Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Thai Lettuce Wraps from Cheesecake Factory are my favorite dish to get when we go out! I don't even need the cheesecake for dessert when I get these! Unfortunately, my husband is allergic to peanuts so I do not have the option to remake them in their entirety at home. Based on several "top secret" recipes found online I have tweaked them to our tastes. Use which ever ingredients you think would taste best!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

serves 4

Ingredients

6-8 Boston Lettuce Leaves

Thai Chicken Satay (recipe below)

2 medium Carrots, julienned
1 large Red Bell Pepper, julienned

1 bag Bean Sprout3

1/2 package egg based Asian noodles, or whatever you find at your market

Thai Marinaded Cucumbers (recipe below)

Sweet Red Chili Sauce, I like A Taste of Thai

Remove the hard stems from the bottom of each leaf of lettuce. Wash and dry the leaves and arrange in a group on a larger platter. If you have any leftover leaves feel free to fill with the carrots, peppers, and other toppings, makes a really nice presentation! Start building the wraps by placing a piece of chicken, your choice of toppings and sauce. Fold the leaf in half and enjoy! They tend to be very juicy, have plenty of napkins on hand! 

Thai Marinated Cucumbers

Ingredients

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red pepper flake

1 large cucumber – seeded and cut into 1/8 inch slices
1/2 red onion thinly sliced

Combine the vinegar, sugar, water, salt, and pepper in a small pan. Cook over a medium heat, stirring until it boils and the sugar is dissolved. Place cucumber and onion in a bowl and pour hot marinade over the top, stirring to coat. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours, the longer they sit the better they get! These are also really awesome on fish tacos!

Thai Chicken Satay

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 Bamboo skewers (10-12 inches), soaked in water for prep time

Cut chicken into 3/4″ strips. Marinate in the soy sauce, lime juice, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a bowl for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours. Weave the chicken strips onto each skewers, until only about 1 inch of skewer is left uncovered with chicken. Grill the skewers over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, turning halfway through the grilling.

Mushroom and Chicken Orichette

This dish is a staple in our house, some people may turn to cereal on nights they don't want to fuss in the kitchen, I turn to this. It is an easy meal, and there are no end to ways to sub out ingredients for what you have on hand. Use defrosted shrimp in place of chicken, add some spinach, spring vegetables would make a nice prima vera. If you don't have wine or choose not to cook with wine it comes out just as good. The recipe below is based on my measurements, it is not perfect, it even gets better with tweaking. Its an easy recipe to make your own, and impress friends and family!

 

Mushroom and Chicken Orichette
Ingredients
Serves 2

1 boneless chicken breast, split
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbs butter
pinch red pepper flake
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 lb Orichette pasta, cooked (any small shape works well)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
fresh chopped parsley (optional)
grated Parmesan cheese(optional)

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook chicken, you want it to be golden on the outside. Remove chicken from the pan, slice and reserve. Add the remaining olive oil and butter to the pan. Once butter melts add the garlic and red pepper flake. Once garlic is starting to become golden, add mushroom. When mushroom are cooked add sliced chicken back to the pan, turn heat up to medium high and add wine. Cook about 3 minutes, then add the cooked pasta and toss to coat. Serve with parsley and cheese if desired.

Stir Fry

Read any magazine and they will tell you that stir fry is the quickest and easiest way to use up the leftovers in your fridge. This is a complete lie. Unless you somehow have all the needed pre-sliced veggies, prepared chicken, rice and other fixings you will be prepping for at least 15 minutes before you begin cooking! Luckily I did happen to have some left over rotisserie chicken to use, but the veggies, well they take a while to chop up! Creating same sized pieces tends to relax me after a hectic day, something I am sure I am alone in. So if you have some free time handy this is a wonderful dish to make!

Glistening soy goodness!

