My kids were asking for something savory tonight for dinner.  I wanted something fairly easy to make and clean up.   I still had ground beef, yes, night number 3, but I wanted to make it not feel like the same meat again.  This time I turned to an Asian influence to try to change things up a bit.

I found a recipe in my latest issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine for Asian Chicken Lettuce Cups.  We are getting ready for a family vacation so I am trying to spend as little as possible in groceries this month.  I am cleaning out the freezer and pantry and will probably continue once we get home from our two-week vacation.  But for this week I did go out and by Boston lettuce and a pear for this recipe.  I refused to buy chicken because we had perfectly good ground beef at home so I did what I always do and tailored this recipe to what I had on hand.  Because ground beef is a more flavorful than chicken I did add extra spices to keep the flavor rich.

Verdict:

It was really good.  The flavors were definitely Asian influenced.  The lettuce cups were a bit hard to eat but we scooped up with a spoon all the filling that fell out.  We also would probably skip the pear next time.  I liked the extra bit of added crunch and sweetness from the little bites but it was not really needed.  If I had a pear on hand to use I would put it in but next time but I will not go out of my way to buy one.

This was the perfect light meal for 4 hearty eaters.  I added a side of green beans and broccoli to serve with the meal as it already had lettuce in it I did not want to serve a salad.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup hoisin sauce
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 lb. ground beef
• 8 oz. baby carrots sliced into small rounds
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 scallions whites and greens separated and chopped
• 2 large heads of Boston Lettuce, leaves washed and separated
• 1 large sweet pear, diced

Directions:

1. In a large skillet brown the ground beef over medium heat.  Break the beef into small pieces with the back of a spoon.  Drain the grease from the pan and return the pan to the burner when the meat is fully cooked.
2. Add the carrots and cook 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and scallion whites and cook for an additional minute until garlic becomes fragrant.
3. Stir the hoisin sauce, soy sauce and water into the ground beef mixture.  Stir continuously until the mixture thickens and coats the meat and vegetables.
4. Divide the mixture amount the lettuce leaves.  Sprinkle with the scallion greens and pear.