Kung Pao Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Whole 30)

This week I have spent a lot of time in the kitchen playing with my friend, Steph’s, Sunbeam Pie Maker and having so much fun doing it.  It makes 2 small pies in about 10 -15 minutes.  I am experimenting with making different kinds of crusts from scratch to make just two pies with no leftover dough and all sorts of fillings both sweet and savory.  These recipes will never show up here on A Solitary Feast because I am betting you don’t have a Sunbeam pie maker. But if you do and would like the recipes leave an email address in the comments and I’ll send them to you. 

The other cooking I am doing that will end up on A Solitary Feast is from my new favorite cookbook and blog, The Primal Gourmet by Ronny Joseph Lvovski.   His cookbook provides an awesome mix of what I consider fancier recipes and recipes you can throw together in a half hour.  He also has a section on with spice blends I haven’t tried yet and my new passion, sauces.   Best of all, every recipe  I have tried so far have been freaking delicious. 

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From The Primal Gourmet Cookbook

Sauce:

Note:  This sauce is amazing and can be made anytime you need a Teryaki sauce

1/4 cup coconut aminos

1 TBS grated garlic, about 3 cloves

1 TBS arrowroot

1 TBS toasted sesame oil

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Chicken:

2 TBS oil

1 lb ground chicken

1 red bell pepper, diced

4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced and seperated

Kosher salt

8 lettuce leaves, for serving

In a small bowl, combine all the sauce ingredients and whisk until well combined; set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes.  Increase the heat to high and add the oil.  When the oil is hot add the ground chicken.  Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat as it cooks, until the chicken is browned and most of the liquid had evaporated, 4-5 minutes.  Add the white part of the scallions,  red bell pepper and cashews.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bell pepper has softened a little, 2-3 minutes.   Give the teriyaki sauce a stir then add it to the ground beef, stirring to coat.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 2 -3 minutes.  Sprinkle with scallion greens and serve on lettuce leaves.

Chocolate Sun Butter Cups

Chocolate Sun Butter cups are what happens when I look at food blogs 30 minutes before I go to bed. I dream about them and wake up with a craving so intense I get my butt out of bed and directly to the store for the ingredients a 6 in the morning. I am frequently up by 6 in the morning but I am seldom dressed and out the door for anything at 6 in the morning which tells you how badly I wanted these.

These cups only took about10 minutes to put together and most of that was setting the chocolate in the freezer. I don’t have a microwave so I melted my chocolate chips in the air fryer set on the lowest temperature possible. It took about a minute and a half, stirring occasionally. You could also melt the chocolate chips on the stove with a double boiler.

In interest of full disclosure, I received the Sun Butter I used in this recipe from my friend, Steph, who works at Sun Butter. I have received no compensation for this post. I just really liked the recipe.

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Adapted From The Primal Palate Blog

3/4 semi sweet or milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 tsp coconut oil

2 TBS Sun Butter

3/4 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

Place 6 mini cup cake liners in a mini muffin pan; set aside. In a heat proof container combine the chocolate chips and coconut oil. Microwave the chips on low power, stirring every 30 second until melted. Fill each mini muffin cup half way with chocolate. Place in the freezer for 5 – 10 minutes to set the chocolate.

Meanwhile, combine the Sun Butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl; mix well. When the chocolate has set, divide the Sun Butter mixture over the 6 mini muffin cups. Make sure to spread the Sun Butter mixture to the edges of the chocolate bottom. Use the remaining chocolate mixture to cover the Sun Butter mixture, again make sure you spread the chocolate all the way to the edge. Place in the freezer for another 10 minutes or until the chocolate is set.

Air Fryer Baked Oatmeal

Its that awesome time of year in North Dakota where it is too warm during the day to turn on the heat but too cold at night not to turn on the heat.  So it is time to drag out the oatmeal, turn on the oven and have warm breakfasts for a while. 

My favorite way to eat oatmeal is to bake it but it takes 35- 50 minutes to bake it in the oven.  This morning I was running a bit late, which is hard to do when you work from home but I managed it none the less, so I decided to try baking my oatmeal in the air fryer.   It took about 15 minutes with me running around getting the animals fed and taken care of for the day while it cooked.  The best part was when I was done taking care of the animals, I had more than enough time to enjoy a hot breakfast before work.

This recipe is just a basic template for any kind of baked oatmeal feel free to change up the strawberries for other fruit or leave it out  entirely.  Feel free to change any of the spices to those of your liking.  Baked oatmeal is really versatile and a great way to warm up on a cold day.

Strawberry Baked Oatmeal

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Adapted from My Forkin Life

3/4 cup strawberries, chopped

1 cup  rolled oat

2 1/2 TBS brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 TBS butter, melted, optional

1/8 tsp vanilla
Preheat air fryer to 320 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk milk and eggs. Add in melted butter, if using,  vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined.   Place the oatmeal mixture in a 1 quart  casserole dish (I used a 6 inch cake pan). Place strawberries over mixture. Bake in the air fryer for 10 minutes then check and if necessary bake for 5 minutes more.

Double Cranberry Banana Bread

Two kinds of cranberries in banana bread ??? YES, PLEASE!!! My mom is always wondering why I am constantly looking through cookbooks and cooking magazines. The answer is inspiration. I would have never thought of putting cranberries in banana bread and I think of putting cranberries in just about everything. This quick bread is just so good.

I thought the assertive cranberry would overwhelm the more delicate banana flavor but it didn’t. There is a nice balance between the sweet banana and the tangy cranberry.

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Adapted from Taste of Home Fall Baking Magazine

2 1/2 TBS canola oil

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

6 TBS chopped pecans, divided

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream the sugar and shortening. Beat in the egg, banana, and vanilla. In small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; mix well.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Fold in the cranberry sauce, pecans, and dried cranberries; mix well. Divide the batter between two 5″ x 3″ baking pans, sprayed with cooking Bake at 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pan to cool completely.

Montreal Steak Spice (Whole 30)

Saturday was a good day. I met my friend, Steph, and we had a properly masked and social distanced day out. I really needed that. One of the last things we did is hit the ARC thrift store. I love hitting vintage and thrift stores because you never know what you are going to find. I get a lot of my vintage pyrex from thrift stores.

This time I didn’t find any pyrex but I did find a shit ton of Trivial Pursuit games. Trivial Pursuit is one of my favorite games. Most days I can barely remember my name but somehow I can remember obscure details of movies I watched 30 years ago, among other minutia of life. I haven’t played in years though because my family won’t play with me because they think I cheat. I don’t. I am just really good at trivia.

My friend, Steph, is made of sterner stuff. She said if I bought the games, she would play with me. So when we got back to my apartment, we played a game of Trivial Pursuit. We played and laughed, played and laughed some more. We played and laughed until we snorted and tears ran down our faces. It was a good day.

Montreal Steak Spice

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From The Primal Gourmet Cookbook

2 kosher salt

2 tsp dehydrated onion flakes

2 tsp dehydrated garlic flakes

2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dill seeds

1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl.  Mix well.   Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.