Buffalo Chicken Dip Lettuce Wraps

After a week of eating entrees as-is (too busy to get creative, my evenings go too fast these days), I felt like having something that usually is a decadent party treat. Buffalo chicken anything is usually pretty damn good. I didn't really start out as a buffalo wing fan, but it has grown on me as it's popularity has grown. I think it is a grown-up love of vinegar.

It took me a bit of thinking and shopping around to find a way to fit buffalo chicken dip into the HMR box, but damned if I won't find a way for anything! I needed something to replace the chips or crackers that it is usually scooped up with, but I really hated all of the crackers I have tried to make with HMR foods. So I settled on a lettuce wrap, though celery sticks would probably be good too, and more traditional.

Ingredients (makes 2 portions):
Chicken from 2 Savory Chicken entrees, finely chopped
2 Tbsp Low Fat/Skim Milk Cream Cheese
2 Tbsp Nonfat Sour Cream
1-3 Tbsp Frank's Red Hot sauce (depending on level of heat preferred)
1/2 - 1 Tsp Ranch Dressing Seasoning (depending on ranchiness preferred)
5-8 Large Leaves of Lettuce

Pull the chicken pieces out of the entrees, rinse and chop it up. Rinse the rice in a strainer and save it for another dish (like my next entry, Vegetable Rice Pilaf!). I went pretty fine on the chop, but bigger chunks might make it a little less dip-like and a little more chicken salad sandwich-like.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Put all of the ingredients in a bowl and then mix until the cream cheese is fully incorporated. I suggest adding the hot sauce slowly, because it can be deceptively spicy. In fact, the science says (I believe I read somewhere) that spices are less detectable in cold food than in hot food, so once this is heated up it will be even spicier. The 3 tablespoons of hot sauce I put in was pretty spicy. Also, I think eating it on chips or crackers would help temper the heat, where the lettuce really doesn't.

I split the mixture into 2 separate tiny baking dishes so I could cook the two portions individually. Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

When bubbly, remove from oven and scoop into the lettuce leaves. Don't overfill, a little of the chicken packs big flavor in the leaves. The below was made with just one portion, so it goes a long way.

I really, really enjoyed this, and it managed to taste pretty much like the real, full fat and calorie filled thing! I think you could probably even trick a non-HMRer into thinking this wasn't diet food. I think there may have been a bit too much creamy stuff, so I might cut down the cream cheese and sour cream to 1.5 tbsp each on the next go around.

I just had an awesome idea... buffalo chicken dip stuffed mini bell peppers! How awesome does that sound? I might do that with the other half of this... mmmmmm...