a few recipes and a super warm day!

I've been craving Asian food lately.  And not having been to P.F. Chang's in awhile, I was longing for their lettuce wraps.  And since I probably won't get out there again for awhile, I thought I'd try and make our own from a recipe I got from All You magazine.  I must say, they turned out really good!  In fact, I served them with these Asian meatballs for our small group last night and I had lots of folks asking for the recipes, so I thought I'd just go ahead and post them on here.

Asian Lettuce Wraps

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil 

2 cloves garlic, minced (if you don't have a garlic press, get one!  They're so fun!)

1 1/2 lb. ground turkey

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp. teriyaki sauce

1 cup bean sprouts

2 carrots, shredded (about 1 cup)

24 large Boston or butter lettuce leaves (iceberg works just fine too if you can't get the other)

Soy sauce, optional

• Warm oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  
• Add garlic, sauté about 1 minute.  
• Stir in turkey and cook, stirring, until almost cooked through, about 5 minutes.
• Add broth and hoisin sauce.
• Cook, stirring and breaking up clumps of turkey, until turkey is cooked through, 5-7 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in teriyaki sauce, bean sprouts and carrots. (You should have about 6 cups of filling.)
• Spoon about 1/4 cup of filling into center of each lettuce leaf.  Serve with soy sauce, if desired.

*For a crock-pot-friendly, large group version, double the recipe and follow the instructions up to bullet 5.  Then dump it all in a crock-pot and add the teriyaki sauce.  I served the carrots, bean sprouts and soy sauce on the side for people to add on their own, incase they were picky eaters.

(Slow-Cooker) Tangy Asian Meatballs

1 lb. ground pork

1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

3 scallions, white and light-green parts, chopped (I left this out so our kids would eat them!)

1 large egg

1 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger (ginger root was $5 at my store (yikes!), so I opted for dried ground ginger instead - if you do this, then use 1/4 Tbsp. of ground ginger)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup jarred Chinese plum sauce or duck sauce (I used plum sauce)

2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce

• Combine pork, panko, scallions, egg, soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a large bowl.
• Mix gently but thoroughly with your fingers.
• Roll into 1-inch balls.
• Mist slow-cooker with nonstick cooking spray.
• Add meatballs.
• In a small bowl, whisk together bbq sauce, plum sauce and hoisin sauce.
• Pour over meatballs.  Gently stir to coat (They fall apart easily, so be very gentle!)
• Cover and cook on low until meatballs are cooked through, 3 - 5 hours. (4 worked well for me.)

And incase you don't live in Iowa, and didn't hear about our crazy warm weather yesterday... it reached 87 degrees here!  But with the breeze, it was just perfect!  Addie went up to a neighbor's yard to play, but these two had quite a fun time in our backyard.

Unfortunately, it dropped 40 degrees overnight!  Ugh!  But they're promising the rest of the week will be in the 60's.  They better be right... whoever "they" are...