Easy Dinner Idea: Thai Lettuce Cups + Pot Stickers
Morning! Is the monsoon over yet? Geez yesterday's rain was craaaaazy! We hunkered down inside all day because who wants to take on flooded roads and blinding rain? Thankfully I did my grocery shopping and meal planning on Sunday and had all the ingredients for last night's supper on hand and ready to go. That's kinda rare for me so phew!
For awhile (albeit sporadically of late) I've been sharing some of my weeknight meals on my Instagram stories. Trust me, it's not borne out of my raw talent as a cook. I like to share recipes that are A) delicious, B) easy to make, and C) fairly healthy. I'm not saying my recipes are Paleo compliant or would meet Dr. Andrew Weil's definition of clean eating. But for a weeknight, family-friendly meal that parents can make without a ton of prep or mess, I've got some recommendations for you!
From now on, I plan on posting easy weeknight dinner recipes on Tuesdays! You can expect them to be fairly healthy, generally low carb, and pulled from all kinds of ethnic cuisine. I try to be seasonal, too.
AAANNND I'm going to be sure and show you the products I use to cut down on mess and prep. Those are big difference makers for me that I think are worth sharing.
First up: Thai lettuce wraps with pork pot stickers! I made this a couple weeks back and Mike loved it. Harlow can eat the ground chicken mixture with some veggies I heat up for her...and most kids would probably eat the pot stickers, too, but she's weird about noodles...
Specific ingredients I use to make this dish include:
Shredded matchstick carrots to save time. A big bag like this will last you a few weeks and you can use them in several recipes.
Butter lettuce. It makes the perfect lettuce wrap cups.
Organic ground chicken. TIP: if you're feeding more than two hungry adults and a toddler, you may want to consider increasing the amount of meat for your filling. We eat almost all of ours every time!
Frozen pot stickers that you can quickly steam in a pan.
Peanuts add a great flavor and crunch to this dish! I chop mine up using this Chef'n Veggie Chopper. I usually do enough at one time to fill a glass ramekin; that way I can use them in several recipes for at least a couple weeks.
Below is the recipe for the lettuce cups. For reference, I begin cooking my pot stickers at the same time I start cooking the ground meat.
THAI CHICKEN LETTUCE CUPS
Ingredients:
3 TBLS canola oil, divided (2 and 1)
3 TBLS soy sauce
2 TBLS light brown sugar
2 TBLS rice vinegar
1 LB ground chicken or turkey* (add more if feeding more than 2 adults and a toddler; we eat almost all our filling)
1.5 C chopped cucumber
1 C matchstick carrots (I buy pre shredded carrots to save time)
Butter lettuce leaves (look for hydroponic butter lettuce if a fresh head of butter lettuce isn't available)
1/4 C chopped peanuts
2 TBLS chopped fresh mint
Method:
Make the sauce:
Whisk 2 tablespoons canola oil with the soy sauce, sugar, and vinegar in a small mixing bowl.
Make the filling:
Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add ground meat. Cook until lightly browned and crumble in pan. Add 1/4 cup sauce mixture and stir to combine*. Cook 3-5 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed.
*Adjust sauce amount if you use more than one pound of meat.
Assemble the lettuce cups:
Fill each cup with desired amount of ground meat filling. Top with carrots, cucumber, and peanuts. Drizzle each cup evenly with soy sauce mixture. Top with fresh mint.
Trust me, you will love how tasty these are and how easy they are to make!
Hope you're having a wonderful day! Fingers crossed it's drier than yesterday :D
xxBrooke