P.F. Chang’s Lettuce Wraps

I got this recipe here.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients:
1lb ground chicken breast
1/2 medium onion, minced
salt & pepper, a dash of each
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 inch nob fresh ginger, peeled & minced
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 Tablespoon water
1 Tablespoon natural peanut butter
1/2 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoons + 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (or more if you like it hotter)
dash of fresh pepper
3 green onions, chopped
1/2-8oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained & chopped
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry
Directions:
1. Heat a large, non-stick skillet on high. Add chicken, onion, salt & pepper, and cook until chicken is nearly done, stirring often to break up the meat. Add in minced garlic and ginger, and continue cooking until chicken is no longer pink.

2. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, combine sesame oil, soy sauce, water, peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce and pepper. Microwave for 20 seconds, then stir until smooth. Add into the skillet and stir to combine.

3 Add green onion and water chestnuts into the skillet then cook for 1-2 minutes until the onions are soft and the water chestnuts are heated through.

4. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, and serve with cold lettuce leaves

I die. I die for this dish! It is FANtastic, and so much lighter than PFC’s!

Salty, crunchy and crispy – fun too! Simply pile the chicken mixture onto a lettuce leaf,

roll,

and chomp. AWESOME. The fuller you stuff ‘em, the better, too. My first wrap was kind of weak sauce, so I really jammed the filling in with the others. Much better!

The water chestnuts in the mixture are a total must, in my opinion. They add a fabulous crispness and texture to the filling, that you wouldn’t get by just using ground chicken alone. You have to make these!

Rosemary Bread

Katie thought up this delicious twist on Matt's bread recipe and recommended it to me. Today I tried it and just the smell of it baking made me think of Spain for some reason. The flavor is awesome.

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

 I found this on a cool cooking blog...can't remember the website though. This is just a copy and paste. Non of the words below are mine. But I LOVED this recipe!!

I have been on a lemon kick lately and last weekend I decided to make these FABULOUS cupcakes!  I found the recipe on Grouprecipes.com and absolutely love it.  These are super SIMPLE and QUICK to make.  Don't let the zucchini scare you at all!  It actually takes the place of the oil and water you would typically add to any cake mix recipe and provides ALL of the moisture and even a bit of color.  

Now this is actually a cake recipe, but since I have a smaller family, I prefer to make cupcakes so I can freeze any leftovers.  First, I place the leftover frosted cupcakes on a cookie sheet. Then I put them in the freezer for the next couple of hours.  Once frozen, I place them all in a container or Ziploc bag.  That way when we feel like something sweet, we just pull out a cupcake and allow it to sit out for about 15 minutes.  It tastes just as FRESH and MOIST as it did the day you made it!  

Lemon Zucchini Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 box lemon cake mix

1 (4oz) pkg instant lemon pudding

4 eggs, slightly beaten

2 C zucchini, peeled and grated

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on your taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix all cake ingredients for about 3 minutes.

Pour into muffin cups.

Bake for 25-30 minutes (depending on oven), or until tops are light brown.

Remove cupcakes and allow to completely cool.

Once cooled, frost with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

4 T butter, room temperature

4 oz cream cheese, softened

2 C powdered sugar (more or less)

1-2 t grated lemon zest (depending on taste)

1-2 t fresh lemon juice (depending on taste)

*A little milk

Directions:

Cream together butter and cream cheese.

Add powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice and mix well.

*Depending on your preference when it comes to the consistency of the frosting, you may want to add about 1-2 T of milk to the frosting.

Melt Away Cookies

I found this recipe on a blog of a girl that I have never met, she had some great stuff on her blog! I picked this recipe because it only had 4 ingredients!! YAY!! And I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has these ingredients most of the time!!
I told Scott that I was going to make them and he sounded unamused. He flat out said that he didn't think he would like them. When they were done I put one in his mouth and he loved it!! He said "I have never had anything like that!! It is cool!"
Hint: The first batch I made too big, even though they were still pretty small cookies. They are REALLY rich and heavy. So the last couple batches I made them TINY, like the size of my thumbnail, and when they came out they were perfect.
Melt Aways

1/2 lb butter (softenend)
1/3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. corn starch
1 c. flour

Mix all ingredients on low speed until the dough comes together. Use a small cookie scooper and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8-10 min, don't let them brown, just cook until the cookies set and you see small cracks.

Top with your favorite frosting. In the recipe that I followed the girl said to buy cream cheese frosting and add almond extract. I did and it was superb!! YUMMY!

