Argentinian-Style Meat Board With Chimichurri...

Meet my meat board Argentinian-style!

My best friend's family over can only mean serving my best. Grilled steaks, chili sausages and shrimps wooden plank-presented and jazzed with the ever-so-scrump green goddess chimichurri sauce- a parsley and garlic oil condiment that elevates your churascos in a jiffy. Also fab on grilled firm tofu 🤗! Baste your meats with it and ladle on some to eat. Your taste buds will do a happy Latin dance 🎉🤤.

Authentic Chimichurri (cafedelites.com)

1/2 cup olive or avocado oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (half a bunch)
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 small red or green chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Pepper, to taste 

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes to release all of the flavours into the oil. Ideally, let it sit for more than two hours.

Baste your meats with it and serve a couple of tablespoons atop your grilled meats.

The spread with sides of beer-battered fried asparagus, cucumber and tomato salad with miso-onion vinaigrette, vegetable crudites, simple lettuce and onion salad with avocado vinaigrette and corn on the cob.

From one meat feast to make the next... 🥩 grilled steak fajitas with weekend leftovers!

Everything from grilled peppers to side salads, anything that remained got remade for another hearty, colourful meal! Gotta 💚 it! More chimichurri yum!

Creative leftovers with steak fajitas!

On a very different but important note. One that has kept me insanely busy mainly mentally...

The all consuming journey of selling our house is sealed with this last bite out of it! A humbling experience, sometimes the Universe doesn't give you what you Want but what you Need. At the end of the day "it's not about playing not to lose, but playing to win!" And we Won 🔥!!! #trusttheprocess 

Yasss... this is what you call Eat Your House 🏡🤤🎉! Gladly with Gusto!! 💥

Thank you Roman @luxehomereno my incredible contractor for this AmaZing good luck cake he got customized by his talented Patissier friend @caYKery (chocolate layered with fresh strawberries). Just like you do with a wedding cake, I froze half to devour after we sell. It tastes Mighty Good and even better than fresh lol 🔥! To my Fantastic Award-Winning top producer real estate agent and long-time friend @jasonyeunglau We did it 💥!! So blessed to have you on this ride with us. Thank you for everything 💖🙏!

By CayKery

My family is so excited to move on and move into our new home next month 🏡... Another journey awaits us!

My quarantined shaggies lol

YASSSS 🤜💥🤛👊🔥!!!

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Stir-fry Vermicelli...

The end of the week is perfect for using up those leftover veggies, odds and ends and bits in your fridge.  Stir-fried noodles is a quick no-frills all-in-one-meal to make with protein and vegetables that will surely please everyone. It really is an excellent way to use up leftover ingredients to customize your own "chop suey" noodles with whatever you have in the fridge. I had steamed chicken drumsticks leftover from dinner, so it was easy to whip up another meal the next day or two- creative leftovers! I had pantry-friendly packaged dried vermicelli, but use any noodles and dried long pasta you have. Give this a try with your own favourite variations cause who doesn't like noodles 😋?!

This is a recipe I have done in the past. It is different to the ingredients I used this time. But goes to show you that you can use just about anything you have. Cook the meat and mushrooms first, then set aside. For the rest, as a guideline, just ensure the veggies that take longer to cook goes in first and add each type one at a time while stir-frying with the fastest to cook items tossed in at the end. 

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Vermicelli Stir-Fry
Makes 6 servings

1 pkg. (454 g) vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 eggs, beaten, cooked into a thin crepe; let cool and slice into short strips (optional)
1 lb. meat (thinly sliced chicken, pork, beef or shelled and washed shrimps)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated if dried in water to cover for four hours, drained, stem removed and sliced
2 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup sliced Szechuan preserved vegetables, in water to cover (this really gives the dish a lot of flavour)- optional
2 green onions, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cut into match-sticks or TIP: peeled into strips with a peeler
1/2 pound baby spinach or torn spinach leaves, stems removed or Chinese greens
2 Tbsp. oil, divided
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce

Here I have leftover steamed chicken drumsticks, hydrated shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, green onions, carrot, celery and yu choy.

I wash my vegetable assortment in a large basin, changing the cool water a few times placing all ingredients into a colander to drain. 

