Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

Sometimes when you're on the go, and don't want to grab fast food, but need food fast, the perfect solution is one of those rotisserie chickens that you can grab at the grocery.  After we've had dinner, I'll save the carcass for some chicken soup.  The other day we picked up chickenzilla.  This thing was enormous. 

So the next day for lunch, I picked it's bones for some Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps and then put the carcass in the soup pot.  I love lettuce wraps, and the kids like them, too.  First I made my chicken salad.  I'm not going to bother with exact amounts, because you won't have the same amount of chicken.  Here's what I added:  a stalk of celery thinly sliced, some diced vidalia onion, mayo, honey mustard, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, salt & pepper.

I washed and dried several leaves of red leaf lettuce, and placed some chicken salad in the middle.

Wrap it up, and a couple of these make the perfect summertime lunch.

Thanks for popping in and lunching with me.  I'm linking this up with Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Mango-Nectarine Sorbet

When the weather is hot, all you want to do is lounge around by the pool and eat frozen treats.  Unfortunately a diet consisting entirely of icecream or frozen margaritas would make it impossible to don a bikini.  So in order to not be forced to wear a coverup by the pool, I made some sorbet to enjoy.  I'm not going to pretend that this is diet food, but it is fruit, and not made with heavy cream, so it's certainly a better alternative.

I had originally planned on making a mango-peach sorbet, but when I went to the farmer's market, the nectarines were looking especially yummy to me.

I started by making a simple syrup.  I heated up 3/4 cup water and 1/2 cup granulated sugar until the sugar dissolved.  I let that cool while preparing the fruit.

I peeled and chopped 1 large mango and 3 nectarines and placed them in a blender with 1/4 cup pineapple juice.

I pureed the fruit, added the cooled simple syrup, and whirred it until thoroughly blended.

I poured the mixture into a plastic container, put the cover on, and popped it into the freezer.

After an hour, I mixed it up, and put it back in the freezer.

Pull it out in another hour or so and mix it up again.  Serve immediately or if you leave it in the freezer longer, leave it out for 10 minutes to thaw to a serving consistency.

Thanks for popping in and cooling off with me.  I'm linking this up to I <3 Naptime's Sundae Scoop Party, Kitchen Bouquet's Ice Cream Social, and the links below.

 

Roast Duck

I served duck, ham, and lamb at my Easter dinner.  A couple of my guests asked how I prepare my duck so it's not greasy.  That's a question I often get, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  Here's how you get a perfectly roasted, non-greasy duck(or goose, for that matter.)

Start by removing the neck, giblets, and whatever else might be inside your duck.  Put those things in a large stock pot of water and bring it up to a simmer.

Wrangle the wing tips behind the bird, and with the point of a knife, stab it all over.  Go nuts.  Make sure to flip the duck over and stab the backside, too.  Really get all serial killery on the bird.  This will help to render the fat out on the next step.

 Drop your stabbed bird in the simmering pot neck down.  Fat floats.  It'll want to float.  Just push it down and put the lid on.  Let it simmer for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pull the bird out of the water and let it sit for 45 minutes.  This'll give it's skin time to tighten up.

In the meantime I preheated the oven to 450 and prepared the glaze.  I heated up 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 cup champagne vinegar, 1/2 cup apricot mango preserves, 1 tbsp San-J gluten-free soy sauce, and 1 1/2 tbsps red pepper flakes.  For a more traditional orange duck, use marmalade instead of the preserves.  Reserve half the sauce for serving with the bird. 

Brush the sauce all over the duck.  I like to start the bird roasting back side up for 25 minutes, then flip it over breast side up for another 25-30 minutes, basting again when I pull it out of the oven to flip it.  A goose would take slightly longer with slightly more glaze.  Perfectly roasted water fowl every time.

The thing about water fowl, is that they're naturally so fatty and juicy that you really can't overcook them.  It would take effort to dry one out.  I took a cleaver to what was left after Easter dinner, and heated up in a 425 toaster oven for 10 minutes, those bits are better than any $13 chinese take-out duck.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays, Prairie Story's Recipe Swap Thursday, Just a Girl's Show and Share Day, and Life as Mom's Ultimate Recipe Swap.

