Ground Pork Lettuce Wraps

What's a simple easy dinner to make with ingredients that you just may have on hand? I like to use this recipe for either ground pork or ground turkey or chicken.  I usually have the veggies on hand (lettuce, green onions, cilantro, onions and garlic). If you don't have Hoisin sauce and sesame oil, I highly recommend that invest in those! 

Serves 4-6 as a generous appetizer, or about 3 for a dinner

Ingredients

1/2 onion, minced

3 garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, small dice

3-4 green onions, sliced

1 lb. ground pork

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup hoisin sauce (or oyster sauce)- could also substitute 1/4 cup soy sauce with 1-2 Tbsp white sugar

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

1-2 tsp Sriracha (optional) plus more for serving

Toasted sesame seeds

Chopped peanuts (optional)

Small Romaine lettuce, but butter lettuce or even cabbage leaves would work

Brown pork over medium high heat, when mostly cooked, drain off the fat.  Add the sesame oil, onions, garlic and ginger and cook until the onions start to wilt.  Add in chopped celery (you want this to be more crunchy when its done). Add in the hoisin or oyster sauce and taste. If you want it spicy, you may need to add in the Sriracha and/or the red pepper flakes. Add in cilantro (optional) and spoon into a serving bowl. Allow the mixture to cool a bit before serving into the lettuce.

Prep the mini romaine leaves into 'cups' or use cabbage leaf, or butter lettuce.  

Put soy sauce, sesame seeds, Sriracha and chopped peanuts on the table for each diner to customize their wrap.

I just brought the pork mixture to the table in a bowl and served the lettuce on a plate so that everyone could just make their own at the table.  Served with a little sriracha and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds.  My hubby liked it with a drizzle of soy sauce.

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Damn Good Salsa

I love salsa! 

Recently we did a Salsa & Chips day at work and I brought in a couple of store bought kinds (no judging, it was a big group, LOL) and also a batch of my Chipotle Sour Cream. We had some other people bring some in and this one was so good I asked for the recipe.  They sent me a picture of a work email from 2007 where the recipe had been shared before.  It was so good and so easy, I wanted to make sure to blog this for posterity's sake!

It seems like a lot of spices with 1 tablespoon of each, but believe me, it makes it great! Heck, I even added more pepper and salt to make it just as good as my co-workers version! This is best if you make it a day or two before you need it, but it also tastes great right away.

Thank you for my neighbor, Chrissy, who had an extra chili powder when we didn't have chili powder at our vacation home.  I'm stunned I did not have chili powder at this place!

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp of the following:

-Salt

-Black Pepper

-Cumin

-Paprika

-Chili Powder

1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1/2-3/4 cup diced white onion

1/4 cup green onions, diced

2 jalapenos, diced small

1 bunch of cilantro, chopped

6oz spicy V-8 tomato juice

Juice of 1 lime

Mix and chill until ready for eating!  We pretty much put salsa on everything, so go for it!

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