Asian Lettuce Cups

My favorite favorite favorite dinner is a bunch of little bites.  Dim Sum?  Yes, thank you.  Tapas?  Count me in!  Hors d'oeuvre?  Why, yes, but of course!  In fact, for my recent belated birthday dinner, I had a spread of apetizers that would make anyone proud.  Mmmmm, yummmmmmmy!

Anyway, as I sometimes do, I chose to make a munchy kind of meal for dinner tonight.  We had cheese, spinach dip, edamame, some baked appetizers (frozen from my always fave TJ's) and shrimp cocktail.   We also had turkey and veggie lettuce cups. Now this is what I consider a pretty easy recipe with some store-bought shortcuts, so if you are a real foodie, feel free to make it more complicated if you wish ;).  I'd like to share with you how I make mine.


Chop a variety of vegetables.  I like to use 2 green onions, a small carrot, half a stalk of celery, 2 cloves of garlic, one red bell pepper and a can of water chestnuts (this is a must because of the wonderful crunchiness it adds)

Now heat a skillet  with some canola or sesame oil (I much prefer sesame), and quickly saute your veggie mix over high heat.  When the vegetables have started to soften and you start to see a little color, about 3-4 minutes, put your veggies back in the bowl they were in to begin with.

Use the same pan, already hot, to cook 1 lb of ground turkey or chicken until cooked through.

At this point, add your veggies back to the pan and pour in about 6 oz of your favorite pre-made Asian sauce (I really like general tzao's sauce from TJ's). Allow to heat through.

Put your finished filling back in your bowl to serve.  Now, take one head of iceberg or butter lettuce and take each leaf off, leaving as whole as possible. Serve alongside the filling, allowing participants to fill each lettuce cup with their desired amount of filling.

I hope you enjoy!