Chicky Chinese Lettuce Wraps

So since my "cooking craze" took over, I have been entertaining a lot more which has been lovely having dinner guests and luncheons. This has also produced many more dirty dishes and heavily increased the use of our dishwasher. Good thing are utilities are covered in our rent! Anyway, I'm just trying to think of it as training for when I get to do this full time one day... ;)

So here's a tried and true meal I've been whipping up when I have company (that are not vegetarians), or for myself and taking the leftovers to work. It's still pretty healthy and lacks carbs, which rocks. It's a little more complicated that most of the things I do in terms of having many ingredients on hand. So once I bought them all, I make sure to use this recipe often so I make the most of that I spent. Most of the time I will try and keep the ingredients simple, but sometimes you gotta spice things up.

I'm obsessed with PF Chang's chicken lettuce wraps. So I did a little digging and found a version of their recipe, took out the things I didn't like and then added a few others.

What you need for the meat:

1 - 1 1/2 pounds of ground chicken (99% fat free!)

2 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger root

1/2 medium white onion

a dash of salt and pepper

8 oz can of waterchesnuts

3 green onions

1/4 cup of peanuts

What you need for the sauce:

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium preferred :)

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 tablespoon water

2 teaspoons garlic chili sauce (or more if you like it hot!)

1 tablespoon creamy peanut butter

1/2 tablespoon honey

And of course, a large head of romaine lettuce!

To start...

First, cook the meat in a large skillet with the onions, minced garlic and ginger, salt and pepper. Cook until done and continue to break up the meat with a spatula into bit size pieces while the meat darkens.

While the meat is cooking combine everything "for the sauce" in a microwave safe bowl and mix until smooth. This may be a little tough to get smooth at first because of the thickness of the peanut butter, but it will eventually turn into a sauce like mixture. Microwave for 25 seconds.

When the meat is cooked throughout, add the sauce and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add your waterchesnuts and green onions. Cook for another 2 minutes and then you're ready to serve.

Take your head of lettuce and cut down the middle. Then separate the lettuce leaves and serve the meat in one bowl and the lettuce on a plate, allowing guests or yourself to choose how much meat they would like on each wrap. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on the top of the meat and you've got yourself a low-carb, Asian inspired treat :)