The flavour of dried shiitake mushrooms is super concentrated and imparts intense umami to soups and sauces. I prefer the dried format to fresh as it's convenient to have on hand stored in its package that lasts a long time. Always hydrate with water to cover for at least four hours to overnight with 1/4 tsp. of sugar to gently sweeten the earthy 'shrooms. After they plump up, take each one and rinse under cool water to remove excess debris from its cap and interior gills. Reserve the liquid for adding flavour to the stir-fry.

Cut off the hard stem before slicing.

For Chinese vermicelli I like Kong Moon's Double Swallow brand which has been around for a long time. Look for the double swallow logo as some copycat brands piggyback the double swallow label with a different graphic such as a single sparrow or another. I've tried other brands when they are on sale and the strands break easily and turn mushy.

Always prepare all your ingredients first so that cooking is a cinch!

Leftover chicken gets sliced off its bones ready for stir-frying.

Work those knife skillz! 🔪

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in wok or skillet on medium-high heat. Stir-fry mushrooms and meat with half the garlic, and preserved vegetables if using until meat is just cooked through. Pour in the cooking wine around the skillet side and let sizzle. Set aside.

Heat the other 1 Tbsp. oil on medium-high. Stir-fry green onions first to impart flavour, then add your longest to cook vegetables first (here I add in celery, yu choy stems) for a minute, then carrots, yu choy leaves for another minute, lastly snow peas and remaining garlic for another minute. 

Remember that umami mushroom liquid? Carefully pour in, without the debris at the bottom. Add the chicken and mushrooms back.

Now add your cooked vermicelli or noodles. Add oyster and soy sauces. Toss well to incorporate all the ingredients. If you need some more moisture, add some water.

I love Lee Kum Kee's premium oyster sauce!

Dinner is ready! Serving the noodles with a side of nutritious kimchi!

What a great meal to use up those leftovers... 🥢

Full Recipe:

Chinese Chicken and Veggies Vermicelli Stir-Fry
Makes 6 servings

1 pkg. (454 g) vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions
2 eggs, beaten, cooked into a thin crepe; let cool and slice into short strips (optional)
1 lb. meat (thinly sliced chicken, pork, beef or shelled and washed shrimps)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated if dried in water to cover for four hours, drained, stem removed and sliced
2 Tbsp. Chinese cooking wine
1/4 cup sliced Szechuan preserved vegetables, in water to cover (this really gives the dish a lot of flavour)- optional
2 green onions, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
1/4 cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, cut into match-sticks or TIP: peeled into strips with a peeler
1/2 pound baby spinach or torn spinach leaves, stems removed or Chinese greens
2 Tbsp. oil, divided
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tsp. soy sauce

Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in wok or skillet on medium-high heat. Stir-fry mushrooms and meat with half the garlic, and preserved vegetables if using until meat is just cooked through. Pour in the cooking wine around the skillet side and let sizzle. Set aside.

Heat the other 1 Tbsp. oil on medium-high. Stir-fry green onions first to impart flavour, then add your longest to cook vegetables first (cabbage) for a minute, then carrots for another minute, lastly spinach or other greens and remaining garlic for another minute. Add the chicken and mushrooms back; toss and pour in the shiitake mushroom hydrating water.

Now add your cooked vermicelli or noodles. Add oyster and soy sauces. Toss well to incorporate all the ingredients. If you need some more moisture, add some water.

I Come As One. But I Stand As Ten Thousand...

It's very different times to say the least. Flashback 02.20.2020 🔥. It was my birthday and my sentiments then was, "I can say my vision so far has been 20/20 👀... 2 is pronounced "yee" in Cantonese which also sounds like the word "easy". Although it sure doesn't feel it with a big home reno, a move underway and multi-tasking different work commitments, however it is with clarity that for 2020, I priorit-eyes none other than- my family." Little did I know a month later "easy" is far from what is the present truth amidst the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, but was I ever so accurate to say the focus is family. Well, yes also for everyone around the world. We moved into a temporary lease, our house is almost finished renovations, and the family is taking things in stride- my husband has been working from home, the kids toggling between screen time, Netflix, reading, on-line learning and horsing around and me, still in the kitchen- cooking up a nourishing storm. 

No matter what is happening right now, we cannot let it stop what we love and break our spirits 🌸!

