Spicy lentil wrap with tahini sauce (A copycat of the expensive wrap you can buy at Trader Joes)

I used to go to Trader Joes on a Monday and buy six of their pre-made wraps to get me through this lunch week.  This is expensive.  While playing around online the other day looking for vegan banana bread (coming soon) I found another persons version of this wrap.  Theirs was just a little too high cal/carb for me so I updated it.  Mine is more simple but seriously, so so so good. You can make these wraps ahead of time and take them with you for lunch, the Lavash bread does not get soggy. I recommend keeping the tahini in a separate container for lunch traveling, the wrap will get messy if you add that before wrapping and traveling.  For a weeks worth of lunches I took a tupperware of lentils, a bag of cabbage, 5 half pieces of Lavash bread, and a container of sauce to my office and then built each wrap on my break. 

 INGREDIENTS
1/2 Slice of Lavash bread (or a whole if you are hungry)
1/8 Cup Spicy red lentils
1/2 Cup shredded cabbage
Red pepper flakes to taste

Lay wrap flat on plate. Spoon lentils onto one half of wrap.  This is where Trader Joes uses a chili paste.  I am a sissy so I skipped that and just put a few red pepper flakes. If you want the chili paste Trader Joes sells an excellent pre-made one with minimal ingredients.  Add cabbage on top of lentils.  Starting from the side of the wrap with the lentils roll towards the empty side.  This should give you a nice clean wrap.  I prefer to drizzle with tahini sauce before each bite.  You may dip, or pour, or put it in before rolling it up. I enjoy the drizzling. 

To make Tahini sauce
2 Tbsp tahini*
1-2 Tbsp unsweetened coconut milk
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
1 Tsp chopped parsley
Pinch of red pepper flakes (more if you aren't a sissy like me

Combine all of the sauce ingredients and mix with a fork until smooth and able to drizzle off fork. If using raw tahini you will want to add a little more coconut milk to make it pourable.

*I've used raw Tahini or the Trader Joes Tahini sauce found near their hummus
Spicy red lentil recipe found here

Meatball sammiches

1 pound ground beef

3 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp garlic powder

1 egg

1 cup italian breadcrumbs

1 jar tomato sauce

1 pound mozzarella cheese sliced

4-5 sandwich rolls

Preheat oven to 325.  Line a baking dish with foil and spray with cooking spray. Combine first six ingredients.  Roll into 1.5 inch meatballs.  Bake in oven for 8 minutes.  While they are baking heat sauce in large sauce pan.  Flip meatballs and bake for another 8 minutes.  Place meatballs in sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.  Slice bread in half without cutting all the way through.  Line bottom of bread with mozzarella cheese.  Top with 3-4 meatballs and cover with more cheese.  Place under broiler on high for about 2 minutes.  WATCH IT SO IT DOESN'T BURN.  I served it with a side of sauce for dipping.  

Enjoy trying to fit it into your mouth!

Not Just For Decoration

I always love finding different types of produce that I am not familiar with. You never know if you might find something new you like. The other day at the grocery store I spotted some red corn on the cob. I quickly threw it in my cart. I always thought colorful corn was only for Thanksgiving decorations.

I ended up wrapping it in foil and throwing it on the grill with our steaks. It wasn't a huge taste difference from your regular white or yellow corn on the cob. It wasn't as sweet as white corn, and tasted healthier, almost earthy.

Try picking up something new next time you go to the store!

Strawberry Bread

INGREDIENTS
4 cups strawberries, finely chopped with juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9x5 loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. Sprinkle chopped strawberries with a tablespoon of sugar and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Blend in oil, vanilla, eggs and strawberries. Then stir in pecans.
4. Pour batter evenly into two loaf pans. Sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar over the top of each loaf.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Strawberry shortcake bites

After reading the comments from the Lemon Blossom website on Food Network I started getting ideas on what else I could do with this recipe. I remembered this cupcake I had from a local place in Reno, Batch Cupcakery and the wheels in my head couldn't stop turning. I ran to the store today for an iron and came home with the ingredients for cake. I went a little lighter on the icing the strawberries make it seem extra sweet. I also added chocolate chips to half the batch. They are still in the oven I will report later. (Update: such a very very very good idea.) I am thinking of trying a hint of lemon in the icing to tone down the sweetness on the next set that comes out.

