Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

There is a certain chain Chinese restaurant that makes amazing chicken lettuce wraps. They don't have the nutritional information on their menu, but from the oil dripping from the chicken, I'm going to guess it's one of the more unhealthy things on their menu, even with the guise that it's chicken and lettuce and thus good for you.

But, I do love them, so of course I had to figure a way to make a healthy version that fits on my Medifast plan. I love the crunch of the lettuce and the warm chicken and veggies. Like most of my healthier adaptations, I'm discovering I love the healthy version more than the original, and my scale is loving them too! :)

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

6 oz cooked chicken breast, minced (1 leaner)
1/2 cup celery, diced (1 green)
1/2 cup shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (1 green)
1 garlic clove, minced (1 condiment)
1 tsp soy sauce (1 condiment)
1/2 tsp oyster sauce (1/2 condiment)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped (1/2 condiment)
1 tsp olive oil (1 healthy fat)
2 drops sesame oil (I put this into the olive oil when I'm measuring)
1 cup Iceberg lettuce leaves (1 green)

Soak the shitake mushrooms for around 30 minutes. Drain, but reserve the soaking liquid. Thinly slice the mushrooms.

In a large skillet, saute the celery, mushrooms and garlic in the olive and sesame oil until the celery is almost aldente. Add the chicken, soy sauce, oyster sauce and cilantro. saute for 2-3 minutes until everything is warmed through. Add 1/4 cup of the mushroom soaking liquid to thin the sauce.

Serve the chicken mixture in Iceberg lettuce "cups".

Tip: The mushroom soaking liquid is essentially mushroom broth. You can use this to make soup, etc. It's great stuff!

Medifast Calcs: 1 leaner serving, 3 green, 3 condiments, 1 healthy fat

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

This was my first attempt at using Spaghetti squash, and I have to say, I'm hooked. The flavor of the sauce on the squash is absolutely amazing, and I really enjoyed the crunch that the squash has. I'm not a big pasta person, and I definitely didn't miss it at ALL in this dish. In fact, I prefer this to regular spaghetti! This is one of my favorite dishes now!

"Spaghetti" with Meat Sauce

Ingredients:

Sauce:
7 oz ground 93% lean turkey (should cook down to 5 oz) (1 lean)
1/2 cup diced celery (1 green)
1/2 cup diced italian tomatoes (with 5g carbs or less per 1/2 cup serving) (1 green)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (1/2 condiment)
1/4 tsp onion powder (1/2 condiment)
1/4 tsp dried basil (1/4 condiment)
2 tsp fresh grated parmesan (1/2 condiment)

"Spaghetti":
1/2 cup cooked spaghetti squash (1 green)
1/8 tsp garlic powder (1/4 condiment)
1/8 tsp onion powder (1/4 condiment)
pinch of fresh ground black pepper

Dice and saute the celery with the garlic and onion powder for a minute or so. Add in the ground turkey and the basil. Cook until the turkey is almost cooked through. Add in the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.

Wash the squash and pierce the skin all over with a metal skewer. Microwave for 6 minutes, turn over and microwave for another six minutes. When done, let cool a bit then cut open, scrape out the seeds and discard. For the remaining flesh, scrape with a fork to separate the threads. My one small spaghetti squash will yielded around 2 cups of squash.

Place 1/2 cup of squash into a bowl. Sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, ground black pepper and a bit of salt.

Top with the meat sauce and stir to combine. Grate fresh Parmesan on top.

Note: This recipe makes a LOT of meat sauce for a relatively small amount of squash. I'd eat the sauce plain, so this is not a problem. You could always cut out the celery and increase the squash to 1 cup, but I love celery in my spaghetti sauce. :) You also could substitute Walden Farms marinara for the 1/2 cup Italian tomatoes and increase the squash serving further (remember to count the marinara as a condiment!)

Medifast calcs: 1 lean, 3 green, 2 1/4 condiments, no healthy fat required