I'm not a vegetarian but I don't eat red meat everyday, maybe once or twice a week?  I guess I'd rather save my beef intake for the weekend if we do go out.  Then it's a good cheeseburger, Korean BBQ or ramen.  Well ok ramen is usually pork, which is another meat I hardly eat.  I do love a good bacon or prosciutto though but I save that for special occasions.

Anyways, this post is starting to sound um....pointless.  lols  So  I was feeling meaty today, looked in my freezer and found some stewing beef.  Yay!  I simmered those babies in beef broth for 2 hours to make em nice and tender.  I wanted to post the recipe and then realized I didn't measure anything!  But sometimes the best recipes are from our own concoctions right? Works for my dad!  Alright, the beef broth kept evaporating so I would just pour more beef broth and water in.  Dumped in some mushrooms, a bayleaf and a couple spoonfuls  of worcestershire sauce.  I then mixed in a lil water and corn starch to thicken the sauce plus a few shakes of pepper and a lil salt. Simmered for 5 minutes and dropped in a couple plops of greek yogurt- much healthier than using cream.  Then ta da.......




I made another Chrissy Teigen recipe, 2 days in a row woohoo!!   Her cauliflower garlic and ricotta mash was deeelish!  Gotta check out her cookbook if you haven't done so yet.  If you want the recipe for this cauliflower mash, let me know and I'll add it :-)

Chrissy Teigen's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Hi friends and Happy Hump Day!

So I finally made a dish from Chrissy Teigen's cookbook Cravings.  I have to admit when I first saw her on Lip Synch Battle, I thought she was super annoying.  As I kept watching the show and saw her on random interviews, she actually seemed cool and she kinda grew on me. lols   I started following her instagram last year mainly for her food.  She may not be a professional chef but her stuff looks deeeelish!  So when her cookbook came out, I had to get it.   I made her lettuce wraps and they did not disappoint!  If you are a Chrissy Teigen fan or a food lover, I think you'll like her cookbook :-)



Here's the lil guy helping me make the sauce.  Doesn't he look like a well behaved 22 month old stirring away patiently?  Don't let him fool you, 5 minutes later he started splashing with the spoon and that was the end of his sous chef job.



Ta daaaaaa....


Chrissy Teigen's Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
For the Sauce:
3 TBS Thai sweet chili sauce
3 TBS hoisin sauce (did you know there's gluten in this?!!!  I didn't realize until I already put 1 TBS in it. Hubs is trying to go gluten free but 1 TBS won't kill him)
3 TBS light soy sauce (I used gluten free)
2 TBS sriracha
2 TBS vegetable oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1.5 TBS unseasoned rice vinegar
2 TBS minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
1 TBS minced fresh ginger

For the Filling:
1 pound ground chicken
3 TBS vegetable oil  (I didn't want this much oil  since there was already a lot in the sauce so I just squirted a  little in the pan)
8 scallions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept separate - I didn't have any scallions
1 TBS minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 TBS minced fresh ginger
1/2 pound white mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and finely chopped
1/2 cup finely diced canned water chestnuts
1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped

2 heads butter lettuce, leaves separated and washed

Directions:
Make the Sauce:  In a bowl, combine the chili sauce, hoisin, soy sauce, sriracha, vegetable oil, sesame oil, vinegar, garlic, and ginger

Make the Filling: In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons of the sauce into the ground chicken.

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil over medium-high heat.  When hot, add the chicken and cook until browned for 5-6 minutes.  Transfer the meat to a plate and set aside.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to the skillet, then add the scallion whites, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring for 1 minute.  Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring until they release their liquid, 3-4 minutes.  Return the chicken to the pan, then add the water chestnuts, bell pepper, and the rest of the sauce and cook, stirring, until cooked through and the liquid has reduced and thickened slightly, 3-4 minutes.  Stir in the scallion greens.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and set out with the lettuce leaves.

March in Review

I'm baaaaaaaaack!!!!!  Talk about a month and half hiatus!  I'd like to say it was because I was doing something important like saving the world but really I was just busy doing other things.  Not to say this blog isn't important but you know what I mean ;-)

Ook so before I tell ya about last month, I just have to share my latest jamicure that I love love love!  The wrap is in Cherry-O and the red is Tru Shine's Candy Apple.  Gorgeous!    The jams are actually juniors so technically it's for the lil girls.  But I love cherries and just had to get this since they didn't come in the regular size.   So ladies, it's quite doable to use the larger sizes of the jam juniors if they have a design you really love!   Plus they were discontinuing cherry-o too...boo hoo!

Ok March.....we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I've always wanted to check this out and now that I went I don't have to go again.  Waaaaay tooooo crowded!  It is nice to check out if you've never gone though.  So if you do go next year, make sure you get tickets online ahead of time.  Then you can just bypass the ridiculously long ass line and head to the front.  I can't believe people will actually wait hours for anything...

We went to eat after the festival and this has to be one of many faves of mine...

My parents stayed with us for the whole month as well as my sister and brother for one of the extended weekends.  Wish my youngest brother was able to make it out!  So a lot of fun just spending time with them, celebrated my brother's birthday and just our usual shenanigans......

We all did some yard work on our eye sore of a back yard......




I met my new girl crush, Padma Lakshmi....dang her for being so smart, gorgeous and nice!



Of course since mom and dad were here, the hubs and I had to take as many date nights as we could and we went to San Fran for a quick weekend getaway!  Met up with my besties Cheryl and Teresa, who lives there,  as well as a couple good friends Lethu and Kelly who live up there as well.  Always a fun time in this city, especially the food!  Too many food pics to post but my faves for the weekend would have to be the kouign amanns from B Patisserie, the tea salad from Burma Love and everything at Lers Ros....must check those out if you are in town!!!





I'm also very excited to share with you all my latest business venture- joining Beautycounter as a consultant!  I will post more on this amazing brand but I've been using the skin care products and some of the cosmetics for a month now and I am soooooo in love.  They're high performing, luxurious and most importantly safe for your skin- none of those icky ingredients that have been tied to cancer, infertility and hormone disruption- to name a few.  If you are interested in safer skin care for you and the family, then I would love to help you!!!!  www.beautycounter.com/bernadettelugo