I also need to be on a heart healthy diet now, and can think of no reason why my family can't eat the same meals as I do. With that in mind I decided to experiment today for lunch. Here is what I came up with, a tuna, brown rice, chick pea, veggie wrap that I will dub...
"The Chiritu"
Ok, I'll be the first to admit the name isn't that great, but I have to call it something right?
This mixes up pretty fast and you can always make a bigger batch and keep it in the fridge for lunches or snacks. I used canned tuna and chick peas, but you can make this even healthier by cooking everything yourself.
If you opt for the canned versions, READ THE LABELS! You want to buy canned or frozen foods that have ingredients as close to the real foods as possible. For instance, the tuna I used only contained tuna, water, vegetable broth and salt.
Ingredients:
- 1- 5 oz can tuna in water
- 1/2 cup cooked chick peas (garbanzos)
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
- 2 tbsp mayonnaise
- spices to taste, I used Turmeric, Cumin, Ginger and Red Pepper Flakes
- Vegetables of choice, I used scallions, carrots and baby spinach
- 6" Tortillas
How To:
- In a food processor, blender or by hand (burn some calories and do it by hand!) mash the chick peas, and mix together with the tuna and brown rice.
- Add spices of choice to taste and the mayonnaise and mix well...you may like it creamier so adjust mayo as desired.
- Warm tortilla or not ( I didn't) add 1/2 cup of tuna mixture to center, top with veggies of choice, I used one grated baby carrot, 2 scallions and about 10 baby spinach leaves and then roll it up.
I had enough to make a couple Chiritus, I didn't want to make too much in case it was really awful!!
You can also play around with this basic recipe quite a bit.
Want cheese? Add it.
Have kids that don't like Tuna? Add more beans, rice and seasonings to hide the taste.
Black or green olives might be nice also.
Hate chick peas? Use another kind.
Switch up the type of bread you use. Have it on crackers or stuff celery. It's a pretty adaptable filling.
I used what I had on hand and really liked the taste and texture of this. I didn't fully mash the peas so there was a little *crunch* to the wrap and it also wasn't a soggy mess to eat and I believe it would carry well in a lunch sack.
I also added some apple wedges with a slight sprinkling of cinnamon on them to go along with this instead of a bag of chips. So much better for me and they went together great!
So there you have my quick and easy wrap experiment of today. If you try it and like it, drop me a comment.
Switch up the type of bread you use. Have it on crackers or stuff celery. It's a pretty adaptable filling.
I used what I had on hand and really liked the taste and texture of this. I didn't fully mash the peas so there was a little *crunch* to the wrap and it also wasn't a soggy mess to eat and I believe it would carry well in a lunch sack.
I also added some apple wedges with a slight sprinkling of cinnamon on them to go along with this instead of a bag of chips. So much better for me and they went together great!
So there you have my quick and easy wrap experiment of today. If you try it and like it, drop me a comment.
