Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

My very favorite Chinese Restaurant is the Jasmine in Salt Lake City (which happens to be owned by Ellen's and my good friend's family, The Pengs). I always try to stop in when I am in town. One of my favorite things there: Chicken Lettuce Wraps. This version of lettuce wraps is a bit different from those at the Jasmine, but they were good, and will definitely satisfy me between trips to the Jasmine. They are easy to make, and easy to tweak according to your own taste. I looked at a few recipes online, and this is what I came up with...

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps:

1 head Bibb/Boston/Butter lettuce, whole leaves separated and rinsed

1 Tbs cooking oil (most recipes recommend peanut. I used canola.)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 lb. ground Chicken (pork, beef or turkey would also be good)
2 -3 Scallions, chopped
1 to 1.5 cups diced vegetables of your choice (I used shiitake mushrooms and carrots. Ideas from other recipes: water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, green beans...use what you like.)
2 Tbs fish sauce
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs sesame oil
a pinch or so of cayenne pepper (or more, if you like it spicy, like me)
a pinch of so of crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chopped peanuts, divided
(chopped fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime would also be good additions)

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce*

Saute chicken in oil, with ginger and garlic over medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through. Add scallions and diced vegetables. Add fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, cayenne and red pepper (add salt if you feel it is needed). Saute until vegetables are tender. Remove from heat. Stir in about 3/4 of the peanuts.

To serve: spoon chicken mixture into a lettuce leaf. Top with peanuts and Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. Fold up lettuce leaf and enjoy!

Works as an appetizer or main course.

* a note on Thai Sweet Chili Sauce - don't leave it out! I love this stuff. You can find it in an Asian market, or often in the Asian section in a regular grocery store.
A quick meal idea: steamed rice topped with store bought rotisserie chicken (sliced) and Thai Sweet Chili Sauce.

BBQ Ribs

Last night we had the missionaries over for dinner. I wanted to make something that would be easy, unique, and delicious, so when I saw that pork ribs were on sale this week, I knew they were the answer to my problem. I bought a full rack of pork ribs and the 4 lbs cost less than $10. I served our delicious BBQ ribs with watermelon, corn on the cob, baked beans, and chips (which nobody touched.) YUM and SO easy, which was GREAT!

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

Ingredients:
Ribs
1 bottle of BBQ sauce

Instructions:
Put ribs in crock pot and cover with BBQ sauce. (I had to cut my rib-rack in half to get it to fit and ended up adding a bit more than 1 bottle of sauce, but my ribs were huge and I don't think I needed to add that much.) Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until meat falls off the bone.

I took a picture of my leftovers. (This is for you, Chris.)