Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

*From Cooking Light

Sorry, no picture, but yummy nonetheless! 

1 pound ground chicken

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup vertically sliced red onion

1/2 cup canned artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup diced tomato

1 Tb chopped fresh oregano

1 Tb chopped fresh flat-leaft parsley

10 pitted green olives, chopped

1/2 cup (about 3 oz) diced fresh mozzarella cheese

1 Tb fresh lemon juice

8 Bibb lettuce leaves

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken, pepper, and salt to pan; cook for 3 minutes, stirring to crumble. Stir in onion and next 5 ingredients (though olives); cook for 3 minutes or until chicken is done. Stir in cheese and juice. Spoon 1/4 cup chicken mixture into each lettuce leaf.

My take: Another hit at our house. It's simple and fairly quick (just lots of chopping), and healthy with lots of veggies. You can substitute ground turkey for the chicken, and we've found that the 93/7 works great - if you go for the 96/4 it ends up being a bit dry. I also just use dried oregano and parsley spices since it's easier - the substitution is usually about 1/3 Tb dried ingredients for 1 Tb fresh. And I've had a hard time finding Bibb leaves, so we usually use Romaine since it's easy to find. But I really like Butter lettuce if it's available. 

Shrimp Pad Thai

Shrimp Pad Thai

*From Cooking Light

8 ounces uncooked flat rice noodles (pad Thai noodles)

2 Tb dark brown sugar

2 Tb lower-sodium soy sauce

1 1/2 Tb fish sauce

1 1/2 Tb fresh lime juice

1 Tb Sriracha or chili garlic sauce

3 Tb canola oil

1 cup (2-inch) green onion pieces

8 ounces peeled and deveined large shrimp

5 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup fresh bean sprouts

1/4 cup chopped unsalted dry-roasted peanuts

3 Tb thinly sliced fresh basil

1. Cook rice according to package directions; drain.

2. While water comes to a boil, combine sugar and next 4 ingredients (through Sriracha) in a small bowl.

3. Heat large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion pieces, shrimp, and garlic; stir-fry 2 minutes or until shrimp is almost done. Add cooked noodles; toss to combine. Stir in sauce; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly to combine. Arrange about 1 cup noodle mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup bean sprouts, 1 tablespoon peanuts, and 2 teaspoons basil. Yield: 4 servings.

My take: I really like this, even better than some Pad Thai I've gotten at restaurants. I use frozen shrimp, which makes it a little easier in my opinion. Overall it's a fairly quick and easy recipe, and I'm a fan. We've had this multiple times.

Metro Pizza

We finally went and tried out Metro Pizza, which has come highly-recommended by a few of my co-workers (none of them have ever been to Grimaldi's, so I guess they don't know what pizza perfection is like). Anyways, we tried it out last night, and while it was good, it's not up to par with Grimaldi's. Here's what we got:

Appetizers:

Jack - Tuscan Salad

Katie - Garlic fries (A Metro Pizza original, and they can keep it that way :)

Pizza - Sunspot Specialty Pizza

Jack's Tuscan Salad was pretty awesome. Pears, blue cheese, awesome flavored tomatoes, walnuts, etc. with a vinaigrette dressing. The ingredients seemed really quality, and Jack really liked it. It just wasn't my type of salad, so I'd take the Grimaldi's house salad over this one any day.

Garlic fries - Was there supposed to be garlic flavoring on these? And Romano cheese? You could barely taste either. They really just tasted like french fries. They seemed to be pretty good as far as fries go, but I'm not a huge fried food fan, and they didn't sit well with me.

Sunspot Specialty Pizza - This was pretty good. It had chicken, tomatoes, and artichoke hearts. The chicken was really good, and the crust of the pizza was pretty good, too. Just not my favorite, like... (let's all say it together!) Grimaldi's. And both of us felt a little sick this morning. Could have been from this food, but who knows.

Our waitress was great, and we didn't have to wait for a table which was nice. The atmosphere was fine, too. A typical pizzeria, but nothing special.

Food: 3 stars

Atmosphere: 3 stars

Service: 4 stars

Would I go back? No, because any time I want pizza I would go to Grimaldi's. :)

King Cake Pictures

I finally tried out this recipe! My best friend Sharon used to make these when we were roommates back in college (wow, I feel old), and I love eating king cakes when I'm in Louisiana around Mardi Gras. This year (yes, way back in March) I finally tried out the recipe myself, and I thought they turned out well. I've already posted the recipe to this blog; you can find it here.

And yes, I would make this recipe again. :) Next time I might try to add a fruity filling, or a pecan praline-type filling. Mmm....

Grandpa Richardson's Rice Pudding

*From Worldwide Ward Cookbook*

5 eggs

4 C. milk

3/4 C. sugar

1 t. vanilla

3/4 C. minute rice, cooked

In a large bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla. Beat well. Pour mixture into a glass 9 x 13-in baking dish. Sprinkle cooked rice evenly on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 min, or just until the edges tart to bubble. Tastes great with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Makes 8 servings.

My take: Not sure if I did something wrong, but this did not turn out well. It tasted too egg-y, and it had a really wet consistency. I'd rather eat my store-bought Kozy Shack rice pudding than make this again. This recipe won't be repeated.

Chicken and Rice

*From Cooking Light magazine*

1 T. olive oil

8 bone-in chicken thighs, skinned

3/4 t. salt

1/4 t. ground black pepper

2 C. chopped onion

1 carrot, thinly sliced

8 oz. cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 C. long-grain white rice

Cooking spray

1 C. fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth

1/4 C. water

3 T. heavy whipping cream

1/3 C. grated fress pecorino Romano cheese (I used parmesan)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Add 4 chicken thighs to pan; saute 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from pan. Repeat with remaining chicken.

3. Add onion and carrot to pan; saute 4 min. Add mushrooms; saute 5 min. Add garlic; saute 1 min. Spoon rice mixture into a 13 x 9 in. baking dish coated with cooking spray; stir in broth, water, and cream. Arrange chicken over rice mixture; sprinkle with cheese. Bak at 350 degrees for 45 min. or until chicken is done. Yield: 4 servings.

My take: I really liked this. It's like a twist to the basic chicken and rice recipe, but I like this one more. The parmesan cheese added a new flavor, and I liked the overall flavor mixture. I thought parmesan worked great in place of the Romano cheese. I'd definitely make this recipe again.

Turkey Wraps

*From Boar's Head ad*

1 lb turkey breast

1/2 lb swiss cheese, sliced

1 med avocado, sliced

4 leaves red leaf lettus

1/4 C. roasted red peppers, coarsely chopped

1 med tomato, sliced

14 oz. garbanzo beans

2 T. lemon juice

4 whole wheat tortillas (8-in)

In a food processor, puree the beans with the peppers and lemon juice until a smooth but somewhat chunky consistency. Spread puree onto the tortillas and a lettuce leaf. Add 2 slices tomato, followed by 3 slices of avocado. Add the turkey breast and Swiss cheese. Fold and wrap. Cut each wrap in half to serve.

My take: These were pretty good. The best part was that the tortilla package had directions on how to wrap "wraps," so I was excited to know how to do this! I didn't love this recipe, but it was easy enough. Not sure if I would ever make it again...I didn't feel like there was enough flavor. I'm more of a ranch wrap type of girl.