Basil Tilapia

Fish cooks in a flash and is a fantastically lean protein that can be the base of a quick & easy meal.  The boys love tilapia for it's mild flavor, and I love it for it's relatively cheap price.  This is one of their favorite ways to eat fish - Basil Tilapia.

This is so easy to make, I'm almost embarassed to be posting the how-to.  I tear off a sheet of aluminum foil, drizzle it with olive oil, and sprinkle salt & pepper on both sides of the tilapia fillet.  I then add a smear of pesto.  I love fresh pesto with basil straight from the garden, but jarred is fine too.

I slice up half of a small onion to divide up between our 4 fish packets, and top the fish with slices.

I wrap the foil up tightly, and place the packets in a preheated 400 oven for about 20 minutes.

That's it.  Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezy.  Served up with some bagged salad and rice, dinner's on the table in less than half an hour.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Kelp Noodle Soup

Are you an adventurous eater?  When you go to a chinese buffet, do you grab a plate of seseme chicken, or do you try the eel, (or if eel is a fave, do you try the walnut shrimp?)  When you see new things in the grocery store, do you toss them in your cart?  I do.  That's how I ended up looking in my pantry for a dinner idea and finding these.

Kelp Noodles.  I thought they'd be nice for a vegetarian soup.  So that's what I made - Kelp Noodle Soup.

I started by slicing up 2/3 of a block of firm tofu and marinating it in chile oil & soy sauce for 1/2 hour.  I heated up 2 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a stock pot, then added the marinated tofu and seared it.

I removed the tofu from the pot, added a drizzle of seseme oil, and sauteed 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 tablespoon minced ginger for a minute before adding 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth, 1 cup thinly sliced carrots, 1 cup shredded cabbage, the sliced whites of 2 scallions, and the tofu.  I brought this up to a simmer and added the kelp noodles.  The soup was ready after just a few minutes.   I added the sliced green parts of the scallions, and some fresh mint to the bowls just before serving.

Snuggle Bunny is not really a fan of tofu, but he did enjoy the noodles.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays.

Ginger Turkey Purses

Wontons are great in soup, but they also make fantastic fried appetizers.  I like to fry them up ahead of time, then warm them back up in the oven just before my guests arrive.  Here's one way to make a fried wonton appetizer - my Ginger Turkey Purses.

I start by shredding 1 1/2 cups of cabbage, tossing it with 2 tsps of salt in a colander,

and placing a weight on top(in this case a 2 liter bottle of soda.)  This will help to press some of the water out of the cabbage so that the fried wontons won't get soggy.

After 1/2 an hour, I wrap the cabbage in a clean tea towel, and squeeze all the excess water out.  Really squeeze with both hands, you want as much of the water out as possible.

In a medium mixing bowl, I combine the cabbage with 2/3 pound of ground turkey, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 1/2 tablespoons gf soy sauce, 1 1/2 teaspoons seseme oil, one egg yolk, and a couple turns of the pepper grinder.

I make half of my gf wonton recipe, and roll out half of that as thin as possible, covering the reserved half with plastic wrap.

I cut the wonton dough into 3" squares with my pizza cutter.  Place 1 generous teaspoon of filling on each square.

Brush the edges with some egg wash.

Pull up the corners and press the edges together.  You can set them on some waxed paper while you're finishing making them.  When the first set has been assembled, roll out the reserved dough, and use up the rest of the filling.

In a deep fryer or a large heavy bottomed skillet heat up your oil to 375.  Fry these until Golden Brown Delicious turning as necessary.  Drain on paper towels.  I like to make these ahead of time and reheat them all in the oven, because you can only fit a few in the fryer at a time.

I recommend reheating them at 400 for 15 minutes for a nice crispy treat.

Thanks for popping in and cooking with me.  I'm linking this up to Gluten-Free Homemaker's Gluten-Free Wednesdays, and Little Brick Ranch's Foodie Friday.