I have a few “mom idols” that I am constantly watching to see how they can be so awesome. One of them is my sister in law, Beth. Beth has 5 kids and is great about getting a healthy and affordable meal on the table for dinner. Sometimes, none of the 5 kids complain about what she prepared! I asked her to send over one of her families favorite healthy dinners, and she sent me Asian Lettuce Wraps to try. I made them last night for my family and we all loved them! I had about 6 wraps myself and can’t wait to make them again! So here is her delicious recipe that you must save! Click on the “Add To Recipe Box” above so you can find it again easily.
From Beth: I’m a convenience vegetarian. That means I’m vegetarian when it’s convenient for me. Sometimes I have eggs for breakfast or soup flavored with bacon, but mostly I’ve lost any hankerings for chicken, pork, beef, and even fish. Don’t feel sorry for me. I don’t miss it at all. I’ve realized that what I DO miss is the flavor of what meat is often cooked in. Barbecue sauce! Grill marks! Sloppy Joe mix! Chicken tacos!
I’m a stay-at-home mother of five growing kids. Being on one income means we stretch our dollars as far as they can go. And finding alternatives for meat and chicken has actually helped our food budget quite a bit. Beans and fresh vegetables are far cheaper than what I used to buy from the butcher block.
One of our favorite dinner idea is lettuce wraps. I found this Asian Lettuce Wrap Recipe online, and it’s a winner because the sauce is so dang delicious. In addition to swapping ground beef or chicken for black beans, I’ve tweaked the recipe in a few other ways.
I make my own beans. This is because it’s a teensy bit cheaper to do so. I cook up a big pot (just beans and water), drain the water, and freeze them flat in Ziploc sandwich bags.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for these bad boys. If you’re down to your last, ugly carrots at the bottom of the bag, that’s okay.
Pretty, huh?
One trick I use to lower the amount of oil I add to sautéing vegetables is to add a little water to the pan. It steams the vegetables which is still a quick cooking method.
I forgot that you don’t have to boil these ingredients together. Just whisk until the sugar is dissolved.
When your vegetables are cooked down by about 1/3 in volume, you’re ready to add the beans.
Mmm!
I added too much sauce here, so beware. You want your sauce to get on every bite of vegetables, but don’t overdo it.
This is ready for my children to feast on!
Try it! It’s delicious!
I serve this with egg fried quinoa (a take on fried rice) and it all gets eaten every time. Today when I was cooking it up my 9 year-old came up and gave me a hug when he found out what was for dinner!
Beth’s Asian Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
- 2 clove garlic
- 2 teaspoon ginger root, fresh
- 1 cup, pieces or slices mushrooms, white
- 2 medium carrot
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 3 stalk green onion
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- 30 ounce black beans, canned
- 1 head lettuce
Sauce
- 4 tablespoon soy sauce, low sodium
- 1/4 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon vinegar, rice wine
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger root, fresh
Optional
- 2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
Instructions
- Mince garlic, ginger, and mushrooms. Grate 1/2 cup carrots and 1/4 cup cilantro, if using. Slice green onions thinly.
- Saute mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic and ginger with oil in a large sauté pan. Cook over medium-high heat, adding water if necessary, until vegetables are cooked and reduced in volume by about 1/3. This should take about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse beans. Add to skillet with fresh cilantro and mix together.
- In a separate bowl combine sauce ingredients and whisk until sugar has dissolved. Add to sauté pan and bring all ingredients to a boil (Some sauce can be reserved for dipping, if you would like). Remove sauté pan from heat and spoon bean mixture into lettuce leaves. Top with sriracha sauce, if you like spicy food. To see our complete post click here.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
