In a Pickle - Fast Meals for a Crowd

Everyone here is likely familiar with one of those fast casual restaurants that makes Burritos the size of  raccoons.  I love their corn salsa, but there's not a location real convenient for me during the work week, so it's just an occasional treat, especially in that the sodium content in them is pretty high.

 

But burritos are easy at  home,  and you can control how healthy or unhealthy you want them.  But healthy doesn't have to mean "is there any pizza left?" and if you have unexpected company coming, it's something you can usually toss together quickly, especially if you have a friend to help you hide the body assemble the ingredients.

A crock pot also  helps to keep the warm ingredients warm until personally loaded. In this case some smoked chicken (or try leftover barbecued or rotisserie chicken, chopped).

With "build your own" burritos, all you have to do is lay out some healthy fare.  In this case, I did brown rice in the steamer, leftover fire roasted corn (that had been grilled with butter and a pinch or two of blended sugar and nutmeg), romaine, thinly sliced white cheese and sour cream and the best part - homemade quick pickled  jalapeños, all on whole wheat tortillas.

 

Pickled  Jalapeños

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
A pinch of kosher salt
a pinch of crushed garlic
8 jalapeños, thinly sliced

PREPARATION

Remove some or all of the jalapeno seeds (the more seeds, the hotter they are) Whisk vinegar, sugar, garlic and salt in a medium bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add jalapeños; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature, tossing occasionally, for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours. Note:  Pickled jalapeños can be made  up to 1 day ahead.

Assemble the ingredients with salt and  pepper and crushed red pepper.  It was a perfect blend of hot and cold, creamy and crunchy, sweet and hot. Have everyone make up a plate and serve with some cold beer and iced tea and some fresh fruit for dessert.

Both prep and clean up is easy as can be allowing you time to take your guests out to play with some toys and see the local sights.