Recently, my wife has gotten me on the band wagon of eating better so I can loose some weight.  I recently had lettuce wraps at Saul Good in Lexington.  They were really good and I wanted to make something similar at home.  I found a couple recipe’s and decided to combine them for a light lettuce wrap meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium carrots, peeled and finely diced
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
• 1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely diced
• 1/4 head of fresh cabbage sliced in thin strips
• 3 scallions (white and green parts), thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons grated or finely minced fresh ginger
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 to 1.5 lb. chicken breast
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup Chinese plum sauce
• 2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon hot chili paste
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted cashews, chopped
• 1 head iceberg lettuce

Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat and put 2 tablespoons of oil in the skillet.  Put the chicken breasts in the skillet, browning both sides.  Once both sides are browned, cover with a lid and lower the heat to medium-low until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the chicken and allow to cool.  Once cooled, chop the chicken into fine pieces.

Increase the heat on the skillet to medium high.  Add enough oil to the skillet to coat.  Once the oil begins to smoke, add the carrots, celery, bell pepper, water chestnuts, cabbage, scallions, ginger, garlic, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 5 – 8 mintes, or until vegetables are soft.  Once the vegetables get soft, add the chopped chicken back and reheat with the vegetables for a minute.  Then add the plum sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili paste to the skillet.  Stir to mix in with the vegetables and chicken.  Once everything is thoroughly coated, remove from the heat.  Dish the vegetables into a bowl and cover with the cashews.

Clean the lettuce and break off enough individual leaves for the meal.  Serve the chicken and vegetables in the individual lettuce cups.

Makes a wonderful low calorie/healthy meal!

http://www.kentucky.com/698/story/505555.html

Pixie Stick martini

3/4 ounce DeKuyper Island Punch Pucker (formerly Island Blue Pucker)

3/4 ounce DeKuyper Grape Pucker

3/4 ounce vodka

Splash of sour mix

Splash of 7-Up

Serve chilled in a martini glass garnished with a slice of orange. Makes 1 serving.

1 lb Velveeta Cheese
1/2 C Beer (dark beer is best, I think)
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
2 t garlic powder
Cayenne Pepper and/or Frank’s Hot Sauce to taste.

I usually use a lot of Cayenne and not very much Frank’s (maybe a tablespoon of Frank’s). I like my beer cheese really hot. I blend it altogether in a food processor.

This is a collection of our favorite margarita recipes.

The Best Fresh Margaritas
From Cooksillustrated.com
* 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
* 1/2 cup lime juice from 2 to 3 medium limes
* 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 1/2 cup lemon juice from 2 to 3 medium lemons
* 1/4 cup superfine sugar
* Pinch table salt
* 2 cups crushed ice
* 1 cup 100 percent agave tequila, preferably reposado
* 1 cup Triple Sec

1. Combine lime zest and juice, lemon zest and juice, sugar, and salt in large liquid measuring cup; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until flavors meld, 4 to 24 hours.
2. Divide 1 cup crushed ice between 4 or 6 margarita or double old-fashioned glasses. Strain juice mixture into 1-quart pitcher or cocktail shaker. Add tequila, Triple Sec, and remaining crushed ice; stir or shake until thoroughly combined and chilled, 20 to 60 seconds. Strain into ice-filled glasses; serve immediately.

The Best Party Margaritas

This recipe was handed down from friends and I modified by added juice and removing some water.

12oz Can Frozen Lime-Aid     (1 Can)
12 oz Tequila (preferrably gold)  (1 Can)
4 oz Triple Sec  (1/3 Can)
6 oz Juice (Orange, Pineapple, or tropical blend)  (1/2 Can)
28 oz Water  (2 1/2 Cans)

1. Combine all ingredients and stir.  Note the amounts of each ingredient.  I use the original can from the lime-aid to measure everything and eyeball the triplesec as 1/3 of a can.  The water becomes 2 1/2 cans of water and 1/2 can of the juice of choice.
2. Salt Glasses using lime juice and kosher salt.

Recently made tomato soup for my family the other night from a recipe based off of the Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup from cooksillustrated.com.  For a family who is mostly lactose intolerant, this was a wonderful soup which I plan to tweak over time.

The basic soup recipe is as follows:

1/4 cup   extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1      medium  onion , chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3      medium  garlic cloves , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
Pinch  hot red pepper flakes (optional)
1      bay leaf
2      (28-ounce) cans  whole tomatoes packed in juice
1      tablespoon  brown sugar
3      large slices  good-quality sandwich bread , crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2      cups  low-sodium chicken broth
2      tablespoons  brandy (optional, required in my opinion)

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion, garlic, red pepper flakes (if using), and bay leaf. Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and their juice. Using potato masher, mash until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain. Stir in sugar and bread; bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until bread is completely saturated and starts to break down, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaf.

2. Transfer half of soup to blender. Add 1 tablespoon oil and process until soup is smooth and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and repeat with remaining soup and oil. Rinse out Dutch oven and return soup to pot. Stir in chicken broth and brandy (if using). Return soup to boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve soup in individual bowls. Sprinkle each portion with pepper and chives and drizzle with olive oil.

My first tweak on this recipe will be to add some dried chipolte pepper to get a smokey spicy tomato soup.  Don’t know if the rest of the family will like it, but I bet I will!!!!

After a nice day of hiking in Red River Gorge, I am preparing one of our favorite dinners.  Sirloin Taco’s with homemade salsa and brown rice.  I happened to run across this recipe when I was looking for a nice dinner to prepare some friends coming to visit us. I found the sirloin taco & roasted tomato salsa recipe through a google search on a new website I had never run across called Taunton.  I new I wanted rice to go along with it and I have been a huge fan of Alton Brown’s baked brown rice recipe.  Anyway, thought I would share the recipe’s with you.

Sirloin Tacos

by Robb Walsh

how to make

From Fine Cooking 73, pp. 65

Roasted Tomato Salsa

by Robb Walsh

how to make

From Fine Cooking 73, pp. 65

Baked Brown Rice

Alton Brown

ingredients

1 1/2 cups brown rice, medium or short grain
2 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt

how to make

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.Place the rice into an 8-inch square glass baking dish.

Bring the water, butter, and salt just to a boil in a kettle or covered saucepan. Once the water boils, pour it over the rice, stir to combine, and cover the dish tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 1 hour.

After 1 hour, remove cover and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.