Lettuce - Versatile Veggie

I am quickly becoming a fan of lettuce and using the leaves for wrapping. A favorite item people tend to like it the lettuce wraps that you can get at places like P.F. Changs and my new favorite place, The Spin Cafe.

Well, for dinner last night I wanted to have something similar. On Sunday I cooked some chicken in the crock pot and then shredded it for meals throughout the week. There should be an earlier blog post from 2010 or early 2011 explaining how to make my crock-pot shredded chicken, so if you want to make it, look it up.

So, I took some of the shredded chicken and added some chicken taco seasoning to it and then I made some black bean salsa (recipe below) and I took the chicken and put some chicken in a lettuce leaf and then I topped it with some black bean salsa and some regular salsa and then some Chipotle flavored Tabasco sauce. I then rolled it up and ate it! Yumness it was!

Tonight I am going to be making some roasted butternut squash and will probably be using the rest of my shredded chicken to supplement it! And so my boyfriend doesn't feel like he is going to starve, I will also be cooking him some whole wheat pasta to go with it as well.

See below for picture of the lettuce wraps and the recipe for the black bean salsa. The black bean salsa is very versatile. I use it for everything! It is good by itself, in soups, as a dip, in the wraps! Everything! And this recipe makes quite a bit, so be prepared for that.

Black Bean Salsa

2 cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of corn, rinsed and drained
1 can of diced tomatoes, rinsed and drained
1/2 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
Juice of one lime
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Add all of the ingredients to a medium to large sized bowl and mix together. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chips or other dippers. Refrigerate leftovers.


Black Bean Salsa and Seasoned Chicken Lettuce Wrap:

Pork and Beans But Different Like!

Last night I was a little on the ill side and just wanted something very comforting for dinner. My friend also came over too so this was the perfect opportunity to cook something warm and delicious.

I made Pork Chops with Stewed Cannelinni Beans (aka White Kidney Beans). Delicious it was! I really love new kitchen toys and last night I got to use two of new toys. This recipe had sliced onions and as you all know by now, onions and I are mortal enemies or were. I peeled the onion and through into my food processor -- all sliced in like four seconds! It was most awesome! I also got to use my new indoor grill for the pork chops. I loved that I was able to put them on the grill and didn't have to keep flipping them or what not. This allowed me to focus on making the beans.

The stewed beans actually had more in them than just the beans. There was also kale, onions, canned diced tomatoes, carrots, and garlic. This was very easy to make. I basically just heated some oil, added the garlic, and then the onions. I cooked the onions for about five minutes and then added the chopped kale, carrots, tomatoes and beans with about 1/4 cup of water and cooked them for about ten minutes until the kale was wilted through. After you serve the vegetables, you can season them with salt and pepper or you can do it while they are still cooking. What I love about these recipes is that you can mix things up, so this recipe would work well with just about any vegetable -- so long as you cut the pieces up small enough to cook all the way through or you can used canned vegetables too.

I will be posting links to all of these recipes next week, so hang tight if you have been wanting to try them! I just found out they will be available next week. Also, in the coming weeks I am going to try my hand at recipes that are designed for people with diabetes, heart issues, and other things like that as I have to change a few of my eating habits. So, I will be looking around for some new recipes to try that address those issues. Happy eating!

Pork Chop and Stewed Cannelinni Beans:

It Never Looks Like The Picture

Well, I am back after a day off. I Had a great time last night with my mother and my grandmother. We went to the BYU Museum of Art and visited the Carl Block exhibit! Awesome!

For tonight's dinner I made Bean Taquitos With Cucumber Salsa. This was a tasty meal but not a pretty one. My taquitos did not look like the way they do in the picture. The biggest issue I ran into was with the corn tortillas. Maybe I bought the wrong kind, but the kept falling apart in the pan. This is one of the main reasons I prefer flour tortillas when I cook with tortillas. Don't get me wrong, I think corn tortillas are tasty, just messy.

This recipe had a lemony sour cream on the side. I don't typically like sour cream really anyway, but surprisingly I didn't mind it in this recipe. I think in combination with the spicy beans and pepper jack cheese, the sour cream was a nice cool down. The cucumber salsa also helped tone down the acidic taste of the sour cream.

The cucumber salsa was something I was excited to try. I was not disappointed. I have never had cucumber in salsa. It was really good. Most people salt their cucumbers before eating, and so this just kind of took it up another step.

This recipe is definitely good for all kinds of people. Kids would like it because it is very simple and can be picked up with the fingers if need be. Vegetarians would like it because there is no meat in it, but it is definitely full of protein! This would also be good for people with other dietary needs, such as those who with gluten allergies. There is no gluten in this recipe, so it is safe for all.

With the leftovers, I plan to bake the rest of the corn tortillas and make some healthy nachos with the rest of the beans and cucumber salsa and pepper jack cheese. They will be delicious!


My not so pretty Bean Taquitos: