Asian lettuce wraps. Everyone loves them. It’s crazy how something so simple looking can pack in so much intense flavor. So, cook up a batch, sit down with a large pile of napkins, and enjoy!
Want to know my little secret? Make extras. The leftovers are just as tasty 🙂
Another secret? I make it into a salad of sorts – chopped up lettuce, some steamed rice, and the filling all drizzled with some of the dipping sauce. It’s a little less messy than eating it burrito-style.
Lettuce Wraps serves 4
1 pound lean ground pork
1 large or 2 small heads Boston Bibb/butter lettuce
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons minced ginger root
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Sriracha or other Asian chile sauce
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained and minced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons sesame oil
For dipping sauce:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sriracha or other Asian chile sauce
 Carefully remove leaves from lettuce head. Rinse and pat dry. Set aside.
In a non-stick skillet over high heat, brown ground pork. Stirring often. Drain and set aside.
Add onion to pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger vinegar, and Sriracha and stir, cooking for another minute. Stir in water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil and cooked pork. Continue to cook for 2 more minutes.
Combine dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
To serve, spoon a portion of the meat onto a lettuce leaf, wrap up like a burrito and enjoy with the dipping sauce!
TGIF!! Even though I’m loving my rotation in school food service, I’m still so so so very happy that it’s Friday. So, here are my Friday Favorites for this week.
Favorite Fitness Must Have: Garmin Forerunner 910XT with HRM. Ok, calling this $450 fancy watch a “must have” is a bit of a stretch. Maybe I should say it’s a “Lust Have” instead. The watch is seriously awesome. The price is a little steep for a student budget, though. Eh, maybe when I get out of school and find a job I can reward myself with one of these babies with my first paycheck.
image from runningwarehouse.com
Favorite Cold Treat: Kemp’s Java Chip Ice Cream. Oh boy. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this stuff. A bowl full of this + some espresso chocolate chip cookies = the best dinner ever.
Favorite Restaurant Meal Copy Cat: Burrito Bowls! I made these on a night where I had a craving for burritos. They were so good that we made them again the next night with different toppings. The best part? They were SO easy to make! Seriously, we put them together in the time it would have taken us to drive across town, wait in line, and drive back home. It’s an added bonus that they were so cheap to make, too! Now that’s my kind of meal – delicious, quick, and cheap.
Copy Cat Burrito Bowl
3 cups brown rice
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped, divided
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
Other optional toppings:
Sour cream
Jalapeños
Avocado
Queso
Hot sauce
Cook brown rice according to package directions. I use a rice cooker and use a 1 cup brown rice: 2 cups water ratio. When rice is cooked, mix with 1/4 cup cilantro, lime zest and lime juice.
Meanwhile, mix chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and oregano together and sprinkle generously over chicken breasts.
 Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over high heat. Cook chicken until cooked through. Remove to cutting board and chop.
In a separate bowl, make the pico de gallo. Combine tomatoes, 1/4 cup cilantro, red onion, salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
To assemble: place rice in bowl and top with black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, and any other toppings you desire. Enjoy!
Before I went to bed on Friday I checked the weather for Saturday at 8 am. 4°F and an inch or so of fresh snow on the ground. I had an 8 mile run scheduled and I couldn’t decide which was worse: running for 8 miles in the unbearable cold or 8  miles on the dreadmill.
I woke up Saturday at 6:45 and checked the weather as I ate my pre-run Greek yogurt. Currently -6°F and 1°F at 8:00 am. I grumped around the house until 7:30 when I decided to just suck it up and at least try. Worst case scenario? I run the shortest loop with the running group (4 miles) and run the other 4 at the Y.
I quickly searched the world wide web for guidance on what to wear. I normally peek at the Runner’s World What to Wear Running App, but that never seems to work out for me. And guess what? There aren’t a whole lot of people out there talking about running in the cold. Some blogs talked about running in the “cold” where cold = 30°F. Pfft! To me, that’s nice running weather.
