Shrimp & Mushroom Lettuce Wraps

When I began cooking for myself a month ago, I naively thought that I would be like the Sunday meal planners I see on Reddit: I would cook an entire week’s worth of meals over the weekend, and eat them throughout the week. Rinse and repeat.

The first week I cooked an entire bag of black beans, but by meal three I knew that this eating the same thing was not going to work out. I didn’t even want to look at another bowl of black beans, let alone eat them for every meal. Needless to say, I now try to only make one or two servings of a recipe at a time.

Whenever I do end up with leftovers, I try to repurpose them into something new. These lettuce wraps originate from when I was making my favorite mushroom dumplings. Since I didn’t have enough dough for all the filling (I halved the dough recipe and made 1 ½ times as much filling, whoops), I decided to marinate shrimp in the filling and create a stir fry.

The result was flavorful and satisfying lettuce wraps, which my friend and I topped with avocado and spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth. (It was a great appetizer for the peanut butter, chocolate, and banana fresh-made-gelato milkshakes we had later. ;))

Shrimp & Mushroom Lettuce Wraps 

Asian Mushroom Base

In a pan, sautee until the water is mainly evaporated:

• ¾ cups diced white mushrooms
• ¼ cup diced shiitake mushrooms*
• ½ tsp oil

Add, and cook another 2 minutes:

1 cloves garlic, diced

Take off heat and stir in:

• 1 tbsp minced green onions
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• ¼ tsp sesame oil
• ¼ tsp chili oil
• ½ tsp soy sauce

Taste, and add a pinch of salt, or a bit more soy sauce if desired.

Allow to cool, placing it in the fridge to expedite this process if desired. Use as dumpling filling or as a base for any asian flavored recipe.

Shrimp Lettuce Wrap Filling

Stir together:

• ¾ recipe Asian Mushroom Base
• ½ tsp soy sauce
• 8 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped into pieces

Cover and allow to marinate for at least half an hour.

Heat a pan to medium-high heat and add a bit of oil. Sautee the shrimp and mushroom mixture for about 3-5 minutes, or until the shrimp pieces are pink but still tender.

Stir in the remaining ¼ recipe of the Asian Mushroom Base.

Serve with all, some, or none of the following:

• Large iceberg or romaine lettuce leaves
• Sliced avocado
• Spinach sauteed in miso ginger broth (I love this broth a lot)
• Sushi rice! (next time)
• Pickled or fresh shredded carrots/cabbage

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Zucchini, Peas, and Tuna Pasta

I’m currently learning a new skill, and it’s called: how to cook for one person and not waste any food.

I spent high school learning how to cook for myself, but I never really mastered the art of making the right amount of food, which is unfortunate because I’m not someone who’s particularly fond of leftovers.

Now that I’m living on my own and making my own meals (well, for the last two weeks, that is), I’m much more conscious of how much food to buy, and when food will expire.

Earlier this week I made mushroom potstickers, and was left with some extra dough. I decided to repurpose the dough as noodles, and create a sauce with whatever I had in the fridge. This ended up being some extra zucchini, fresh peas that I’ve been meaning to use up, canned tuna for protein, parmesan, and a sunny side up egg since I decided the dish wasn’t saucy enough.

This pasta was so, so good. I’m already ready to go buy more vegetables, just so I’ll have an excuse to make it again.

Zucchini, Peas, and Tuna Pasta

• 2-3 ounces pasta, dried or fresh
• 1 large zucchini, sliced into thin coins
• ¼ cup onion, diced
• ½ cup peas (I used a cup on account of having way too many peas, but I think half a cup would be more reasonable)
• 2 ounces tuna
• 1 tsp oil
• 1 tsp soy sauce (or salt, to taste)
• ½ tbs parmesan
• 1 egg

Cook pasta according to directions, and set aside.

Heat up oil at medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and sauteed for a minute, or until golden brown. Add the zucchini and continue cooking for about 5 minutes, or until the zucchini is soft, and its edges are somewhat golden. Add peas and continue cooking until they soften. Stir in soy sauce and tuna.

Add the pasta to the pan, sprinkle with the parmesan, and then set aside.

Cook the egg however you like it. Since the pasta doesn’t have a very “saucey” sauce, I made a sunny side up egg which I stirred into the pasta. The yolk coated the noodles, which was really delicious.

Potato Corn Tacos

Tacos are really, really, really, really, really delicious.

Not so delicious though is when you’re eating a Taco, and you go to place it down for a while but the filling comes crumbling out. D:  Taco lovers out there understand my pain?

Now, I know you’re all cringing at the though of a sideways Taco, I know I am, but not to worry,  I’ve invented a new, very simple yet ingenious (I’ll never be modest about my creations to rid the world of Taco-eating problems. >:D) contraption that prevents this problem, “The TACO holder”.

TACO holders are basically mini taco shells that I made courtesy of my ceramics class at school.  They support a taco’s weight, so there’s no threat of a fallen taco. :3

So far, I’ve just made one batch of multicolored TACO holders (one you can see holding up the taco), but I’m going to make another set of them soon, learning from the flaws in the last one (I underestimated the side of tacos XD).  When I do made a perfect batch, perhaps I’ll do a giveaway here 😉 That way we can all bask in the glory of upright tacos. 🙂

Potato Corn Tacos (aka starch with starch on starch. so good)

• 4 medium yukon gold potatoes (peeled + cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
• 1 large ear fresh white corn
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 tablespoons Penzey’s Taco Spice (or 1 packet taco seasoning)
• 2/3 cup water
• salt & pepper
• 2 ripe avocados (diced)
• shredded lettuce and/or tomatos
• 1 can sliced black olives
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• sour cream
• 12 hard taco shells

Heat up a pan at medium heat, and add the potatoes and olive oil. Cook until the edges of the potatoes are beginning to turn golden brown.

Add the water and taco spice, cover the pan, and continue cooking until the potatoes soften.

Cut the corn kernels off the ear of corn and add to the pan, cooking for a few minutes more. Season the potato corn mixture with salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare the tacos, put some of the potato corn filling in a taco shell and top with cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced black olives, shredded lettuce and/or tomatoes, and diced avocado.

Serve immediately and enjoy.