Southwest lightens up with lettuce wraps

Southwest Chicken Lettuce Wrap

I’m always on the look out for low-fat and low-carb recipes that my family will love. This recipe for Southwest Lettuce Wraps is just the ticket! I simply took the filling for the Southwest Spring Rolls that I plan to serve at my Super Bowl party and and wrapped it in lettuce cups. That way, I don’t have to make one recipe for my family and one recipe for me. Nothing takes the motivation out of dieting faster that having to cook two meals!

Southwest flavors are a great way to lighten up your meals. The flavors add a spicy, fresh taste and the lettuce cups add that little crunch everyone craves when dieting.

Just about any Southwest filling will go in a lettuce wrap. If you can fill a taco with it, you can put it in a lettuce cup: pork carnitas, carne asada, chicken fajitas……….

Here is a repeat of the Chicken with Black Bean Salsa recipe that I used for the spring rolls. I just add a little pico de gallo, fresh avocado and crema to the lettuce wrap to add some freshness, but that is optional.

Chicken with Black Bean Salsa

4 chicken breasts
2 tomatoes, diced
1 ear fresh corn or 1 cup frozen kernels
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Grill or roast (a grill pan works well for this and saves a lot of time). Remove skin from chicken and dice.

Toss together tomato, corn, black beans, onion, jalepeno and garlic. Add chicken.