We are inundated with c-news daily with growing cases, what feels like doom and gloom. I am optimistic for our future. Society has been going down a bad path and we all need this time to reflect, focus on what's important, shed old ways, and come together to approach things more sensibly as we move forward.

We have to have the courage to leave who we were before to become more.

As we all have been adjusting to new ways, new norms, I have put off my blog to organize things around the temporary home. With the increasing importance of cooking and meal preparations, you will see me here more regularly sharing practical tips such as shopping, batch-cooking, pantry-cooking, getting creative with leftovers and healthy comfort recipes with an emphasis on fresh produce and multicultural cuisines. Better yet, if you are on instagram follow me @susanssavourit, as I often snap and vid in stories and post what's going on in my kitchen- the meals I am on the go cooking and recipe inspirations that I hope you will replicate with yours. Sharing a collection of recent social posts in hopes to do just that:

Nowruz Mobarak to my friends and family ode to Persian New Year March 19th 💕. Yes, I have Persian in my family-- all three sisters, my close cousins married Iranian with beautiful Persianese children 😊. These are unparalleled times. Chinese New Year was disrupted this year and two months later we are facing uncertainty globally.

In a time of complexity we find comfort in simplicity. Kotlet is a simple but delicious Persian dish of savoury mini patties made from staple ingredients ground meat, potatoes, onions, herbs and spices- turmeric, saffron and sumak. It’s incredibly tasty, and easy to make. If you can make a meatball, you can make kotlet!

Persian Kotlet

Persian restaurants and supermarkets with hot counters are here to serve us for take out and delivery so take a break from cooking. Give them support  and enjoy some of their wicked bbq specialties such as jujeh (saffron chicken kebabs) and koobideh (ground beef kebabs) served with fluffy basmati rice and grilled whole tomatoes.

These days as I am counting my blessings, I think of these unfortunate children and their parents who are holed up in their hotel rooms. It was hard for them then, but it must be at the point of unbearable now 😞. I am a Culinary Consultant with TDSB Newcomer Services and I've been cooking  a hot lunch once a week for 80 Nigerian refugee students at a Scarborough elementary public school, split into two weekly sessions who are currently living in hotels. Many come to school hungry because the food served to them there is very poor with little nutrition and variety. From the honest to goodness hearts of the school staff 😘 they have already been cooking up a simple lunch once a week (pooled out of their own pockets) to offer up something hot and comforting. And with me there, these kids would get two weekly hot lunches! Now with schools closed, the kids solely rely on the hotel food 😞. My thoughts and prayers goes out to you. Stay strong and hang in there! 🌸

Remembering our first session, I started off with a Taste of Home, serving a beloved traditional Nigerian dish Jollof rice with oven-baked curry drumsticks many miss from back home and adored! There are so many flavour profiles to Nigerian-style Jollof rice but most common ingredients are rice, tomatoes and tomato paste, onion, salt, and red pepper spice. Beyond that, any kind of meat, fish, vegetable, or combination of spices can be added. 

Nigerian Jollof Rice

Reminiscing happy and rewarding times...

Finished off with a trifle cup treat layered with pound cake, fresh strawberries, fresh whipped cream and chocolate chips. Cheers, expressions of gratitude and sheer delight exuded from these kids for a very successful lunch service. Please take good care. I hope to be able to cook for you again 🌸.

True or False? Home cooking and meal preparations is ever more important these days while staying indoors to keep us actively nourished and healthy. YOU BET!

I will buy what you don't buy. That's the beauty of knowing how and willing to cook everything! A beautiful bunch of leeks abandoned in its pile amongst the emptying refrigerated produce shelf. Along with a big bag of potatoes I got the other day, it was the winning formula for cheap and cheerful creamy leek and potato soup 🥣!

According to Produce Made Simple, leeks not unlike garlic, are believed to reduce the risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, while also boosting a body’s anti-cancer and anti-diabetes properties. Leeks gradate in colour from white to dark green. Typically, the bottom half- the “white to light green part” in recipes, is the most tender. The tough dark green ends are usually used to flavour stock or are simply discarded. I would reserve them for that extra flavour boost or sliced in stir-fries.

I love a hearty bowl of leek and potato soup, that cooks in broth until ingredients are tender, then pureed and simmered hot with added cream. Simplicity at a time of complexity. The home kitchen is where the hearth always is 💗. 

