Vegan Lettuce Wraps

It's been awhile since I have posted any new recipes here. While I have been playing in my kitchen I have been mostly following recipes from others.

Funny thing is that at 3:00 today while standing on the playground chatting with the other moms, the conversation was focused on what to make for dinner tonight. I was a bit surprised at what some said they were serving, but then again I admit that I tend to be on the particular side especially since eliminating soy, dairy, most gluten, refined sugars and processed foods.

It came to me around 4:30 while I was browsing my favorite blogs looking for a vegan recipe for lettuce wraps. I was a bit shocked to discover that the sauce in most recipes is actually made up mostly of hoisen sauce which is basically sugar. Not wanting the glycemic sugar spike, I decided to try something totally different. It came out great and my older son, husband and I ate it up happily. My younger son did not even try it but that is par for the course in our house.

Here is how I made it:

1. Chop one can water chestnuts, 3 scallions, 6 baby bella mushrooms, 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 6 shitake mushrooms that have been soaked.
2. Heat a pan with cooking spray and sauté
3. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and the juice of one small lime
4. Add grated ginger to taste (fresh ginger is best, I keep mine in the freezer so I always have it on hand)
5. Saute until everything is soft
6. toss in 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
7. add sauce and serve with lettuce, these are typically served with Boston lettuce leaves but I couldn't find any today so I used green leaf lettuce which was perfect.

The Sauce:

1. 2 T dark soy sauce
2. 1 T rice vinegar
3. 3 T of the water from hydrating the shitake mushrooms
4. 1 tsp arrowroot powder to thicken the sauce (You can use corn starch,  I used arrowroot powder since that is what I had on hand)

The Noodles:

1. Wanting a small amount of crunchy noodles I experimented with bean threads. I heated a pan with cooking spray and broke up some uncooked bean threads and sautéed adding small amounts of water to the pan. 
2. The noodles were yummy but next time I think I will cook them first and then sauté to see if they come out any better.

Enjoy!