Ingredients

• 18 1/2-ounce package strawberry cake mix
• 3 1/2-ounce package instant white chocolate pudding mix
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 strawberries cut very fine
  
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 6 strawberries
  
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, finely chopped strawberries, water, eggs and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. In a blender add strawberries and water. Blend until smooth. Add the strawberry mix, zest, and oil to powdered sugar. Mix with a spoon until smooth. Add more water as needed.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

Lemon Blossoms

I can't even describe the lemony goodness of these little cakes. If you can't tell they are mini. So small that one fits perfectly right in your mouth as a bite. Personally I think these would be PERFECT for a baby shower, along with the strawberry version I am posting next. I had to edit Paula Deans recipe after my first failure after that, well, pure genius. Paula's recipe doesn't call for the water. YOU NEED THE WATER. Trust me. After reading comment after comment on the recipe on Food Networks website YOU NEED THE WATER. Also, 11 minutes works better then 12 if you want them crunchy. 9 minutes is perfect if you want them soft and delectable.

Ingredients

• 18 1/2-ounce package yellow cake mix
• 3 1/2-ounce package instant lemon pudding mix
• 4 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
  
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Glaze:

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 lemon, zested
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray miniature muffin tins with vegetable oil cooking spray. Combine the cake mix, pudding mix, eggs, water and oil and blend well with an electric mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Pour a small amount of batter, filling each muffin tin half way. Bake for 12 minutes. Turn out onto a tea towel

To make the glaze, sift the sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the lemon juice, zest, oil, and 3 tablespoons water. Mix with a spoon until smooth.

With fingers, dip the cupcakes into the glaze while they're still warm, covering as much of the cake as possible, or spoon the glaze over the warm cupcakes, turning them to completely coat. Place on wire racks with waxed paper underneath to catch any drips. Let the glaze set thoroughly, about 1 hour, before storing in containers with tight-fitting lids.

Steak tacos with avocado tomato salad

First I want to apologize for the quality of the above photo. I was using my husbands point and shoot and it WAS NOT cooperating.

I got this recipe from Rachel Ray. As with most of her recipes after tasting the ingredients as I went along (you better always taste while you cook) I realized it needed some major editing. The results were pretty fucking amazing. Last night we ate it as shown, as tacos, but today my husband just took the salad part and tossed the remaining meat on and called it a steak salad for lunch. Good shit. I will italic my edits.

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp steak seasoning (I used McCormicks Spicy Montreal Steak Seasoning, a must in our house)
  
• 1/2 tbsp Adobo seasoning (if you don't have you can omit this just add extra salt, then go buy some)
  
• (2) 1 pound skirt steaks, halved crosswise
• Salt and pepper
• 2 jalapeño chiles, finely chopped (I used red fresno, sweeter with better spice)
  
• Grated peel and juice of 2 limes
• 1 head butter lettuce, shredded (my head was massive I only used half)
  
• 2 avocados—halved, pitted and cut into small cubes
• 2 tomatoes diced
• 1.5 tbsp sugar
  
• 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
• 12 taco shells

Directions:

1. Preheat a grill pan (I grilled outside) over medium-high heat. Whisk together 1 tablespoon olive oil and the chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, adobo seasoning, and steak seasoning, then rub all over the steak; season with salt and pepper. Marinate for one hour (if you are pressed for time don't worry it will still be good) Add to the grill and cook, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 5 minutes for medium-rare (they lie, four minutes was almost too much). Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes before thinly slicing across the grain. If your meat gets cold while resting place it on a metal baking dish (think cookie sheet and throw it back on the grill. It will heat it with out making it cook through more then necessary).
   

