Back in the day, Mal and I would make lettuce wraps all of the time for dinner. We had just moved in together and neither of us knew anything about cooking. Lettuce wraps were so easy to make, nutritious, and sort of gourmet– at least to us! š
I’m not sure how we let lettuce wraps go by the wayside, but I’m glad that we added this meal to our weekly lineup once again. Mal and I actually made a night of it– complete with wine and dinner music. š
Our lettuce wrap toppings included:
Fresh guacamole and a mixture of cashews, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds.
Carrots, chopped green bell peppers, and shredded cheddar cheese.
Nasoya Japanese-style noodles.
And, of course, Boston lettuce for the wraps.
I ate about 5 or 6 lettuce wraps with all of the ingredients and low-sodium soy sauce drizzled inside.
The lettuce wraps were so delicious, but I forgot how messy they are to eat!
I love that lettuce wraps are supposed to be eaten with your hands. It makes for a fun meal!
Mal and I originally started with forks, but by the end of the meal, we gave up trying to be neat and used our hands to add ingredients to our lettuce wraps.
It was so much easier than fumbling around with utensils!
Chomp! 
Even though they’re a little messy, lettuce wraps are the perfect meal for a chill night at home with your favorite person.
This post was sponsored by Viva Towels. For fun, fork-free recipes – including videos – and snappy entertaining ideas, get over to the VIVAĀ® Diva CafĆĀ©.
70 Comments
I have to agree with katie.I’ve been reading for almost two years and I feel like a friend is telling me half truths. I liked the dinner story but felt like it was insincere after the sponsorship disclosure. I honestly am happy for you Tina in your new career turn. You are incredibly inspiring and fearless. I encourage you to be your amazing self and shy away from being obviously co-opted like this. If you find a more subtle way of going about earning income on your blog, I believe your readers will appreciate it and will keep your trust that you have earned and deserve.
Fun idea! Will have to try these out soon š
I have to agree with the others who made the sponsorship comments. I’ve never commented before, but I really feel like you need to hear that this is an opinion shared by a number of readers, not just a select few. I honestly think posts like this just bring down the tone of your whole blog.
I think you’re great Tina, but.. this I can’t get on board with at all.
Ha. Sellout… I usually SKIP the ads in magazines/TV…
Yum. I love lettuce wraps. Making them at home is a lot cheaper than PF Changs too – and a heck of a lot tastier!
I’m not loving the sponsor thing so much though. This is the first time I noticed something like that pop up on the blog – is it a new thing?
wow! that is a very interesting meal !!! – simple but looks really delicious!!!!!!!
Those look really interesting!
Looks Yummy, I am going to have to make this one night!
I love lettuce wraps!
On an unrelated note, all your photos look fantastic, Tina. Great camera!
The Thai Lettuce Wraps at Cheesecake Factory have over 1200 calories if you ate the whole thing (no joke). Its mostly from the sauces.
If you make them at home, you can control your calories.
yummm, i love lettuce wraps. i especially like them with some peanut sauce to dip into. great simple weeknight dinner idea!
re: Sponsorship: I understand why you guys might get upset, but blogging is very time-intensive and I don’t make a lot of money from it. I need to earn a living and a little money here and there helps, especially since it’s my job now. My post may have been sponsored by Viva, but I still enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Mal eating delicious lettuce wraps!
mmm i love lettuce wraps too. you can seriously make them into anything you like! š
What a fantastic idea for a quick and easy weeknight meal. I’m going to make these tonight, thanks for the inspiration!
yup, reader of over 2 years now, and i just silently shook my head when i saw the crumpled paper towel in the last shot. i knew instantly – oh damn, it was one of those paper towel posts!! it was like everything i just read about the meal was now “tainted” by knowing you needed to make this post for your sponsor. you can’t escape the fact that the gratuitous paper-towel shot (heh….the “money shot”!) colors the feel of the whole post. you just cannot. i’m sure you DID enjoy the healthy dinner with your husband – really and truly. and that’s what we want to see, without the blatant sponsorship. it’s like when you see the obvious product close-ups in sitcoms and stuff on tv — most of us cringe when they pause on that Coke can just a little too long, or blatantly position things with labels facing out and in clear focus – it’s like “come ON people, that’s was horrible and you know it”. and it’s a similar feeling here. we all sympathize with the need to earn a living. there HAS to be a better, more subtle way. and damn, maybe you could have at least found a more eco-friendly sponsor at that!! how about using cloth napkins! ha, ok, now i’m just getting off-topic:)
I suggest using some sort of peanut sauce next time! Yum!
I am a huge fan of your blog and do truly hope there is a way(more ads on side of blog or whatever!)that you cna earn more income.I totally would like to see a great gal like you make a good living.It just makes me feel a bit queasy having blog POSTS be sponsored by a company.
I hope you don’t take offense by my comments because I really am a fan and respect you….am sincerely hoping ads can be done in another manner to gain income.It’s funny how much it turned me off seeing that add at the end.It really cheapens the authenticity of it.
Thanks for listening to my comments and hope you don’t mind me expressing these thoughts-cheers Tina!
Those are so cute! I love Boston lettuce too, it’s so velvety and good.
I disagree with the negative comments about sponsorship. OK –it would be one thing if you wrote a whole post talking about how amazing Viva paper towels are, but this was no different than just having an ad on the side of your page. I’ve always appreciated your honesty compared to other bloggers — I’ll never forget that post you wrote about the Mohegan Sun Casino-sponsored trip and how you were disappointed by their food.
Blogging is your job, and we don’t expect you to do it for free. š As long as your writing isn’t biased I don’t see the problem.
Agree with the other sponsorship posts! This WAS different than having an ad on the side of your page- I can ignore those! I love that you mention specific products by name on your blog all the time, and that give your honest feedback about them, whether or not they’re provided to you for free. But this is different and totally cheesy! What’s next, a plug for Lysol wipes you can use for after-dinner clean up? These paper towel posts even sound different than what you would normally write (especially the “impromptu girls night” one!), like the company told you what to say! Please- I LOVE your blog and these posts are just distracting š