Week Of Leftovers Day Two: Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Today is day 2 of our Week of Leftovers and we are swooning over these Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps. They are the exact thing we are craving after a weekend of rich foods. Here's the recipe:


1 head of butter lettuce
1 cup shredded white meat turkey
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
12 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup each, chopped cilantro & mint

Place 2 lettuce leaves overlapping on your plate, fill with slaw, cilantro and mint. Garnish with lime wedges and serve with peanut dipping sauce.

Peanut Dipping Sauce

3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
3 tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 inch of fresh ginger (or 1 tsp powdered)
a splash or two of sesame oil

Mix all in a food processor until smooth.

We gobbled up three of these for dinner! They were so addicting and SO light. Our favorite Thai place makes wraps like these with ground turkey and tons of fresh herbs. That's where the inspiration for these came from. You could certainly use other types of large leafed lettuce, but I've found butter lettuce works best and it's so tender! Alternative you chop a ton of lettuce and layer everything salad style, which is what I did for with the leftovers (packed them in the DH's lunch box for the next day!).

They are also phenomenal as a meat free option, you could replace the meat with saute'd tofu or hearty mushrooms.

Welcome Angela, from Sing Dance Play Learn, to H.N.E!

**Here she is ladies and gentlemen. Allow Angela to share with you, this great gluten free muffin recipe that is perfect for baking with the kiddos! This is a recipe I am particularly fond of because I have a real sensitivity to gluten but I looove baked goods, especially with cream cheese frosting! I'd never tried a frosting like this without at least a pound of powered sugar, but I was both surprised and delighted with the results. It has a rich tanginess that works exceptionally well with the slightly sweet, nutty flavors of the muffin. We enjoyed them with tea and fruit for breakfast, but I bet they would go just as well with a nice cup of coffee as well. Even Mike, with his super sweet tooth didn't miss any of the added processed sugar!** 

When Eva invited me to be a guest on Her Name is Ed I knew this recipe was what I wanted to share.

Eva and I met through a mutual friend some years ago. We have a background in child development and a love of food in common. While cooking and working with children are very different interests, they do compliment each other quite well.

Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting was one of my favorite treats growing up. My mom’s recipe was wholesome and delicious. Whole-wheat flour, honey, crunchy, sweet carrots… Today, it’s one of the few things I really miss since going gluten-free.

Needless to say, I was super excited when I stumbled across a gluten-free carrot cupcake recipe. I thought about the changes I would make and decided to turn my carrot cake craving into a baking activity with my daycare kids. 

With Easter on the way, the timing was perfect. The kids eventually dubbed the cupcakes “Easter Bunny Cupcakes,” but they are in no way limited to Easter time. I see this recipe as a great choice for holidays, birthdays or  tea time.

I love this particular recipe because it has simple, real ingredients and is free of processed sugar. It’s a treat that doesn’t send the kids bouncing off the walls and is more carb-friendly than traditional cupcakes. 

Preparing food can teach kids so much. Besides the concept of how food is made and where it comes from, they learn about measurement, math and literacy. Pouring and stirring develop motor skills. The process can be (almost) as exciting as the feasting afterwards.

As luck would have it, it started to rain the day I planned to make the cupcakes. What a perfect time for baking! I assembled the ingredients and everyone washed their hands before coming to the table. The kids took turns measuring the ingredients and stirring it all together. Then we popped them in the oven and went off to play.

The house soon smelled amazing and we were all getting hungry. We decided to make the frosting while the cupcakes cooled.

Next, I set out a butter knife, a bowl of frosting, a bowl of coconut, and a cupcake for each child. I decided to give each child her own assembly materials rather than use communal bowls as we did when we made bee-bim bop. The main reason I did this was to limit germ sharing – a lot of finger licking has to be expected when frosting is involved.

Spreading the frosting just right was hard work. Sprinkling the coconut on at the end was just plain fun. There was some experimentation to see how much coconut would stick on the cupcake.

Once the cupcakes were just right we all dug in. They were both tasty and beautiful.

Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes (adapted from the Carrot Cake Cupcakes recipe on Elana’s Pantry.)

