Ginger Beef Lettuce Cups

Serves 4

Recently in an effort to minimize our grocery bill and tighten our waistlines, my husband and I have been working on trying to reduce food portion sizes.  It’s easy to fall into a habit of piling on larger portions of rice, potatoes and so forth and accompanying it with a big piece of meat, fish or chicken. Before you know it you look down and your plate is mounded with a ton of food that you don’t necessarily need!  

Over the past month, my husband and I have been very cognizant about this and have worked on minimizing our portions.  Now, I’m willing to minimize my portions but I’m not so happy about sacrificing quality in order to accomplish the aforementioned smaller grocery bill and smaller waistline.  One of the things we have done that works well and still leaves everyone satisfied is buying less meat but still buying high quality.  For instance I will purchase 2 medium size filet mignon steaks and we will split those 2 steaks among my husband and I and our 2 children.  This still gives each adult about 4 oz. of steak which is plenty and it also makes us all happy because it’s still delicious.  The same concept works well for other meats, chicken and fish as well – just cut things in half.  It may sound, at first, like you will walk away from the dinner table still hungry but after only a few meals you will adjust (I think it’s really more of a psychological issue than a physical issue).  Accompany each protein portion with a salad and/or vegetable and a small portion of starch and watch the grocery bill shrink and your belly as well!

• Gf cooking spray (we used Spectrum’s Canola Spray Oil)
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 cup thinly sliced onions
• 2 Tablespoons minced ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups bok choy, thinly sliced
• 1 red pepper, cored, seeded and thinly sliced
• 2 cups mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 Tablespoons gf soy sauce
• 8 leaves bibb or iceburg lettuce 

Directions:

Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.  Heat skillet at medium-high heat.  Add beef, onion, ginger and garlic.  Cook and toss until beef is browned and onion is soft.  Add bok choy, red pepper, mushrooms and soy sauce and cook for about 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp tender.  Spoon about ½ cup of mixture into each lettuce cup and serve immediately.

- Chef Jessica