Moo Shu Pork Wraps

This is a great recipe if you want to try something fast, easy and different from your typical weeknight meal.

This recipe takes under 30 minutes, start to finish (hooray) and is very flavorful. If you've never tried cooking with hoisin sauce at home, I highly recommend trying out this recipe. I was surprised how much this dish tasted like it came from a restaurant!

If you are looking for a more low carb option, you could easily replace the tortilla wrap with a large Boston bibb or iceberg lettuce leaf.

Moo Shu Pork Wraps

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork

seasoned pepper (or fresh cracked pepper)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch fresh ginger, minced

2 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce

About 1/4 cup hoisin sauce

8 soft taco sized flour tortillas (I recommend Mission's Carb Balance brand)

2 carrots, grated

2 cups bean sprouts

fresh cilantro

Procedure:

1. Coat a large skillet with a light amount of cooking spray, and turn on medium-high heat. Cook ground pork until browned, seasoning the pork with pepper before it is fully cooked.

2. Add the soy sauce, garlic and ginger, and cook for about 2 minutes more. Remove from direct heat, but leave in the warm pan while you assemble the wraps. NOTE: You don't want to burn the garlic or ginger, because this will give a bitter taste to the dish (or any dish, for that matter). Adding garlic and other spices towards the end of recipes ensures full flavor.

3. Begin to assemble your wraps. Heat the tortillas in the microwave (or on the stove, fancypants). Place about 1 spoonful of the hoisin sauce (or more/less depending on your taste) in the center of the tortilla. Add the sprouts and carrots, and top with the ground pork. Add a bit of chiffoned cilantro for an extra pop of flavor.

4. Wrap up and serve! How easy was this!? I suggest serving with stir-fried green beans, or if you need some more filling bulk to your meal, some jasmine rice.

A Big Bowl of Fail: Tex Mex Macaroni and Cheese

It was supposed to be delicious. It was supposed to be easy.

IT was neither. It=Rachel Ray's Tex Mex macaroni and cheese recipe. Everything was going great--my pasta was boiling, my ground beef was cooked to perfection, my roux was a nutty brown, and my cheese was grated.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I added the required amount of milk and broth to the roux, and allowed it to reduce. I tried to get it to reduce. WHY WASN'T IT REDUCING!??! GAHH!?! I tried adding a bit of flour (cornstarch would have been better) to thicken it a bit, but the sauce just was. not. having. it.

I decided to press forward, telling myself, "maybe it's supposed to look like that." No. No, my friends, it was most definitely NOT supposed to look like that.

I added the cheese to the "sauce" and this awful emulsion occurred, the likes that have never been seen before in my kitchen.

This is what it looked like.

Needless to say, we ate leftovers, and I will not be posting the recipe...

Still, this was not as bad as this incident :).

Quick and Easy Steak Nachos

These nachos are perfect for game-day (not that I really know what that means), as an appetizer for a get-together, or a fast weeknight meal.

Use the recipe for Kaye's Steak Marinade to cook the steak, and from there, it's all about layering what you want.

I'll go through what I normally put on our nachos, but you should feel free to add what you like. Fan of pico-de-gallo? Onion it up. Like green peppers? Add some color. The possibilities are endless. I will suggest if you like adding things like sour cream or guacamole to your nachos, that you should do that after the cooking process. No one enjoys runny guac.

Easy Nachos

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4-6 cups of your favorite tortilla chips (about 1/3 of a 1 lb bag)

1 lb steak, marinated and cooked like so

1/2 cup low fat refried beans

1/2 chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced olives

1 small can diced green chili peppers

1 cup shredded cheese (I like to use cheddar and monterey jack)

1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation

0. Preheat oven to 400F. Place rack towards top of the oven.

1. Assemble! I like to start with a base of the chips, then dollop on the refried beans. From there, it's pretty much just throw everything on.

2. I always like to end with the cheese on top, but that's just a personal preference.

3. Bake at 400F for about 3-5 minutes. Keep a watchful eye on this. Nothing is worse than burnt nachos. Well, maybe a burnt kitchen. When the cheese is melted, these babies are good to go.

4. Add sour cream, salsa or guacamole, then serve immediately!

Freezer Calzones

These calzones are a perfect make-ahead-and-freeze dish. No, they aren't the healthiest of meal options, but if you serve them with some fresh veggies, you might be able to wash away some of your carbohydrate related sins.

Plus, you can put whatever you want in them!

I've come up with a few filling pairs that would be delicious to try out:

White-Spinach Calzone:

Alfredo sauce

Cooked spinach

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Meat Lover's (blech):

Marinara sauce

Italian sausage

Ground beef

Pepperoni

Mozzarella

Greek:

Alfredo

Cooked spinach

Kalamata olives

Feta cheese

Mozzarella

Veggie Lover's:

Marinara sauce

Mushrooms

Black Olives

Green peppers

Onions

Roma tomatoes

And the options are endless! The recipe is simple to follow. Just prepare the crust (recipe below), and fill with whatever your heart desires!

You can cook the calzones right away by placing in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling out and the crust is a light, golden brown. You can also place them in individual zip-loc freezer bags and freeze for later. To cook later, just heat the oven up to 350F and cook for about 28-35 minutes.

Enjoy experimenting with this recipe!

Calzone Dough

Makes about 8-10 calzones

Ingredients:

1/2 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 cups flour (I use unbleached all purpose)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water in a bowl.

2. Mix the flour and salt thoroughly in a separate bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and mix with a spoon until incorporated.

3. Stir the yeast in the water, then add to the flour mixture. Mix until the dough forms a ball.

4. Coat a large bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, and transfer the dough ball to the bowl.

5. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm area for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

6. Prepare an area to work with the dough. Coat area with a light dusting of flour. Divide the dough into about 8 balls (in between the size of a golf ball and the size of a tennis ball...).

7. Work the dough into a rectangular shape. Fill one diagonal half (does that even make sense? look at the photo!) with sauce and toppings, taking care not to overfill.

8. Fold over the un-sauced half, and crimp the edges together with a fork or your fingers.

9. Place in freezer bags to freeze, or pop in the oven right away!

Cooking times:

Frozen: 350F, 28-35 minutes

Fresh: 350F, 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!