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Food Fitness and Fun – ByCandace

~ Good Health Made Simple

Food Fitness and Fun – ByCandace

Tag Archives: #leftovers

Recipe: Main Dish – Asian Inspired Lettuce Wraps

21 Friday Jul 2017

Posted by ByCandace in Food

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#30minutemeal, #asianinspired, #avocado, #braggsgingerandsesamesaladdressing, #easyandfastmeal, #fivespice, #ginger, #leftovers, #lettcuswraps, #maindish, #recipe

This is a super easy and fast recipe that I like to make for a weeknight meal. This was the second time I made it and I tweaked it just right to the point that it was so very delicious I want to eat it again and again. Which means…it is so very tasty that I needed to share it!

Writing this all out…it looks complicated, but it is not! It is meat, carrot, rice, lettuce, and sauce. The whole meal only took me 30 minutes to make.

Tools:

  • Chopping Board
  • Knife
  • Large Skillet
  • Spatula or Spoon
  • Small Bowl
  • Whisk or Fork

The Meat:

  • 1 lb of Ground Meat of choice (grass-fed beef, bison, elk, venison, turkey, chicken)
  • Garlic Powder (sprinkle liberally)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 tsp of Five Spice (to your taste preference)
  • ½ – 1 tsp of Powdered Ginger (to your taste preference)
  • 1 – 2 Pinches of Red Pepper Flakes (to your heat preference)
  • 1 ½ Large Carrots or 2 Medium Chopped Finely

Optional Veggie Additions: Finely chopped onion (or the white part of green onions) or julienne red bell pepper

The Sauce:

  • 1/3 Cup of Liquid Aminos or Coconut Aminos
  • 1/4 Cup of Pure Maple Syrup
  • 1 to 2 tsp of Toasted Sesame Oil (to your taste preference)
  • Juice of 1 Lime
  • 1 – 2 Tbs Chopped Pickled Ginger

1 Cup of Cooked Jasmine Rice (I like to cook my rice in broth for added flavor)

Optional Toppings:

  • Sesame Seeds
  • Green Onions (I used homemade dried chives)
  • Cilantro Leaves
  • Chopped Avocado

Directions:

Wash and dry lettuce leaves and place on a plate like tiny bowls. I usually double or triple the leaves to make a secure wrapping surface. Finely pre-chop carrots and set aside. If you are adding finely chopped onion or julienned red bell pepper, pre-chop those as well.

Side Note: You can not only pre-chop all your veggies, but you can pre-cook the rice, and pre mix the sauce. This can be much easier for folks…instead of multi-tasking during the cooking process, particularly if it is the first time you’ve made a dish. This is called Mise en Place (MEEZ ahn plahs) it “is a French term for having all your ingredients measured, cut, peeled, sliced, grated, etc. before you start cooking. Pans are prepared. Mixing bowls, tools and equipment set out.” (Google it).

Over a medium-high heat brown meat of choice in a large skillet (if you use a lean meat you may have to add cooking fat). While browning sprinkle liberally with garlic powder, add the ginger, five spice, and red pepper flakes. Cook through to the point of the meat getting a little crispy.

While the meat is cooking start cooking the rice. If using traditional stove-top rice it takes approximately 30 minutes total. Instructions for the rice I linked to above: bring rice to a boil, stir, cover and reduce heat to low simmer, cook for 15 minutes, turn off heat moving to another burner location, remaining covered…allow to sit for an additional 10 minutes, uncover and fluff with a fork. You can pre-cook rice the day before or you can use a pressure cooker or rice cooker to speed up the rice cooking time.

Once the meat is about ¾ the way cooked, add the finely chopped carrots (and other optional veggies) and continue to cook. Siring occasionally.

While the rice is cooking and meat is browning, assemble the sauce. In a small bowl whisk together the liquid aminos, pure maple syrup, sesame seed oil, lime juice, and chopped pickled ginger. Set aside.

