*PF Chang's Style Lettuce Wraps*

Dano74
Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
edited September 2016 in Recipes
Lettuce wraps. If you've been to PF Chang's you know what they're all about and you know they're magic. Cool lettuce hugging a warm, mildly sweet and flavorful mish-mash of complimentary textures and rich, savory color... mmmmm baby. Of course, the downside is your hands need a degreaser when you're done. But not when you make them at home with this nutrition plan friendly recipe. It's a little ingredient heavy so you'll want to plan to make this one.

First...Disclaimer! This bundle of savory joy comes from the land of Pinterest and a gal named Kristen with a blog called Iowa Girl Eats. I modified a couple things but the recipe remains pretty true to how she did it. And let me tell you- it's fantastic. One for the ages. Enough talk... here's how you can get an "exotic tasting" restaurant quality meal relatively easily, quickly and in your own home with the peace of mind knowing you're not "cheating" your nutrition plan.

What You Need:

Pan, knife, cutting board, cooking spoon

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INGREDIENTS

1lb (about 16 oz.) 93/7 or 99% fat free ground turkey breast

1/2 red onion, minced

salt & pepper to taste

2 garlic cloves, pressed/minced

fresh ginger (a nub)

1 TBSP sesame oil

2 1/2 TBSP low sodium soy sauce

1/2 TBSP water

1 TBSP Adam's natural peanut butter

1/2 TBSP 100% natural Maple syrup* (not the crap corn syrup junk- the real stuff)*

*The syrup puts the per serving sugar content at 1g. You can live with that.

1 TBSP + 1 TSP rice vinegar

Sliced water chestnuts (8oz can) , sliced/chopped

10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted dry

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OPTIONAL

1/4 cup peanuts or cashews, chopped

3 green onions

1 cup finely chopped kale

red pepper flakes to taste (if you like it spicy)

Lickety-Splickety Prep

Throw your turkey meat into your pan (lightly oiled if need be but water can do the trick here as well) and turn the heat to Mzx Mode (high). Dash in your salt and pepper and chopped onion and stir/break up the meat until about 3/4 done (some meat will still be pink). Grab your minced garlic and ginger and toss them in, cooking until meat is done.

While meat is finishing and soaking up flavors, take a microwave safe bowl and add sesame oil, low-sodium soy sauce, water, natural (no sugary stuff!) peanut butter, 100% natural maple syrup, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce and pepper. Pop in the microwave for 20 -30 seconds, pull out and stir until mixed evenly. Pour into meat mixture and stir.

It's time to make those water chestnuts get friendly, so throw them into the skillet (drained) as well. If you're using the green onions, pepper flakes or kale, now is the time to add them also. Cook for another couple minutes until chestnuts are warmed. Depending on how you like your cashews/peanuts you can add them or wait to sprinkle them on fresh.

Wala. Remove from heat, pull up a chair and load those lettuce leaves with 2.5 oz of turkey mixture. Rice paper also works awesome here if you want to avoid the lettuce.

The (Macro)Nutrient Breakdown**:

* I consider a serving size (three) 2.5 oz. scoops.

Calories: 282

Fat: 9g (using 93/7 Turkey-- you can "de-fat-ify" this recipe with 99% fat free ground turkey)

Carbs: 12g

Protein: 36 g

As a note, this recipe is low on carbs, so adding rice paper will add about 11g carbs to every roll-- or you could also have a large salad on hand/a half serving of quinoa to make this a 40/40/20 macro meal. And once again, A HUGE thanks to Kristen over at Iowa Girl Eats for this winner.

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