Slow-Cooker Beef Lettuce Wraps

Two nights in a row of new recipes!  I love anything Asian-inspired.  I get a few cooking magazines in the mail (Everyday with Rachael Ray, Cooking Light, Southern Living).  Honestly, I don’t end up cooking the recipes as much as I’d like – most of my meal ideas come from Pinterest.  But I like getting something in snail-mail besides bills and junk. 

My June copy of Cooking Light had this recipe for beef lettuce wraps with pickled vegetables.  It only had cucumbers and carrots, but I added some red bell peppers, green onions, and mushrooms to make it extra veggie-filled. 

My favorite lettuce wraps are the ones at the Cheesecake Factory.  I rarely eat there anymore since I prefer trying out non-chain restaurants, but every time I go, that’s my dish.  Somehow it’s considered an appetizer but it’s big enough for two people to split it as a meal (that restaurant definitely doesn’t understand portion sizes…)

The beef wraps that we made were so filling that I actually could only eat two. Even though the beef cooks in juices, next time I may throw together a separate dipping sauce since I love the ones from the Cheesecake Factory version (maybe a peanut sauce could be nice?)

Lance actually used the leftovers from this dish to make a really tasty quiche a few days later. 

Slow-Cooker Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps: (adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

• Cooking spray (we always use coconut oil spray)
• 1 large onion, cut into ½” slices
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1-1/2 t olive oil
• 1 2-lb boneless chuck roast, trimmed
• ½ cup unsalted beef stock
• ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
• 11 T rice vinegar, divided
• 2 T dark sesame oil, divided
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T unsalted tomato paste
• 1 T white miso/soybean paste (I omitted this since it wasn’t an ingredient I’d normally use…)
• ¾ t crushed red pepper
• 1 cucumber, sliced
• ¾ cup julienne-cut carrots
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
• ½ cup mushrooms, sliced
• ¼ cup green onions, sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1 T granulated sugar
• ¾ t sale
• 1 head cabbage
• 2 t toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Coat the bottom and sides of your slow cooker with spray.  Line with onions and garlic. 

2. Heat the olive oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the roast to the pan, cooking about 3 minutes and turning to brown all sides.  Place the beef on top of the onions and garlic and pour the drippings from the pan on top.

3. Combine the stock, soy sauce, 3 T of the vinegar, 1 T sesame oil, brown sugar, tomato paste, and red pepper in a medium bowl and whisk together.  Pour over the beef, cover the crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours.

4. Place the cucumber, carrots, and red pepper in a shallow bowl 15 minutes before the meat is done.  Combine the remaining ½ cup rice vinegar, 1 cup water, and granulated sugar in a saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Remove from the heat and pour over the vegetables.  Let stand until ready to serve, then drain well. 

5. Move the beef from the slow cooker to a large platter and shred with 2 forks.   

6. Heat the remaining 1 T sesame oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the shredded beef and onions, pressing into an even layer.  Cook 2-3 minutes without stirring. Turn off and sprinkle with salt and ½ c liquid from the crock pot (discard the rest of the liquid). 

7. Serve the beef with the pickled vegetables, green onions, and mushrooms.  Top with sesame seeds. 

Watermelon Gazpacho & Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread

I spent the afternoon with my mom today – for lunch we had watermelon gazpacho and two different types of banana bread. 

My mom has made variations on this gazpacho several times before – it is a refreshing meal for a hot day like today, and takes almost no time to throw together.  The watermelon makes it lighter than a normal gazpacho and adds a bit of sweetness. 

My mom made 2 loaves of banana bread – one following the basic recipe from the blog Lil' Luna, and the other with the addition of chocolate chips and coconut as shown below.  They were extra moist inside with a crispy crust on the outside.  The basic recipe was great, but I really loved the chocolate coconut version. 

Happy that there are leftovers because I’m looking forward to eating more for lunch tomorrow!

Watermelon Gazpacho (adapted from A Spicy Perspective and Enjoy Food 365)

Ingredients:

·        4 cups chopped seedless watermelon

·        ½ yellow onion, diced

·        2 large cucumbers, diced

·        2 cups cherry tomatoes

·        2 avocados, cut into pieces

·        3 mini Bell peppers, chopped (preferably yellow, red, and orange)

·        12 – 15 fresh mint leaves

·        1 lime

·        1 garlic clove, chopped

·        2 T red wine vinegar

·        3 T olive oil

·        1 T Sriracha (or ½ small jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced)

·        Salt

·        Pepper

Directions:

1. Set aside a handful of the chopped watermelon, onion, cucumber, avocado, peppers and mint leaves for garnish.

2. Place the remaining watermelon, onion, cucumber, tomatoes, avocados, peppers, mint, and garlic in the blender.  Squeeze juice of 1 lime and pulse the blender until everything is roughly combined. 

3. Add in the red wine vinegar, olive oil, Sriracha, salt, and pepper.  Pulse again until combined. Do not over-blend; you still want chunks in the soup.

4. Pour into bowls and garnish.  

Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread (adapted from Lil’ Luna)

Ingredients:

·        1 cup granulated sugar

·        1 cup brown sugar

·        ½ cup vegetable oil

·        3 eggs

·        3 tsp. vanilla

·        1-12 oz container sour cream

·        4 overripe bananas

·        2 cups chocolate chips

·        1 cup shredded coconut

·        2½ cups flour

·        1 tsp. baking soda

·        1 tsp. baking powder

·        1 envelope dry whipped topping (we used Dream Whip brand)

·        2 additional tsp granulated sugar

·        Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray two loaf pans. 

2. Beat the sugars, oil, and eggs.  Add vanilla, sour cream, and bananas and mix well. 

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and powdered whipped topping.  Add dry mixture to wet mixture and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips and coconut. 

4. Pour into prepared pans, sprinkle the top with remaining granulated sugar, and bake for 40-50 minutes. 

5.  Let cool on wire rack and serve.