Veggie Lettuce Wraps

It seems that the free time I have before starting my job has turned into a daily challenge for me to try to cook something I haven't made before. I mean, I knew I was not good at not having things to do, but I never thought I would try to turn myself into Betty Crocker. Mind you, I am not saying that I think I'm the greatest chef on earth (or that Betty Crocker is, for that matter - is she even a real person? I think I feel hours of time wasted on wikipedia coming on) but I never used to try something new every single day. It's just not practical in the long term.

After that lengthy introduction I don't really have that much to say about Veggie Lettuce Wraps except that I made them and I liked them. They were pretty easy, tangy, and super messy to eat (but I would put all lettuce wraps in that category). It helped that I made something Asian-inspired a while back and already had things like rice vinegar and sesame oil, but I am sure substitutions could be made. Heck, I bought them at the regular grocery store so I am sure someone else can find them. It's not like I have grocery super powers or something cool like that.

Veggie Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 can vegetable broth
orange juice
1/4 cup rice vinegar (mine was "seasoned" and "roasted garlic" flavor)
2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 small onion - coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced
1 red bell pepper - coarsely chopped
3/4 cup sliced mushrooms - coarsely chopped (how many times can I write that?)
1 small can diced water chestnuts
2 Tbsp sesame oil (I already had this on hand or I probably would have used canola oil or something normal)

Instructions
1. Pour the can of vegetable broth into a 2 cup measuring cup and add orange juice to bring it up to 2 cups of liquid. Combine broth mixture and quinoa in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

2. While the quinoa cooks, combine rice vinegar, 1/4 cup orange juice, and the soy sauce. Set the mixture aside. In a large skillet, saute the onion and garlic in the sesame oil over medium high heat until onion just becomes tender. Add red pepper and mushrooms and continue to cook until mushrooms are soft, then add water chestnuts and the sauce mixture. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. When quinoa has finished cooking, stir it into the vegetable mixture. Serve in lettuce leaves and if you want (which I did) use lime slices on the side. If you really want to follow all my steps you would next take a picture of it on your phone and then, and only then, eat it.