Last week I got a magazine from my neighborhood in the mail. Yes, my neighborhood is apparently fancy enough to write and publish a monthly (quarterly?) magazine. I mean, we have a golf course and a country club and people roam the streets in golf carts, but let me assure you, we are members of neither.

We do pay $50 a year to the HOA to have American Flags placed in front of our house at every patriotic holiday and have pretty flowers at the neighborhood signs. And it supports our local Girl Scout troop. So we're not total Scrooges.

At any rate, thankfully there are some even fancier people in the 'hood that put out this circular. This month amongst the 57 pages of ads there was a recipe for healthy chicken lettuce wraps. I couldn't stand the taste or smell of Asian food while I was pregnant with Max, so I'm making up for lost time now.

Surprise of the century, my kid actually ate this. The kid that has not willingly put a vegetable in his mouth in 2 years. I guess if you dice it all up, he wasn't as offended by it? He even wanted Sriracha on it. That's my boy.

Another local blogger, Jamie Roubinek, made the original recipe. You can find it here. But because I can't leave well enough alone, I changed it up a wee bit.

THE GOODS

1 large cooked chicken breast, diced (recipe follows)
1 can water chestnuts, drained and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1/2 (ish) small white or yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
2 tbsp teryaki sauce
Head of lettuce
Garnish options: cilantro, Thai basil, green onions, Sriracha, or all of the above

FOR THE CHICKEN

1 large chicken breast
1/4 tsp dried ginger
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp honey
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder (or a diced garlic clove)
1 tsp sesame oil

COOK THE CHICKEN: In the slow cooker, combine all ingredients and roll the chicken around in it. Cook on low 3-4 hours or until chicken is cooked through. Let it cool slightly before cutting. Dice it up nice and fine. This chicken has AMAZING flavor and is great for stir fry. We eat it all. the. time.

MAKE THE FILLING: Heat the sesame oil in a large pan or wok over medium-high heat. Add carrot, onion, bell pepper, and celery and cook 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 minute. Add soy sauce, teryaki sauce, water chestnuts, and cooked chicken. Cook 1-2 minutes until filling is warmed through.

ASSEMBLE: Let the filling cool for a couple of minutes so it doesn't destroy your lettuce. Peel the leaves off the head GENTLY and give them a little rinse. Fill 'em up, add some garnish, and put them in your face. I served alongside some yummy, sticky white rice. Brown would be great as well. Serves 4.

Also, I won't judge you if after eating 2 wraps the nice "grown up" way you then just make a big ol' pile of filling on top of the rice and coat the sucker in Sriracha. Not that I did that.

Thanks, Jamie, for the inspiration!

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