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the jalapeños, lime peel, lime juice, tomatoes, sugar, and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil; season with salt (1 tsp) and pepper. Add the lettuce, avocados and onion and toss; season with salt and pepper.

3. Divide half of the avocado salad among the taco shells, then top with the meat and the remaining avocado salad.
   

I also added a little sour cream. We ate it with corn on the cob but later I realized the corn would have been excellent in it.

Lemon-Thyme Pasta

1/2 pound vermicelli pasta
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon-thyme chopped*
3 tbsp fresh sweet basil chopped
Whole lot of garlic chopped
Parmesan to taste

Boil pasta. While pasta boils in large skillet heat butter and olive oil over low. Add in garlic and lemon thyme and sauté for about five minutes until garlic starts to turn translucent. Drain pasta and add it into pan. Toss to coat with sauce. Top with basil and a large portion of Parmesan cheese.

*If you don't have lemon thyme (I grow it in my garden it smells like lemon zest but more amazing) you can sub regular thyme and 1 tsp of lemon zest.

Summer chicken salad

Dinner tonight started out as this. However, as I opened my refrigerator I saw some bell peppers, and some spinach and I didn't feel like tortilla and something acidic sounded nice so....well the rest is history. There are times in the winter where I just get sick of the cold. I want to feel warm. I want to remember summer, and grilling, and sitting outside relaxing. Sometimes my answer is to cook a nice summery meal, close my eyes and pretend. This salad hit the spot exactly! It was even filling enough for my carnivore husband.

For the chicken
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp coriander seed
1/2 lime juiced
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1 clove garlic finely minced (or grated)

For the vegetables
1 cup frozen or fresh white corn
1 red bell pepper diced into 1" x 1/4" pieces
1/2 green bell pepper diced into 1" x 1/4" pieces
1/2 jalapeno seeded and finely diced
1/2 red onion chopped into 1" x 1/4" pieces
1 clove of garlic finely minced (or grated)
1 tbsp olive oil

For vinaigrette
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lime juiced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp coriander seed
1/2 tsp cumin

Remaining ingredients
2 tomatoes diced
2-3 cups spinach
2 tbsp cilantro chopped
4 tbsp Monteray Jack cheese shredded
pinch salt & pepper

For this dish you want one really good size bowl. First preheat your grill to medium low. In your bowl combine all ingredients for marinade. Whisk together and pour all but 1 tbsp into zip lock bag. Place chicken in bag and combine. Set aside. In your bowl add corn, bell peppers, jalapeno and onion. Toss around in any remaining marinade. Place chicken on grill. Preheat sauté pan with 1 tbsp olive oil over low heat. Toss in vegetables and allow to cook for about 8 minutes. You want them to keep their bite. Remove from heat. In your same bowl combine all ingredients for dressing. Whisk until combined. Add in cooled vegetables and toss to coat. After about 9 minutes flip your chicken. In two bowls add about 1.5 cups of spinach to each. Add cheese and tomatoes. Top with half of your vegetable mixture and vinaigrette. When chicken is done remove from heat and allow it to rest. Slice into strips and place on salad. Add a dash of cilantro and you are done.

Scroll down for tips and advice
Also I am trying out a new printable version below let me know how it works

If your measuring spoon doesn't fit in your spice jar...just dump it out.

It's okay to make a mess

I use my micro plane to quickly make garlic paste because I am lazy tonight

See...do you know how long you would have to chop to get it like that? I do. A long fucking time.

If you are not a wussy baby like me go ahead and use the whole jalapeno

Always cut the pepper skin side down it is a thousand times easier

Same with tomato, always skin side down.

Buch up the cilantro to cut it faster.

See how the chicken is sticking to the grill? That means DON'T FUCKING TURN ME YET STOP FUCKING AROUDN WITH ME. Leave it alone. When it lifts with ease it is ready.

Enjoy!

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