Lettuce Wraps

These Asian lettuce wraps with chicken were inspired from, of course, skinnytaste. But that recipe required a lot of random ingredients. I wanted to keep it simple and cheap. (on a budget & time crunch) So I limited the ingredients needed. They were fun to make, fun to eat, and of course, DELICIOUS! I served with the Tomato Soup/Spaghetti Squash, it was a FANTASTIC meal!


Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 4 oz chicken breasts, grounded

• 1/4 cup water chestnuts, chopped fine
• 2 tbsp diced green onions

• 2 tbsp soy sauce 

• 1 tbsp oil

• 1 tbsp white wine

• 1⁄2 tsp sugar

• freshly ground white pepper, to taste

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• head of lettuce, or as many leaves as you need

Directions:


If your chicken isn't already ground you can place it in a food processor (or even a blender will do) and ground it up. It's actually kind cool that it works that way. Or you can buy ground chicken (8 to 12 oz) at the store.
Place the ground chicken in a bowl.
Meanwhile mix soy sauce, olive oil, wine, sugar, & pepper. 
Mix water chestnuts, garlic & onions in with the ground chicken.
Then pour soy sauce mixture over chicken.
Let it marinate for a few minutes.
Make sure it is well mixed (feel free to use your hands if needed)
Add more soy sauce, wine, or oil, if needed.
Transfer to a medium sized frying pan (or wok)
Cook until brown, 5 to 10 minutes, and feel free to add more oil if desired.
Break up and stir meat as you go.
Place in each lettuce wrap and serve with a dipping sauce, if desired. (I eat mine with Ranch!)


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Irish Beef Pies

I love Martha Stewart freezer recipes. I think all of her recipes are great, but they are always so involved, so when a good/simple one comes along, I embrace it. These Irish Beef Pies are easy to make ahead and serve for dinner during the week. There are great ways to enhance this recipe by adding garlic or paprika. But this is the traditional "Irish" pie recipe. I also would want to add onions or corn. Maybe some other veggies like carrots or celery but that's your call. Great recipe, makes 8 at a time. 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 head of cabbage (won't need all of it)

1 lb ground beef sirloin

1/2 lb red potatoes

1 tbsp of tomato paste (you can use more, but i'm not a fan)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 cup of water

1/2 tsp thyme

salt & pepper

2 pie crusts 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Shred the cabbage and cut the potatoes into tiny cubes.

In a sauce pan heat oil over medium heat.

Add cabbage & potatoes.

Cook for about 8 minutes until brown.

Then add beef and break up while cooking.

When they are no longer pink stir in tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, thyme, & water.

Cover, lower heat, and cook for about 15 minutes.

The potatoes need to be soft enough to mash.

After mashing with a fork season with salt & pepper.

Meanwhile, stretch out the pie crusts and split into 4 sections (use a pizza cutter).

Ideally you would want to make it more of a square then a circle, but I don't have time for that.

Place about 1/2 a cup of the filling on each square and seal up.

Crimp edges with a fork (if you're talented).

To Eat Now: Transfer pies to rimmed baking sheet (lined with foil) and bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. You can rotate the pies after 5 minutes for even cooking.

To Freeze: After the insides cool, wrap in tin foil and place in freezer bags. I kept them in my freezer for about a month and used them regularly. No defrosting needed. 

To Eat From Freezer: Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet.

BEFORE BAKING:

 AFTER BAKING:

Nutritional Information:

Carbs: 7.5

Calories: 362

Fat: 20

Points: 8.6

Points Plus+: 10

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Pastelón (Sweet Plantain Puerto Rican Lasagna)

Our friend Mari introduced us to this several months ago and I was waiting for the perfect opportunity to try it out for myself. Pastelón, which is a Puerto Rican Lasagna, is just like lasagna but instead of lasagna pasta noodles you used slices of plantain. It has a mix of all these neat flavors, it's incredibly filling, and the sweet plantains are amazing. I'm sure there are many versions of this, but the one I used includes raisins and olives. I'm sure you can leave them out or just use a little. It's also not the healthiest thing I've ever made. But it is delicious, no doubt about it!

