Lettuce Wraps with Amazing Peanut Sauce

I feel as if we’ve awoken from a long, dark, cold, winter coma. With its beautiful warm weather, May has burst on the scene, and although it won’t be long before we start complaining about the humidity, the city has sprung back to life. Yesterday, Neil and I went on an hour long walk around the neighborhood just because it felt so good to be outside in the sunshine. Today, we enjoyed running errands with the sunroof back and sat out on the patio for happy hour. We’re savoring this beautiful time of year as best we can.

This is a fresh and healthy recipe to accompany the springtime weather. When it comes to these lettuce wraps, it’s all about the crunch and the sauce. I couldn’t think of a better name other than “amazing peanut sauce,” because that’s exactly what it is. I would dunk just about anything in this stuff. It’s amazing.

The best way to make this meal work is to set up a bar for your family on the counter or at the table with a variety of veggies, proteins, and sauces. Your family can personalize each wrap to their own tastes. On one platter, serve the baked chicken. On another, serve an assortment of vegetables cut allumette (which is fancy for thick matchstick). Be sure to place small bowls of the amazing peanut sauce, soy sauce, thai chili sauce, and any other dippers on the bar as well. Lay out individual romaine leaves with the white bottoms cut off. Once everything is in place, you can assemble the wraps.

Assemble, wrap, dunk, eat, repeat.

Lettuce Wraps with Amazing Peanut Sauce

Prep Time: 45 min. Cook Time: 0 min.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. chicken tenders

1 red pepper, allumette

1 cucumber, allumette

2 carrots, allumette

8 romaine leaves

Optional dunking sauces:

Soy sauce

Thai chili sauce

Amazing peanut sauce (recipe below)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a sheet pan with olive oil. Sprinkle chicken tenders with salt and pepper and place on sheet pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool and chop into 1″ pieces.

Allumette a variety of your favorite vegetables. Place chicken pieces and an assortment of veggies in each romaine leaf. Dunk in the amazing peanut sauce.

Amazing Peanut Sauce

Prep Time: 5 min. Cook Time: 0 min.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flake

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

5 tablespoons hot water

Preparation:

In a small food processor, blend first five ingredients. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached (I like 5 tablespoons). For a thinner consistency, add more hot water 1 tablespoon at a time. Blend until smooth.