Makes about 10 cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350°

Ingredients:

1 ½ c blanched almond flour or meal

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp cinnamon

3 eggs

2 Tbls safflower oil

¼ c honey

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ c grated carrots

Instructions:

1. Combine almond four, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, oil, honey and vanilla.

3. Stir the carrots into the wet ingredients.

4. Combine the carrot mixture with the dry ingredients.

5. Scoop a heaping ¼ c. of batter into each cup of a lined muffin tin.

6. Pop in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes.

Mom’s Cream Cheese Frosting  

Ingredients:

8 oz cream cheese

¼ c honey

 ½ tsp vanilla extract

shredded coconut to sprinkle on top

Instructions:

1. Mix the cream cheese, honey and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth.

2. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes.

3. Sprinkle coconut on top.

Enjoy!

"Accountability Partners" Keeping You On Track and A Low Fat Quevos Rancheros Recipe

I hate dieting...

Don't you? Forcing yourself to eat like a bird in the hopes that by summer time you will be frolicking on the beach in a two piece bathing suit looking like Carmen Electra.

You won't. I promise. Brownies are too good. And pizza can be delivered to your door faster than you can remind yourself that you're even on a diet.

So, if you're like me, and find food just too damn good to give up...you'll have to start working out more. Since discovering my fertility issues my doctor has recommended that I try and lose a little weight. Apparently losing just 10% of your body weight can increase your chances of conceiving. Of course I'll try anything so here I am, attempting to make small changes without sacrificing too much on the food front.

 I have an accountability partner encouraging me keep up with work outs and to make better food choices. She sends me text messages in the morning or the afternoon reminding me to walk my dogs. Or to play one of my work out games on the X Box Kinect and we discuss what each of us has eaten so far. Her meals, are decidedly "more healthy" compared to mine, and I hate to admit that it has forced me to take a serious look at how many calories I eat in a day.

We've been doing this for just a few weeks and I have to say it really is working. Especially on the days I get a text in the morning, knowing she is going to check back in later. I won't lie to her if I didn't exercise, and I don't want to look like a lazy kid, so I have no choice but to work out. I get honestly a real kick out of reporting back to her too, like "Yeah, I totally woke up at 5am and ran 17 miles before having half a grapefruit for breakfast, duh". Okay, that hasn't happened...YET.

 Really though,  she has been such a great motivator. I chose this particular friend, Sumi, because she is in stupid great shape and she shares her work out tips with me. She also diets, which as I've said, I hate doing... But I am realizing that I can make smallish adjustments to my favorite recipes to make them a little less naughty. Some small adjustments I've made recently are things like using turkey meat on burger night and eating a large salad with it instead of making oven fries (I missed the hell outta those fries though!) and it was surprisingly satisfying/filling. On my turkey wraps at lunch, I've started smashing up a small amount of avocado and using that as a spread instead of mayo, I've found hummus works well for this too and it's super flavorful!

One of my very favorite things to eat for breakfast is quevos rancheros, a delicious fried egg dish with enchilada sauce, cheese, beans and usually served with delicious golden brown salty greasy fried potatoes. In the version I am about to share with you, I nix most of the cheese, utilize protein rich black beans (less carbs & calories compared to pinto beans) and the egg is poached over the beans and baked in the oven instead of fried. I also got rid of the fried potatoes and tortillas all together. So what we're leaving out is: All the fat from traditionally used yellow melting cheese, oil from frying the eggs & all the carbs and fat from frying the potatoes. What we're getting: all the basic flavor components of your favorite quevos rancheros recipe, smoky, spicy creamy and indulgent!

I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderfully delicious and so similar in flavor to the naughty version this was. I'd  typically eat 2 eggs with breakfast, but I've found that when I limit myself to one egg and something more nutritious and filling like low fat yogurt and fruit, I have more energy and feel less weighed down after breakfast. Obviously, everyone's appetite is different and I know for my husband one egg would just NOT do the trick, so feel free to throw in another egg or two depending on how many people you're serving and their eyes to stomach ratio. This recipe is for one person and is made in a small sauce pan. You can do like I did and eat it right out of the pan (no I didn't...Yeah, yeah I did) or you can slide everything out of the pan onto your plate/bowl like a real sophisticated grown up. Pre-cooked black beans add to the easy nature of this dish. It comes together nice and easy making it the perfect "healthy" "go to" breakfast.

