Tempeh Lettuce Wraps, Or Cups For Flavor & Health

YOU’LL LOVE THESE TEMPEH LETTUCE WRAPS (CUPS)
Spice up your life with these tasty tempeh lettuce wraps, or lettuce cups! Our guest chef is JaneUnchained contributor, Tracy Childs, making this special recipe on #LunchBreakLIVE! This is a surprisingly easy and tasty recipe full of healthy goodness in every bite. Did you know that soy has been shown to actually HELP to balance your hormones? Enjoy soy without fear! Tracy also goes over the latest exciting research from Physician’s Committee about soy and hot flashes. She also shows us a deliciously vegan way to celebrate the start of a Healthy, Happy, and Sweet Jewish New Year!
A WEALTH OF HEALTH AND KNOWLEDGE
Tracy is a super passionate healthy food advocate who fully embraced a plant-based lifestyle after first becoming vegetarian as a teen, then vegan as a young adult. She’s dedicated to spreading the message of how plants & lifestyle choices can heal the planet, protect animals and help us avoid needless suffering from lifestyle-related diseases.
She is co-founder, chef, and director of Tracy’s Real Foods a whole-foods, plant-based company that ships healthy Goodies nationwide. She’s a certified Nutritional Consultant and holds a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from eCornell. Tracy has also taught nutrition and cooking for over a decade as a Food for Life Instructor, certified with the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine. As the Founder and Director of Veg-Appeal in San Diego, she offers healthy cooking classes, corporate wellness, individual & cooking lessons, store tours & personal health coaching. Tracy is also the Founder and Director of PlantDiego, a San Diego-based nonprofit “PlantPure Pod” inspired by the movie PlantPure Nation to educate and support people in living a healthy, whole-food, plant-based lifestyle. She loves sharing healthy food tips so much she’s a frequent contributor, filming live cooking demos for #LunchBreakLive on Facebook with the Jane Unchained News Network. In addition, Tracy is a cookbook contributor! She contributed over 100 recipes for the book by —David Kater: Handbook to Higher Health Consciousness and has a new one coming out this fall by Glen Mercer called “Food is Climate.”

HOW TO MAKE THESE TEMPEH LETTUCE WRAPS (CUPS)
These yummy vegan tempeh lettuce wraps can also be made with crumbled or cubed tofu, the choice is yours. These are so delicious and simple to make, with a crunch in every bite from the water chestnuts and peanuts. The sauce is key and makes this meal transform into pure perfection. It is better than any sauce you’ll find in a restaurant serving lettuce wraps. Tracy also threw in a bonus recipe for a sweet treat, a simple pleasure we all deserve. Apples topped with fresh maple almond glaze and granola. So much yum in every bite.




TEMPEH LETTUCE CUPS
Ingredients
- For the sauce:
- 3 tablespoons Hoisin sauce It usually contains honey. For homemade use included recipe
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- For the tempeh filling:
- 1 head butter lettuce leaves kept whole, trimmed and washed
- 1 package tempeh cut into small cubes
- Vegetable broth as needed
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 can water chestnuts finely chopped
- 4 scallions finely chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage finely chopped
- 1/3 cup roasted peanuts roughly chopped
- 1 cup cilantro leaves loosely packed
Instructions
- For the sauce: In a small bowl add the Hoisin sauce, rice vinegar and toasted sesame oil and mix well to incorporate. Set aside.
- For the tempeh filling: Heat ¼ cup vegetable broth in a large saucepan. When hot, add the cubed tempeh, ginger, garlic and sauté for a bit then add carrots, water chestnuts, scallions and cabbage. Stir well and sauté for a few minutes, adding additional broth as needed to keep it from burning or drying out. Put the lid on to steam and soften the veggies.
- Add the sauce and stir to coat.
- Remove from the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes.
- To assemble the lettuce cups, take 1-2 pieces of whole lettuce and place a scoop of the tempeh mixture inside. Garnish with peanuts and cilantro leaves. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Easy Homemade Hoisin Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 3 cloves garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons sriracha
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth
- Heat in a small pot until thickened.



FESTIVE APPLE SLICES WITH MAPLE ALMOND GLAZE
Ingredients
- 1 red apple cut into slices
- 2 tablespoons almond butter
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Water as needed
- Granola we used Tracy’s Real Foods Raw Buckwheat Cinnamon Date Crunch
Instructions
- Arrange the apple slices on a plate.
- In a small bowl, make the Maple Almond Glaze - whisk together the almond butter and maple syrup. It will thicken.
- Whisk in water as needed so it makes a nice drizzle
- Drizzle the glaze over the apples.
- Top each slice with some granola.
- Serve immediately.
THANKS FOR JOINING US FOR LUNCH!
Thanks so much for joining us on this special episode of #LunchBreakLIVE, with an added sweet treat recipe on top of the delicious tempeh lettuce wraps Tracy made for us. Give these dishes a try and let us know how you enjoyed them. Take a photo of your finished meal and tag @JaneUnChainedNEWS on Instagram. Jump on over to the #LunchBreakLIVE page where we have a ton of easy vegan recipes to try. Until next time…keep cookin’!
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Donna Dennison is an UnchainedTV writer, graphic designer, video editor, and IG contributor. Donna is also a creative in the film industry.