Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Let's get this out of the way first......you know my hatred for ground turkey and ground chicken (really, any ground up meat makes me nauseous....I'm a pill). It is pink and slimy and looks like worms.

However, I am getting better about it. I bought Empire Kosher ground turkey and it did not offend me at all.

In fact, this recipe was so delicious, I will make it all the time.
Tasted like ground pork to me.

Now for the recipe, if you are still interested in making it after that gruesome description!

I found the recipe in Cooking Light, and changed it up a bit, to make it better.......I added in garlic, hot pepper and scallions.

I used Butter lettuce from the farmer's market like the recipe suggests, but next time I will use Romaine; the butter lettuce (Boston lettuce) was too fragile and after filled, was hard to keep together.

Another thing I need to tell you is that I have been using avocado oil lately.

I find olive oil has such a low smoke point, it winds up burning things like meat, or chicken. And I hate wasting expensive Italian olive oil to use in daily cooking.

So for sauteeing, avocado oil is my new friend. It's got a lot of health benefits, you can read up on it.

I bought Trader Joe's brand which is odorless and flavorless, and clear......but when I went to find it again, it was sold out.
So I bought Tourangelle brand in the can, and it is brown in color and has a pleasant smell and mild flavor. They are both made in Mexico from purely avocados. I love it.

Ok, enough blabbing, here is the recipe.

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps (makes 8):

1 lb. of ground turkey (I used Empire Kosher)
8 lettuce leaves (Boston or Romaine)
1 carrot, julienned
1 small cucumber, diced
handful of chopped scallions
handful of chopped roasted peanuts
handful of fresh mint, chopped

2 tbsp of canola or avocado oil
2 tbsp of soy sauce
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 large garlic clove, shaved on microplane
dash of hot pepper flakes

Make sauce and set aside. I cut all the vegetables in the a.m. and left them in the fridge until I was ready to cook the turkey.

In a heavy, large skillet (nonstick works), heat some cooking oil and cook the ground turkey for 7 minutes, breaking it up the whole time, until all the pink is out.

Pour in half of the sauce to the turkey and cook another 2 minutes until the turkey is brown and all the sauce is evaporated from the skillet.

Now you are ready to fill your lettuce leaves!

Fill each wrap with about 2-3 tbsp of the ground turkey.

Lay them on a platter and start to garnish with the carrots, cucumber, scallions, peanuts and mint.

Drizzle each wrap with the rest of the sauce and serve.

DELICIOUS!