Thai Basil Chicken Lettuce Cups

 1 cup packed thai basil leaves (sweet basil is ok if unable to find thai basil)
1 pound ground chicken breast
2 shallots, peeled and finely diced
1/2 red bell pepper, finely diced
2 green onions, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp EVOO
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 thai chiles, thinly sliced (use less for less spicy)
2 Tbsp fish sauce
2 Tbsp lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 head of butter lettuce

Heat 2 Tbsp EVOO in large skillet.  Add diced shallot and diced red bell pepper, saute for 2 minutes.  Add garlic, saute for 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Add ground chicken to skillet and using the back of a spoon, break up the meat and cook meat until it is just cooked through, about 5-7 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Turn heat down to low.  Add your sliced chiles and green onions.  Roughly chop basil and add to skillet.  Add fish sauce and lime juice.  Stir in and cook 1-2 minutes.  Serve in lettuce cups.

Serves 3

Blueberry Crumb Cake with Walnut Streusel

Blueberry Crumb Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
8 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups white sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Walnut Streusel:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
8 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp fresh lemon zest
1 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray 9x9 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  In small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.  In a large mixer, combine butter and sugar until pale yellow, add zest, egg, egg yolk and vanilla.  Beat well for an additional 3 minutes.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk until all is combined.  Fold in blueberries.  Set the batter aside.  

Make walnut streusel by combining all ingredients in a small bowl.  Using your fingers, mix it around until its crumbly and set aside.  

Fold half of the streusel mixture into the batter and stir to combine.  Pour batter into prepared pan and top with remaining streusel mixture.  Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  

Sticky Asian Chicken Thighs

 1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup EVOO
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp grated ginger
4 bone in skin chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
Thinly sliced green onions (for garnish)
Toasted sesame seeds (for garnish)

In a large bowl, combine soy sauce, EVOO, honey, chili garlic sauce, lime juice, garlic, and ginger.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the marinade.  Add chicken thighs to bowl with remaining marinade and toss to coat.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  (Don't marinate longer than 1 hour as it will start to become too salty.) Remove 2 thighs from marinade and place in air fryer.  Cook at 375 for 20-25 minutes, until thighs are cooked through to an internal temperature of 165.  Cooking until temp is 180 will render more of the fat, if that is your preference.  Transfer to a plate, tent with foil and repeat with remaining thighs.  Meanwhile, in a small saucepan over medium heat, bring reserved marinade to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.  Brush sauce over cooked thighs and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds before serving.

**Cooking in air fryer the entire time can sometimes give the skin a burnt look.  To minimize that, bake at 375 in oven for 15 minutes first and then transfer to air fryer for remainder of time to finish cooking and crisping the skin. 

Serves 4

Chicken Tortilla Soup

 2 tsp EVOO
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 poblano pepper, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp cumin
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, roughly chopped
1 Tbsp adobo sauce 
1 (14 oz) diced tomatoes and green chiles
4 cups chicken stock
1 can (14 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (14 oz) corn, drained
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
Possible toppings:  shredded cheese, quartered limes, cubed avocado, cilantro, sliced green onions, sliced jalapenos, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips

Heat large pan over medium high heat.  Add onion, garlic, and poblano.  Saute until the onion and pepper is softened.  Season with salt and pepper, dried oregano, cumin.  Stir to combine and cook for 1-2 minutes until the spices toast.  Add chipotle peppers and adobo sauce, diced tomatoes and green chiles, and chicken stock.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  With an immersion blender, blend the soup ingredients until smooth.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.  Add beans, corn and chicken.  Top with desired toppings in individual bowls.  

Serves 4

Creole Shrimp and Rice

 3 Tbsp EVOO
1 pound large shrimp, shelled , deveined and tail off
4 tsp creole seasoning
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 ribs celery, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (14.5 oz) stewed tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1 tsp tomato paste
4 1/2 cups cooked white rice

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in large skillet over medium high heat.  Add shrimp and season with 2 tsp creole seasoning.  Saute for 2 minutes per side.  Remove to a plate.  Add remaining EVOO, peppers, onion, celery and garlic.  Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add tomatoes and remaining creole seasoning. Break up tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon.  Add water and tomato paste.  Simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.  Stir in shrimp and heat through.  Serve over cooked rice.  

Serves 4

Creamy Sesame Baked Egg Rolls

 4 Tbsp EVOO
1 pound ground turkey
12 oz coleslaw mix
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup creamy sesame dressing
2 Tbsp sriracha
12 egg roll wrappers

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.  In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsp EVOO over medium high heat.  Add turkey and cook, breaking up the meat until the turkey is just cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Add coleslaw mix and the salt and cook, stirring, until it begins to wilt, about 3 minutes.  Stir in creamy sesame dressing and sriracha until well combined.  Remove from the heat.  

