Lettuce Wrap Turkey Tacos

Some friends and I took a cooking lesson a couple of weeks ago at one of my favorite restaurants.  It was in a word - inspiring.  🌶️🧄🧅🥗🍤

The chef made all of this food (and more) in 2 hours!😳 I don't know about you - but I'm sure that it would take me a whole lot longer than 2 hours to make all of this.  What's even more impressive is the fact that chef Jose had no idea what he was going to make until after we walked in the door.  He asked us what we wanted to learn and what we liked to eat and then the magic started to happen.  

Chef invited us to treat his commercial kitchen like our own.  His goal was to teach us the skills to make delicious meals in our own homes.  We were able to look all the delicious ingredients that were available in his refrigerator and then choose which ones we wanted to prepare. 🍓🫐🍊🍋

​Ingredient driven meals are what I make most often in my own home.  When I have tomatoes to use up - I make batches of homemade salsa or marinara.🍅 When I've got leftover chicken - it's tacos or chicken salads.🌮🌯🥗 And on a good year, when my garden is flourishing  - I make eggplant meatballs, eggplant parmesan, grilled eggplant and eggplant sandwiches.🍆    

This Spring, I have cilantro growing in my garden for the very first time.  I've tried planting it over and over and up until now - I've never been successful at keeping it alive.  So now that I have a thriving plant, I want to take advantage and use it because I still have a feeling that it might have a short life span.  So this weeks, ingredient inspired meal - lettuce wrap turkey tacos with fresh cilantro. 😅

Lettuce Wrap Turkey Tacos
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 lb 95% lean ground turkey
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup chicken broth
Romaine lettuce leaves , doubled up, for serving

Heat oil in skillet.  Add onion and cook 2 minutes. 

Add turkey and garlic to pan.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook through.

Add chili powders, cumin, paprika, tomato sauce and chicken broth.   Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low and cook 5 minutes.  

Spoon filling into lettuce wraps.  

Top with your favorite taco toppings.  Cheese, avocado, sour cream, tomatoes, olives, etc. 

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Anyone able to find the cilantro on my tacos?  Yup, after I finished putting my lettuce wrap turkey tacos together - I forgot it. 🤦🏻‍♀️  Here's to making a cilantro based meal again tomorrow night. 🤪

Ciao!

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