Black Bean and Cabbage Wraps

Black Bean and Cabbage Wraps

Directions:

This dish is easily split into two parts, the hot part and the cold part. This is a bit of a deviation from the referenced recipe, as that recipe doesn’t actually suggest cooking the beans. We think it is an improvement, as we are not really crazy about eating cold beans. Feel free to skip cooking the beans if you want. The other diversion from the referenced recipe is that we use black beans instead of white beans.

What I do when preparing this dish is to put everything together for the hot portion, stick it in a frying pan on the stove and leave it there until I’m ready for it. This really doesn’t need to do much more than heat up for a few minutes. Then, once I have set aside the hot ingredients, I start on the cold. For the hot ingredients, dice up the chili(s) and place them in the pan with 1 tbsp of Olive Oil. Then, dice the red onion, placing about a quarter of the onion into the frying pan and the rest into your mixing bowl for the cold ingredients. Empty a can of black beans (don’t bother draining it first) into the pan. Stick a lid on the pan and don’t forget it’s there.

Moving on, you can get started with the cold ingredients. Shred the carrot and add it to the mixing bowl. Halve the avocado, remove the pit, then scoop it out of its skin. Add the avocado to the bowl and mash it up as you stir. Dice the cilantro and add half to the mixing bowl and half to the pan on the stove. Next, shred the cheese and add it to the mixing bowl. For the cabbage, feel free to use more or less depending on how large a head of cabbage you have. I ended up using a bit less than half a head. Chop up the cabbage, add it to the bowl and mix the ingredients together.

Go to the stove and heat up the beans and other ingredients. Once you see that the beans are getting hot enough, mash them down as much as possible and stir. Let the beans cook for a couple of minutes on the stove. Once they are done, simply spoon some of the bean mixture onto a wrap, add some of the cold ingredients onto the wrap, roll it up and enjoy. We each had two smallish wraps and that filled us up.

Discussion:

I recently discovered my love for Avocado. It was one of those things like brussels sprouts I never thought I would like, but I’m so glad I do. Another healthy and tasty food. About half of the fat in this dish is unsaturated (good!) and the other half is saturated from the cheese. Keep in mind that our version of the recipe makes double the amount that is listed in the original, mainly because we normally just have one main dish and no sides. This is a good recipe if you are cooking for 4 or 5, and want leftovers for lunch, or if you want to use large wraps instead of tortilla shells like we did. If you wanted to do a side dish, it may be helpful to look at a food group not fully covered with this meal. You do get your vegetables, dairy, and whole grains in the wraps. Obviously this lacks in the meat department, but you still get a good amount of protein. Maybe a nice fruit salad or a small baked potato would make this a well balanced meal. Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala

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Directions:

Combine the sauce ingredients in a food processor. Begin with the tomatoes, and add the other whole ingredients, blending them as you go. Once all of the sauce ingredients have been mixed together, set aside. Chop the onion, bell pepper and chili peppers, place into a frying pan. Add the cashews to the frying pan, along with the oil. Chop the cilantro and set it aside. Cube the boneless, skinless chicken breast, add it to the frying pan and fry until the chicken is cooked. Once the chicken is cooked, pour in the sauce, and stir it in. Once the sauce is hot, addthe chopped cilantro. Finally, add in the ½ cup of half and half and stir until it is evenly distributed. Serve over ½ cup steamed rice.

Discussion:

This is a great dish if you have a taste for ethnic foods. We don’t do many “traditional” meals. Spice it up! John loves to put his own spin on a recipe and it always turns out delicious. The focus here is great tasting and healthy. You would be surprised how healthy this is after tasting it. This dish is a great source of protein and healthy fats. The Mayo Clinic recommends you get 10 - 35% of your total daily calories from protein, 20 - 35% from fat, and 45 - 65% from carbs. Of course this all depends on your lifestyle, whether you are trying to lose fat or gain muscle. We have been trying to pay close attention to the amounts of these important nutrients we are getting, and as you can see, you don’t need to deprive yourself. We complement this with white rice, but if you want to get your whole grains, brown rice is a better choice. Another great complement is Naan (Indian flatbread). Make it whole wheat and you’ve got yourself a delicious and healthy dinner!