Seven layer salad

Let's take a salad.....originally healthy....add mayo, bacon and cheese to it. Delish! Crisp, refreshing....and totally not healthy.

There is something about summer that makes me crave this dish. Mine actually had eight delightful layers.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 bags of shredded lettuce (or you can chop/shred your own...I opt for the convenience of the pre-shredded)
1/2 package of frozen peas
2 cups of shredded cheese
1/2 to 1 cup of mayo
6 strips of bacon, fried and crumbled
1 bunch of scallions, sliced
1 green pepper, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced

Directions:
In a 9x13 pan, layer lettuce, peas, green pepper, celery and onion. Spread mayo on top of veggies. Sprinkle cheese and bacon on top. Chill for at least two hours so everything gets good and cold!

Restaurant Review: P.F. Chang's

Oh.My.God. For nearly a year I've been craving Chinese food....I'd made some at home with store-bought sauces....but nothing tastes as good as take-out (where there is no effort on my part).

The P.F. Chang's GF menu has several options. We sampled three things: The chicken lettuce wraps, beef with broccoli and spicy chicken.

 Everything was delicious. For one appetizer and two entrees (all gluten-free) our bill was around $40. We got two LARGE meals out of this....so overall, it's not a bad deal. I highly recommend trying out the GF P.F. Chang's options!

Chicken lettuce wraps

 I first tried lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's and loved them. I love the crisp cool lettuce and raw veggies, paired with warm chicken and noodles. I found a recipe for this in a Pampered Chef cookbook, but made some changes to make it my own.

In the summer, fresh and crisp meals like this are especially delicious.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, shredded (or packaged matchstick carrots)
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
large lettuce leaves (for wraps)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 package chicken ramen
1 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. EVOO
s/p

Directions:
Prepare chicken ramen according to package instructions, except drain off all the water once the noodles are cooked through, add seasoning packet and mix, set aside. Heat 1 Tbsp. EVOO in a large fry pan, add chicken. Season chicken with salt and pepper. As chicken browns, brush with 1/2 cup of bottled hoisin sauce. Cook through, slice.

In a large bowl, mix together the prepared ramen noodles, 1/2 cup of bottled hoisin sauce, the soy sauce, peanuts and chicken. Add 1/8 cup of each of the veggies, diced in small bits. Reserve the rest of the veggies.

Serve the noodle/chicken mix with the raw veggies and lettuce leaves - yummm!

Taco night

Luke and I used to have taco night all the time, we would use the packets of taco seasoning and either ground beef or canned chicken. This time I decided to make my own taco seasoning. It tasted good, but the aroma was to die for. I love the smell of spicy seasonings and onion sizzling. So yummy.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 small white onion, diced
2 Tbsp. cilantro, roughly chopped
1 tsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. chilli powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. onion powder
dash of cayenne pepper
dash of tabasco
1/2 tsp. corriander
assorted taco toppings and either hard or soft gluten-free shells

Directions:
Brown ground beef in a large skillet, drain. Add diced onion, cilantro and other seasonings.  Add a Tbsp of water if needed to keep it from drying out.