Thai Chicken Lettuce Cups

Dinner last night was messy.  I blame Shoprite.  It's all because they didn't have the lettuce that I wanted, that Boyfriend and I wound up with sauce all down our wrists.  All I wanted was bibb lettuce, with its nice cup-shaped leaves.  But no, Shoprite had to have romaine, Boston, iceberg, spring mix, everything but bibb lettuce.

Even with all the juices running down our hands, this dinner was delicious.  I always like adding fish sauce into my meals, mostly because it starts out smelling so discusting, but lends such fantastic flavors to my meals.  It's such an amazing transformation!

I wanted a light, yet flavorful dish because I still had three miles to run after dinner.  These lettuce cups were just the perfect dinner to have before hitting the road.

Then I came home and had some chocolate cake.

One Year Ago: Asparagus Lasagna
Two Years Ago: Green Velvet Cupcakes

Thai Chicken Lettuce Cups

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

If you are looking for a quick and easy dinner, this is your meal.  After prepping all of my vegetables, which took about ten minutes, dinner was done in less than fifteen minutes!  A good hit of protein and vegetables, this is also a great meal for a healthy weeknight dish.

Extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, minced
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 pound ground chicken
1 serrano pepper, finely chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons lower-sodium soy sauce
1 cup basil leaves
Juice from 1 lime
1 lime, cut into 6 wedges
1 head bibb lettuce

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add shallot and cook for 2 minutes, or until it begins to soften.  Add red bell pepper and cook for 1 more minute.  Add garlic and cook for 1 additional minute.  Transfer shallot mixture to another bowl.

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and add ground chicken.  Break up chicken with a wooden spoon and saute until browned and cooked through.  Add shallot mixture back to the pan, followed by serrano pepper.  Cook for 1 minute.  Add fish sauce, brown sugar and soy sauce and cook for 1 minute.  Remove from the heat and stir in basil leaves and lime juice.  Serve in lettuce cups.