Once the meat is starting to get a bit crispy (the rice should be around 7 minutes from being complete), reduce to a medium heat and pour the sauce over. Stir well. Once the rice is done, turn the heat off under the meat and mix the rice into the meat mixture. This is also the time I added a Tbs+ of homemade dried chives.

Spoon the meat and rice mixture into the lettuce cups/wraps and top with your preferred optional toppings.

Done. Eat. Enjoy.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

With the leftovers, I made a salad with avocado, warmed-up and dumped the meat mixture over the top, and used Bragg’s Ginger and Sesame salad dressing. It was sooooo good!

Leftover Asian Lettcue Wraps

I highly encourage you to Sign-up for Thrive Market.

Thrive Market allows you to shop for all the healthy food items you know and love at discount prices, because they cut out the middle man, and it gets delivered to your door so it also saves you time. Not only to you save money, but for every paid membership Thrive Gives a membership to a family in need.

The second best part, aside from saving money, is that all your favorite pantry items will be delivered to your door and you don’t have to go to stores which also saves you time and energy. And who can’t use more money, time, energy?!?!

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Book Review: Well Fed Weeknights by: Melissa Joulwan

12 Monday Jun 2017

Posted by ByCandace in Book Review

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Tags

#45minutesorless, #bookreview, #burgers, #chickenpaillard, #cookbook, #dinner, #fishandseafood, #hotdogs, #leftovers, #mealplan, #meatandtaters, #paleo, #stirfry, #tacotuesday, #weeknights

I’m totally in love with this cookbook! It is so fun! It is food you want to cook and eat!

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The book boasts “complete paleo meals in 45 minutes or less” – and it delivers.

Here’s the breakdown….

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After the Table of Contents, Melissa J. (aka: M.J.) then goes through a few pages about Paleo, yes/no foods, her story, and other cookbooks (which I own).

About This Book (p11) – this section talks about it not being a diet book and doesn’t have nutritional breakdowns, it is whole-food healthy recipes folks – don’t freak-out! A bit on “how-to use this book” and about the “mini cook-up”.

The Recipe Pages (ps13-15) – these pages discuss how the recipes are broken down, about food quality, and cooking tips – her humor is great.

Sample Menus (ps16–17) – She provides Weeks 1 – 4 of menus with the name and page number of suggested recipes. Then 8 weeks of menus with unique themes (super-fun sporty suppers, 2 weeks of distinctive dinner salads, balls & bowls, a break from red meat, international taste buds tour, comfort food, all the time, and seven of her favorite recipes).

Cooking & Storage Tips (ps18-20)

Mindful Eating practice (p21) and Dining Out guide (pgs23–27)

Essential Kitchen Tools (ps30-31)

Your Paleo Pantry (ps32-33) – She discusses her suggested pantry items, why, and how to use them.

Herbs and Spices (ps34-35) – She discusses the ones used in her recipes, about it, and it’s qualities – this page is super helpful for learning how to put flavors together.

Mini Cook-up (ps39-40) – M.J. provides a 9-step “Mini Cook-up” that allows you to do some minimal meal prepping for the week that helps to make your dinner cooking sessions each night “45 minutes of less”.

Beef Recipes (ps71-105)

Pork & Lamb Recipes (ps109-151)

Chicken Recipes (ps155-195)

Egg Recipes (ps199-217)

Fish & Seafood (ps221-244)

Resources (p249), Shopping Lists & AIP Modifications (p250), International Conversions (p252)

Why It’s Unlike Any Other Cookbook!

My absolute favorite part of this book is what M.J. calls “Super-fun Sporty Suppers” (p17).

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Meat & Potatoes (p43) – M.J. walks you through how to pre-cook the potatoes so that you have that part already done, which cuts down dinner cooking time tremendously. She provides 12 M&P variations.

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Velvet Stir-Fry (p57) – M.J. walks you through a preparation process that is super easy and fast that applies to all the stir-fry variations. She provides 8 stir-fry variations.

My favorite is No.2 – Cashew Chicken

Cashew Chicken Stirfry

The Ultimate Salad Bar (p61) – M.J. walks you through the steps on how to build the perfectly dress salad in 10 quick steps. I was super-duper surprised about some of her tips in this section that I didn’t know!

