Vietnamese Chicken Lettuce Wraps - Easy and Delicious!!

My family loves the Lettuce Wraps at our local Vietnamese restaurant and I've been searching for some time now for a recipe.  The first one I made wasn't anything near as good, but this recipe has been fantastic!

 

 

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps:

 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
• 1 (8-ounce) can whole water chestnuts, drained and diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 head butter lettuce

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Add ground chicken and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the chicken as it cooks; drain excess fat.
• Stir in garlic, onion, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger and Sriracha until onions have become translucent, about 1-2 minutes. Stir in chestnuts and green onions until tender, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• To serve, spoon several tablespoons of the chicken mixture into the center of a lettuce leaf, taco-style.

Source: 

http://damndelicious.net/2014/05/30/pf-changs-chicken-lettuce-wraps/

 

I've never been to PF Chang's, but they apparently have a similar style lettuce wrap.  I've made it a few times now and it's just delicious!  Here's a pic I managed to take last time before I devoured it...

 

 

Just thought I'd share the recipe since it is so darn good.  I'm experimenting with making it hotter or more sauce, but ultimately this recipe doesn't really need much alteration. 

Yum.

German Food Night

After struggling with a Blogger upload problem for months I finally managed to figure out a way to post a few pics of a dinner I made months ago.  I got this crazy idea at a late night grocery store run that I just HAD to have a German Food Night. 

It started with a mix packet for Sauerbraten - I love Sauerbraten.  Or rather, I should say I loved the Sauerbraten that I used to get at a now closed cafeteria here in St. Louis.  Grone's Cafeteria made the most delicious roast beef (French dip sandwiches to DIE for) and twice a week they had thin sliced delicious Sauerbraten with potato pancakes and applesauce on the side.  Grone's closed suddenly one day without a clue to their customers (and rumor has it - even the employees) and I was shocked and saddened.  I tried to find another restaurant that made sauerbraten and the few that did just weren't anywhere near as good so I thought I'd never have it again.

Then, low and behold - one day I found an article online that had the family that owned the cafeteria saying that old customers wanted their recipes and they were willing to share!  Oh joy!  My only problem - I didn't have a Dutch Oven, apparently a neccessity to making delicious Sauerbraten.  So that night, standing in the grocery store looking at a mix for sauerbraten I decided - we NEED a German food night!  Bring on the roast beef, the applesauce, and hey, how about some pickeled red cabbage?  And while we are at it - I think we need German Chocolate cake, too!

My family thought I was crazy, but I was determined!  I bought a dutch oven from Target (not cheap) and then made up my menu and ta da!! 

My Lovely Sauerbraten:

Note:  I had always planned to share this meal on my blog, but wouldn't you know it, in my enthusiasm and hunger for the meal I nearly forgot to take a picture of the food!!  I jumped up mid meal and ran for my camera - took a picture of the only plate on the table that wasn't nearly finished (not mine - mmm...).  Pictured is a lovely sauerbraten, potato pancake, applesauce and red cabbage.

And this is my new dutch oven:
 

You can get one at Target.  A lovely addition to my kitchen.  I plan to make other meals out of it, but for now I'm already dreaming of a new sauerbraten...

Here's what it looked like as I was serving out of the dutch oven - the recipe was a 'reduced for family' recipe that was originally made in mind for cafeteria cooks.  I found half way throught it that it needed one major change, which meant I ended up with far more sauce than I needed.  But still!  Delicious!!

Here's a quick snap as we eat - the potato pancakes are not perfect, but they were crispy and still delicious...

So - if anyone is interested in the Sauerbraten recipe I will gladly share it or you can google Grone's Cafeteria recipe Sauerbraten, too.  I recommend cutting down on the flour in the recipe.  I used applesauce and red cabbage from jars - after all the fuss with the meat and potatoes I am glad I didn't make the rest of the sides.  Once you have the recipe down for the meat it is actually an easy meal to make and did I mention delicious?  :)  Just as good as the ones I remember.  Mmmm...  And the German Chocolate cake was good, too.  Out of a box, but if it tastes good, who cares? 

More posts to come now that I figured out a way to post pics again.

Happy Monday!

Comfort Food - Loaded Baked Potato Soup - Yum!

There's nothing like a hot bowl of soup when it is freezing outside so I decided to make on of my favorite types of soup last week. I usually only get to eat Loaded Baked Potato soup if I go out to eat, but I wanted to try to make it myself this time and it came out delicious!

I mostly followed a recipe I found online, but I did alter it a bit to thicken and also lower the calories a bit. So I swapped 2% milk for heavy cream and added some instant mashed potatoes when it seemed just a little too thin. But here is the basic recipe:

In a pot put about four cups of chicken broth. (Homemade stock or chicken stock from a can).

Skin and cut 6 medium sized potatoes into 1-2" cubes.
Cut 1 medium or large onion and add to pot
Boil with 2 tablespoons butter.
When potatoes are thoroughly cooked mash potatoes to preference (I accidentally mashed all of them and wished I'd left some chunks in it - some like soup chunky and some smooth)

Add 1 cup milk (or cream if you wish it to be thicker)

1-2 cups shredded mild cheddar

Season with salt and pepper to taste

Optional: add some sour cream to help thicken and make richer)
Also Optional: add instant mashed potatoes until soup is consistency you like.

Garnish with chopped bacon, shredded cheese and/or green onions.

There you have it - super easy, quick and simple. I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen and it is a hearty yummy soup to have on a cold winter's day.

Happy Monday!