Chinese Kick {Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Chow Mein, and General Tso's Chicken}

I have been on a Chinese food kick the past week or so and it's all Andrea's fault.  My friend Andrea has been doing a "Make it yourself" series and the last couple of recipes were Chinese.  I never knew Chinese food made at home really could taste so good (without the added MSG, preservatives, ect) and be so, well, Chineasy.  My kids loved both, which is important for this mom...although, I do tend to try out a recipe 3-4 times on my family before I scrap it.  Sometimes kids just need familiarity and then, wham!  They love it.  I had also found some reusable wooden chopsticks for the family, so we're trying our hand at that, too. 

So here's a link to Andrea's Chow Mein and Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

The chow mein  and lettuce wraps are simple to make GF:

-use brown rice pasta, such as Trader Joes or Tinkyada (don't over cook!)
-use wheat free/gluten free tamari, such as San-J brand (which you can also get soy free...)
-use any starch as your thickener.  I've found that tapioca, arrowroot, and potato all work perfectly.  Just be sure that your potato starch is starch and not potato flour.

Seriously, these are good.  Go ahead.  Try them.  And I dare you to use chopsticks.

The other recipe that I found that will be on our menu is General Tso's Chicken found at Tasty Kitchen.
It is gluten free from the get-go, and really good!  The change up's I made were the thickener and the sweetener, and to omit the chili garlic sauce.  I used tapioca starch as the thickener and agave as the sweetener.  Really, the only problem I had was in the frying; the oil splattered somethin' fierce.  But it was worth it.