Lettuce Wraps

Whenever I make lettuce wraps I always get rave reviews. Enjoy!

1 lb. ground chicken or turkey
1 small can water chestnuts (drained and finely chopped)
3 green onions (finely chopped)
2 c. chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped) or garlic powder (if you must)
soy sauce (to taste)
approx. 1 tbsp. fresh or ground ginger
approx. 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 tbsp. brown sugar
1 packet of ramen noodles, broken up into little pieces (doesn't matter what flavor, toss out the flavor packet) or rice noodles are much better but harder to find.
one head of iceberg or butter lettuce (separated as carefully as possible into leaves)

Cook the ground meat in a frying pan over medium heat, while it is cooking, break it up as small as possible with a spatula. Once the chicken is cooked, turn the heat down to medium and add the water chestnuts, green onions, garlic and chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Add soy sauce, ginger, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, and to make sure it is as yummy as you want it, serve it family style in a big bowl with the lettuce leaves on the side. To eat, scoop some of the mixture into a lettuce leaf, wrap it up and enjoy.

We often eat lettuce wraps with the Pad Thai, found in a box in the ethnic food aisle. Another yummy side dish that is good with lettuce wraps is Asian-Style 3 Bean Salad, from Ellie Krieger. When string beans are not in season I often leave them out.

Asian-Style 3 Bean Salad

1 lb. string beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen shelled edamame beans (green soy beans)
3 tbsp. canola oil
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
1/4 c. 100% apricot preserves
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. freshly grated ginger
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 scallions, sliced
salt

Put the string beans and frozen edamame into a steamer basked and stem for 4 minutes. Transfer the beans to a large bowl and put them into the refrigerator to cool for 15 minutes longer.

In a small bowl whisk together the oil, vinegar, apricot preserves, sugar and ginger. Add the black beans and scallions to the other beans, drizzle with dressing, and toss to coat. Season with salt, to taste.