Tag Archives: food

Mu Shu Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I hope your weekend was a little better than mine! The sky was perfectly blue and sunny and all I wanted was to enjoy the beautiful weather by either going to the beach or a baseball game. Instead, I spent my entire weekend indoors at my house because I had car problems and didn’t do much of anything but sit home alone watching several baseball games go into extra innings on Friday, and again on Saturday, and again on Sunday. Luckily, on Sunday morning I was able to get to the grocery store because I was really looking forward to making these Mu Shu Chicken Lettuce Wraps all weekend.

An Asian-inspired sauce made up of soy sauce, hoisin, rice vinegar and sherry is added to garlic, ginger, rotisserie chicken and packaged coleslaw and heated briefly before being spooned into lettuce cups and topped with scallions and nuts. I used broccoli slaw instead of regular coleslaw which stayed pretty crunchy even after being heated and the scallions add a fresh mild onion flavor. I also used peanuts instead of cashews because I had peanuts on hand but any nut will work or you can leave it out altogether. Because this dish uses precooked chicken, it comes together really quickly making this an easy weeknight dinner. If you are looking for something light, fast, low-carb and very tasty, this is a dish for you.

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Combine soy sauce, sherry, hoisin, and rice vinegar in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add garlic and ginger to pan; sauté 30 seconds.

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Add soy sauce mixture and coleslaw; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add chicken and 1/4 cup onions to pan; cook 1 minute or until coleslaw just begins to wilt.

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Divide chicken mixture evenly among lettuce leaves; sprinkle evenly with remaining scallions and nuts.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:

  • Boston lettuce
  • Broccoli slaw
  • Peanuts

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Huevos Rancheros Tacos

I hope everyone out there got a chance to spend the day with their moms or mom-figures yesterday. Or if you didn’t get to spend the day with them, I hope you at least got to reach out to them in some way. Mother’s Day is never easy for me and seems to get harder every year. I would give anything in the world to hug my mom one more time and tell her I love her. But since I can’t, I’m happy that I have my wonderful aunt who I can reach out to anytime I need to. In honor of her, yesterday I made these Huevos Rancheros Tacos.  These may not seem like typical brunch fare to some of you, but to my aunt and I, they totally are.

Corn tortillas are broiled with cheese and black beans before being topped with a fried egg, avocado and pico de gallo. This is such a quick and easy dish to make in a morning or even for a quick dinner. Since I’m all about eggs for dinner, this is something that is right up my alley. I chopped up regular tomatoes in lieu of the pico de gallo and left out the Mexican crema but still got all of the flavors of huevos rancheros I wanted. Since my aunt is in Chicago and I’m in Philadelphia, I ate this dish without her but told her about it when I called to wish her a Happy Mother’s Day. Every mom deserves a meal made for her.  Even if she’s not your mom.

DSC05073Preheat broiler to high. Arrange tortillas on a baking sheet; lightly coat tortillas with cooking spray. Broil 2 minutes; remove pan from oven. Turn tortillas over. Top each tortilla with 2 tablespoons cheese and 2 tablespoons beans. Broil 1 minute or until cheese melts. Remove from oven.

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Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Crack eggs into pan; cook 2 minutes. Cover and cook 2 minutes or until whites are set.

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Place 1 egg in center of each tortilla; sprinkle with pepper. Top tacos evenly with pico de gallo, crema, avocado, and cilantro. Serve with lime.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:

  • Mexican crema

Substitutions:

  • Vine-ripened tomatoes for pico de gallo

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip

It’s Cinco de Mayo so what are you planning on eating today?  Burritos?  Enchiladas?  Fajitas?  Tacos?  Mexican food is so good but can be really terrible for you, especially because so much of the Americanized Mexican food available to us is loaded with ooey gooey melted cheese.  But the good thing is, Mexican food can easily be made low-fat at home by substituting low-fat cheese, low-fat sour cream, healthy beans and lots of veggies.  As tempted as I was to make a big Mexican meal, I decided to keep things a little simple with an easy bold and healthy dip.  This Lime-Spiked Black Bean Dip is a healthy way to enjoy some Mexican food on this Cinco de Mayo without a)breaking the bank or b)spending hours on the elliptical machine working it off.

Canned black beans are whirled in a food processor until smooth (but not too smooth – chunks of beans make for awesome texture) and combined with grated carrots, fresh lime juice, scallions, garlic, and cilantro.  A little salt and cayenne pepper add seasoning to beans which can typically be pretty bland (I used low-sodium black beans so I could control the salt content).  I really love the addition of the grated carrot because it provides a fat-free crunch while the scallion gives a fantastic mild onion flavor.  And the lime – it really brings this dip to life.  This is a thick dip, especially if it’s been in the refrigerator for a bit so add a little water or black bean juice if you ‘d prefer it to be more “dippy”.  If you don’t like cilantro, you can leave it out but it provides an herby flavor that is so good in Mexican food.  Serve with tortilla chips and you’ve got a healthy vegetarian snack or appetizer than would also be great folded into a tortilla for a light lunch.

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Place beans in a food processor, and pulse until almost smooth.

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Combine the beans, carrot, and the remaining ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring until well blended. Let stand 30 minutes.

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Serve with baked tortilla chips.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Cooking Light magazine

 

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