Mu Shu Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon dry sherry
• 2 tablespoon hoisin sauce (found in Asian section of grocery store)
• 2 teaspoon rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (I used the pre-ground ginger found in produce section)
• 1 (14-ounce) package coleslaw (about 4 cups) 
• 4 c shredded skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast***
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions, divided
• 24 Bibb lettuce leaves (I used romaine)

1/2 cup chopped cashews 

Directions:

1. In a bowl, whisk together the first 7 ingredients.
2. In a large saucepan, combine liquid with rotisserie chicken until heated through (add in 1/4 c of green onions)
3. In lettuce leaves, layer coleslaw mix and chicken.
4. Top with remaining green onions and chopped cashews.

It's not often that I give a recipe 5 stars, but this one is deserving.  It has great flavor, is healthy, fresh, and FAST!  You can have a meal ready to serve company in less than 10 minutes.  Are you kidding me?  My two year old devoured it, my 10 year old gave it 2 thumbs up, and my husband ate 2 platefuls. This recipe is a keeper!!!  ***Just a side note... if you use regular baked chicken breast instead of rotisserie chicken you may want to make more sauce as it generally absorbs more than the rotisserie chicken does. (I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light.  Photo from Cooking Light)

Crockpot Korean Beef Tacos with Cucumber Slaw

Ingredients:

For the Korean Beef:

• 5 lb. chuck roast
• 1 10 oz. bottle low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 T ginger, grated (Have you discovered the pre-grated/ground ginger in produce section yet? Love!)
• 6 T rice vinegar
• 2 T sesame oil
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T sriracha

For the Cucumber Slaw:

• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 c water
• 1 T Thai Garlic Chili Pepper Sauce
• 1 t salt
• 2-3 cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
• 1/4 c thinly sliced red onion

For the Tacos:

• 16 small tortillas or spring roll wraps
• Cilantro
• Shredded cabbage/cole slaw mix
• Greek yogurt or sour cream
• Sriracha

Directions:

1. To make the Korean beef for the tacos, spray your slow cooker crock with non-stick cooking spray and add the chuck roast.
2. Whisk soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar with the garlic, ginger, sriracha, and oils.
3. Pour over the roast in the crockpot. 
4. Cook on low for 8 hours. Remove roast from crockpot and meat just falls apart.  Use the "shredded" beef for the tacos.
5. For the cucumber slaw:
   1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, vinegar, water, chili pepper sauce and salt.  Stir, cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.
   2. Add cucumbers to onion in an appropriately sized dish that will allow all the cucumber mixture to be covered with the marinade.
   3. Pour vinegar mixture over the vegetables and let marinate for 30 minutes.
   4. Remove cucumbers with a slotted spoon.
6. To assemble, serve the shredded meat on warmed tortillas topped a spoon of cucumber slaw, shredded cabbage, cilantro, sriracha and a dollop of yogurt.

This recipe is absolutely delicious! We actually used the coleslaw and ate it more like an asian salad, but it was absolutely delicious.  We actually used leftover cucumber slaw marinade and put some of the cabbage in there to marinate as well.  Delicious!  Everyone in our family LOVED it! This recipe inspiration (and the photo) came from the Confections of a Food Bride blog.

Banana Blueberry Coconut Pecan Breakfast Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 
• 1 T golden flaxmeal (I didn't have any on hand, so left this out)
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 c coarsely chopped pecans
• 1/2 c dried blueberries
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed (mashed in my Kitchen Aid, kept a bit lumpy)
• 1/4 c coconut oil, warm enough to be liquid
• 1 T agave nectar
• 1 t vanilla extract
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Combine oats, coconut, flaxmeal, salt, pecans, and blueberries. Stir in bananas, oil, agave nectar and vanilla until well combined.
2. Press 2 tablespoons of mixture onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. You could also press into a round cookie cutter for a more uniform looking cookie. I just used my 2 T measuring scoop. Continue with remaining mixture.
3. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until fragrant and golden. Cool on pan. Makes about 15 cookies.

These are delicious! The recipe came from www.kumkuatblog.com and either this or something like this was introduced to me by my sweet friend, Ali.  I HIGHLY recommend making a double batch as they keep well in the fridge and won't last long.  Easy to make and a repeater recipe for sure!