Turkey-Lettuce Wraps

Last year, while visiting Toronto, I ate at an Asian restaurant with some friends and we ordered chicken lettuce wraps for an appetizer. They were AMAZING. When I got home, I scoured the internet for healthy versions of this recipe, and came across this one from www.EatingWell.com.

Here is the recipe straight from Eating Well: Five-Spice Turkey Lettuce Wraps, that page also has the serving sizes and nutritional information. I tweaked it a bit. I used 3 tbsp of Hoisin and skipped the water chestnuts and peppers, as I don't like them. But feel free to add any veggies you'd like!!

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup instant brown rice
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 pound 93%-lean ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 large red bell pepper, finely diced
• 1 8-ounce can water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, (see Note)
• 1 teaspoon five-spice powder, (see Note)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 heads Boston lettuce, leaves separated
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh herbs, such as cilantro, basil, mint and/or chives
• 1 large carrot, shredded

1. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add rice; reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger; cook, crumbling with a wooden spoon, until the turkey is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice, bell pepper, water chestnuts, broth, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt; cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
3. To serve, divide lettuce leaves among plates, spoon some of the turkey mixture into each leaf, top with herbs and carrot and roll into wraps. 

And here is also a little tid-bit that I found rather fascinating:
"Often a blend of cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed, star anise and Szechuan peppercorns, five-spice powder was originally considered a cure-all miracle blend encompassing the five elements (sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty). Look for it in the supermarket spice section".


 I also like to put Maggi's Sweet Chili Sauce on my wraps as well, it's sweet and spicy, just as the name suggests but is 100% optional.

In my picture I also have some green beans. I bought a spice packet for Szechuan Green Beans by the company Simply Asia. The directions said to cut the ends off 1 lb of green beans, put the beans in the bag provided, mix the seasoning with 1/2 cup water, pour over beans, and microwave for 6-7 minutes, then let stand 5 minutes.

The beans tasted really good BUT I had no idea when I bought the package that it came with a steaming bag. I am very anti-microwaving anything plastic, especially because of BPA and links with PCOS (read an article about that here.). I think if I try this again I will find a different way to steam my veggies and THEN add the sauce.


Here is an article, also by Eating Well, about microwaving plastic containers. They say that it's safe! I learned something new! Read it here!

Going Bento?

How many of my readers love Asian food? I DO!! It's my all-time favorite type of cuisine and for those of you who share this sentiment, we are lucky because Asian food, in most cases, are very easy to make into a healthy version. That is if it isn't already healthy!

My boyfriend have been toying with the idea of eating out of Bento Boxes. Originally coming from Japan, a Bento Box is a small lunchbox that you need to be creative to hold any amount of food in. 

I came across this blog: Just Bento and it really got me thinking. And got me hungry as well! This website is packed full of yummy asian dishes (and some non-asian) from all across the board. There are some with meat, some are vegetarian, some are vegan, some are completely gluten free. Since I know there are so many ideas of what is good and bad for a PCOSer to eat, this website kinda touches the bases of any kind of lifestyle.

The reason I like the Bento so much, is that its portion controlled. You can only hold so much food in one of those things and you need to make choices like, "is this one piece of chocolate worth the room it is going to take in my lunchbox and ultimately I wont have room for something else?" You can also put anything you want in it! Don't like asian food? Don't eat it! Put pasta, mini-hamburgers, salad, tuna sandwiches, etc etc inside of one of these bad boys!

Don't want to look crazy eating out of a tiny lunchbox? Check out this more Americanized version on Amazon. 

Check it out and let me know in the comments what you think!