So, what did I end up wearing and how did it work?
Basically, I looked ridiculous. It turns out that I dressed pretty darn well for the weather. I was cold at first, but warmed up after about 2 miles. I kept slipping the Wooly Mitts on and off. I think the only part of me that was a little too cold were my thighs. My shins were pretty well covered between the higher socks and my tights, but the tights alone were not enough for my legs! Maybe next time I’ll try compression shorts under the tights.
I’m proud to say that I made it the entire 8 miles in the cold. I might even dare to say that I was enjoying the cold by the end. Moral of the story? Get outside and just run; you will end up loving it 🙂
The best bet after a nice, cold run? A warm bowl of soup and a long, hot shower. Sick of the soup you’ve been slurping down? Try this Chinese Noodle Soup!
Noodle soup, or as my family calls it – noup. Inspired by a Kung Fu Panda viewing with my lovely family last Christmas.
Every bite of this put the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. It’s so hard to get us all together  now that we’re growing up. It’s little things like this that bring joy into my life (and my stomach). It’s just a bonus that this is soup-er (har har) easy to throw together!
I entered this into  fellow blogger Branny Boils Over‘s Souper Bowl, Round 2 fundraiser. For every entry she receives, she will donate $1.00 to the ASPCA. As a dog owner (and lover) I couldn’t resist.
Chinese Noodle Soup serves 6Â
8 ounces dried Chinese noodles
1 pound lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot chile sauce, such as Sriracha
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups thinly sliced bok choy
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks, for garnish
Cook noodles according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey, scallions, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, breaking up the turkey. Cook until turkey is no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Add broth, bok choy, soy sauce, vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and chile sauce to pot. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until bok choy is tender.
Return turkey to pot and stir to combine.
To serve, place noodles in bowl and top with broth. Garnish with cucumber and serve.
I tried boxing for the first time. Loved it! What a great stress reliever. I thought I was in shape since I work out 6 days a week between running, biking, strength, and Pilates, but I was not prepared for the oh-man-kill-me-now feeling I got during the boxing workout with Mike. Bring on the pain!
I did my first speedwork run. I ditched the half marathon training schedule I painstakingly wrote for myself and decided to try the FIRST program instead. I re-wrote my runs and incorporated my data from the McMillan Running Calculator to give me a training plan that spells out my training paces.
I drove in snow for the first time this winter. Ok, maybe it wasn’t the first time, but the other snowfalls didn’t count because they didn’t even stick for longer than a day. What’s up with that, WI?
I watched my first episode of Dance Moms: Season 2. I love bad TV.
My last “first”? I participated in my first recipe swap! Read on for more info about it…
Usually the participants just gets another blogger’s recipe, but they shook it up a little this week: we each got a blog and had the freedom to make whatever we wanted from that blog! I got Fried Ice and Donut Holes and she has so many great recipes to choose from!! I spent over an hour looking at her blog before finally deciding on the dish I wanted to try. The luck recipe? Shrimp fra diavolo! It’s been on my “must cook” list for a while and I figured this was the perfect time to try it.
The dish turned out pretty darn good. Mike loved it; I think it could have been a little (ok, a lot) spicier. But hey, I’m weird and I love major heat in my food. Next time I’ll be crankin’ up the spiciness by adding a few more sprinkles of red pepper flakes to my portion!
1 pound whole wheat pasta
1 pound large, uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1-28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Fresh basil, for garnish
Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat olive on in a large skillet over medium heat.
Season shrimp with  salt and pepper. Add to skillet and saute for 1 minute. Turn shrimp and saute the other side until shrimp are cooked through and no longer translucent. Transfer shrimp to a separate plate.
Add onions to pan and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute for an additional minute. Add wine to pan to deglaze and allow to simmer for 1 minute.
Add tomatoes, red pepper, and oregano. Reduce heat to medium-low and let sauce simmer for 10 – 15 minutes, until reduced to your desired consistency.
