Picky Palate's Quick Weeknight Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps

We have an over abundance of lettuce in our garden right now, so we try and have a salad either for the main course or side at just about every meal. This meal was definitely a winner! I don't usually cook with Ground Turkey, so this was new for our family. Because of all the lettuce we have I have been racking my brain for recipes to try. I remembered these lettuce wraps I had seen on Picky Palate's site and was excited to try them. Jenny is a very talented cook. She always amazes me with her inventions. Check out her site at www.picky-palate.com . These are delicious! If you have ever had lettuce wraps, you eat like ten of them before you are full. They are a great way to use lettuce. We have romaine lettuce, which worked out great. The meat mixture is a little spicy, crunchy, and so good. Try it out...they won't dissapoint you! My boys devoured them. I will be back with another lettuce wrap recipe soon...that is if I don't have my baby!

Quick Weeknight Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps
From: Jenny at Picky Palate

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Cup finely chopped onion
1 lb ground turkey breast
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
1 12 oz bag of Broccoli Slaw
1 small can drained water chestnuts
½ Cup Yoshida’s Teriyaki Sauce (I used Kikkomen)
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Approximately 15 Butter Lettuce leaves (you can also use iceberg lettuce leaves)

1. Place oil into a large 5 qt skillet or other large pan over medium heat. When hot, add onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add ground turkey, salt, pepper and garlic salt. Brown and crumble until cooked through.
2. When turkey is cooked, stir in broccoli slaw, water chestnuts, teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Cook for another 10-15 minutes or until heated through. Reduce heat to low until ready to serve. Serve spoonfuls inside lettuce leaves. Enjoy!

Triple-Layer Banana Cream Pie Bars

We have a favorite ice cream place that makes the best Banana Cream Pie Shakes. We love a good shake, and I love the Banana Cream Pie shake because it is light and honestly...I can eat it all and not feel so bad as opposed to the Hot Fudge shake, with extra hot fudge. Anyhow this post is not a Banana Cream Pie shake, but Banana Cream Pie Bars that taste so close to the yummy shake that I love. It is so tasty, light, and delicious for a summer dessert! It is definitely a favorite at our house. I found this recipe in another Kraft Food & Family Magazine.

***Sorry for the lack of posting. I am 3 weeks away from having a baby, and have this huge desire to clean, organize, remodel, and do the things that would have been a lot easier 1 year ago when I didn't have a basketball in my tummy and could move a lot quicker without so much pain. My sister on the other hand is now pregnant, and sicker than ever. She doesn't even want to think about food, let alone look at our blog. We will do our best to keep up on the posts... in the meantime hang in there with us...please!!!

Triple-Layer Banana Cream Pie Bars
Kraft Food & Family - Jeff DeLong

1 1/2 cups crushed Nilla Wafers (about 60 wafers)
1/2 cup Planters Chopped Pecans
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 bananas, sliced
3 cups cold milk
2 pkg. (4-serving size each) Jell-O Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling
2 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix wafer crumbs, pecans and butter in 13X9-inch baking dish; press firmly onto bottom of dish. Bake 8 min. Cool 10 min.

Top crust with banana slices. Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 min. or until well blended. Spoon 2 cups of the pudding over banana layer.

Gently stir 1 cup of the whipped topping into remaining pudding; spoon over pie. Top with remaining 1 1/2 cups whipped topping. Refrigerate 3 hours. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Quick Chicken Fettucinne Cacciatore & Speedy Summer Fruit Salad

This Pasta dish is one of my family's favorites. It is packed with veggies, chicken marinated in Italian dressing, tossed with fettucinne noodles, and seasoned with fresh basil & cheese! It has the perfect zing, and is great for a quick summer dish. I found this recipe in the Kraft Food & Family magazine years ago, and have been making it for my family ever since. The breadsticks on the side will have to be posted another day...but I will tell you that they were delicious!

Quicke Fettucinne Cacciatore

1/2 lb. fettuccine, uncooked
2 tsp. oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup each: green pepper strips and sliced fresh mushrooms
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing
1/2 cup KRAFT Shredded Italian* Mozzarella-Parmesan Cheese Blend
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil


COOK pasta as directed on package.
MEANWHILE, heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat. Add chicken; cook and stir until no longer pink. Add peppers and mushrooms; cook 3 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes and dressing; simmer on medium-low heat 5 min. or until chicken is done.
DRAIN pasta. Toss with chicken mixture; sprinkle with cheese and basil.

***I like to marinate my Chicken with about 1/2 cup Italian Dressing prior to cooking the chicken. It adds a bit more flavor to the cooked chicken.

We have been enjoying strawberries for a good month now, and I found a way to whip up a fast fruit salad with whatever fruit you have on hand. We eat a lot of fruit, and probably serve it at every meal so this was perfect for us. At the end of the day I usually have a half eaten banana and an apple with a few bites in it that need to be used. I cut them up and combine them with whatever berries I have. My boys also love yogurt, and would eat it all day if I let them. This is a perfect combo, and it took just minutes to have a fabulous, healthy fruit salad.

Speedy Summer Fruit Salad

1/2 cup each of bite size fruit (strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries with bananas, & apples)
Vanilla Yogurt

Combine fruit and enough yogurt to coat the fruit & serve!

***I make just enough for the family to eat at that meal. That way the bananas won't go brown. We always eat it all up! You could try different flavors of yogurt. Strawberry or Lemon would be wonderful!