Place one egg roll wrapper on a cutting board and add 2 Tbsp of filling diagonally on the wrap. Fold bottom corner over filling then roll snugly halfway to cover filling.  Next, fold in both sides snugly against filling.  Finally, moisten the edges of the last flap then wrap up and seal the top corner.  Lay seam side down on the prepared baking sheet and continue until all are complete.  Brush the tops of each rolls evenly with the remaining 2 Tbsp EVOO.  Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the egg rolls are golden brown and crispy.  Serve with additional creamy sesame dressing.  

Smoky Beef and Black Bean Chili

 2 Tbsp EVOO
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 orange bell pepper, chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 pound ground beef
2 chipotle chilis, chopped
2 Tbsp adobo sauce
1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 cup beef stock
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper

In a large pot, add EVOO over medium high heat.  Add red and orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, yellow and red onion and saute for 10-12 minutes until the vegetables start to cook down.  Add the garlic and chili powder and saute for 1-2 minutes.  Next, add ground beef.  Break it up into pieces with a wooden spoon and saute until golden brown.  Season with salt and pepper.  Once the beef is cooked, add chopped chipotle chili peppers, adobo sauce, crushed tomatoes and beef stock.  Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium.  Add drained black beans and simmer for 1 hour until the chili thickens.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 8

Ranger Cookies

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) oatmeal cookie mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp water
1 egg
3/4 cup rice krispies cereal
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Heat oven to 375.  In large bowl, stir all ingredients until soft dough forms.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet.  Cool completely.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

 For Cake: 
1 can pumpkin puree (15 oz)  **not pumpkin pie filling
2 eggs
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 pkg yellow cake mix (2 layer size)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter, melted

For Glaze:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

Cake:

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 pan.  Mix together pumpkin, eggs, the water, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until combined.  Add cake mix and baking powder; mix just until combined.  Spread batter in prepared pan.  Stir together brown sugar, flour, and melted butter in a small bowl until crumbly; sprinkle over batter in pan.  Bake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.  Cool cake on a wire rack 10 minutes.  

Glaze:

Meanwhile, stir together brown sugar, white sugar, cream, and vanilla in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Cook, stirring frequently, until sugars are dissolved and glaze is smooth, about 2 minutes.  Drizzle glaze evenly over warm cake.  Serve warm.

Sticky Buns with Toffee Sauce

 For Dough:
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup milk
2 tsp active dry yeast
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
2 Tbsp sugar
4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

For Topping:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp water
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped pecans

For Filling:
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

For Toffee Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp vanilla

Dough:

Heat 2/3 cup each water and milk in small saucepan until warm (120-130 degrees).  Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Sprinkle with yeast; let stand until frothy, about 10 minutes.  Whisk melted butter, egg, and white sugar into yeast mixture.  Add 3 cups flour and the salt.  Mix, adding more flour as needed, until a very soft and sticky dough forms.  Knead with mixer for 5 minutes.  Form dough into a ball; transfer to a lightly greased medium bowl, turning to coat.  Let rise, covered, in a warm place (75-80 degrees) until double in size, about an hour.

Sticky Topping:

Meanwhile, generously grease a 9x13 dish.  For topping, stir together brown sugar, melted butter, white sugar, the water and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.  Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly to cover bottom.  Scatter nuts evenly over topping.  

Filling:

In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar and cinnamon.

Assembly of Buns:

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; roll into a 15x18 inch rectangle.  Evely sprinkle filling over dough, leaving a 2 inch border on long ends.  Starting on long side, roll up dough to form a log, taking care not to roll too tightly or tearing dough.  Pinch seam to seal.  Cut log crosswise into 12 equal portions.  Arrang buns, cut sides down, over topping in pan.  Let rise, covered, in warm space (75-80 degrees) until buns have almost doubled in size, about an hour.  Preheat oven to 375.  Uncover buns and bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and a thermometer inserted into centers registers 200.  If tops are browning too quickly, tent pan loosely with foil during last 10 minutes of baking.  Make toffee sauce now.  Transfer pan with rolls to a wire rack; let cool 5 minutes.  Carefully invert pan over a serving platter.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape any topping remaining in pan onto rolls.  

Toffee Sauce:

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in brown sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Reduce heat to medium and boil gently, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.  Carefully stir in whipping cream.  Return to a boil.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.  Let cool to room temperature.  Pour over rolls.  

Serve rolls warm.