Chicken and Potato Lettuce Wraps

Delicious, refreshing, light, and fun!  Yes, these truly are!  So it is about 107 outside, and I wanted to do lunch with a friend...  I'm also on a budget these days (all play and no work makes for poor Danielle).  Anyway, solving the problem was more than simple with this delicious recipe!  Its a potatoy-chickeny salad, and probably not like any other potato salad or chicken salad you have had before  :)  Yum!

So it is definitely warm outside and this recipe does use the oven, but the results are sooo worth it!  The basics:  peel, cut and roast 4 or 5 russet potatoes (depending on their size), fry up 3 or 4 strips of bacon (depending on how much scrumptious you want), and poach 2 breasts or 4 tenderloins of chicken (depending on what you have in the freezer). 
 

Okay, while all of those ingredients are cooking away, chop up about half of a small yellow onion, one large stalk of celery and two cloves of garlic.  Dice them pretty fine, as they are going into your salad raw, and the last thing you want is a large bite of onion!  Put them into a bowl that is big enough to mix all of your ingredients.  Now add about 3/4 cup of light mayo, 2tsp mustard, 2tsp apple cider vinegar, 1tsp rubbed sage, 1tbsp dried parsley (or fresh if you have it!), and 1tbsp paprika.  Mix it all together now!

Excellent!  Now you are ready to crumble your scrumptious bacon and add it, plus your chicken and potatoes to the mixture!  Now, we could put this on bread, but I feel like that would just be overload... (I could go for a nice crusty bread and smear this on... but I have a better idea! And really, why use light mayo if you aren't going to go light the whole way...)  Get out a large head of romaine or other big leafy lettuce and make lettuce wraps!  Now it is the perfect light and healthy lunch!  :D

White Bean Cassoulet

Okay.  I have a confession.  I watch the FoodNetwork pretty much all the time, but there are very few shows I actually record.  So what do I record?  Well, if Alton Brown had every show, I would probably then record every show... but he only has Good Eats, so therefore, I record Good Eats.  Hmmm what else?  Well, I record 10 Dollar Dinners with Melissa d'Arabian.  Why?  Well, I have to admit I can't ever seem to get my meals completely as cheap as her, but I definitely come close, and she is also totally my type of cook.  I can't tell you how many times I have watched her show and thought to myself "I just did that yesterday," or, "I think she took that from my head just now..." and so on.  You get the picture.

Anyway, so this recipe is one of the few recipes that I have tried without editing anything of my own.  I truly stuck to her amounts, times of cooking and ingredients and I must admit, it was delicious!  Sometimes, you just can't mess with the original.  So thank you Melissa.  (By the way, this recipe also got rave reviews from Heather, and if you know the relationship between my sister and I, you will know that we are incredibly critical of each other's cooking, so a rave review is a tough thing to attain!)

Weekday Cassoulet Recipe: Melissa d'Arabian

Fish Tacos!

I was grocery shopping for the week, and as I do before most shopping trips, I check my inventory.  Upon opening the freezer, I noticed just how much fish I had... lots of tilapia especially.  A few months back, I gave my first go at fish tacos (I had never even eaten them before), and I really enjoyed it.  However, I know that there are quite a few different ways you can get a fish taco, so I decided to put Fish Tacos Round Two on my weekly menu, and off I went to the store!

Fish tacos have lots of variety.  Last time I made them, it was broiled mahi-mahi with black beans, rice and an avocado-cream cheese spread.  This time, I decided to go for the popular breaded fish tacos.  Okay, here's my thoughts on breaded fish tacos:  why are they breaded when your bread is your tortilla?  Isn't it just added unnecessary carbs and fat?  I mean, when they are breaded, you fry them!  So for the deep-frying, greasy lovers out there, I can see the appeal, so I gave it a go...

First step:  breading/frying your fish.  Get out your three steps; flour one, egg wash, flour two.  Cut your fish into roughly 1-2oz pieces (a normal filet of tilapia cut in three chunks).  Also, I always mix a little salt and pepper into my flour for seasoning...  And then fry those pieces away in a heavy skillet, like a cast iron which is a personal favorite of mine.

While frying your fish to a beautiful golden brown, you can prepare your other ingredients...  I love black beans, plus they are probably the most healthy bean for you.  Throw them in a pot, put them on the stove and add some cumin, red pepper flakes and fresh cilantro, all to taste.  Make some spanish rice.  I now know that I have used spanish rice a few times as a side on this blog and I have yet to give my recipe... that will come the next time I make it (promise). 



Okay, the last few ingredients to a fish taco are some shredded cabbage and the taco sauce.  My first attempt of fish tacos was great, even though I forgot the cabbage completely, and I must say, the cabbage adds the perfect crunch!  Don't forget it!  Ok, and now for the taco 'sauce.'  I guess there is generally always some type of a sauce instead of salsa on fish tacos.  I have heard and seen on the internet that sometimes it is just your everyday tartar sauce...  PLEASE oh please don't tell me that is what you prefer!  Tartar sauce belongs in Long John Silver's in packets when we are talking fish tacos friends!  You need a white sauce, or a cilantro-lime-avocado-y sauce for a real delicious fish taco experience!

So my last attempt at making this sauce was really delicious... it was basically whipped cream cheese, an avocado, cilantro and lime.  This time I decided to take a sour cream approach and I must admit it was just as delicious, and I am not sure which I liked better...  anyway, mix together about a cup of sour cream, a whole avocado (minus the pit and skin obviously), the juice of a whole lime (and if it is not juicy enough, add the zest too), freshly minced cilantro and BAM, you have the perfect fish taco sauce/spread!

Now just stick it all together on a warmed tortilla (I prefer corn here, but most everyone in my family likes flour better so I sacrificed...), throw a movie in the tele and you are good to go!  We chose to watch Alice in Wonderland and it was the best Friday night I've had in a long time  :->

Left-over Vegetables!

By the way... You don't have to throw out those veggies that you just realized you hadn't eaten yet...  you know, the ones in your crisper drawer... the broccoli, squash, zucchini, bell peppers... My family decided to get some salad stuff for the week, though about Thursday we were ready to finish off our veggies.  In my stir-fry you can see baby bell peppers, broccoli, sprouts, mushrooms, snap peas, carrots and broccoli slaw.  (All of this stuff also goes great with pad thai if you want another Asian-influenced dish to use up some left-over veggies)

Simple solution: get a jar of teriyaki sauce from the store on your way home.  Get out your wok, dust it off, and throw it on the fire.  Chop those veggies, put a little oil in your wok, and saute them.  Put some rice in the rice cooker.  Add teriyaki sauce to your veggies at the last minute, toss them around and stick the lid on them until your rice is done. 

Serve the veggies over rice.  You forgot how easy and tasty a stir-fry is?  Oh, your husband needs meat?  Men just can't have a manly-meal without some manly-meat?  Alright, cook up some beef, chicken, pork, whatever you have in your freezer and bake them in the sauce in the oven.  Now you have a complete manly-meal  :)