I really really liked the Asian lettuce wraps I made the other day, but thought I could improve on the recipe. This is the newer version, it's made with ground meat as well, but this time I didn't use pre-cooked. It was even better than the first batch in my opinion and some of the left over meat made a fabulous egg scramble for breakfast a day or two later…

Ingredients:

• 1tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 lb ground meat, I used beef, but pork or poultry would also work
• 2 lg. cloves of garlic, minced
• ½ small onion, finely chopped
• ½-1 tsp. red pepper flakes, use more or less depending on your heat preference
• 1-2 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp. peanut butter
• Lettuce, whatever your favorite is romaine is wonderful crunchy, while butter is soft and flexible
• Bean sprouts and toasted cashews * optional*

Method:

1. Melt oil in large skillet add pepper flakes and heat.
2. Add onions and garlic and sauté until tender
3. Add ground meat, cook until no longer pink
4. Add fish sauce, chili sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, rice vinegar and peanut butter, sauté a minute or two
5. Add bean sprouts, turn off the heat and let "rest" a few minutes.

Serve warm with toasted cashew or favorite nuts, fresh crisp veggie sticks or cauli-rice if you like.

I was clearly out of bean sprouts, but it was wonderful just the same

I'd been cooking all evening trying to get us ready to get back on track come Monday. I wasn't up to cooking much in the way of dinner. So I pulled out a bag of pre-cooked ground meat from my freezer. See why I love freezer cooking so much! I popped the bag in a bowl and set it in the sink with cool water running over it for a quick thaw, while I was cleaning up from some of the other cooking I was doing. When I got finished with the other things I was doing, my ground meat had thawed.

I can envision all kinds of other ingredients that would be good in this, but this is what I had on hand. I've never had Asian lettuce wraps but they always sounded so good to me. This is my take on it and boy it was good. I will be fixing this again for sure, with bean sprouts and ginger next time I hope…giggle. Hope you enjoy too.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 cups pre-cooked ground meat with garlic and onions
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. fish sauce
• ½ tbsp. chili garlic sauce
• ½ tbsp. peanut butter
• Optional: 1-2 drops sweetzfree or 1 tsp sweetening power
• Crisp lettuce leaves, I use romaine

Method:

1. Heat oil in skillet
2. Add red pepper flakes into the hot oil and give it a quick stir to flavor oil.
3. Add precooked ground meat, mine had onions and garlic already cooked in.
4. Stir in the soy sauce, fish sauce, chili garlic sauce and peanut butter and sweetener if using.
5. Serve with crisp lettuce leaves

Other optional ingredients:

Fresh grated ginger, toasted sesame oil, hoisin sauce (low carb if can find),toasted cashews, green onions or bean sprouts.

We've all been there, it's the end of the week, you're out of groceries and it's time for dinner. You need something quick and easy you can put together without having to go to the store. Stir-fry is your answer. You can use any protein source you have, add whatever bits and pieces of veg you have in the fridge and add in some of those frozen ones stashed in the freezer. In less than 30 minutes you have a hot healthy dinner on the table and very little clean up too boot.

I went to my chill box as Alton Brown calls it and the first thing I saw was a package of smoked sausage. I keep this on hand for flavoring dishes or for sausage and sauerkraut. Someone had used part of it, but there was plenty left over. Since tomorrow is grocery day, I had cleaned the fridge out while making my grocery list. NO Leftovers. However, I had some fresh veggies in the veg draw.

I grabbed everything and started chopping. With a sharp knife it doesn't take any time at all. However, when cooking a stir-fry it goes very fast so have all your prep work done before you begin. Heat your pan add your bacon. The fat rendered from the bacon is more than enough for the whole dish, but if you feel it's too dry add a little more oil or a few spoons full of water.

Sausage Stir Fry

(Serves 2)

Ingredients:

• 2-6 slices bacon, diced
• 4 oz smoked sausage, cut into bite sized pieces
• Cabbage, sliced very thinly
• Onion, sliced very thin
• ½ Green pepper, cut into bite sized slices
• ½ Yellow squash, cut into thin pieces
• 1 cup frozen stir-fry veggies ( mine had broccoli, carrots, red pepper, mushrooms, water chestnuts, and snow peas)
• ½ cup frozen broccoli
• Red pepper flakes, I used a tsp. in all, but use what you like
• Salt and pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten

Method:

1. Prep all foods, cut meat and veggies and run frozen veg under hot water to thaw. Let drain well.
2. Render fat from bacon
3. Add sausage and cook till heated and starting to crisp around edges
4. Add ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
5. Add peppers and squash, cook until pepper is tender crisp, stirring the whole while
6. Season
7. Add cabbage and onions, cook down, stirring the whole while
8. Season
9. Add frozen veggies and let heat through, stirring the whole while
10. Season
11. At this point, you have a choice, either add eggs and finish off or mix a sauce and add it instead. This time I went with the eggs.
12. Pour over eggs or sauce depending on what you chose. Stir until eggs are set or sauce has had a chance to flavor everything.
13. Serve up immediately.

Can top with bean sprouts or toasted cashews, but I just went plain this time. The important thing is to use veggies your family will enjoy, but if your sneaky you can add a surprise or two, and no one will be the wiser.

If you elect for a sauce instead of the eggs, a quick and simple sauce is to mix soy sauce, dry sherry, fresh grated ginger, 1-2 cloves crushed garlic, a little fish sauce or toasted sesame oil. It doesn't take much sauce to flavor everything, so don't get carried away.

Enjoy!

So tonight was the last of the chicken.  Not bad I would say.  I grilled chicken and to 3 completely different dinners from it.

Serves 1-2

Ingredients:

• 1 precooked chicken breast, cubed
• 2 slices of bacon, diced
• 1 cup frozen stir fry veggies, thawed
• a little onion, slices very thin
• a few slices of red pepper
• mushroom
• bean sprouts
• I pkg shirataki noodles, washed and drained well,

Preparations:

1. Place your well washed and drained shirataki noodles in food processor or mini chopper and pulse until you get a fine grind similar to rice.
2. Saute the bacon until starting to brown, add frozen veggies turn up the heat and stir fry, you don't want mushy veggies.
3. Season with salt and pepper as you go.
4. Add in fresh veggies, and chicken
5. When well heated. Place in a bowl, keeping warm.
6. Add 1 tsp. coconut oil to the hot pan and then add noodles. Salt well. Stir fry until they start browning a little.
7. Mix back in the meat and veggie and stir until hot and well mixed.
8. Serve with chop sticks, soy sauce and fish sauce.  The fish sauce gives it such a wonderful full flavor, please don't leave out.