Thai Lettuce Wraps

I know I always say I am amazed at the yummy-ness of recipes. This is another one. I could eat it every meal. And they were easy to whip up! Kaleb surprised me and kept eating and eating and eating. He ate as many wraps as I did. Andy even devoured them (which is unusual for him when it comes to something so closely related to a salad!)

There is not a good Asian food (Thai, Chinese, Mongolian...anything!) restaurant around here. After making this, I will stop searching and just make my own.

Lettuce Wraps
2 - 3 chicken breasts, minced (i think you could use canned chicken if you are in a hurry)
half red onion, finely chopped
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot (or more if desired)
2 cloves garlic, minced
soy sauce (I used amino acids instead)
lettuce cups (cut ice burg in half and peel cups apart) wash and chill ahead of time
2 cups cooked rice

saute onion in hot oil until tender, add chicken and cook til no longer pink. Add the rest of the ingredients, except soy sauce, and saute about 2 minutes. Dont over cook the veggies, you just want to get them tender, not mushy. sprinkle with soy sauce for flavor.

Scoop into chilled lettuce cups and enjoy. I had some wheat sprouts on my counter, so we loaded ours with sprouts. We also added those little crunchy Asian noodles. I dont have a very good camera, I took about 20 pictures and none of them do these wraps any justice. They are delicious!!

You could serve them with peanut sauce if desired. I liked the flavor just fine without the sauce, but Andy ate it.
Peanut Sauce
1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 T soy sauce
3 T water
2 T olive oil
chili paste if desired

cook in sauce pan on low heat until sugar dissolves. whisk smooth. stir and keep warm.

I have no idea how to add to the right column, so sorry for writing here, just wondering if any of you have a great recipe for oat bread.

Manchos

This is so simple! It's just something that I throw together if in a hurry for my husband.

All you need to do is pile a bunch of tortilla chips on a baking sheet and top it with all kinds of fun stuff. Jalapenos, meat (I usually use left over roast that I might have), green onions (white would be fine) refried beans and cheese. Pop it in the oven until the cheese it melted and the beans are heated through. It's that easy!

Turkey Meatballs with Spinach in Cheese Sauce

Make this dinner and I can guarantee you will never buy pre made meatballs or white sauce again. This is the best there is!!

meatballs: this made a lot of meatballs. We ate half and I froze the rest.
10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
2 lbs of turkey
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
3/4 c bread crumbs
salt and pepper
olive oil

wring spinach with paper towel and combine all ingredients in large bowl (minus the olive oil) form into bite sized meatballs and drizzle with a little oil. Bake in oven 400 for about 20 minutes

While meatballs are baking, make sauce

white sauce:
2T butter
2T flour
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup chicken broth
8 oz shredded provolone cheese

Melt butter in sauce pan, add in flour, cook for one minute. Then whisk in cream and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then stir in provolone. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve meatballs and white sauce over egg noodles and enjoy!

Brownies

We had Andys birthday dinner last night. He requested Aunt Claudines tacos and brownies. I made 45 tacos and some chips and between 8 of us, there was not a crumb left. I knew the tacos would get devoured.

I was nervous about the brownies. I made them from scratch for the first time. Not always a good idea to give something a trial run when you are cooking for a crowd. But to my delight, they turned out great! Andy commented on them and I will never again turn to a box when I want brownies. These were SO EASY, soft and delicious! Thanks to Kobie Jo for sharing her recipe.

Brownies
1 cube butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder

Cream all ingredients together. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan and bake at 350. Check at about 18 minutes. I doubled the recipe and baked them in a 9 x 13 dish. They took about 35 minutes.

Stromboli

This is the recipe for the lunch Andy and I made at the reunion. I have not made it in a while, but am happy to reintroduce it to my repertoire.

Stromboli

1 can refrigerated french bread (if I was at home, I would just whip up my own dough by halving this recipe)
8 slices of ham
4 slices Swiss cheese
4-6 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 or 3 green onions chopped

roll dough out and spread all ingredients on top. Roll dough up sealing the edges and ensure all ingredients are tucked inside. Cut a few slits in the top of the roll and bake 350 for 25 minutes.

You can substitute or add different types of meats and cheeses inside the Stromboli, just use a combination you like.

Secret Salad Dressing

I can't believe that I am about to put this on the Internet! It's sort of a secret recipe that came from my Grandma but after I made some last night I just thought I had to share! I hope you like it!

1 packet Italian dressing mix
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 vinegar
1/4 cup honey

Mix it all up and enjoy!

If it's too sweet add a little more vinegar and if it's not sweet enough add a little more honey.

If you don't have any orange juice on hand just substitute water.