Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

Today, I’m honored to be guest posting for the beautiful (I’m serious here, not just being nice, this gal…so PRETTY!) Miss Ashlee over at Iseminger Chronicles, head over and check her out, she blogs about her healthy journey, and all sorts of life’s adventures with her hubby and adorable little son. 

You GUYS!  Are you looking for an easy recipe?  Like, really easy??  Well, here it is…we’re talking throw-it-all-in-a-skillet-and-dump-it-on-some-lettuce easy.  Honestly, you have no excuses not to make this!

Hubs and I usually spend the weekends in the month of September camping and we are having a blast!!  It is so much fun to just get away and relax at the end of a work week.  Even though every weekend feels like vacation, I’m still trying to make sure we are eating as healthy as we can, and not splurging too much on camping-type food.  This recipe is so good, you won’t even think it’s healthy.  Plus, it looks all fancy and stuff.

It’s also a great recipe for an easy weeknight meal; I threw it together in less than 20 minutes.  Hope you like it!

Ingredients:
1lb extra lean ground beef (this would also be great with lean ground turkey)
1 cup diced carrots
1 5oz can of sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1T rice wine vinegar (you could also use apple cider or white)
2T low sodium soy sauce (I used Braggs Liquid Aminos, this Asian LOVES this stuff!)
1/4 cup black bean sauce or hoisin
2T low sodium Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup brown rice (I used Minute Multigrain Medley)
16 crisp lettuce leaves like iceberg or Boston Bibb, etc.
Non stick spray

Preparation:
Spray a large skillet with nonstick spray and sauté the onions, carrots, water chestnuts and garlic for about 5 minutes on med/high heat.

Add the ground meat and cook until no longer pink, draining off any excess liquids.

While the meat is cooking add the following to a small bowl:  vinegar, soy sauce, bean sauce, Worcestershire sauce and red pepper flakes.  Stir together and set aside.

When the meat has been browned, lower the heat to medium and stir in the sauce mixture.

Add the brown rice and mix.

Remove from heat and serve in lettuce cups.

This was SO delicious!!

Nutrition (using 96% lean ground beef):
Serves 4
Calories 273 / Carbs 27g / Fat 6g / Protein 30g / Fiber 4g / Sodium 1968mg