Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 

I've really been wanting to make chicken lettuce wraps lately but I remember making them in college and it was so much work. I found an awesome kitchen tool that is a complete life saver though! I used a pampered chef chopper that my sister in law gave to me for my wedding. It worked great to chop up the mushrooms, water chestnuts and the bamboo shoots. That's the part that's time consuming. Other than that, its a pretty simple recipe. It feels so healthy too with the lettuce. Yum! The ingredients can be pretty unique and expensive if you are not used to Asian foods but, its totally worth it. Sometimes I'm skeptical to buy expensive ingredients because I'm not sure if the recipe will turn out and then I'll be stuck with this expensive ingredient with nothing to put it in. But, this recipe is totally worth all of its ingredients! The first bite my husband took he said, "This tastes just like the Chang's." Yes, my lettuce wraps compared to P.F. Changs. I am truly honored.

I got the recipe from Spoon Fork Bacon

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

cooking sauce:
2 ½ tablespoons hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
2 ½ teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon sesame oil

6 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ginger, peeled and minced
4 ounces shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and diced
½ cup bamboo shoots, drained and diced
½ cup water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 head butter lettuce or iceberg lettuce, washed and leaves separated

garnish:
1 green onion, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

1. Place the first five ingredients into a small bowl and whisk together. Pour mixture over the chicken and stir together. Set aside and allow chicken to marinate for 10 minutes.
2. Place all ingredients for cooking sauce into a small bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
3. Place 2 tablespoons oil into a large skillet over high heat. Sauté chicken for 6 to 8 minutes or until half cooked. Remove from skillet and set aside.

4. Pour remaining oil into the same skillet and place over high heat. Sauté the ginger, garlic and shiitake mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts and sauté for an additional 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add chicken back into the skillet; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Pour the cooking sauce over the mixture and stir together. Lower the heat to medium and allow the mixture to thicken, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in the green onions. Adjust seasonings.

6. Remove from heat and allow chicken mixture to cool slightly, about 5 minutes. Top with a sprinkle of green onions and sesame seed and serve warm with crisp lettuce cups.

 

Chicken Avocado Quinoa salad

I have been wanting to use quinoa for a while now but I just couldn't find the right recipe. But, I finally came across this one and it was delicious! I love quinoa! It is a great substitute for rice and it is one of the only grains that is a complete protein. Quinoa does have a high fat content and so it is advised to keep it in the refrigerator or freezer instead of on the shelf to keep it from going rancid. But, the fat is "good fat," not unsaturaded or trans fat. Now that I've basically given you a lesson on quinoa, lets get to the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa, cooked and cooled
½ onion, chopped
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 ears of corn, grilled and removed from cob (or 1 small can niblets)
1 cup shredded chicken
1 large avocado
4 limes
¾ cup fresh cilantro
2 ½ Tbsp agave (sugar works ok too)

I like to cook quinoa in chicken broth. It gives it a little bit more flavor. When cooking quinoa, some people suggest to rinse it, I don't. It usually comes pre-rinsed but some people like to soak it anyway. When cooking quinoa it's good to know that 1 cup raw quinoa makes about 3 cups of cooked quinoa. To make three cups of cooked quinoa, place one cup raw quinoa and 1.5 cups cold water or chicken broth. Bring the quiona to a boil. Cover with a tight fitting lid, and turn down to a simmer. Let cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat. Let quinoa sit for 5 minutes with the lid on. Fluff gently with a fork and it's ready to go.


Directions:
1) In a large bowl, mix onion, black beans, corn, chicken and quinoa together.
2) In a blender, combine the lime juice, cilantro and agave to make the dressing.
3) Cut the avocado in small pieces and toss in dressing. Add avocado to quinoa mixture.
4) Pour dressing over quinoa mixture and toss to combine. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Pretzel bites

My sister flew into town this week and I was asking her what she wanted to do besides go to the beach and get a tan. She told me that she wanted to do some cooking. I was a little shocked but also excited because there are so many recipes that I want to try but I know that there is a lot of work involved so I keep pushing them aside. So, the first thing we attempted were pretzel bites. I did not expect them to turn out this good but let me tell you, they were amazing! This recipe is more for a party of people though. We are going to have pretzel bites for months. When my neighbors came home I met them on their doorstop and offered them some pretzel bites. It was kind of weird, I know, but they loved them and they took some more off of my hands. 

