Recipe: Quin-y (Quinoa) Bean-y Lettuce Wraps

So, my CSA bin this week contained a beautiful bunch of very large, amazing romaine lettuce leaves.  Immediately, the first thing I thought of to do with it was make lettuce wraps.  They are simple, tasty, and low carb.  And, you can literally put anything you want to inside of them.  Pack them with your favorite foods, roll them up, enjoy.

As I’m attempting to use up the fresh produce in my fridge before my upcoming trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania for the Hershey Half Marathon, I had plenty of options to choose from.  What I ended up doing was cooking up some quinoa (a pantry staple in my kitchen), tossing it with some beans, green chilies, and roasted red peppers, giving it a dusting with vegan cheese, and viola…lettuce wrap perfection.  My actual recipe follows…

Recipe: Quin-y (Quinoa) Bean-y Lettuce Wraps

Servings: 2
Time: Prep 5 minutes; Cook 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 large romaine lettuce leaves
• 2 Wild Garden Traditional Hummus On-The-Go pack (1.76 ounces each) (…or your favorite hummus)
• 1/2 cup quinoa, dry (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1/4 cup organic black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons roasted red pepper, chopped
• 2 tablespoons green chiles (I used Ortega Fire Roasted Diced Green Chiles)
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 2/3 cup cheddar cheese (I used Cheddar Flavor Rice Shreds)

Directions:

Cook quinoa according to package directions.

While the quinoa is cooking, rinse and dry romaine lettuce leaves.  Spread hummus over each leaf and sprinkle with red onion.

When quinoa is cooked, remove lid from pot and add black beans, roasted red pepper, and the green chilies.  Stir.  Cover and allow to steam to heat through.  Remove from heat.

Spoon quinoa mixture into each leaf.  Top off with cheese.  Fold romaine lettuce around the filling.

Enjoy!

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These were really delicious.  My roommate even asked if we could have them again tonight.  And that is definitely the plan.  Not only are they easy to make and assemble, but they are full of flavor, low carb, high in protein, and just delicious.  As I like a little zing to mine, I added a splash of Cholula Hot Sauce to mine.

Looking for an easy meal to prepare without a lot of hassle and that’s not high in carbs or calories…give these a try.  Fill them with whatever you have on hand…or give my own recipe a try.  I’m totally looking forward to dinner tonight!