Tonight's recipe was really intriguing to me when I came across it. I had never seen a taco style meal wrapped with lettuce leaves instead of the traditional tortilla or taco shell. And wouldn't you know, I've come across numerous lettuce-wrapped taco-type recipes ever since! I took this recipe from All You magazine's September 2009 edition. I tried to stay as close as possible to the original recipe with just a couple minor editions based on what we had on-hand.Thai Wraps
Ingredients:
1 lb romaine or green-leaf lettuce, or fresh spinach, separated into individual leaves (I used iceberg lettuce)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, shredded
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1/2 cup minced fresh cucumber or tomato (omitted; I thought I'd have a ripe cuke or tomato from the garden but it didn't happen)
4 cups cooked lean ground beef (I used 1 lb ground beef)
1/4 cup fish sauce or soy sauce (used soy sauce)
1-2 cups leftover cooked rice, optional (I made rice but served it on the side)
salt and pepper
Directions:
Wash greens, shaking off water. Set aside in a colander. (Cut heavy stems from spinach.) Warm oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add vegetables and saute' until soft, 5-7 minutes. Add beef and fish sauce or soy sauce. Add rice, if desired. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat for a few more minutes, stirring, until ingredients are well mixed. Wrap lettuce or spinach leaves around several tablespoons of meat mixture and serve.
If freezing: Cook vegetables and ground beef as directed above. Place in freezer bag; thaw 24 hours in fridge. Heat vegetable/ground beef mixture in microwave or saucepan then serve on lettuce leaves. I would suggest leaving the tomato and cucumber out until serving day. I had intended adding a little chopped tomato, but didn't have any that were ripe enough, and I'm not brave enough to try green tomatoes just yet (still learning to appreciate the red ones!). :)
So the verdict? Well....it was okay. A little bland. Okay, a lot bland. It smelled great, especially when this evening when I was heating it up. But the taste was lacking. I don't think that I'll be making it again, at least not this version. I'm a full-flavor kind of person, and I want flavors that will knock me upside the head, not make me come hunting for them. lol It was definitely a healthy meal. Hubs called this recipe Rabbit Tacos. I'll just have to find another version that will look a little more promising.
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Then, peel one carrot and chop off the ends. Using a grater, shred the carrot. I like using the small shredder (is that what it's called??) side of the grater. After shredding, add carrots to the bowl.
Core and thinly slice 1 ripe tomato, such as a roma tomato. I wanted to grow romas this year, but hubs planted Big Boys. I did manage to find one small ripe Big Boy, and that's what I used tonight. Place your sliced tomatoes in the bowl, and add a handful of sunflower seeds (no shells, of course).
Mix all ingredients together, place a serving on your plate, then add your favorite dressing. I used a splash of balsamic vinegar and a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette.
Serve and enjoy!
Regular box $30: 1.5 lb ribeye steaks, 1.81lb split chicken breats; 4lb chicken thighs; 1.5lb pork chops; 1 lb lean ground beef; 1.5lb 100% white meat turkey burgers; 12oz deli ham; 1lb frozen sweet potatoes; 1lb frozen green beans; 15oz can pears; 2-12oz cans 100% orange juice concentrate; 3lb bg potatoes; 2lb bag onions; 32oz 2% shelf stable milk; 1 dozen eggs; refrigerator cookie dough
Fruit & Veggie Box: 3lb baking potatoes; 2lb bag onions; 1lb carrots; 1 butternut squash; 4 bartlett pears; 3lb bag Golden Delicious apples; 3lb bag McIntosh apples; 1 cantaloupe; 1 avocado; 1 mango; 6 1.5z pkg's raisins; 1 pkg homemade apple pie spice
The big large "bush" in the two above pictures is actually our big boy tomatoes, a sweet pepper, and two bell pepper plants. There are a ton of green tomatoes growing and peppers of all shapes & sizes. Won't be long now! The "bush" next to the window is our green beans that we planted in the Spring. It has only given us one meal's worth of green beans. That is, until now. It's chock-full of green beans--yummy! We also had a few squash & zucchini plants that had been planted here, but they burned off due to summer's heat, so we pulled up the remains. Hubs put up chicken wire and some pipes for support and we planted sweet peas, green beans & cucumbers. Hopefully, we'll have a bumper crop before winter's frost arrives!
We also bought 3 grape vines, and here they are. No sooner did we plant them, they started sprouting leaves. Looks as though they like the soil. :)
Above: 3 types of onions--red, vidalia, and green onion. Below: carrots. We're going to try them again. After a little research, we learned that carrots actually thrive in cooler weather, so maybe they'll do better in a Fall garden than a Spring/Summer one.
Several bell peppers. By the time I went to chopping & freezing them, one had turned completely red and one had turned completely yellow (finally! peppers that look like the tag when we bought the transplants!). Also, a sweet pepper, which I chopped along with a tomato we picked; froze these for later use. One white eggplant, which we ate this week. My black beauty has a small eggplant. It'll be several more weeks before it's ready for harvesting. Also got a cucumber--yippee! All of our cucumber plants had burned off a month or so ago; that is, all but one. We had a cucumber plant that hid beneath a squash plant in our main garden. This cucumber plant finally shot off and has started reproducing cukes. There are several more on the plant that, keeping our fingers crossed, we'll be able to harvest in a week or two.
Our watermelon plant, which had started taking over the better part of our main garden, finally did make some watermelons. We have 5 large melons, and 1 little baby one. We ate some watermelon for dessert one night this week. The kids loved it, and I loved it since it was a healthy treat for everyone.
And finally, hubs was tickled pink at al the jalapenos he picked the other day. He made Pepper Poppers and ate 'em up while watching a football game.
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