Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps

Have you ever eaten food for luck? It’s a good luck food theme for my monthly blog link up with Recipe ReDux!  I can honestly say, I have never thought of serving food for luck on New Year’s, but in doing a little research, I found there are at least five foods associated with luck across the world.

The closest I came to lucky food was during the week of Mardi Gras about 4 years ago.  I was attending a training for wellness coaching and the caterer had brought in a “King Cake” with a plastic baby inside.  Whoever received the piece of cake that had the baby was to have a lucky year.  All that did for me was make me wonder (and worry) and pick apart my food – How big was the baby? Would I be able to see it?  Would it chip my tooth?  Well, lucky me – I guess – the bronzy plastic baby about an inch big was in my piece of cake.  I don’t really remember if it brought me good luck!

With this lucky food theme, I was inspired to incorporate as many lucky foods as possible.  Long noodles for long life in Asian cultures, greens because they resemble crumbled dollar bills, and pork symbolizing progress in German culture (hey – I’m part German).  Perfect light bites for the New Year.

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Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps

Makes 6-8.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound pork sausage (breakfast sausage works well and has great flavor)
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1/4 cup diced mushrooms
  • Juice from 1/2 lime
  • 2 tablespoons sweet Thai chili sauce (find it in the Asian aisle)
  • 3.75 ounce package cellophane noodles (like China Bowl Select brand)
  • 6-8 butter lettuce leaves
  • 1-1/2 cups greens from a Dole Chopped Salad Kit Chipotle and Cheddar
  • 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:

  1. In a large skillet, sauté and crumble pork sausage, onions and mushrooms until cooked and pork reads 160 degrees on meat thermometer.  Add lime juice and sweet Thai chili sauce.  Stir to blend together.
  2. Meanwhile, prepare cellophane noodles according to package directions.  (This really just involves letting the noodles sit for 10 minutes in hot water.)
  3. Prepare lettuce wraps by laying out lettuce leaves.  To each lettuce leaf add 1/4 cup greens, 1/4 cup cellophane noodles, 1/4 cup pork mixture and a sprinkle of cilantro leaves.  Roll tightly and serve.

I am thankful for all of you who take the time to read my blog, make a comment or share the link.  Thank you for a great blogging year.  And here’s to another!  Look for a recap of the most popular posts from 2013 in the coming days.

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1 Comment

  1. Deanna Segrave-Daly (@tspbasil) on December 23, 2013 at 7:38 pm

    YUM – I love lettuce wraps and why don’t I make them more often? Look forward to trying this out – happy new year, Jen!

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