Come and Get It

Chicken lettuce wraps - it's what's for supper at least every 10 days in our house. The first time we moved to England, the husband bought a couple of those restaurant copycat recipe books for moi. Hope springs eternal, right? Maybe I'd pull a June Cleaver after being in the workforce my entire adult life (going back to my first job at age 15, yo) and suddenly develop this compulsion to slave away in the kitchen preparing home cooked meals for the family. Uh yeah, didn't happen. Dare I say never gonna happen, whether I'm working or staying at home. I'm sure my granny, a woman that loved to cook for her family and friends, is undoubtedly rolling over in her grave as I type these words. I just don't enjoy the cooking experience.

So when I do gird my loins and head into the kitchen to prepare a meal, I want something that isn't too fussy. We have what I call the staples here at our house, things the teenager will eat. Chicken enchiladas or tacos, chicken noodle soup, shrimp fettuccine alfredo and chicken lettuce wraps. Before the college coed left home, I cooked a greater variety of meals because I knew she and the husband would eat most anything. The younger daughter would make a PB&J sandwich if she wasn't interested. But now I'm cooking for just the husband and picky pants palate, although she has broadened her culinary horizons, a bit, over the years.

One of our favourite meals from the copycat recipe book that everyone enjoys is PF Chang's chicken lettuce wraps. If you're within driving distance of an upscale shopping mall, then you know what I'm talking about. 

I've never been able to find those kinda crispy white noodle thingies at any of our local grocery stores - in the UK or Texas - but we enjoy them just the same.

 I chop up all of the ingredients, mix the sauce, pour about half of it over the mixture and let it sit in the fridge for a while to soak up the flavours. Then I toss it all into a hot skillet for about 10-12 minutes and voila - a mostly healthy meal as long as you don't pile on spoonfuls of the sauce. That stuff is tasty, but not particularly good for the waistline. Best thing about this meal is the fact that we always have enough for leftovers.