Recipe Review

Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Prep time:
Total time:

I discovered P.F. Chang's only a few months ago. Hello, where have I been? Anyway, R insisted we get the chicken lettuce wraps. Good thing, because they were sooo good. Only a month or so later, my Food Network Magazine had a recipe for Almost-Famous Chicken Lettuce Wraps, a take off the P.F. Chang version.  

I started out by making the stir-fry sauce. I couldn't find rice wine in the grocery store, so I used dry white wine instead.

I coated the chicken next and stored it in the fridge until needed.

The noodles were my favorite part. The package I bought included three bundles of noodles. I heated up the oil and thought it was ready, but nothing exciting was happening when I put the noodles in. At first I thought I bought the wrong noodles, but I gave it a few more minutes to heat up and tried again. The noodles bubble up super quick, like one second, and they're ready to take out.  They're pretty tasteless, but have a great crunch to them. Making mental note to use these noodles in more dishes!

Cooking the veggies. I think I burned them a bit. Oops!

And voila!
Suggest you don't put the hot chicken mixture on top of the noodles. Doing that makes them 'melt,' for lack of a better term, and they tighten up.

R and I both really enjoyed the dish. There are a lot of components; lots of pots and cooking going on, so this is a good recipe for a multi-tasker. I wouldn't say the dish is complicating, but all the different parts can be a turnoff.

Girl likeability - 4
Boy likeability - 4
Ease of preparation - 1.5

Score: 3.16 - totally buffet-style. Would be great for a party/large group. Eat 'em with your hands, and enjoy!

Oh, how fast they grow

Awwww, so little and so cute.



25 pounds later...

She's really grown into her face, and most of her body feels like solid rock. She's still a puppy, though, and loves to chew on things, chase her tail and play. Still waiting for another 20 pounds...oh my!

Recipe Review

Recipe Review
Bay Scallop Gratin
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

It's rare that I watch any actual cooking shows on Food Network these days. I'm way more into the reality TV shows. One day while watching Barefoot Contessa (I was likely cleaning my room, or something) I saw her make this scallop dish that looked amazing, and simple! I thought I'd give it a try.

Now I'm all about saving a few bucks in my homemade dinners. This recipe calls for Prosciutto di Parma. I used cooked bacon. It also calls for Pernod. I don't even know what that is, so I left it out.
:)

I blended all the ingredients it called for.


Then I folded in the panko breadcrums.


I used these oven-safe bowls that I have (not a gratin dish. Oh well.) I poured some white wine in the bottom and topped the scallops (four per bowl) with the butter mixture (above).

It was a lot more food than it looks. Four scallops really filled me up. I didn't buy french bread at the store. Instead, I just toasted in the over some sliced wheat bread we have in our cabinet that we use for sandwiches.

So, uh, I think I over-cooked the scallops. Oops!

Otherwise, the topping was really good, and went great with the toasted bread. R gave the topping a 4 rating. Suggested next time we cook the topping separately, pan sear the scallops, then combine, rather than cooking all together in the oven. Noted.

As a whole dish, over-cooked scallops and all:

Girl likeability - 3

Boy likeability - 2.5

Ease of preparation - 4 (surprisingly easy for an Ina Garten recipe!)

Score - 3: Buffet-style. Could easily make this in large serving. If you use small scallops, would be great for a one-bite dish. I could go back for more.