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (or just use cilantro paste like I do)

2 tsp adobo (in the international/ethnic food aisle or spice aisle)

2 tsp italian seasoning
2 tbsp vinegar

1 envelope Sazón (in the international/ethnic food aisle)

2 tsp of bay leaves

8 green stuff olives, cut in half

1/2 cup raisins

4 or 5 plantains, peeled & cut into long strips (For really great directions on pictures on plantains, go here. I could try to explain it to you, but it won't be pretty.)

1/2 cup tomato sauce

3 eggs

2 tbsp milk

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

vegetable oil

salt
butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix ground beef, garlic, onion, green pepper, and cilantro in a large bowl. 

Then mix in adobo, italian seasoning, vinegar, & Sazon.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add 2 tbs of olive oil. 

Toss in the beef mixture and cook until brown.

Add bay leaves, olives, raisins, & tomato sauce. 

Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, heat another large skillet with oil, on medium heat, just enough to cover the bottom. 

Fry the plantains, a while on each side, until they are golden brown & crispy.

Butter the sides & bottom of an 8 x 13 baking dish.

Layer the bottom most layer with plantains.

Spread a layer of ground beef on top of the layer of plantains. 

Top with a layer of mozzarella cheese and another layer of plantains. 

Continue the process, ending with plantains.

Mix eggs & milk in small bowl. Pour evenly over the last layer. Let it soak in and then sprinkle with a last little bit of cheese. 
Bake in oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
ENJOY!!!!

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Thai Peanut Sauce

I made Vietnamese spring rolls and here are some of the dipping sauces that I served with them. Below are the three sauces: Chunky Peanut Sauce, Thai Peanut Sauce, & Fish Sauce blend. Lots of unusual ingredients were used. It was fun experimenting with all the different flavors. 

For Chunky Peanut Sauce:
3 oz. salted peanuts< 2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp sesame oil

3 tbsp garlic chili sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

4 tsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degres.

Pour the peanuts onto a dry baking sheet in a single layer.

Bake for 7 to 10 minutes but make sure they don't burn or blacken too much.

Remove peanuts from the oven and let cool.

Place in food processor and pulse a few times so that they finely chop. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and process until it's smoother.

The sauce won't be smooth, it should have some texture of the chopped peanuts. 

For Thai Peanut Sauce:
2 cups creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup coconut milk
3 tbsp water
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.

Teriyaki Sauce:

2/3 cup mirin 

1 cup soy sauce

4.5 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp sesame oil

1/3 cup sugar

7 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger

1 dash red pepper flakes

Bring mirin to a boil in a saucepan over high heat.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour in soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, and sugar.

Season with garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes.

Simmer an additional 5 minutes. 

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

I hosted Cooking Club back in April and the theme was Asian-Inspired food. I decided to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls. They were really fun to make (pretty easy too) and they came out healthy & delicious.


I experimented with different types and different sauces/seasonings. Not all of the ingredients could be found out my locker grocery store, Darrenkamp's. But Stauffer's has an AMAZING international section. I found a ton of my ingredients there. 

You can switch up all types of ingredients. I used shrimp, but chicken would be great too or you can just do straight veggie. You can add different spices to the rice. You can also use as many different types of veggies as you like. Endless possibilities. 

  

Ingredients:

rice wrappers

shrimp, cooked & peeled
2 - 4 oz. vermicelli rice
fresh spinach leaves
alfalfa sprouts
shredded carrots
diced cucumbers

Directions:

Cook vermicelli rice according to package instructions. (Boil for about 3 to 5 minutes until al dente)

Drain & set aside. 

Next, prepare the rice wrappers. (this is the fun part!)

Fill a large bowl, pan, or dish with some warm mater. (It must be big enough for the wrappers).

Dip the wrappers in the water one at a time just for a few seconds so that it softens. It's really cool how the consistency changes and becomes pliable.

 

Then lay wrapper flat on a dish. 

In the center place a few spinach leaves.

Then top with a handful of rice and a couple shrimp. 

Place vegetables on top. 

Fold sides over and tightly roll up the wrapper.

Repeat with remaining ingredients. 

Serve with sauces. 

Here are pictures from the night to go with the theme. So fun!

What do you think? Comments? Suggestions? I would love to know that you visited my blog. Please leave me a message letting me know you were here! Did you try out a recipe? Let me know! I would love to hear from you :-)