You know those beginning flare days with chronic illness where you’re starting to run out of energy, begin experiencing a little pain, but still have that little voice speaking to you, “Eat something healthy today!”
Well, I experience these days like many of you and it is in these moments when I turn to some of my easiest and quickest culinary options. My favorite (besides juices and smoothies, which are super simple!), are these collard or lettuce wraps.
My advice when making these wraps is the following:
- Look for collard greens, or Bibb/Boston lettuce with largest leaves.
- Get creative! Considering how many vegetable, grain, seed and bean options are available to us, you literally have 1,000s of recipe possibilities at your fingertips.
If you do eat grain, consider long-grain brown rice, quinoa, couscous, buckwheat and more. With vegetables, mix it up a little! You can add tomatoes, onion, broccoli, cucumber, carrots and so much more. Beans are a great addition that can make the protein count soar! I used black beans in this particular recipe, but white beans, pinto, kidney, chickpeas and black-eyed peas are also ideal. Also, try adding hummus, falafels, avocado, or even scrambled eggs if you are in the mood for more of a breakfast type wrap.
Adding extras such as your favorite spice combination and squeezing a little lemon, lime or orange on top with a dressing is the perfect way to finish off your creation. Also, if you have never rolled collard greens before, there are little tricks here and there to make a foolproof and beautiful roll. Check out this YouTube video from Forks & Beans here on collard wrapping.
One other tip I’d like to share with you is make sure your ingredients are chopped or diced small – this will help you roll the collard or lettuce wrap properly. As you see in my pictures, my radishes were not chopped yet, but to get a tight wrap, I had to make them smaller.
Once I knew what ingredients were going into this particular wrap, I was able to chop everything down, wash and dry my collard leaves and have everything completed within 15 – 20 minutes. The long grain brown rice I used was leftover from the day before and was a great addition to the wrap, and helped me not waste any food in my fridge.
Have fun with these! Children seem to love to get in on the action too when making these colorful and fun wraps.
Enjoy <3
Easy Peasy Red Cabbage and Avocado Collard Lettuce Wraps
November 14, 2016
On tough days with chronic illness, when you still want to eat healthy, collard green or lettuce wraps are an ideal choice. They are simple and easy to make, filling, and very healthy! Be sure to experiment with vegetable, seed and grain choices to make a variety of options. Enjoy!
- Yields: 4 - 6 wraps
Directions
Filling the wrap
1Wash and dry your collard or lettuce leaves. Watch the embedded video in my blog post about how to properly cut the spine of collard greens in order to get a perfectly rolled wrap.
2Once dry, add strands of cabbage first, then a tablespoon of your grain.
3Top with a heaping spoonful of beans, seeds, and your vegetables of choice.
4Add a small amount of dressing and squeeze lime, lemon or orange on top of your ingredients before rolling. Slice rolls in half and enjoy!
5Depending on your number of leaves and how much you fill them, you should be able to make 4 to 6 wraps with the above ingredients.
Ingredients
Wrap
or a head of Bibb or Boston lettuce with large leaves
Filling
Black beans, either 1 can or the equivalent in soaked beans
Choice of grain, I used leftover long grain brown rice 1 cup
Handful of seeds, I used roasted pumpkin seeds
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