Be nice to your butcher and your butcher will be nice to you! Seriously, make friends with your butcher! That’s my lesson for you today. Here’s just one of the many reasons why…This recipe requires 1 pound of ground chicken. But ground chicken was $4.99/lb. However, boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale for $1.77/lb. I bought 10 lbs. of chicken breast and kindly asked my butcher to “course grind” the breasts for me. Now I have 10 pounds of healthy, ground chicken breast meat! When I got home, I divided the meat up into 1 lb. portions and put it into quart-size freezer bags, then stuck them in my freezer. Now, whenever I need, I just pull the amount I want out of the freezer, defrost it, and make a meal out of it! I know, I know….you’re welcome!

Now, onto this recipe… If you’ve ever gone to P.F. Chang’s, I’m sure you’ve had their famous lettuce wraps! It’s good as an appetizer, but hearty and filling enough for a meal (which is what we did). This is a fun, interactive meal. I like to serve it family style! Here’s my take on the recipe. This is not my original recipe, but it’s a good one. I got the adapted recipe here.

 -Tammy

Health tips:  diabetes friendly, low carb, kid-friendly

Ingredients: 4 servings

• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 ¼ pound ground chicken (I used breast meat)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 big cloves of garlic, minced, grated, or pressed
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• ¼ cup hoisin sauce
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced or grated
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
• 3 teaspoons Sriracha sauce
• 1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped or sliced
• 2 teaspoon sesame oil
• Iceberg, Bibb or butter lettuce leaves, rinsed and drained (I used iceberg-it’s the cheapest)

Suggested Toppings:

• Roasted peanuts, chopped
• Sriracha
• 1 small bunch green onions, sliced
• Fried rice noodles

Steps:

1. If you want to serve fried rice noodles, go ahead and begin with this step, if not, skip to step 2. But I cannot tell you how unbelievably easy and quick it is to make fried rice noodles! Take the rice noodles out of the package and break into 1-2 inch pieces. Heat about 2 inches of vegetable or canola oil in a tiny pot over medium-high heat. Drop a handful of noodles at a time,  into the hot oil. They puff up INTSTANTLY! As soon as they puff up, take them out immediately with a metal slotted soon. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. That’s it! It happens in seconds! And it’s sooo fun, especially if you have kids to help!

2. In a skillet or wok, on medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Add the ground chicken and cook until it is cooked through. Add onions and garlic and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Stir in chestnuts. Turn off heat.

3. While the chicken is cooking, make the sauce: Stir the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha sauce until completely mixed.

4. Take out the core of the lettuce by pounding the core on the side of the kitchen sink. Pull out the core. Cut the head of lettuce in half. Separate the leaves and stack them on a plate.

5. Add/stir in sauce to the meat mixture in the skillet/wok.

6. To serve, grab a lettuce “cup”, add in some of the meat mixture and top with chopped peanuts, Sriracha, green onions and rice noodles. This is a fun, interactive meal. I like to serve it family style!