"Not So Naughty" Quevos Rancheros
(Serves One)

1/2 cup pre cooked black beans
1 large egg
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
juice from half a lemon

Garnish
thinly sliced avocado
cilantro, chopped
a small sprinkling of feta cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
In a small sauce pan warm cooked beans with a little of the cooking liquid. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring the beans to a gentle simmer. Crack your egg over the beans and reduce heat to low. When the whites of the egg set up slightly, place the sauce pan in the oven and bake until yolk is set. I like a runny yolk, so it took about 5 minutes. If you light a soft yolk continue on a few minutes until the outer membrane of the yolk is no longer clear.

Top with some avocado, cilantro and feta cheese. I served this with some fresh fruit one morning and with baked potato slices on another. I loved it with both (but obviously potatoes on the side was my FAVE)

I put this recipe into this calorie counter I found online and it appears this delicious "Not So Naughty" recipe including cheese and avocado clocks in at under 300 calories! If you add 1 small potato sliced up and baked in the oven (flavored with salt, pepper and lightly greased with cooking spray) And you add about 120 calories. I would stay away from the tortillas if you're really trying to cut the calories. Just one flour tortilla could add over 200 calories to your meal!

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker BBQ Beef Dinner

I love summer. I do, it's just that....well summer is hot and balmy here in Paso Robles. It get's well into the triple digits and you're not getting ME into a bathing suit so I just sweat and complain for three whole months. I don't like the heat. It's not for me at all. You know what IS for me though? The foods of summer. BBQ in particular is my very favorite thing to eat during the summer. And ice cream sundaes!

I know there are no rules saying I can't have bbq during the winter months, but it's just less convenient. I mean who's going to fire up that grill when it's 38 degrees outside and hailing? Not I....Not I.

Me, Diana and her daughter Kimberly

So here I am, it's November. It is freezing out, but my stomach doesn't know that. My stomach wants bbq...and an ice cream sundae. We have some friends in town visiting us from SoCal and I wanted to treat them to a nice home cooked meal after a day of site seeing. We got to show them around the down town area all day and then my stomach started growling...oh did it ever...

Hanging downtown, working up our appetites

I am a slave to that stomach. Look at these love handles. These love handles, clearly, are not told NO often. So, instead of firing up a grill I plugged in my slow cooker and came up with this delicious and accidentally frugal meal that has all the flavors of summer, with a few twists to suit the colder months. Instead of my go to pulled pork, I mixed it up a little and used beef. I also added a spicy element, chipotle pepper, to keep us nice and warmed through. The entire bbq beef dinner cost us under $10 for four servings.

The recipe's here are just as easy as it gets. Minimal ingredients and minimal effort. You throw the beef in a slow cooker for 4 hours, you make and refrigerate the coleslaw (optional) and the dessert is so incredibly easy it's dangerous.

Let's talk about dessert for a second...what do you think of when you think of fall? Apples! Yes, and apple pie should come right to mind if you are at all a normal red blooded American (Ah-Murica Hell YAH). I didn't feel up to making a whole apple pie, but I did yearn desperately for that warm apple pie a la mode flavor. I think I found the next best thing. It is faster than making apple pie but just as delicious, possibly...maybe....perhaps even.....better?

You may place your wonderfully tender bbqed beef atop a sesame seed bun as we did, but be prepared it is a messy messy feast. We rounded out the meal with our favorite eh-hem....canned chili beans and cherry coke. I suggest you do the same because I said so and because it is delicious and because I me and my love handles clearly know what we are talking about here!

Slow Cooker BBQ Beef

1 pound stew beef or fajita beef (whatever is on sale)

1 c BBQ Sauce

1/4 c water

1 tbsp chipotle peppers

S&P

Mix all the ingredients in your slow cooker, set to high for 1 hour and then to low for about 2 more hours or until the beef flakes easily with a fork.

Quick Cole Slaw

(make ahead)

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup of mayo (or so, I fake measured it)

2 tbsp agave nectar or 1tbsp sugar

1 tbsp bbq sauce

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

s&P

Mix well in large bowl. Fridge...NOW.

Caramel Apple Pie Syrup (To serve over ice cream)

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1tbsp french vanilla/caramel coffee creamer

In a small sauce pan add butter and sugar. Heat over a low flame until they are melted together. Add apples, vanilla, cinnamon and raise heat to medium. The sugar mixture will bubble slightly if it looks like it will boil over, lower the heat. Let it simmer like this for about 1-2 minutes or until the apples are fork tender. Remove from heat and stir in the creamer. Serve over a big scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream -OR- you can do what my husband did and spoon it over some left over pumpkin pie!

