Asian Lettuce Wraps

If you're bored of all the meals you've been making, try these lettuce wraps. Seriously, the flavors are unlike anything I've ever eaten. We use a blend of five spices along with some Asian sauce to take these from plain turkey lettuce wraps into a mini vacation for your mouth. They're that good. Let me show you how I make them.

Ingredients
-1/2 cup of water
-1/2 cup of instant brown rice
-2 teaspoons of sesame oil
-1lb of 93%-lean ground turkey
-1 tablespoon of minced fresh ginger
-1 large red bell pepper, finely diced. Organic please!
-1 8oz can of water chestnuts, rinsed and chopped. You can find these in the ethnic food aisle
-1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth or chicken stock. I show you how to make your own here.
-2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
-1 teaspoon of five-spice powder
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
-2 heads of Boston lettuce, leaves separated
-1/2 cup of chopped fresh herbs. You can use cilantro, parsley, basil, mint, chives, whatever you have.
-1 large carrot, shredded. This is another one you want to get organic.

Directions
-Bring water and rice to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Then remove from the heat.

-Meanwhile, heat your sesame oil in a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add turkey and ginger, break the turkey up with your spoon or a potato masher. If your turkey isn't browning up for you, just increase heat to high for about a minute, continue to break up your turkey. Cook until turkey is completely cooked through, about 6 minutes.

-Stir in the cooked rice, finely chopped bell pepper, chopped up water chestnuts, chicken stock, hoisin sauce, five-spice powder and salt. Cook until just heated through.

That weird looking block on the left side is my still-frozen homemade chicken stock. 

-Turn heat off, add your shredded carrots and herbs. How pretty is this??

-To serve, divide lettuce leaves among plates, spoon the filling into each leaf and enjoy! You could just toss it right on top of your lettuce and eat it like a salad.

4 servings: 1 1/4 cup filling for about 6 lettuce leaves each.
Nutritional Info: 276 calories, 11g fat, 3g saturated fat, 1g monounsaturated fat, 66mg cholesterol, 24g carbs, 26g protein, 5g fiber, 534mg sodium, 390mg potassium