I got this recipe from Smells Like Home

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm (110 to 115 degrees F) water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 22 ounces all-purpose flour, approximately 4 1/2 cups
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, melted
• Vegetable oil
• 10 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• Pretzel or Kosher salt

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the water, sugar, yeast, and salt on low speed for 10 seconds.  Switch to the dough hook and add the flour and butter.  Mix on low speed until well combined. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it to a well-oiled bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set it in a warm place for approximately 50 to 55 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

 

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

3. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an wide 8-quart saucepan or roasting pan

4. In the meantime, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Slice each rope into 1-inch pieces.  Place a lightly damp towel over the pretzel pieces to prevent them from drying out while you roll and cut the other pieces.

 

5. Using a slotted spoon lower a handful of the pretzel pieces into the boiling water and boil them for 30 seconds, flipping them around in the water with the spoon a couple of times. Remove the pretzel pieces from the water using the spoon, drain as best you can, and place them on the baking sheets. Brush the top of each pretzel with the melted butter and sprinkle with the pretzel/Kosher salt. Bake until dark golden brown in color, approximately 10 – 12 minutes. Brush with remaining melted butter before serving. Serve warm

 Instead of brushing the pretzels with melted butter, I used "I can't believe its not butter" spray. It was a lot quicker and easier.

Unstuffed Bell Peppers

This is a great recipe when you have tons of peppers in your fridge and you don't quite know what to do with all of them. My in-laws came to visit for the 4th of July this year and they rented a house. It was a lot of fun. We got to watch the parade, ride our bikes and then watch fireworks off of the pier that night. It's one of my favorite holidays! On the day they were all headed home, they left us with all the food they didn't eat. These weren't just little things. They went to costco. We still have rice, beans, guacamole, salsa, onions, carrots, lettuce, and I'm sure there's more. So, I had this giant bag of peppers and I needed to use them before they went bad. I came across this recipe and it was just what I was looking for. And, my husband loved it. He ate the leftovers. That's the true sign that it was good. 

I got the recipe from Heat oven to 350 

Ingredients: 

3 slices bacon

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1 1/2 cups rice

1 1/2 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 bay leaf

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup pureed tomatoes (I use fresh, but canned works too)

1 T brown sugar

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 red bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips

1 green bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips

1 orange bell pepper, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch strips

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

 

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until browned and crisp, about 4 minutes on each side. Remove from skillet and allow to drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Add the chicken and cook until browned on the outside and just barely cooked through. Remove the chicken from the skillet.

2. Add onions to skillet and cook until browned, about five minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.

3. Add rice, basil, thyme, red pepper flakes, bay leaf, chicken broth, tomatoes, brown sugar and black pepper to the skillet. Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, crumble the cooked bacon into small pieces.

 

4. Add the peppers, chicken and bacon to the skillet, stir and cover. Simmer for an additional 5 minutes. Stir in half of the Parmesan cheese, season to taste with salt and pepper, then use the remaining cheese to top individual servings.

Makes 4-6 servings

 

Fruit Pizza

I feel like if there is fresh fruit in dessert then somehow it's not nearly as bad for you. That's how I felt about this fruit pizza. It tastes so yummy but yet I don't feel guilty about it.

My husband asked me to make a dessert to take over to a friends house for dinner so I whipped this up. I had forgotten how easy and quick it was to make. I had all of the ingredients except for the fruit. This is going to be my new go to dessert. I usually do boxed brownies but this is quicker and it looks like you spent hours. I'm all about letting people think it took way more work than it actually did.
I got the recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 3/4 cup sugar until smooth. Mix in egg. combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Press dough into an ungreased pizza pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla until light. (Make sure the sugar is smooth. Last time I didn't mix it enough and the sugar crunched in your teeth. Yuck!) Spread on cooled crust.
5. Arrange desired fruit on top of filling, and chill.

