Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps

Quick Sriracha Beef Lettuce Wraps
(Makes 3-4 servings or 6-8 lettuce wraps; recipe adapted from Nigella Fresh.)

Ingredients:
2 tsp. neutral-flavored oil like grapeseed or peanut oil
1 lb. lean ground beef (use ground beef with less than 10% fat for South Beach Diet)
1 T fish sauce (I like Three Crabs Fish sauce by far the best)
1-2 T Sriracha Sauce (depending on how much heat you want)
1 T water
zest from one large lime
juice from one large lime (about 1 1/2 T juice)
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (or double that amount if you're not using the cilantro)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1-2 heads iceberg lettuce

Instructions:

Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan, then saute the beef until it's cooked through and starting to brown, breaking apart with a turner as it cooks.


While beef cooks, mix together the fish sauce, Sriracha Sauce, and water in a small bowl. Zest the skin of the lime and squeeze the juice. (You may need two limes to get enough juice, but only use the zest from one lime.) Thinly slice the green onions and chop the cilantro. (Most iceberg lettuce doesn't need washing, but if yours does break the heads apart gently and wash and dry the lettuce.)


When the beef is done, add the Sriracha Sauce mixture and let it sizzle until the water has evaporated, stirring a few times to get the flavor mixed through the meat. Turn off the heat and stir in the lime zest, lime juice, sliced green onions, and chopped cilantro.


Serve meat mixture with iceberg lettuce leaves to fill with meat and wrap around it, to be eaten with your hands.


This was definitely still good when the meat mixture was kept in the fridge and reheated for a very short time in the microwave, but I liked it best freshly made.

Spicey Taco salad

This reciepy was a combination of a couple because I didn't have what I needed on hand for two different things. It was so good I just kept doing it that way.

Olive oil
1 med onion diced
4-6 garlic cloves depending on how much you like
hot sauce (I used Sriracha sauce)
1 pound of ground chicken/or turkey
1 taco seasoning packet (and the amount of water it tells you to add)
2 cans of low salt pinto beans (Drain and rinsed)
1 can of low salt black beans (Drain and rinsed)
Salsa
Letuce
Cheese (I use mexican cheese blend from costco)

In a frying pan heat up olive oil (I just make sure it covers the whole bottom) and cook the onion and garlic until tender and just before they are soft squirt in some hot sauce. (I started out a wimp and now put in WAY more and it is so good)
once cooked take off heat and set a side.

White the onions are cooking start cooking the meat in a larger frying pan. Drain off any fat. Add the taco seasoning and water that is called for, add the onions, and all the beans. Cook until the beans are tottaly cooked and everything is blended together.

I think chop up lettuce (I like iceburg best with this salad) then put bean/meat mixture on top. Then salsa of your choice (if on SBD make sure it is less than grams of sugar per serving) and top with cheese. Enjoy.

Provolone Chicken Melt

Provolon Chicken Melts
The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook pg 181
Prep Time 5 minutes Cook time 15 minutes

4 (6 Ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 teaspoons extra olive oil, divided
4 slices mutigrain bread (unless you are phase one and just do without it)
1 large garlic clove cut in half
1 whole roasted bell pepper cut into 4 pieces
4 slices of reduced fat provolone cheese

Heat Oven to broil
Lightly pound each chicken breast to an even thickness and season with salt and pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large nonstuck skillet over medium heat, saute chicken until cooked through about 5 minutes per sides. Trasfer to a plate.

Lay bread slices on a baking sheet, drizzle with remaining oil. and rub with the cut sides of the garlic clove discard garlic. Place under the broiler until toasted about 1 minute.

Top each bread slice with 1 pepper, 1 chicken breast and one slice of cheese. Broil until the cheese has melted about 2 minutes serve hot.

FOR PHASE ONE
I omited the bread all together. I just layered chicken then red pepper then cheese. IT was sooo good even with out the bread.

Healthy Chicken Parm

Turkey (OR Chicken) Parmesan
Pg 172 The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook (Phase ONE)
Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes

2 cups low-sugar pasta sauce
1/2 cup pine nuts, coarely chopped
1 ounce freshly grated parmesan cheese (1/4 cup)
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian Seasoning
1 pound Chicken cutlets, about and 1/3 inch thick
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces shredded part skim mozzarella cheese (1/2 cup)
salt and pepper

Heat Oven to broil. Bring sauce to a low simmer in a small saucepan over meduim low heat. Remove from heat and cover to warm.
Stir together pine nuts, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasonings in a wide shallow dish. Season Chicken on both sides with salt and pepper then dredge both sides in the nut mixture, pressing to adhere.
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium low heat. Add chicken and cook until coating is golden brown and juices run clear. about 4 minutes per side. If nuts brown too quickly turn down heat.
Place Chicken in a baking pan top evenly with mozzarella and broil until Cheese melts about 30 seconds
Spoon 1/2 cup of warm sauce on each plate and top with a piece of chicken.

PF Changs Won Ton Soup

Ingredients
for the soup
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 lb small to medium shrimp, deveined with tails off
1 cup fresh spinach, torn into small pieces
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 (8 ounce) cans water chestnuts
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine or 1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon finely chopped scallions
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
6 cups chicken stock ( I use 8 cups)
for the wontons
6 ounces ground pork
8 medium shrimp, shelled and ground
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice wine or 1 tablespoon dry sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon finely chopped scallions
1 teaspoon finely chopped ginger
24 wonton wrappers
Page 2 of 2Pf Changs Wonton Soup (cont.)
Directions
Bring chicken stock to a rolling boil, then add all the ingredients.
Cook until chicken and shrimp are cooked through, about 10 minutes.
FOR WONTONS.
In a bowl, mix the pork, ground shrimp, brown sugar, rice wine or sherry, soy sauce, scallions and chopped ginger.
Blend well and set aside for 25-30 minutes for flavors to blend.
Place 1 tsp of the filling in the center of each wonton wrapper.
Wet the edges of each wonton with a little water and press them together with your fingers to seal, then fold each wnton over.
To cook, add wontons to the boiling chicken stock and cook for 4-5 minutes.
Transfer to individual soup bowls and serve.

A great e-book to show you how to reduce your month food budget

A great e-book to show you how to reduce your month food budget

Marinara Sauce

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 small onions finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 stalks of celery, finely chopped 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1 tsp dried basil 1 tsp dried parsley 2 (32 oz) cabs crushed tomatoes 2 dried bay leaves In a large sauce pot heat oil. Put in onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent. Add in celery and carrots and 1/2 salt and pepper. Saute until veggies are soft. Add everything else but the rest of salt and pepper. Simmer 1 hour on very low heat. Discard bay leaves and add remaining salt and pepper. Can be made one day ahead. Freezes well