Leek and Potato Soup

Cook everything! Yes that is the mantra... #nowaste #lovefoodhatewaste. You can almost guarantee that off-cuts will be a-plenty- people not willing to buy & don't eat, and don't know how to cook. And did I mention it's usually cheap. I go to my local Asian supermarkets for that. Eyeing a bountiful display of fresh large salmon fish heads on ice, it came quickly together in my head what I can do with them. I always scan my fridge before I head out and knowing I had leftover cilantro, green onions, Chinese chives, nappa cabbage, and ginger, I envisioned Chinese fish head soup was in the horizon.

So what is so good about fish head? Extra-high levels of vitamin A, omega-3 fatty acids, iron, zinc and calcium, protein, and elasticity collagen to keep joints lubricated and skin healthy! I marinate the sliced heads (ask the butcher to do that) with salt and pepper for an hour, coat it lightly with potato or corn starch or flour, then pan-fry both sides until crispy. I bring a pot of water to a boil and simmer the fish alongside the above ingredients for an hour. So delish!

The next day...

The best use for leftover rotisserie chicken carcass- making broth for chicken noodle soup! Already flavourful, just add your choice of veggies (leftover bits are perfect for this) and noodles (ie; egg noodles, macaroni, fideo), remove the tender meat (discard the bones) and voila 🥣!

This has been lunch many days- use veggies you have on-hand

An example from my instagram story.

Pantry cooking is really the best thing to make simple, accessible no fuss-meals quickly. An idea is with canned tuna, mayo, Dijon mustard, onions and frozen green peas, and macaroni- Tuna Pasta Salad! Get creative and customize to your families' preference.

Tuna Pasta Salad

What I have in a jug in my fridge regularly. I swear by this Korean Cinnamon Ginger Punch Sujeonggwa with persimmon for zero sickness! Ramulus cinnamoni ( a Chinese medicine herb similar to cinnamon sticks) with its key function of expelling cold, warming the meridian to promote coronary circulation, and activating yang to promote body-fluid metabolism; Ginger- anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, warming and persimmon- rich in phytochemicals and immune-boosting.

For 1/2 hour, simmer-boil 5 cups of water with 1/3 cup ramulus cinnamoni or 3 Chinese cinnamon sticks, separately simmer-boil 3 cups water with 2-inch knob ginger slivered, then strain cinnamon and ginger and combine liquids. Mix in 3-1/2 Tbsp. golden sugar and add 2 chopped dried persimmons. Let cool and store in a 2-L jug in the fridge.

Best cold prevention drink!

Ahhh... the good ol' days. I never appreciated home-style Vietnamese Chicken Curry until I had it prepared by my husband's family in Montreal. Long before we had children, our bi-annual six hour drive to visit, often arriving in the middle of the night, was almost always greeted at the door with the beautiful wafting aroma of curry. Although Vietnamese curry paste contains many pungent flavourings, the result is a delicate, mild rustic dish, comforting and delicious served with cooked thick vermicelli or toasted-until-crusty Vietnamese bread.

What better way than to end my winter culinary program with the seniors just before March break. I am not sure when we will resume classes again. I will cherish the memory of spending our last session making a big batch of curry paste (11+ ingredients) together to fill jam jars so that everyone can take to make this soup 🥣 at home. I just heard from lovely senior learners Gordon and Marion- they used their paste to make Vietnamese curry in the instant pot and said it was delicious 🤗!! And I used mine to make curry chicken wings! The beauty of big batch preparations so that you can use and eat at your whim on a later date!

Curry Paste for Chicken and for Wings

Same goes for meal preparations! Big-batch bolognese sauce for a meal one night and frozen for an easy thaw, heat and eat on another occasion or two. Remember, use up all those leftover bits of veggies, also broccoli stems are perfect for this, all chopped up for a hearty, healthy and nutritious sauce (extra hidden veggies for the picky ones). Cooking in a big batch to eat the next day or to freeze for another, buys you time on a day when you don't. It's a life-saver! I encourage you to prepare ahead with meals that are freezer-friendly.

Big-Batch Bolognese Sauce

The kids are working hard at their on-line activities with school. What better than to take a break, take a live lesson with me in my kitchen rituals. This day was about baking cookies. Not just going through the motions of following a recipe but the understanding of how ingredients work together and substitutions. We made Crispy Chewy Oatmeal Cookies with chocolate chips- I've always made them with raisins, but seeing we had dried cranberries and black currants on hand... these were the welcomed change-up substitutions.

