Week One - Chicken BLT Lettuce Wraps

I am sure this will come as no surprise to anyone, but we LOVE football season!   We love the games, the sports bars, the Fantasy Football and of course, the food!   I am sure it will also come as no surprise that I love to be organized and I live by my calendar -- which contains my numerous "to do" lists, house cleaning lists, grocery lists, meal lists, etc.  You get the picture, yes?

Every year, I prepare a list (way in advance) of what meals we will have for days we watch the games at home and what we will have when we tailgate.   Everything, and I do mean everything, is planned out.   This year I thought I would post my at home meals.   We also decided we would eat at home more and make healthier choices for our football grub. 

After mass this morning Sweetheart and I had breakfast at one of our favorite spots, made a quick stop at the Home Depot to get some propane for the grill and then headed home just in time to kick off the first week of the regular season by watching the Red Zone pretty much all day.  

For dinner, I made some Chicken BLT Lettuce Wraps: 

click to enlarge

I found the recipe here as I was browsing one day.   I thought this would be a relatively great alternative to the typical greasy, carb-filled foods that we tend to gravitate to when we watch football.

I made slight modifications.  I had Sweetheart roast some green chile on the grill when he grilled the chicken for me.   It added so much flavor and just the right amount of heat:

Chicken BLT Lettuce Wrap

• head of butter lettuce
• 3 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced into strips
• 6 slices of bacon -- I cook my bacon in the oven so that so there is no splatter mess and perfect bacon each time.   To cook the bacon in the oven, line a baking sheet with foil, line bacon side by side but not touching.   Set the oven to 400 and place the bacon in the oven (do not preheat). Cook for 20 minutes.  Transfer the bacon from the baking sheet to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the grease. 
• handful of grape tomatoes
• 2 roasted hatch green chile -- seeded and cut into strips  

Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise - I use Best Foods Olive Oil mayonnaise 
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup honey 
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• pepper

I made the Honey Mustard Dressing in advance, placed it in a glass jar and put it in the fridge.   The more I can prep ahead of time works best so I can spend more time in front the TV and less time in the kitchen.  

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For lunch, at Sweetheart's request, I made some Nachos.  Pretty basic:  tortilla chips, nacho cheese, turkey meat with taco seasonings, green onions, salsa and sour cream.  I don't like sour cream so my plate below doesn't have any on it.  :)

Quick and easy but oh so tasty:

Wishes for a happy work week!

TTFN

~Yolanda