Though the history of the wrap is disputed, one truth remains: The sandwich substitute is often wrongly labeled as a “health food.” While eating a wrap packed with lean protein and veggies definitely provides key nutrients your body needs, the vessel your ingredients are wrapped in may be sabotaging that “healthy” label. One 12-inch whole-wheat tortilla — a standard for a wrap — has 310 calories and more than 50 grams of carbs. One way to take your calorie count into your own hands is to swap that bread — be it a tortilla, rice paper, lavash or pita — for greens. Large leafy greens make a seamless substitute for traditional wraps and are a delicious alternative to bread.
Turkey Lettuce Wraps (pictured above)
These wraps are made with large leaves of iceberg lettuce. Iceberg has a higher water content (great for hydration!) than most leafy greens, but feel free to swap it for a more nutrient-dense leaf, like romaine or kale. Cooking the turkey and vegetables for the filling in one pan keeps your dirty dishes to a minimum.
Skipping the bagel for your traditional smoked salmon sandwich is a triumph in itself, but make the deli fave even healthier by swapping bread altogether for large leaves of romaine. A serving of romaine provides over 100 percent of your daily vitamin K and is source of vitamin A and folates. Using fat-free cream cheese keeps these wraps at less than 150 calories — so go ahead and have two.
Steam gorgeous, dark-green collard leaves in a pan and you get a flexible, nutrient-dense wrap for your burrito. A whole head can be steamed at once, and the leaves can be kept between damp paper towels in your fridge for wrap replacement at a moment’s notice. Collard greens are famous for being a good source of calcium, fiber, and vitamins K, A and C.
Thai Glazed Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Thai flavors influence this lettuce wrap in all the right ways. The recipe uses fish and plum sauces to give the chicken that succulent, melt-in-your-mouth flavor. Iceberg lettuce provides the perfect vessel for this blend of chicken and veggies by adding a delicate crunch. Skip the calories, carbs and sodium you would find in your go-to Thai takeout and try this wrap instead.
Call it Boston or Bibb — by either name, this lettuce is just as velvety soft and totally a comparable swap for a tortilla. With an entire cup of lettuce costing you just seven calories, there is plenty of room to pack these wraps full of other delicious ingredients while keeping them low-cal. The Neelys’ Smoky Corn Salsa is the star of this dish, featuring a colorful blend of corn, tomatoes, red onion and jalapeno.
from Healthy Eats – Food Network Healthy Living Blog http://ift.tt/1M3hT9w
Think the peeps following a vegetarian diet are getting the short end of the stick at the summer get-together? Think again! Here are seven protein-packed recipes that will convince you otherwise.
Chimichurri is a flavorful, tangy herb sauce that originated in Argentina. It’s traditionally served as a condiment for grilled meats, but its punchy flavors are fantastic on just about anything. Since one of the dominant ingredients is red wine vinegar, you can use it as a dressing, making it perfect for a summery salad like this one. Here, the zesty combination of parsley, cilantro, garlic and hot pepper livens up the earthy flavor and texture of wheat berries. The addition of crisp cucumbers, juicy sweet corn kernels and cherry tomatoes creates a refreshing, light meal. If you like, you could choose another large grain in place of the wheat berries, like spelt berries, wild rice or Israeli couscous.
Compared with much-in-demand kale, broccoli, that other verdant vegetable, has long suffered a far less glamorous fate. When diners do spear their forks into the nutrient-rich green, however, typically it’s the springy crown they crave, not the squat stem. Jeanne Cheng, chef and proprietor of Kye’s in Santa Monica, knows her passion for broccoli stalks rather than florets is unusual, but she became hooked as a kid, when her Chinese mother pickled them. “She’d marinate the stems overnight and they would get crispy,” Cheng recalls. “It’s funny, because I stir-fried them for my son when he was very young, and he would cry when it was time to take the plate away. He loves the stalks just as much as I do.”