Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Seeing as we're getting all of our carbs in these days (and then some) by way of cookies, pies, and other holiday treats- John and I were looking for a waistline friendly weeknight dinner Monday. John suggested we try Chicken Lettuce Wraps, PF Chang's style. I perused some recipes online for inspiration and then we just made it up as we went along.

The filling:

*One pkg of Organic Smart Chicken tenderloins sliced into little pieces

*A generous 1/2 cup of white mushrooms, chopped

*One bunch of green onions, green and white parts, finely sliced

*One can of diced water chestnuts

*Three cloves of garlic minced

*1/2 tsp of grated ginger (from the bottle)

*drizzle of sesame oil and olive oil

The sauce:

*2 T rice vinegar

*2 T soy sauce

*1 tsp sesame oil *3 T chunky peanut butter

*1 tsp (more if you're bold) Sriracha hot chili sauce

*3 T brown sugar **Whisk it all together- microwave for a few seconds if you have trouble getting the peanut butter to incorporate...

I actually made the sauce first so that it was ready to throw in as I stir-fried the filling. Next I used a large non-stick skillet and started with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and a drizzle of olive oil over med-high heat. I first added the garlic and ginger and then quickly added my chicken pieces, stirring immediately to keep the garlic from burning. As soon as the chicken was JUST cooked through, I removed it from the pan.

Next I added a tiny splash more oil to the same pan and then sauteed the mushrooms, scallions (I saved a few of these for garnish) and water chestnuts for about one minute until just starting to soften. I then returned the chicken to the pan and added all of the sauce. (You should still be on med-high heat and will get some serious sizzle action.)

The sauce began to thicken a little bit as it cooks, the brown sugar helps it to caramelize a little. As soon as everything was evenly coated and beginning to brown (2-3 mins) we were done. We cut a head of iceburg lettuce in half, removed the core and then separated the lettuce leaves, carefully trying not to tear them. Put a generous scoop of the filling inside a lettuce cup as you serve. (For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, you eat them taco style.)

This was super easy- surprisingly light and very very yummy. I served some steam-in-the-bag frozen broccoli on the side. I toasted it quickly in a saucepan with a drizzle of sesame oil, one minced garlic clove, a little salt and pepper. This recipe would easily serve 4 as we had left overs again the following night. Note: the Sriracha heat pairs nicely with a cold beer.