4. Grill a chicken breast and top it with pico de gallo. If you’re like me and make a big batch for the week, this makes dinner extremely easy.
  5. Stir pico de gallo into some brown rice for an easy side dish.

Now I’m sure you’re curious how to make it, so here we go. Pico de gallo has only 4-5 ingredients, plus salt and pepper to taste. I say 4-5 because the jalapeno is optional. I opt out because I have kids who aren’t fans of spicy food and I’m a spice wuss. At least I’m confident enough to admit it.

Start by chopping equal parts roma tomato, red onion and cilantro. Make the pieces as large or small as you like, but try to make them uniform. If you’re adding a jalapeno, remove the seeds and finely chop it. Stir this all together and squeeze in the juice of two limes. Now add salt and pepper to taste. That’s it!

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This is easy and versatile enough to whip up every week. And this is one of those fabulous recipes that gets better as it sits. Since I love the stuff so much, I’d love to know your favorite uses for pico de gallo.

 

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