Stir Fry
serves 3-4

Ingredients
1lb cooked Chicken or leftover meat from a Rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 Red Bell Pepper, julienned
1/2 medium Sweet Onion, julienned
2 stalks Celery, julienned
1-2 medium Carrots, julienned
1/2 box Mushrooms, sliced
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Canola or Vegetable Oil
1 pinch Red Pepper Flake
1 tsp freshly grated Ginger
1/4 cup Sesame garlic Asian sauce (I used Simply Enjoy, from Stop & Shop)
1/2 package Stir Fry Noodles
Sesame Seeds for garnish

In a wok or skillet heat 1 Tablespoon over medium-high heat, add all julienned vegetables and red pepper flake cook until tender crisp, or done to your liking. Add ginger, garlic, mushrooms, and cooked chicken, heat through. Add sauce and toss to coat. Serve over stir fry noodles or rice and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Chicken and Sausage Cassou-Lazy!

Thanks to Healthy Delicious for sharing the wonderful recipe for Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage and Turkey. I have made some slight changes due to my pantry missing ingredients, I would recommend using what you have on hand to save a trip to the store and some money! I have listed my changes to the recipe below.

While talking about this dinner a friend pointed out that this is not a genuine French Cassoulet (oh la la) and I should not call it that on my blog. He dubbed it Cassou-Lazy. I was going to argue with him (this dish takes some work after all) but I looked into what a cassoulet really is and was quite surprised.  The Internet told me that a traditional French cassoulet is a slow cooked peasant food with white beans, tomatoes, ham, pork sausage, and duck. It would cook in the fire for up to 3 days using any scraps they had left over. Three days!! Well there is no way I have time for that! This dinner only takes about 1 1/2 hours. I was even able to make sausage and peppers for another night using the left over ingredients from it! Cassou-Lazy it is!

Two dishes in one night means less work later!

 Cassoulet with White Beans, Sausage & Chicken

2 links sweet Italian sausage, taken out of casings

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

1 carrot, diced 

6 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped (or a large can of plum tomatoes, drain and save sauce for another time)

1 sprig fresh rosemary, chopped 

2 springs fresh thyme, chopped 

1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes

1 can Cannelini beans

4 ounces roasted chicken thighs, rough dice

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1 Tbs olive oil

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook through. Remove the sausage, leaving the drippings in the pan. Add the garlic and onion and cook in the sausage drippings until they begin to soften — about 5 minutes, add more oil if needed. Add the carrot and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, rosemary, thyme, and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally to help break down the tomatoes, for about 10 minutes. Stir in the beans.

Spoon half of the tomato and bean mixture into a 3 quart casserole dish or dutch oven. Scatter the turkey and sausage over it, then top with the remaining beans. Sprinkle the bread crumbsover the top, then drizzle with olive oil.

Bake for 60 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and the bread crumbs have browned (if necessary, you can put it under the broiler for 5 minutes at the end to help brown the breadcrumbs). Let sit for 15 minutes prior to serving.

mmmm look at those crunchy breadcumbs!

This dinner was so good I wish you could be here to taste it! This is a warm you to the bones, delicious, crowd pleasing dish to be shared with friends and loved ones. I will be making this all winter long, you can call me Cassou-Crazy!

Feeling under the weather or just need to warm up?

An easy to make chicken soup! We call this one the "Get Well Sooner Soup" around here!

Ingredients:

Olive oil

2 Carrots, medium dice

2 Stalks Celery, medium dice

1/2 Yellow Onion, small dice

2 cloves Garlic, minced

Pinch Red pepper flake

1/4 tsp Oregano

2 quarts chicken stock

1/2 cup crushed tomatoes

1/2 cup frozen corn

1 can cannelini beans, drained

2 cups chopped roast chicken

1 cup small cooked pasta of your choice

salt and pepper

Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Add onion and celery, cook for 5 minutes then add garlic and red pepper flake. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until softened. Add the tomatoes and chicken broth, scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the pot. When broth starts to simmer add corn, beans, and chicken. Heat through until hot. When ready to serve add pasta. If you are making this to freeze do not add pasta, it soaks up too much of the stock. Add salt and pepper to taste! Serve with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

If you are feeling under the weather I will sometimes add more garlic and red pepper flake! Always makes me feel better! And if you know someone feeling ill, cheer them up with some of this and send along a free package of Get Well Kleenex!