Return shrimp to sauce and stir to coat.
Toss cooked pasta with sauce and shrimp. Garnish with basil and Parmesan cheese, if desired.
Trust me, the dish tastes as good as it sounds. And it’s so easy that even little ol’ me, an 8-to-5-employee-turned-dietetic-intern-with-no-spare-time-in-the-world, has time to make it! The complex flavors will blow you away. I was hoping to use this recipe as a main dish for my “theme meal” during my hospital food service rotation, but I was the unlucky intern that ended up with virtually no control over my own meal [[insert sad face]].
So, if I can’t share it with the staff, patients, and visitors of the hospital, I will share it with the rest of the world! I hope you love it as much as I do.
Wok-Stirred Curry-Ginger Chicken with Zucchini serves 4Â
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into 1-inch dice
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly minced ginger, divided
2 teaspoons Madras curry powder, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 medium onions, chopped
2 small zucchini, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
In a medium bowl, toss chicken with cornstarch. Mix to coat chicken completely. Set aside.
Heat a wok or large pan over medium heat, combine 2 tablespoons oil and 1/4 teaspoon ginger. Cook until ginger is fragrant. Add in 1 teaspoons curry powder and stir to combine. Increase heat to high and swirl oil in wok to coat the sides.
Add chicken and stir-fry until just cooked through, about 3 – 5 minutes.Season with salt and pepper. Remove chicken to a plate.
Repeat step 2 with remaining oil, ginger, and curry powder. Add onions and stir-fry until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add zucchini, season with salt and pepper, and stir-fry until the zucchini is tender, about 4 – 5 minutes.
Return chicken to wok, add broth, and bring to a boil, about 30 seconds. Stir, remove from heat and taste. Season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.
When life gives you a humongous roast, you might as well use it took cook up something delicious!
Slow cooker meals are my saving grace right now. The dietetic internship has been keeping me busy busy busy. I rarely have the energy to cook after a long day of school/work and then a workout. But slow cookers? I can prep the stuff the night before and shove it into the fridge and then have Mike start cooking it at around noon. I’m really digging this system, and it’s so convenient!
I skipped the soy sauce in the recipe below (didn’t have any… no idea how that happened!) and just tossed in about 4 sliced mushrooms instead for the umami that soy sauce lends. It turned out great and the sodium levels were cut even more!
French Dip Sandwiches makes 7 sandwichesÂ
1 medium yellow onion
3/4 cup low sodium beef broth
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/4 pound chuck roast, trimmed
salt and pepper to taste
7 sandwich rolls
7 slices provolone or Swiss cheese
Slice onions into 1/4″ rings and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add broth, soy sauce, water, Worcestershire sauce and garlic.
Salt and pepper all sides of the roast and place on top of the onions. Cook on low for 6 – 7 hours or until beef is fall-apart tender.
Transfer roast to a cutting board and shred with two forksReturn roast to crock pot.
Toast bread in oven until just browned. Remove tops of bread and set aside. Scoop beef onto sandwich bottoms and top with a slice of cheese. Heat in oven until cheese is just melted. Top with sandwich tops and serve with small bowls of jus.
I love meals that Mike and I can work on together. Translation – he can grill. I also love meals that are fairly easy to prep. Souvlaki was just that!
I served this with homemade pita bread and some Greek salad for the perfect meal. So, quick, give this meal a try before it gets too cold to grill! I swear we’re only a couple of weeks away from our first snow.
Souvlaki serves 6
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 – 3 pounds pork tenderloin, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 medium onions, cut into 1 inch pieces
2 green bell peppers, cut into 1 inch pieces
skewers
In a large non-reactive bowl, Â whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, soy sauce, oregano, and garlic.
Add pork, onions, and green pepper to the marinade and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.
Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
Thread pork, onion, and green peppers onto skewers.
Problem: Mike loves “Chinese” takeout. My stomach can;t handle the grease.
