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:

Gluten free Banana Bread Muffins

Since I feel I was successful in my baking endeavors this week, I thought I would post the recipe I used to make my muffins. I know this recipe comes from a cookbook, but I don't know what cookbook because the recipe I have is just a copy from the book. Perhaps my honey will tell me what book it came from if I ask him.

Banana Bread
2 Cups of Brown Rice Flour or any combination of gluten free flours
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (all-spice works well here too if you don't have nutmeg)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 5 medium or 3 large)
1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cooking oil (I used olive oil, but any vegetable based oil would work with the exception of peanut)
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used shredded coconut, but any nut would work)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of one 9x5x3 inch or two 7 1/2x3 1/2x2 inch loaf pans, or two muffin tins with 12 muffin cups apiece (if you do muffins, just use the paper muffin cups - saves time and grease). In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl combine eggs, bananas, sugar, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (Batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan(s).

3. For the larger loaf pan: bake in a 350 degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
For the two loaf pans: bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Muffins: Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Now The Fun Begins

I have been freed somewhat from my strict diet! I can now enjoy tomatoes, beef, and eggs. I know there are some people who think that is still very restrictive, but having those three items back in my diet open a world of new possibilities! You just have to take time to think about it.

For example, there are eggs. Eggs are versatile little things and can be used to make lots of things. You can just cook them up and eat them or you can use them in a lot of recipes and other things as well. I have made my own chicken strips in the past and one of the crucial things was the egg\milk wash, so now that I can have eggs I can combine them with my almond milk and make the egg\milk wash. And I can make my breading from buckwheat flour, nuts, and herbs. I then pan fry the chicken in olive oil or bake it.

With the tomatoes I can now add more to my turkey burgers and I can have salsa! One of my favorite things to eat is salsa chicken. I take a chicken breast and cook it part of the way on the stove and then I put some salsa on top of it and then finish cooking it in a 350 degree oven for about twenty minutes and it is delish! So I get to have that again! YAY!

I have never been a huge red meat eater so having beef back in my diet isn't really going to impact me much other than I can now have a beef burger if I go out to order one. I can also use ground beef in my tacos at home when I make tacos. I also make these fabulous meatballs so I can use ground beef in those too even though I usually prefer ground turkey!

Well, I will update on how my attempt at my chicken strips went as I plan to make those tonight! Have a great day everyone!

I am back and ready to cook!

Hello, everyone! I am back and better than ever! After two months of recovery from foot surgery, I am ready and itching to cook again! The last few days I have been thinking about what to cook and I have settled on a few things. First up will be some recipes that are common among the Amish from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. I am a huge admirer of the Amish and love how they cook and use everything and never waste! I recently purchased a book of Amish recipes compiled by Beverly Lewis, an author who writes fictional stories about the Amish. Needless to say, I am slightly addicted to her novels! I have read just about everything she has written.

These recipes come from her grandmother who was raised in an Old Order Mennonite home and the author herself grew up in Amish country, so she knows what she is talking about.

So, watch the blog over the course of the next week as I start cooking. The only difference between me and the Amish is I will be using modern kitchen tools. Happy cooking, everyone!

Where Most Recipes Come From

I wanted to point everyone's attention to the Widget I just added to my blog. It is from Rachael Ray's website for her magazine, "Everyday With Rachael Ray." I am an avid reader of her magazine and get most of my recipes from her magazine. I have added this particular widget because it highlights the particular section of her magazine and website I pull my recipes from. In her magazine every month, she has an insert that has 7 days worth of dinner recipes in it. This insert even has a shopping list you can take with you to the store, so I take the list and get everything I need in one trip! With this widget, you can look up all of the different Weekly Dinners they have featured over the years! Happy eating!