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In this section she provides lists of all the types of salad fixings (ps62-63). Then on (ps66-67) she provides 25 “super salad combos” variations for easy-breezy-no-thinking salads to build.

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On (p65) she provides 6 salad dressings and on (p66) a list of 14 more salad dressing recipes throughout the book.

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Burger Night (p79) – M.J. walks you through the 5 steps to create/build a great burger! She provides 8 burger variations, some of which I would have never thought of…..

What you eat with your burger is up to you, however using some of those pre-cooked potatoes you did is a quick and easy side dish….or….while your burger is cooking pulling out some of your pre-cut veggies and building one of her scrumptious salads is easy too.

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Taco Night (p93) – M.J. walks you through 6 steps to achieve your best taco ever! I personally skip step No3 – you’ll have to see for yourself.

I like to vary my taco base…. I use gluten-free tortillas (p94), lettuce wraps, taco bowls over cilantro lime rice (add butter, fresh chopped cilantro, lime zest, and lime juice to a pot of rice) or cauliflower rice (p.203), over a Mexican style salad (p.66) the Cumin-Lime Dressing (p46) or eat all the goodies on plantain chips or gluten-free non-GMO corn tortilla chips cooked in avocado oil or coconut oil.

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Hot Dog Night (p141) – M.J. walks you through 5 steps for this quick dinner night! She provides 8 recipes varieties that are new to the palate. I tend to get in a rut and go with spicy brown mustard and raw sauerkraut….but her recipes are FAR more exciting than that!

Hot Dog Night

Side Note: Please make sure you are purchasing Organic Grass-fed 100% Beef or Pork hot dogs. You can find them in dang-near every grocery store these days. They are completely worth the little bit of extra costs to avoid the hormones, antibiotics, soy, and bad fats associated with conventionally raised cows.

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Tuna Salad Platters (p229) – M.J. walks you through 5 steps for yummy varieties of tuna salads. She provides 8 recipe varieties that will wake-up your taste buds! She also gives a recipe to make your own mayo (p229). I personally am not one to make my own mayo, despite how easy folks say it is….I use Sir Kensington’s Organic Mayonnaise.

If you only use the recipes from these 7 sections of the book, you will have 76 recipe variations to choose from. 76! If you cook dinner 7 nights per week, that is 10+ weeks of dinner recipes without ever repeating a recipe variation. Mind blown!!

What I like to do is sit down with the cookbook, a small piece paper, and pen for a few minutes (10-15) toward the end of each week (usually Saturday AM sometime) and assign a theme to each night of the week (which I typically do not deviate far from, from week to week). Then each week pick a recipe from that area of the book and make a grocery list. Now I have a plan for each night and I know exactly what I need from the store to make it happen. Easy-peasy!

My Weekly Sample:

Monday: Stir-fry Night (p57) – cause it is so fast and easy.

Tuesday: Taco Night (p93) – cause it’s a thing.

Wednesday: Hot Dog Night (p414) – do this theme on a night you know is either super busy or you know you’re going to be tired. Then you can put your significant other in charge of “Hot Dog Night” – since it is so easy.

Thursday: Burger Night (p79)

Friday: Fish & Seafood Night (ps221-244) – Fast protein cook, cause I’m quite tired on Friday evenings.

Saturday: Meat & Tater Night (p43)

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Another wonderful and easy recipe is the Chicken Paillard (p167) that can be served with 1 of 7 toppings (citrus-mango relish; Greek olive tapenade; pesto; cucumber-pineapple salsa; onion-pepita relish; mushroom & pancetta jam; or tomato, bacon, & avocado relish) for variety.

If and or when you find yourself in need of a little comfort, M.J. lists out her 50 Comforting Things (p205).

What is terrific about this book is that you can easily meal plan for each week aaaannd have variety at the same time. This book is all about variety without having to think too hard about it, which as a full-time working wife I completely appreciate.

To Buy or Not to Buy….That is the question……I say YES!

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