Sauerkraut Chowder

Sauerkraut Chowder

This one sounded interesting! I got it from food.com. I don't usually like sauerkraut, but this chowder got such good reviews I had to make it!
Another easy one with products that are easy to find in the store! That is what I like!

• 3-4 large russet potatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 (15 oz) can sauerkraut
• 1 (10 oz) can evaporated milk
• 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 lb package kielbasa, diced
• water
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut potatoes into bite size pieces. Place in pot and cover with water. Add onions and boil until cooked through fork tender.
2. Add sauerkraut, evaporated milk, and cream cheese. Stir until cream cheese is completely blended.
3. Add Kielbasa
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cover and cook at a low simmer for 30 minutes.

Curry Chicken

1 can coconut milk

A glug-glug of regular milk

Potatoes, carrots, garlic, onion,

chicken and cashews.

Lots and lots of curry

Lots of chicken bouillon paste

Stir-fry veggies and chicken, add soup mixture and cook.  Toss in cashews last thing.  Serve over rice.  Be as generous as you like with the curry and bouillon.  That's what gives this stuff it's goodness!  If you're adventurous and dig spicy, SPICY curry, try a red curry paste instead of the yellow curry powder and add pineapple.  It's a real kick!

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Thick American-Style Pizza

Tonight's hand-tossed pizza.

Okay, I think and talk about pizza a lot.  And, I have already covered the topic of at-home pizza making before (although in an offensive way).  I should probably just stop.

I can't.  The pizza I made tonight was satisfactory to even the most delicate foreign palette.  My wife told our Korean friends that I used to work at a pizza joint. They excitedly asked if I hand toss my dough, to which I replied in the affirmative, and before I knew it my wife had volunteered me to demonstrate the process for them to watch.  Talk about pressure, I have never had to toss in front of a camera before (I'll include the video here if they ever send it to me).  Luckily I didn't tear the dough or smack it against the ceiling.  Here's the recipe.

Dough
1 c warm water
2 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs olive oil
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups flour

Mix the yeast with warm water and let sit long enough for the yeast to dissolve completely.  Mix in all the other ingredients before adding any flour.  Add the flour while mixing 1/2 cup at a time until the dough gets close to being able to clean the bowl, then add it a spoonful at a time.  You want the down to not be sticking to the bowl, and be able to be pulled into a window - but still be as wet as possible.

Oil a bowl and your hands.  Shape the dough into a ball by holding it with both hands and pushing up into the dough with your fingers several times.  Don't do this so much that the dough gets all ripped up, just enough so that the surface feels tight.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover, and let rise for 30 minutes.  Punch the dough down, fold, and let rise another 15 minutes or so.  Place the dough ball on a floured surface and slap it flat with your hand into a circle.  You can stretch the circle larger by holding an edge and letting gravity do the work by moving your hands around the circumference, or you can put the circle on the BACK of your hands and toss in the air with a spin.  Both work.  Put the dough on your cooking surface (I prefer a screen) and work around the edges until it fits just right.

A good pizza starts with good ingredients.  I recommend spicy cappacola, marinated kalamata olives, fresh romano tomatoes, basil, and fresh shredded romano cheese.

I basted the crust of this pizza with butter, then sprinkled it with a small amount of garlic salt and oregano.  Pour your sauce (I like Chef Boyardee) in the center of the pie and spread with the back side of a large spoon.

Okay now for the toppings.  I am picky about these.  I always start with a thin layer of shredded romano, then maybe a small amount of cheddar or mozzarella.  By thin layer, I mean lightly sprinkled so that you can still see the sauce.  Next, on one half I put spicy cappacola, chardonnay marinated kalamata olives, and creamy havarti.  The other half was fresh basil, tomatoes, and the havarti.  Gut the tomatoes first.

The assembled pie ready for the blazing hot oven.

Bake your pizza as hot as you can for your cooking surface and pizza thickness.  On a cookie sheet this is probably 425 F, on a screen 500-600 F, on a stone you can go up to around 800 F.  Since the dough on this pizza was thick, I cooked it at about 550 F for about 10 minutes.  Commercial pizza ovens cook pizza for about 6 minutes at 600-650, a really good brick oven pizza will cook in about 90 seconds.

For the first 5 minutes, include a pan of boiling water on the bottom of your oven.  This helps the crust and dough be chewier, and gives a browner color.  Remove the water after 5 minutes so that crust will be crispy on the outside.

I am the baker, I bake the cakes.  Make no mistake, I like to bake.