lettuce wraps

Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps

June 3, 2016

So fun fact about Lindsey: I have almost no tolerance for spicy foods. When the waitress at the local Thai restaurant asks me which level of spice I want I say “negative 5, thanks!”. Unfortunately I have surrounded myself with adventurous fire-eating people, like my husband who likes to add extra Sriracha to his ramen, or to my friend, Michelle, who doesn’t bat an eye at some Franks RedHot.

Michelle has been in town visiting from San Francisco for the past week and one thing we both have an appreciation for is cooking (and eating!). She is probably the biggest fan of the blog, so when she told me about her go to Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps, I knew I had to make them for the blog. What I didn’t consider was that Michelle’s spice tolerance is much more advanced than mine (and that we would accidentally buy the Franks RedHot Cayenne Sauce instead of the Buffalo sauce).

But despite the heat, these were soooo good (Michelle would never steer me wrong). I just had to douse mine with some extra ranch dressing, but since when has ranch dressing been a problem (never, that’s when)? So if you like super hot stuff, stick with the Franks RedHot. If you are like me and are a wuss, then Michelle recommends Buffalo Sauce which she says is so much better.

And for any of you Paleo folks out there, this hot sauce is Paleo and you can make your own Paleo Ranch dressing to make this entire meal 100% Paleo.

Following Michelle’s instructions, I placed some frozen chicken breasts in the slow-cooker, then doused it with the sauce. Next I sprinked on a Ranch dressing mix that I picked up from my local spice shop, but Michelle always uses the Nature Valley Ranch dressing packet, so use whatever one works best for you!

I also added a touch of honey to balance out the heat, but that is totally optional based on your spice preference. Then I set it and forget it! (Side note: does anyone remember those infomercials from back in the day? My dad totally bought one of those rotisserie ovens that Ron Popeil was peddling and we used it all the time!)

With about an hour left in the cooking time, I took two forks to the chicken to shred it. The chicken keeps cooking down and all the flavor soaks in.

At this point you could do just about anything you want with the chicken. Pile it onto a burger bun, spoon it into a taco shell, or – like we did – load it onto some Romaine hearts. As Michelle pointed out, the lettuce helps to cool down the heat from the sauce so it is the perfect pairing. Plus it’s healthy!

Doesn’t that look delicious? The chicken is so tender and flavorful. Of course I was heavy handed with the Ranch dressing for reasons already stated above. But Michelle, Billy, and I all thoroughly enjoyed them. I even had some leftover Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps the next day hoping that my I could improve my spice tolerance overnight. I will surely be making this recipe again (next time with the Buffalo sauce), especially if we are having friends over. It is a great dish to make for a large group and would be perfect for a tailgate or watch party!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:38]

Paleo BLT Lettuce Wraps

May 11, 2016

I actually debated whether I should post this recipe at all. I mean, BLT lettuce wraps aren’t all that scientific. Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato. That’s all it is. Doesn’t take a genius to figure this one out. I am sure you didn’t need me telling you how to put this one together.

Despite their simplicity, I was delighted by how good these were. Maybe I just haven’t had a BLT in so long I forgot what a good sandwich it is, but even without the bread, these lettuce wraps were a hit with me and my bread-loving husband.

So humor me here as I go through the extremely elementary details of these super simple BLT lettuce wraps. It would probably help if you read this with the same sarcastic tone that I am writing this in.

It all starts with some freshly washed romaine lettuce hearts. I like romaine hearts because of their boat like shape that cradles the tomato and bacon perfectly. I then topped each leaf of lettuce with a couple slices of tomato and one big slice of crispy bacon.

I did add a smear of mayonnaise to some of the lettuce to add a little something else to make it feel more like a sandwich. If I had had a ripe avocado on hand, I would have smeared on some mashed avocado in it’s place. And you know what else would be good, using some Ranch Dressing instead! Has anyone put Ranch on a BLT before? I bet it’s delicious!

Once the smear was on, I just piled everything together into a nice little wrap. We ate these with a side of homemade sweet potato chips that were so good, it was almost like were were eating a BLT sandwich with a side of fries.

And the fact that they were so easy to make, basically taking as long as it would to cook bacon, they will be a staple in our house for quick weekend (and even weekday) meals!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:29]

Korean Beef Lettuce Wraps

September 10, 2014

I have recently gotten back on the diet wagon which means that we have been doing lots of chicken and vegetables for dinner. Needless to say, that can get old quickly. Especially for my husband. So for the sake of the my marriage as well as my figure, I wanted to try something that was tasty and healthy.Inspired by the trendy Asian-fusion taco trend, Korean beef tacos, I decided to ditch the tortillas for lettuce, resulting in Korean beef lettuce wraps. I found a recipe for Bulgogi, traditional Korean beef, and altered it to fit what I had in our pantry.

I marinaded a thin cut sirloin steak over night then cut into strips and sauteed the beef in a smoking hot pan with chopped up scallions.

From there, we just put a couple strips of beef in a lettuce cup and topped it with kimchi. Since both my husband and I are wusses when it comes to spicy foods, we opted for mild kimchi, which doesn’t have as much chili paste in it like traditional kimchi.

Both my husband and I were happy with our food-truck inspired healthy meal. We both were satisfied and neither of us (especially me) felt guilty about it.

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