Tangy Ginger Dressing on Lettuce Wraps

A quick, healthy, and easy dinner at our house is Lettuce Wraps. I normally make them with tofu and mushrooms; but if you are not the tofu eating type you could of course use chicken. I am always looking for a great dressing to pour over them that adds great flavor.

I finally found a WINNER!

In our new Spring/Summer line that will be available to clients on March 1st we have Tangy Ginger Dressing! It is a citrusy and smooth dressing that would be great for egg rolls, in coleslaw, drizzled over asparagus or broccoli and of course on lettuce wraps!

I have posted Tofu Lettuce Wraps on my blog before - you can click the link to get the recipe. Here is an updated picture with the dressing. Make sure to check out my Tastefully Simple Website to order yours on March 1st!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - an old favorite

I love a good Chocolate Chip Cookie. It has to be soft, almost to the point of cookie dough or I won't bother eating it. A dear friend and "sister" of mine that I grew up with, Christi Shrock, has an AMAZING cookie recipe in a cookbook. This cookbook is a collection of recipes from people I attended church with growing up. I also love a good church cookbook!

I throughout the years have great memories of this recipe.

* I remember making these cookies with Dixie, Stacy, Christi, and

Rachel - then staying up all night watching movies and eating almost the entire batch.

* I remember making several dozen (maybe 6+) the two weeks before my wedding with Ethel. We couldn't keep them coming fast enough... and no it wasn't a personal pre-wedding stock up. They were to feed the 4 groomsmen that came early and the 4 that came a few days later.

* I remember making them for our friends Daniel and Nancy and laughing so hard as we watched them hid the container from each other. Turns out neither one of them wanted to share with the other!

I love how a great cookie recipe can bring people together, create beautiful memories, and always to this day be a favorite in our kitchen. Thanks Christi for sharing this in our church cookbook and of course for the beginning of some really great memories!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - by Christi Shrock

Cooking From The Heart - Pleasant View Mennonite Church (1996)

Ingredients:

2 cups margarine

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 (12 oz) pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

* Cream margarine and sugars until smooth

* Beat in eggs and vanilla

* Add dry ingredients; mix well.

* Stir in chocolate chips.

* Bake on greased cookies sheet at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Makes 6 dozen cookies

Kitchen Notes:

* To make Dairy Free - sub Earth Balance Butter for margarine and use Vegan or Dairy Free Chocolate Chips (Whole Foods makes a great 365 Brand).

* I bake my cookies for 5-6 minutes - they turn out perfect for me!

* Store cookies in an airtight container with a piece of bread inside. This keeps them moist and soft, the bread in turn gets hard.

* You can easily cut this recipe in half - but really why would you??? They freeze great!

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon!

Sorry about the lack of posts lately. Have been busy with my Tastefully Simple Business and a nine day Garden and Home Show here in Denver. Lots of prep work, working the show, and next week wrapping up. We haven't had a sit down dinner together for several days. Tonight was our night to just catch up on life, eat dinner, and be together for the evening.

I was poking around on Pinterest this morning and found this great recipe. The original called for green beans wrapped in bacon but I thought asparagus would be better plus I had that on hand. This was amazing and we will for sure be making this again!

Asparagus wrapped in Bacon

Ingredients:

1 lb asparagus

6 slices bacon

2 TBS butter (earth balance)

1 TBS brown sugar

pinch of garlic

salt and pepper

Directions:

* Divide asparagus into six even groups. Wrap each grouping in bacon.

* Place on a pan and cover with glaze.

* To make glaze combine butter, brown sugar, garlic, salt and pepper together. Heat until blended and glaze the asparagus/bacon.

* Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, or until bacon is crisp.