Lettuce Sandwiches and Chinese Style Barbecued Ribs

Ground pork lettuce sandwich sprinkled with mustard

This recipe for Lettuce Sandwiches is another family favorite that my mother-in-law taught me to make. It's basically the same idea as the ground meat with bean threads except you leave out the egg and the bean threads. Sometimes I'm lazy and I make it with garlic powder. This time I made it with fresh minced garlic and it tastes much better!

Lettuce Sandwiches
1 pound ground meat (I used pork)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 scallion, chopped fine
1 carrot, diced
2 tablespoons cooking oil
Soy sauce to taste
Black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons mustard
2 tablespoons water
Soy sauce for serving
Lettuce leaves (I recommend Cos/Romaine, leaf or iceberg lettuce)

Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the carrot and cook for one minute. Add the garlic and scallion and fry until fragrant. Add the meat and cook, stirring, until no longer pink. Season to taste with soy sauce and black pepper. The recipe can be doubled.

In a small bowl, mix mustard and water until it is smooth and no longer lumpy. If desired, serve with soy sauce. 

Spoon meat over lettuce, sprinkle soy sauce and/or mustard on top,  pop in mouth and eat!

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I like surfing the internet for new recipes. This one came from backofthebox.com but I adjusted it right away when I saw how much garlic was in it. Not enough! I used twice the garlic but halved the recipe because I'm only cooking for two now, just AJ and me.

Barbecued Ribs

Chinese Style Barbecued Ribs

Marinade
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 pound pork spareribs separated into 1-rib pieces

Glaze
2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon honey

In a small bowl, combine the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, and garlic. Put the ribs in a plastic bag and pour the soy sauce marinade over it. Press air out of the bag and turn bag to ensure even coating. Let sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Cover a baking tray with tin foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Place the ribs on the prepared pan, meat side down. Prepare the glaze. Loosely cover with spare ribs with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Glaze the ribs with half the prepared glaze. Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Turn ribs and cover with the remaining glaze. Bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and eat with your fingers!

Our dinner