Every now and then I get a little carried away and have too many bowls of rice and beans followed by midnight snacks consisting of banana nut cupcakes and fudge brownies. Hey, it happens to the best of us, right? Nonetheless, falling weak to my cravings has caused me to put on a little extra weight. With summer around the corner, I need to get myself together ASAP!
**Cue frantic trips to the gym and back to back hot yoga sessions**
However, if you’ve ever struggled with your weight or committed to losing some pounds then you know that working out is only half of the battle. What you eat is the other half and one can even argue that it’s the make it or break it factor to reaching your goals. Trust me, if you’re groaning then you have every right to. As a food lover, it pains me to admit that food is just as important as exercise. Ideally, I’d love to workout just so that I can everything and anything I want. And if I’m being completely honest, part of my motivation for working is that I can eat whatever I want and not have to pay for it on my waistline.
All in all, I’ve started to watch what I eat and limit my rice & beans. I’ve been cooking some health conscious dishes to help me with my weight loss goal. One of my favorite dishes to make are chicken lettuce wraps because they’re super quick to make, versatile, and have little to no carbs. I work long hours and sometimes the last thing I want to do after a 10 hour day is fuss around in the kitchen. Chicken lettuce wraps are a quick and fulfilling dish that’s easy on the weight.
Ingredients
- Ingredients: Ground Chicken
- 1 lb of Ground Chicken
- Sweet Peppers—diced
- Scallions—chopped
- ¼ tsp Adobo
- ¼ tsp Garlic powder
- ¼ tsp Oregano
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Iceberg, Romaine, or Butter Leaf Lettuce
- Sherry (optional)
- Ingredient: Dipping Sauce
- 2 tbs Lite Soy Sauce
- 2 tbs Rice Vinegar
- 1 tbs Honey
- Scallions
- Powdered Ginger (optional)
Instructions
1. Season chicken with adobo, garlic powder, oregano, black & cayenne pepper
2. In a warmed skillet with olive oil, add your chicken make sure to stir and break up chicken into little pieces
3. If your chicken sticks to the pan, either add more oil or some sherry to deglaze that skillet. Deglazing the pan will release the flavors on your skillet—you don’t want to lose out on the flavor
4. Once the chicken looks like it’s about done, add chopped scallions and sweet peppers
5. In a separate bowl, mix all of your ingredients for dipping sauce—lite soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, ginger, and scallions together.
6. Build your chicken lettuce wraps on individual beds of lettuce dipping in our homemade sauce or your favorite sauce
This dish is great when I’m tired or lazy. It takes less than 10 minutes to make and doesn’t make a huge mess in the kitchen—which is always a huge plus. The best part is that I can indulge in this dish without feeling super guilty afterwards. I love dipping my chicken lettuce wraps in the homemade sauce. Sometimes, I’ll even add wasabi to make it spicy. This dish is versatile—Feel free to have fun!
Let me know how you like it. And as always, buen provecho!