Week Five Overview

This week has been crazy, finals and finishing up projects. BUT! I did manage to cook! As mentioned before, I wanted to try to cook salads, lettuce wraps, baked potatoes, and stew. All but the baked potatoes happened this week! Monday I make a yummy stew in the crock pot using the potatoes and celery from the basket. It has lasted all week and I've been enjoying it almost every day as a leftover for lunch! Tuesday Cherie (my aunt that I live with) made a delicious Chef Salad. For this she used the lettuce from the basket. Then, skip to Friday and I made lettuce wraps (using, of course, more lettuce from the basket). They were pretty good, I was surprised because as I was cooking the flavor just tasted a little bland, but as soon as I mixed all the flavors together into my piece of lettuce it all came together and was awesome. I also decided that the mixture would be delicious on top of some brown rice!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any pictures of my yummy treats this week, but I will post the recipe I used for my lettuce wraps. See below:

Ingredients:

• 16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
• 1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 1 bunch green onions, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions:

1. Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
2. In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and cooked beef; continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
3. Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!

This week has also been a little off because my Uncle (that I live with) found out he is diabetic. So, my aunt and I have been trying to come up with ways that we can change the diet for everyone in the house to make sure that my uncle is eating healthier. So, this may change some of the recipes for a little while to ensure that they are diabetes friendly!