Split Pea Soup and Food Storage

I have finally decided that I should start a food storage. I live in a very small apartment but I figured I needed to do it anyway. So, last week I went to a food storage cooking class on how to cook with dehydrated carrots and onions. It was an amazing class. The teacher was awesome! I learned so  much from her. She said that she has a coffee grinder that she uses to grind up the dehydrated onions into onion powder and she grinds up the carrots as well. She says she uses the carrot powder to thicken things up like spaghetti sauce. What a great idea! I would have never thought of that. Then, she gave this great recipe for split pea soup. It is a green soup and it looked more like salsa than soup to me, but it tasted amazing. So, I made it this week. It has ham in it as well, so I got to use  more of the honey baked ham leftovers in my freezer. YAY! I'm trying to use it up any way that I can.


If using dehydrated onions or carrots, rehydrate them before using them. The ratio for re-hydrating is 2:1. Two cups of water for every one cup of carrots/onions.


Split pea soup

Ingredients:
1lb split peas (You can find these next to the beans and rice)
1tbs. olive oil
1 c. onions
1 c. carrots
1 stalk celery (optional)
4 c. chicken or vegetable stock
4 c. water
8 oz. lean ham, finely chopped
1/4 tsp. thyme
1.4 tsp. marjoram
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse peas under running water. Put into large saucepan and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil and boil 3 minutes, skimming off surface foam. Drain.

Heat oil in soup pot over medium heat. Add onions, and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally until softened. Add carrots and celery and continue cooking 2 minutes. Add the peas, pour in stock and water and stir to combine.

Bring just to a boil and stir in ham. Add Thyme, marjoram and bay leaf. Reduce heat, cover and cook gently 1-2 hours until ingredients are very soft. Remove bay leaf and serve.

Make sure not to add the salt and pepper until the soup is done cooking. If you add the pepper before it cooks for the 1-2 hours, it will end up tasting bitter.

Broccoli Ham Casserole

A few days ago frozen grape juice was on sale at the store. So, I bought 5 of them. The problem with this was that there wasn't really any room for them in the freezer because it was absolutely stuffed. Lets just say that I tried to make them fit anyway. Squeezing them into any little spot I could find. Then, when Tyrone and I came home later that evening, the freezer had opened while we were gone. Thanks to Tyrone, we took everything out and organized it. I have a lot of frozen meat that is oddly shaped and doesn't stack very well so it drives me crazy. But he did a great job and now I can see what I have. In the process of organizing though, we came across two big bags of frozen ham. Tyrone wanted to throw it out because he said we were never going to eat it. But it was good ham. I had cooked a honey baked ham and I cut up the leftovers, which was a lot, and froze it because I knew we couldn't eat it all before it went bad. So, to prove to him that we would eat it, I got the ham out and put it in this casserole. It was really yummy. I loved the rice in it. We had it again last night for dinner and he said, this tastes really good. You should make this again. I love when I get that response. That's when I know it is REALLY, REALLY, GOOD! Hope you enjoy it. It is great for that leftover Easter ham.

I got this recipe from Taste of home

Ingredients:
2 packages (10oz) frozen cut broccoli
2 cups cooked rice ( I used 3)
6 tablespoons butter
2 cups fresh bread crumbs (about 2.5 slices)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 cups milk
1.5 pounds fully cooked ham, cubed
shredded cheddar cheese (I used mild)

Directions:
Cook broccoli according to package, drain. Spoon rice into 9x13 baking dish. Place cooked broccoli on rice.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of melted butter over the bread crumbs and set aside. In remaining butter, saute onion until soft. Add the flour, salt and pepper, stirring constantly until blended; stir in milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add ham.

Pour over rice and broccoli. Sprinkle with crumbs. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with cheese; let stand 5 minutes before serving. Yield: 8 servings.