Mom and Son Learning, Cooking and Bonding

Hot potting is the healthy answer to those who love to cook, those navigating how to cook and everyone in between. Bring your favourite broth to a boil and toss in your choice of ingredients ranging from greens, mushrooms, tofu, meats and seafood, and finish it off with noodles as the Asians do it. Customize to your hearts' delight and change up the multiple offerings at your next meal. My family favourites are mushrooms, konnyaku noodle bundles, watercress, quail eggs and frozen sliced beef. Enjoy their natural flavours or dip in your mixed condiments of choice. Cook in a pot over the stove and set it on the table for everyone to scoop or better yet cook directly at the table with a portable burner.

However you cook it, it is a fun tasty communal experience that can be had over and over again to introduce new flavours and an array of nutritional benefits that your soul will thank you for.

For more ideas on Hot Potting

We don't have cable and with one of my favourite city public places- the library closed, no dvds to borrow, I turn to Netflix for my flick fix and cooking inspiration. This Netflix series caught my attention "Street Foods" and inspiring it was ☀️. I highly recommend it! Many of the vendors featured have dedicated 40, 50, even 60 years of their life to perfecting one dish. First up- Bangkok with this revered 73-year old chef Jay Fai. Her food is flawless. She is fearless. Powerful, cooking everyday with passion and pride that exudes from every dish she touches. Her famous crab meat omelet is cooked in a volcanic hot wok (thus her goggles) and battle wounds. Line ups snake and the wait can be hours but it's worth it I'm sure!

In Osaka, Toya, the fiery flame throwing chef renowned for his broiled tuna (finished with a blow torch) is comedic, energetic and fearless. He says he will work until he dies, exhibiting his life long passion in cooking, honing his craft and sharing it forward to his patrons.

73-year old Jay Fai from Bangkok
Toya from Osaka

"My greatest wish is to keel over when I'm working. That's all!"-- Toya

Kanpai 🍻 and Deep Respect 🙏🏻

I Come As One. But I Stand As Ten Thousand... This Too Shall Pass.

No matter what is happening right now, we cannot let it break our spirits 🌸!

Continue to do what you do. Stay Calm. Eat Well. Be Well All 🙏.

I'll see you again here my friends. Come back often.

PF Chang's Chicken Lettuce Wraps- Hacked...

If you've ever had the famous appetizer chicken lettuce wraps from American-based restaurant chain PF Chang's China Bistro, you'll understand why there are so many copycat recipes out there. And a lot of it has to do with the ultra-tasty sauce you spoon over!

May is Asian Heritage Month and it's being recognized at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) with many opportunities and events to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Asian Canadians and to convey the narratives and wisdom of various Asian cultures. The theme this year is, “Our stories. Our voices. Our journey.” In this spirit and to share an especially fond and approachable dish that everyone will love from my Chinese culture- this delicious chicken-shiitake mushroom-water chestnut mixture in crispy lettuce cups! Yes, my copycat recipe which I've toyed over hours to get the sauce just right has made its rounds in each of my cooking programs. Frying up thin rice noodles make for a wow wow scene in the skillet, creating curling white popped strands, that gets crunched up for a crispy topping. And last but not least.. da beast of a sauce that ties it all together with each bite-- savoury, sweet, piquant and tangy- the dressing for success. Don't be deterred by all the sauce ingredients-- trust me each one lends its special characteristic to the ultra-tastiness and will make the finale spectacular- just ask all my wide-eyed, swooning students who've tried it. Some have recreated it already in their kitchens to raving reviews 😊.

PF Chang Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Hacked) 
Makes 6 servings

2 Tbsp. oil 
1-1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, diced 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, if dried, hydrate in water to cover for four hours, drain and chop 
1 cup water chestnuts, diced 
1 green onion, chopped
1 head iceberg lettuce, peeled into cups, and torn into hand-size pieces 
A handful of dried vermicelli thin rice noodles

Special Sauce:
1/4 cup brown sugar 
1/2 cup water 
2 Tbsp. soy sauce 
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar 
2 Tbsp. ketchup 
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice 
1/8 tsp. sesame oil 
1 Tbsp. hot Chinese mustard or Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. water 
sambal oelek chili sauce to taste

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 Tbsp. soy sauce 
2 Tbsp. brown sugar 
1/2 tsp. rice vinegar 

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add all the ingredients except the mustard and chili sauce. Mix well and refrigerate. Add mustard and chili sauce when ready to use as a dipping sauce. 

