Clean-Out-Your-Fridge Lettuce Wraps

So, in the past few weeks I have been a little overzealous in my grocery shopping.  I bought lots of veggies with no specific plans as how to cook them, and now they are slowly withering away in silence in my refrigerator.  There can be only one solution to this waste of money:  A stir-fry.  Now, this is not a typical stir fry, and it is by no means authentic to any specific cuisine.  It's just a fast, easy, and delicious way to get rid of a lot of veggies that may be a little past their prime.

Now, I'm going to bare my soul a little bit here and let you see the inside of my fridge...

See that bottom shelf there?  Nothing but veggies that are slowly dying.  So, we're going to chop them up and put them out of their misery!

For this recipe, you can literally use anything you want.  Whatever you have left over is fine, even frozen veg will work.  I would definitely stay away from canned veggies, but those will last forever, anyway, so you're safe.  You can make this vegetarian, or you can add whatever kind of meat you have on hand.  I had some chicken strips, so I diced up 4 oz of chicken into the teeniest bits I could muster, threw them in a quick Mrs Dash marinade, and popped them in the fridge while I prepped my veg.

These guys are my favorite things in the world:

I put them in almost everything I cook, and they are SO delicious!  They will never go bad in my fridge.  I diced up 3 or 4 of them, one of each color.

Even this FrankenChili didn't escape my knife!  I did spare his little mutated twin, though.  He was a bit shrivelled.

It may not be corn season yet, but I bought this guy on a whim and it's been about a week so I figure he's gotta go in the pot, too.  Now I have corn silk all over my kitchen.  Oh, and Nugget the Cat got hold of one of the husk leaves and it's her new favorite toy ever.  My cats are cheap dates.

Here's all the veggies ready to go.  There are a handful of diced white mushrooms in here, about 4 stray brussels sprouts, an ear of corn, half a regular green bell pepper, and 3 or 4 small sweet peppers.  I would have added some shredded cabbage but I forgot, so it continues to wilt on the bottom shelf.

Now it's time to get cracking.  I turned my skillet to medium-high, sprayed some Pam (feel free to use oil, but I'm on a diet), and added my chicken.

When the chicken had a nice sear going on, but before it was done cooking, I added my veggies.  Now, in a traditional stir-fry, you'll add your veggies in order of how long they take to cook.  But remember, I warned you that this was not traditional.

Now add some soy sauce, about 1-2 tsps (3 good shakes).

Now, if you like things spicy, this is the way to go.  You can find this stuff at any Asian market, and I've seen it at World Market, but I'm not sure about supermarket availability.  But trust me, it's worth an extra trip.  Chili Garlic sauce, and it's so crazy spicy it should be illegal!

This one forkful proved to be a bit much.  I liked it, but I am insane.  If you're not a fan of crying through your meals, maybe cut this down by half, or omit altogether.

Now for my secret weapon:

Yes, it's crushed pineapple.  I put it in all of my stir-frys.  Some people use honey as a sweetener, but I like the pineapple.  It's not too sweet, it's all natural, and it's a great texture for this kind of dish.  I added three forkfuls.  (I'm using a fork instead of a spoon for this stuff because I'm trying to avoid adding too much liquid, which will only steam the veggies and not let them stay crisp.)

Keep stirring for a few minutes, or until all of the liquid (from the soy sauce and the liquid released from some of the veggies) is gone.  It's best to let this cool down a bit, as the heat will somewhat wilt the lettuce, but I was hungry so I went ahead and plated up.

Add a few spoonfuls to a double-thick leaf of iceberg lettuce and roll up like a taco to eat.  But not before adding my very best friend, Mister Sriracha Sauce!

I've had this bottle for a month and it's more than halfway gone.  I would sprinkle this stuff on my cereal, it's so good!  Again, if you can't take the heat, stay far away.

That's it!  Fridge cleaned out, belly full, sinuses clear (ew).  This should have served two, but I was hungry, so  I ate both pieces and there was a little less than half the veggie mix left over.  It'll go great in an omelette!  But the whole entire pan of stuff only clocks in at 400 calories, so eat to your heart's content!