Obsession Wednesday

It seems like my enjoyment with cooking started when Tom and I began dating in 2009. I am not sure if that was because I wanted to impress him with my delicious meals so he would continue to come visit me or if it was because I actually had a kitchen since starting college. Whatever the reason, I have always loved cooking for him because he has never turned down a home cooked meal! He always compliments me and makes me feel like I know what I am doing (thankfully, sometimes I do).

For this week's obsession, I am going to share with you a recipe for spicy chicken lettuce wraps that is incredibly easy to make and extremely tasty.

Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps 

Adaptation from Joy Bauer's cookbook Slim & Scrumptious

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 pound of chicken: 3-4 boneless chicken breasts

4 medium carrots - peeled and diced

1 green pepper - seeded and diced

1 red pepper - seeded and diced

3 scallions (both white and green parts) - diced

1 cup diced mushrooms (optional)

4 cloves of minced garlic

1/2 cup Chinese plum sauce

2 tablespoons Soy Sauce

1/4 cup Sesame Ginger dressing

1 tablespoon of Sriracha sauce (add more or less for desired spiciness)

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 head of Boston or Bibb lettuce or Cabbage

peanuts, sesame seeds, or Asian noodles for garnish

Directions: 

Coat a large skillet with olive oil spray and preheat it over medium heat.

Add the carrots, peppers, scallions, mushrooms, and garlic to the skillet. Saute until soft while stirring occasionally - this should take about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn them during this process.

Add the chicken to the skillet (may need to coat the skillet with olive oil spray again). While cooking until no longer pink, use a wooden spoon to crumble the chicken into smaller pieces - if this doesn't work, wash your hands and place the thoroughly cooked pieces of chicken on a cutting board and finely dice before placing them back in the skillet. Season with the salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Add the plum sauce, soy sauce, dressing, and sriracha and stir to coat the chicken and vegetables. Reduce heat and simmer until heated through.

Remove the skillet from heat and add any of the following garnishes now or while preparing the lettuce wraps before eating - peanuts, sesame seeds, or Asian noodles.

Clean the lettuce and break off as many leaves as possible - trust me, you will eat them all. Be sure to start to break them off from the bottom so you have intact leaves.

Fill each lettuce leave with about 1/2 cup of the chicken mixture. I either add (or dip) a little extra dressing at this point for a sweet and spicy taste

Enjoy - sorry no pictures but next time I make it I will add one!