California Eggs Benedict & An Awkward Introduction

My name is ED (well, not exactly, those are my initials). I am also known as Eva and this is my blog. Welcome, pull up a chair and grab some freshly popped popcorn. Take a look see. Don't gawk though, that's rude. And do not judge. Don't judge my poor grammar and horribly dry sense of humor. Don't judge my use of butter or bacon fat or profanity.

My name is Ed and today I am going on a road trip to save myself from countless hours on the couch eating chocolate covered snacks from Trader Joes. Have you notice that Trader Joes can market anything by covering it in chocolate and a generous sprinkling of chili powder. I was there yesterday and they had chocolate covered dried edamame (soy beans). Why? Because they can. Because you'll buy it. You will. There you will be, waiting in a line that has been cleverly named after a local landmark, and you'll see the chocolate covered edamame sitting high atop a mound of other chocolate covered somethings. You'll pick it up out of curiosity and before you know it, BAM! the package is in your basket. Once you get it home you'll try it and and one of two things will happen, either you'll love it and consume the entire package before dinner or you'll hate it. Then it will take it's place on the lower shelf of your pantry with all the rejected, strange snacks from TJ's. Like vacuum fried bananas, or blackberry and pickle jam. I made the last one up but I wouldn't put it passed them. My name is Ed and I am supposed to be getting ready for a road trip to San Francisco but it is now 11am and I am still in my underwear watching Magic Bullet commercials.

My name is Ed and I need breakfast. And So this brings us to our first recipe (insert cheers and applaud) here. I am sharing with you a recipe for my all time favorite breakfast. Eggs benedict!

I love eggs benedict, I always have. Over the years I have played around with the ingredients using sausage instead of ham, fried eggs instead of poached and different kinds of flavored hollandaise. I usually like the little concoctions I come up with, I mean hey... as long as it includes some crusty bread type component and some lemon butter sauce type component I am in! But no eggs benedict recipe I've tried come close to this. I actually feel guilty calling this a recipe, because only the sauce truly requires a recipe at all.

I am calling this California Eggs Benedict, it is made with a fairly traditional (but EASY) hollandaise, fried eggs, fresh vegetables and thick cut bacon all on sourdough bread. Mmm, I am cleaning the plate as we speak...

The hollandaise will go together much easier if you get all the ingredients ready ahead of time (but keep the butter cold in the fridge until you need it).

California Eggs Benedict

Ingredients

For the sauce:

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup cold butter in 2-3 chunks

1 lemon juiced

s&p

paprika

4 eggs

2-4 slices sourdough bread

1 cup wilted spinach

1 large tomato, sliced thick

1 avocado, sliced thick

4 strips of bacon

This first part is done OFF the heat: In a large sauce pan add egg yolks and lemon juice and mix with a wisk. Turn the heat on low and add one of the chunks of cold butter. Continually mix the butter into the egg yolk mixture. The sauce should start to slowly thicken as the butter melts, add the remainder chunks of butter and keep mixing with a whisk until the butter has all melted and the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Taste and add salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Smoked paprika is especially good in this sauce, you can also add some sliced green onions to your hollandaise if that is your kind of thing.

Next you toast your sourdough bread and set aside. Cook your eggs to your liking (over easy for me please) and cook the bacon. Set up an assembly line of the ingredients and stack 'em like THIS: toast, handful of wilted spinach, avocado, tomato, fried egg and bacon. Smother...and I DO mean smother, with your hollandaise. Eat up. Quickly, before I find you and steal your breakfast. Ask my husband, I'll do it. If you're a light eater than this will make 4 servings, it's a lot of stuff piled on toast after all. If you're like us chubby's over here, this will make only 2 servings and then you'll feel guilty and hit the gym for an hour...erh...I mean 25 minutes...

In the photo you will notice some deliciously crispy fried potatoes. Want them?

SIMPLE: boil a few teeny tiny red potatoes. Poke 'em.... are they tender? No? Keep boiling....

Poke 'em again. Are they tender? Yep? Put them in a hot hot pan with some oil...sizzle sizzle. Smash then with a smasher or the back of your spatula, just once. Sizzle sizzle. Flip. Sizzle Sizzle. Salt and pepper.

Stop looking at me like that I am NOT giving you a "recipe" for fried potatoes. C'mon!