Asian Lettuce Wraps {Slow Cooker Saturday}

 

Since we have moved from a suburb by a big city to a small town that is the big city, I find myself missing a few things. Now, don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things I love. Maybe I should list a couple of those so I don't seem all Negative Nelly.

Things I love about living in a small town:

-really friendly neighbors

-no traffic

-safety

-family oriented

Now that I have been positive for a minute, I will spill the beans about what I don't love about living in a small town:

-not close to a lot of attractions

-less access to more stores

-absence of my favorite restaurants

On that last point, I would like to tell you how much I have missed one restaurant in particular. I have missed PF Changs like you wouldn't believe. Okay so I have missed there and Panera. Insert cry face and boo-hooing here. 

I have missed three things from PF Chang's the most. 1. Mongolian Beef; 2. Cheesecake; 3. Lettuce Wraps.

Since I live 3 hours plus away, I figured I should probably just accept the fact that I might need to find some homemade alternatives.

So accept I did.

Recipe I did.

Cook I did.

Love I did.

This Asian Lettuce Wrap recipe is amazing. The whole family loved it. That is huge people! Huge. One of the Little Men is more than a little picky. Even he ate this filling. Don't ask about the lettuce though. I don't want to talk about it.

The fact that he would eat the filling though tells you how yummy this filling for the lettuce wraps is.

People it gets better. The filling for these Asian Lettuce Wraps is made in the slow cooker. You know how I love using my slow cooker. Slow Cooker Saturday came to the rescue.

This is a recipe that comes together quickly. The recipe also is a quick slow cooker recipe. Meaning it isn't an all day slow cooker recipe.

So easy. So yummy. 

So, go ahead and make yourself some. 

Slow Cooker Asian Lettuce Wraps

Print Recipe

1 lb ground pork

1 red bell pepper, cored and finely diced

1/2 yellow onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup hoisin sauce

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon minced ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

4 oz sliced water chestnuts, chopped

3 green onions, sliced

1 head iceberg lettuce

Cook the pork in a saute pan until no longer pink. Drain off fat. Put the cooked pork into the slow cooker. Stir in the bell pepper, onion, garlic, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours. Do not be tempted to cook it on high, there is no need. Cooking it on high will just dry it out.

After 2 hours, stir in the water chestnuts and green onions. Let the mixture cook for another 5-10 minutes. 

Serve over lettuce leaves.

Enjoy!

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Spicy Peanut and Pork Noodles

Right after Thanksgiving this year a funny thing happened.

Okay, so maybe not funny like HAHAHA gut bust funny, more like weird and unexplained funny.

Shortly after Thanksgiving I lost all and any desire to cook. To be honest, I also lost most desire to eat.

Nothing sounded good...EVER. The thought of cooking had similar effects to doing a downward dog position in yoga when you just want to curse your hamstrings for not being flexible enough. AND then you remember that this is yoga and you are supposed to be zen instead of cursing.

Basically food wasn't so much enjoyable. Then I started getting stomach aches every time I ate. Ack.

Don't worry, I still ate. I just didn't enjoy it. Good news is that I didn't pack on any holiday pounds.

I have no clue what was going on. I was sick off and on. I was experiencing higher than normal stress. AND just to clarify, I am absolutely NOT pregnant. Who knows. All I do know, is it really effected how I fed my family.

Since I never wanted food or to cook, there was a serious lack of meal planning. There was a lot of breakfast for dinner, plain pasta, quesadillas, sandwiches, and take out. Basically if it was easy, that is what I made.

It was really sad. My Little Men didn't seem to mind, but I felt really bad.

About a week ago, I was making a basic list for the grocery store. You know things like milk, eggs, bread, etc. Out of nowhere I suddenly had the desire to make something. I gathered my to try recipe pile. I picked a recipe. I bought the needed ingredients.

I went home, and I made dinner. I actually made dinner and I enjoyed making it.

What I made was this delicious Spicy Peanut and Pork Noodles.

These noodles were SO good. For the first time in a long time I actually enjoyed dinner. I even ate them for leftovers the next day. The whole family loved these noodles. They are a little less peanut buttery than THESE NOODLES that we also love. They also have the lovely addition of ground pork. While the title of the recipe says spicy, they are just spicy enough. None of my boys had any problem eating them.

The recipe comes together really quickly. It is also really filling, which really helps me out with a houseful of boys.

I can guarantee this is going into our normal rotation. A normal rotation which I am trying to get back into effect.

Fingers crossed for the return of my appetite, normal meals, and LOTS more of these Spicy Peanut and Pork Noodles.

Spicy Peanut and Pork Noodles
peanut blossom

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce

1 Tablespoon vegetable/canola oil
1 lb ground pork
1/4-1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
4 green onions, green and white parts, sliced and divided
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ginger paste (or ground ginger)
2 Tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 lb linguine noodles

Start water boiling too cook the pasta in. Cook pasta while preparing the rest.

Whisk the chicken stock, soy sauce, and hoisin sauce together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Cook the ground pork until no longer pink. Add in the pepper flakes, half of the green onions, garlic, and ginger. Stir to combine. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Add in the sauce made earlier and the peanut butter. Combine completely. Once the sauce bubbles and starts to thicken turn the heat down.

Drain the noodles. Add the meat and sauce to the drained noodles. Toss to coat.

Serve topped with the extra green onions.

SO GOOD!
Enjoy!

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