Solution: make it at home.
I made it this time with a lightly battered fried chicken, but I think next time I’ll skip the frying all together. It will 1) save time and 2) be just a tad bit healthier. Using low sodium chicken broth is absolutely essential. The sauce will be horribly salty if you don’t!!
So, give it a go. Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up opening your own Chinese restaurant…
General Tso’s Chicken serves 4
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 large egg white
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon soy sauce, divided
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breast, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for frying
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, minced
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Rice, for serving
In a medium bowl, combine sesame oil, egg white, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn starch. Add chicken, stirring to coat. Let stand at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine chicken broth with chile-garlic sauce, sugar, and 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1 tablespoon cornstarch.
In a large, deep skillet, heat 1/2 inch of oil until shimmering. Carefully add the chicken, one piece at a time and fry over high heat, turning once or twice, until brown and crisp, about 4 minutes.
Remove cooked chicken to paper towels to drain and immediately add to the sauce with the scallions. Cook until just coated, about 30 seconds.
After making spanakopita, I was left with a mostly full container of ricotta. I had bookmarked this recipe a while ago and decided to give it a try. After all, I needed to use the rest of the ricotta up! I loved the way this dish turned out. It’s a sweet tomato sauce and the creaminess of the baked ricotta goes perfectly with it. Give it a try – it won’t disappoint!
Penne with Tomato Sauce and Baked Ricotta
1 15-ounce container part-skim ricotta, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
salt and pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 pound whole wheat penne
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
fresh basil, torn
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place ricotta in 9″ cake pan and press down to a 1-inch thick disk. Rub with 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes and then set aside to cool.
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 – 5 minutes.
Add tomatoes to onion and garlic and let simmer for 15 minutes. . Season with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar.
Top cooked pasta with sauce, ricotta, basil and Parmesan cheese.
Explosion of flavor. Seriously. I had no idea that so much awesomeness could exist on a pizza.
This pie was definitely a labor of love. I spent all day making the pizza sauce and the crust and then carefully topping everything so that it was just right. And even though it took a while to make, I am definitely going to be making it again! Perhaps I’ll skip the canned tomatoes and use tomatoes from the garden (if they ever decide to ripen)…
I seriously don’t even know how to explain the sweetness of the pizza sauce paired with the tangy goat cheese and sweet, caramelized onions… so, just try it for yourself!
Short on time? No problem – feel free to use some pizza dough mix to speed up the process. I would definitely recommend making the sauce, though; it’s super quick and easy.
Here are some tips:
Make sure to pierce the dough all over with a fork. Alllll over. And then bake for 5 minutes to prevent it from getting all soggy later.
Make the sauce from scratch! It’s super easy and it tastes so much better than the store-bought stuff.
Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese Pizza
Pizza dough (see recipe below)
1 1/2 cups pizza sauce (see recipe below)
4 ounces goat cheese
1 large bulb roasted garlic, mashed with a fork
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Basil chiffonade, optional
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook for 10 – 15 minutes, or until onions are caramelized. Deglaze pan with balsamic vinegar. Set onions aside.
Roll out pizza dough into a rectangle approximately 12″x17″. Brush crust lightly with olive oil and bake for 5 minutes to slightly crisp up.
Spread pizza sauce on the crust. Sprinkle with roasted garlic and caramelized onions. Top with crumbled goat cheese.
Bake until crust is golden brown and crispy. Remove from oven and top with a basil chiffonade.
Pizza Dough makes 1 large pizza
3 cups all purpose flour
1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup warm water (~110°F)
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Fit stand mixer with dough hook. Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in mixing bowl. Pour in oil and water.
Beat on low (speed 2) until dough pulls away from side of bowl and gathers around hook. Mix until smooth and elastic.
Roll dough out to fit large pizza pan and pierce with a fork. Brush with olive oil and bake for 5 minutes before topping with desired ingredients.
Bake at 375°F for about 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and crispy.
DoughSeeDough 