Happy Saturday!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you :) I know tomorrow is officially St. Patty's Day, but most of Pittsburgh is out celebrating (or maybe tired out from all the day partying by now).

Today, I worked a PRN (part time, as needed hourly) shift at a local skilled nursing facility (SNF) first thing this morning, and I was there throughout breakfast and lunchtime for the wonderful residents on SLP caseload there.  My caseload consisted of some really sweet people, but a lot of them were kind of bummed out in particular today- I think because today was such a gloomy day.  Rainy, chilly, and just plain 'ick' out.

At the end of the day though, I saw a few smiles, just from solving simple problems such as lack of heating (or turning it up!), oral-care, getting a favorite juice for them, etc.  Especially with our work in the skilled nursing facilities, SLP isn't JUST about what "treat" and what we "don't treat".  I especially try to live by the Golden Rule: "treat others how you want to be treated".  You never know when you'll find yourself in a position where you have to rely on others.  That's my soapbox about SNF's for the day :)

Anyway, I had a great day working there, and afterwards I had to get my "long" run in for the week.  My long run was 6.1 miles today, and I tried out some new shoes I found at a local running store.  I can't believe I'm half-way through training for May!  I have to start breaking in my shoes for the half marathon already...Wow!

After that long run, my body was in need of some serious healthy-food loving, so after I ran to Market District and grabbed a fresh peach-nectarine-whey smoothie (my new favorite, yum!)...then my fiance and I decided to whip up a healthy version of P.F. Chang's chicken lettuce wraps (without the sodium-packed 'special sauce').

Here's what you need:

• 1 lb. (or more) of finely chopped chicken breast (uncooked)
• 1 small onion (we didn't use the whole thing because we don't love onion), minced
• 1/2 container of mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 can of sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped finely
• lite soy sauce, for flavoring
• 1 head of iceberg or bibb lettuce
• Cooking oil spray (we used Spectrum's new coconut oil spray- I was so excited to try this out!)
• Optional* Green scallions (we did not use them)
• Also optional* Mung bean thread noodles AKA cellophane noodles and canola oil for frying

 To do:

1. Cook chicken in a wok or skillet that has been lightly sprayed with cooking oil, until no longer pink and no juice remains
2. Heat about 2" of canola oil -make sure you have enough in your pan! we didn't and I almost burned down the kitchen!- and throw the mung bean thread noodles in carefully until they pop and become fluffy white- you will know when they are done, they look like those "packing peanuts" when done.  Watch them carefully, and when they are done, carefully remove with tongs or slotted metal spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.
3. To the cooked chicken, add chopped/minced mushroom, onion, garlic, and water chestnuts until cooked through (I like to test a piece of water chestnut as they take the longest to cook).  At this point, add your soy sauce to your liking.
4. While waiting for your chicken mixture to finish cooking, cut iceberg lettuce into quarters (if large) or half (if small) to make it easy to "peel" the cups off of the head of lettuce
5. Clean lettuce cups by rinsing under cold water and draining on a paper towel
6. Plate the noodles on a large platter, and add your chicken mixture to the top!
7. Scoop noodle and chicken mixture into lettuce cups and enjoy!  Add additional soy sauce if you need more! We used soy sauce sparingly, so ours was slightly less moist than the traditional version.  Add as much as you'd like.

Thanks for stopping by! :) I hope you like the recipe!