Freezing the chicken for one hour makes it easier to slice and dice.

Enjoying the lettuce cups with my family for dinner.

Cooking with the seniors in my Chinatown Chinese Cooking Program as part of Learn4Life.

Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl for the stir-fry sauce. Heat oil in wok/skillet over high heat. Sauté chicken for one minute, then add the garlic and mushrooms; cook for one minute more before adding the water chestnuts. Pour the stir fry sauce and sauté the mixture until cooked. Toss with green onions. 

Heat ½ cup of oil until hot and fry the vermicelli in strands or a bunch. Crumble on top of chicken in a serving bowl along with lettuce "cups" and serve with special sauce.

Notes about making beautiful lettuce cups. You can do it two ways. Core the stem of the iceberg lettuce head. Remove the outer flimsy leaves. One way is to cut the lettuce head in half, remove the inner smaller cups onto a platter and then cut the remaining head in half or in thirds depending the size so you end with a palm size wrap, OR/ submerge the entire head with core removed-facing up in a basin of cold water to cover. The water flowing inward will create pressure that separates the leaves, making them easy to unravel, and then cut to size. The thing with this method is the leaves get super wet, and you need to either drain the leaves over a big colander for several hours or use a salad spinner to spin dry.

Nice lettuce wraps ladies!

Over at Beverley Heights Middle School, I cut pieces of peppers, red and green onions, carrots and offered cilantro so students in the lunch cooking club can choose what they like to customize their wraps with additional veggies, and to practice their knife skills. We cook out of a staff room with no appliances except a microwave, so I skillet-cooked the chicken mixture at home, separating the chopped shiitake mushrooms for those who prefer no mushrooms. I fried the vermicelli and made the finishing sauce beforehand too. We heated up the chicken-water chestnut mixture in the microwave and the kids loved them too much that they devoured them before I was ready to take photos lol.

This was the final plating scene at Marc Garneau cooking with grade 9s early Monday morning period.

Shredded carrots add vitamins and colour to the gorgeous wraps.

Chicken lettuce cups for breakfast-- why not? No one was complaining 😃

And over here with my lovely parents at Fraser Mustard, just before they headed off for a month of Ramadan (fasting), cooking with halal chicken thighs and preparing everything with care. They absolutely loved this healthy appetizer as a family idea that could certainly serve as a supplement to a dinner meal. Imagine entertaining with a platter of this, add on a pretty spread of thinly sliced or shredded colourful veggies such as peppers, carrots, cucumbers and bean sprouts so guests can DIY? Summer is around the corner- it'll be so fabulous-cool! 

Mmm... mouthwatering! They love it spicy, so we have some Thai chilis, sliced as a table condiment.

Dressed for success!

Awww... sharing is caring! How much do I love this shot 😃

Full Recipe:

PF Chang Chicken Lettuce Wraps (Hacked)
Makes 6 servings

2 Tbsp. oil
1-1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, if dried, hydrate in water to cover for four hours, drain and chop
1 cup water chestnuts, diced
1 green onion, chopped
1 head iceberg lettuce, peeled into cups, and torn into hand-size pieces
A handful of dried vermicelli thin rice noodles

Special Sauce:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. hot Chinese mustard or Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. water
sambal oelek chili sauce to taste

Stir Fry Sauce:
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. rice vinegar

Make the special sauce by dissolving the sugar in water in a small bowl. Add all the ingredients except the mustard and chili sauce. Mix well and refrigerate. Add mustard and chili sauce when ready to use as a dipping sauce.

Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, and rice vinegar together in a small bowl for the stir-fry sauce. Heat oil in wok/skillet over high heat. Sauté chicken for one minute, then add the garlic and mushrooms; cook for one minute more before adding the water chestnuts. Pour the stir fry sauce and sauté the mixture until cooked. Toss with green onions.

Heat ½ cup of oil until hot and fry the vermicelli in strands or a bunch. Crumble on top of chicken in a serving bowl along with lettuce "cups" and serve with special sauce.