Lemon-Cream Cheese Cupcakes

These little beauties are absolutely delicious. They are light and moist with a sweet lemony taste that just melts in your mouth. They are made with a white cake mix and a few more additions that make these little cakes just luscious! I got this recipe from Kraft Food & Family magazine. It was on the cover of their spring magazine last year, and we have made them several times since then. They really are divine! The cream cheese frosting is so tasty, and I love to lick out the bowl. I have even put extra frosting between graham crackers and it was amazing! These are always a hit. For this particular occasion we took some to a neighbor who was kind enough to give us eggs so that we could make them. We assured them that they would be rewarded for their kindness. I also gave a few to my friend who was about to have her baby for a little pregnant sweet treat, and she loved them. They are so soft and fluffy. The frosting just tops it off, and the more frosting the merrier! We load it on. These cupcakes are perfect for spring but are fabulous served anytime, and anywhere!

Lemon-Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Kraft Food & Family

1 pkg. (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Lemon Flavor Instant Pudding & Pie Filling

1 cup water

4 egg whites

2 Tbsp. oil

1 pkg. powdered sugar (16 oz.)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, egg whites and oil in large bowl with electric mixer on low speed until moistened. (Batter will be thick.) Beat on medium speed 2 min. Spoon batter evenly into 24 paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake 21-24 min. or until wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 min.; remove to wire racks. Cool completely.

Meanwhile, beat sugar, cream cheese, butter and juice with electric mixer on low speed until well blended. Frost cupcakes.

Jazz it up: Stir 1 tsp. grated lemon peel into frosting mixture. Garnish with additional grated lemon peel. ( I always jazz them up with the lemon peel. I use a real lemon for the juice, and use the peel for the frosting. It gives it a much more zippy taste from the real lemon.)

*** I like to make my cupcakes in the aluminum foil cupcake liners. That way I can cook them all at the same time on a cookie sheet and I don't have to use my cupcake pans. If you haven't used these before they are fabulous, as long as you don't put too much batter in them... then they become a little distorted.

Enjoy!!!

Chipotle-Honey Pork & Strawberry Delight

Alright, I haven't posted in a LONG time. Thanks to my great sister for keeping up on this blog. She's truly a lifesaver. This recipe came from another one of those books I found while standing in line at the grocery store. It was absolutely amazing! I'm making it again this weekend. I cooked it for the exact time called for and it turned out perfect. The sauce added just the right spice to it.

Chipotle-Honey Pork
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
2 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce (from 7 oz can), drained, finely chopped
1 tsp adobo sauce (from can of chiles, these are the cheapest at Walmart)
2 pork tenderloins (3/4 lb each, I got mine at Costco)
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Cooking spray

Heat grill. In saucepan, mix honey, lime juice, chiles & adobo sauce. Sprinkle pork tenderloins with salt & pepper; lightly spray with cooking spray. Place pork on grill over medium heat; cover grill. Cook 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally & brushing with honey mixture during last 10 minutes of cooking time, until pork has slight blush of pink in center. Heat any remaining honey mixture to rolling boil; boil 1 minute. Cup pork into slices; serve with honey mixture.

I don't know what else to call this except for Strawberry Delight. Years ago we were at my grandparents house and this is what they served us for dessert. I couldn't imagine dipping strawberries in sour cream. It was so good and I can remember that we just couldn't stop eating them. I had forgotten about this until my sister brought it to Arches last month. Again, we couldn't stop eating it. It's so yummy and I hope that you'll all give it a try.

Strawberry Delight

Strawberries

Sour Cream

Brown Sugar

Dip strawberries in sour cream and then in brown sugar. Enjoy!

Carmelized Salmon with Mango Salsa & Cilantro Rice

My husband and I have a favorite restaurant called the Copper Mill. Years ago we went out to eat on a saturday night and they featured a special called Caramelized Salmon with Mango Salsa. I ordered it, loved it, and we have never been able to order it there since. Shortly after I searched for a recipe, but over the years I had forgotten about that yummy meal...except for when we ate at the Coppermill restaurant and I would search for that dish on their menu. My wonderful husband surprised me for Mother's day with this for lunch. He made it all by himself. It was amazing!!! He really is a good cook, and he could easily take over the cooking at our house. He found the recipe on BellaOnline's Quick cooking Site from Karen Hancock. It can be done in 30 minutes... however, for our first time making it, it took us a little bit longer.This caramelized salmon is so tasty! The caramelizing around the salmon is sweet, a little crunchy around the edges, and so tender. The mango salsa gives the salmon a perfect zing! It's a little spicy, but sweet from the mango. The cilantro rice tops it off. I love eating rice on the side of salmon. This meal was absolutely delicious! We served it with a yummy smoothie. If you love salmon you have got to try this recipe. You will love it!!!

Go here for the recipe for 30 Minute Caramelized Salmon Dinner:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art60794.asp

Enjoy!!!

Sopapilla Cheesecake

This cheesecake is amazing!!! It is so delicious, and different. It has a crispy, sweet and chewy crust on the top and bottom, and an amazing creamy, cream cheese filling. My husband and I absolutely loved this, and gobbled it up. I did share it with my friend, and she fell in love with it too. I think it is restaurant worthy! The fresh cut strawberries added a perfect spring taste. I found this recipe on Real Mom Kitchen. I love Laura's blog, and check it daily. I can always find a great recipe on her blog. Check out her blog at www.realmomkitchen.blogspot.com .

Sopapilla Cheesecake

2 cans Pillsbury Crescent rolls
2-8oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 stick butter (1/2 cup real butter not margarine)

Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Unroll and press 1 can crescent rolls into the bottom of your baking dish press the seams together. In a separate bowl blend the cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Spread over top of dough. Unroll the second can of crescent rolls and place on top of the cream cheese mixture pressing seams together again. Melt butter and pour over top layer of crescents. Mix the reaming 1/2 cup of sugar & cinnamon together. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture generously over the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and bottom crust is slightly brown. Cool, slice and enjoy!