Chicken Lettuce Wraps

My Mom called me the other day and was telling me about a recipe she found on pinterest. I love pinterest. It's a time-sucker and I find myself spending waaaayyyyy too much time there. Anyway, Mom found a chicken lettuce wrap recipe and made it. She raved about so I figured I better check it out. I think I have mentioned before that I try at least 1 new recipe a week sometimes more. I get bored really easy and need lots of variety in my meals. 

I am trying to incorporate 1 meal a week with no meat. That hasn't gone over too well with the husband. He likes his meat. So if he isn't going to be home for dinner, I make something meatless for myself and my son. He isn't picky...at all. And he is all about eating healthy, so he likes the meatless stuff I make. 

My son really liked this recipe. The inspiration for this is a mixture between 2 recipes. I like to mix things up, I rarely follow a recipe exactly. Neither recipe called for mushrooms, but I wanted to bulk it up so I added a cup of diced mushrooms. Yea, I know I was talking about meatless meals but this one has meat. So the husband will eat it.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps 

The Ingredients

Next time I will use butter lettuce instead of iceberg

Brown chicken in 1 tsp olive oil. Remove from pan and add 1 cup onion

and 1 cup diced mushrooms along with 2 cloves minced garlic.

When browned, add the chicken

 Add the sauce (recipe below) and spoon 1/2 cup into each lettuce leaf. My son

added some sriracha sauce, thats a little spicy for me. He said it was delicious!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Calories: 202 (per wrap)

• 1 pound chicken breast cut into cubes ( I used chicken tenders, next time I think I will use boneless skinless thighs. I love those)
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1 cup mushrooms, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced  
• 2 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
• Iceberg lettuce leaves (or butter lettuce)

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp soy sauce (use low sodium if possible)
• 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• shake of red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp agave 

Instructions:

Mix sauce together in small bowl and set aside. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in pan over med high heat. Add chicken, cooking until browned. Remove from pan. Add onion, garlic and mushrooms. Add 1 tsp soy sauce. Stirfry until softened and browned. Add chicken and pour sauce over top. Cook another 2 minutes. Add Hoisin sauce. Spoon 1/2 cup chicken mixture into lettuce leaves. Top with more hoisin if you like or hot sauce.  Serves 4

 

Scallop Asparagus Stir-fry

Its been awhile since I posted to my blog. I really need to get in a routine of posting new recipes. I love cooking, I love looking up new recipes and I love eating! That's my biggest problem. Food addiction. I am stress eater and this has been a stressful school year. My goal is to drop 30 pounds. So far I am down 8 pounds, 22 more to go. The last 2 weeks have been a yo-yo of lose a pound gain a pound. So this week I am tracking calories again. I love the fitnesspal app on my phone. So easy to track calories and workouts.

Speaking of workouts, my 2 co-workers and I are trying out Curves. We have done our free week and need to join. I love the workout. We go right after work, done in 30 minutes and go home. I am a lazy work out person. The least amount of time I can spend, the better! This is a great recipe that is low in fat, calories and tastes great! I always make this when asparagus is on sale. Costco had a great deal on a 2 pound bag of asparagus. I think it was around $4 for the bag. This is one of those "throw whatever veggies you have in it" kind of meals. I also had about 15 frozen shrimp leftover in a bag so I threw those in as well.

 

Clean and chop your asparagus into 1 inch pieces. Dice onion and celery

Slice mushrooms. I didn't have alot of mushrooms left, I usually use about double this amount. 

About 1 pound of scallops. I use the bay scallops but if you want you can use the larger ones,

just cut them in half. I also added shrimp.

Saute the asparagus, onion and celery, then add mushrooms. When those are tender

crisp, remove from pan and saute scallops, shrimp and some garlic.

Add sauce (see below for recipe) and veggies. Cook until thick. Serve over rice. 

If you have slivered almonds, sprinkle those on top, I didn't have any this time but it was

still delicious! Enjoy!

Scallop Asparagus Stir-fry

serves 4

Calories 248 

(includes 1/2 cup rice)

• 2 cups fresh asparagus trimmed and cut in 1 inch pieces
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup onion diced
• 1 small can water chestnuts
• 1 pound bay scallops (or large scallops cut in half)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic

Combine Chicken broth, soy sauce and cornstarch in small bowl. Set aside. In large skillet, saute asparagus, celery and onion in 1 tbsp olive oil until tender crisp, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and water chestnuts. Stir-fry another 2-3 minutes, remove and set aside.

In same skillet, stir-fry scallops (and shrimp if you want)with garlic for 2-3 minutes until firm and opaque. Add chicken broth mixture. Bring to a boil, cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Add vegetables and cook until heated through. Sprinkle 1/4 cup slivered almonds on top, serve over rice.

*Note: Calorie count does not include almonds and includes 1/2 cup white rice. I have made this with broccoli instead of asparagus with delicious results. I have also added shredded carrots and green onions as well. Enjoy!