Ericka: A Tasty Recipe, A Morning Workout & A Busy Day (6.29.13)

Yesterday evening, I went to the grocery store to get the ingredients for the dinner I planned, an Asian Crunchy Salad (yum ) http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/02/crunchy-asian-salad/ and a no carbs Portobello Mushroom Cap Pizza (double yum). I usually free style my mushroom pizza, but I saw this great recipe http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/25/delicious-healthy-pizza-recipe/. Both recipes are tasty additions to your clean eating diet.

However, when I went to the store, there were no portobello mushrooms caps. So I decided to take the filling from the mushroom pizza recipe (minus the leeks but adding kale) and put it in a collard green wrap. I got the collard green wrap idea from this recipe http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2010/04/collards-stuffed-with-red-beans-and.html, but I made quite a few adjustments. Take a look at the recipe to get a better idea as to how to fold the leaves. For the salad, I substituted peanuts for almonds, because A. I prefer almonds, and B. I forgot to get peanuts...whoops!


Collard Green Wraps Ingredients:
6 collard green leaves               Chicken                                Part Skim Mozzarella         Baking spray  
4 tomatoes (diced)                   Cayenne Pepper                    Lemon                               EVOO
1 onion (diced)                         Honey                                  1 Kale Leaf
Minced garlic                           Fat Free Feta                        Sliced Mushrooms
Shredded carrots                     5-6 Fresh Basil Leaves           Parsley

Chicken Marinade: mix together
1-2 tbsp of honey
Sriracha to taste
A pinch of cayenne (helps burn fat)
Pepper
A little bit of chopped parsley
You can add salt if you like, I didn't b/c I can't cook with salt right now, but it's still tasty

Dice long ways 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs and place in marinade. I didn't have time to let it sit in the marinade b/c this was a last minute idea, but if you have time, place the marinated chicken in the fridge for at least an hour. Once your chicken has finished marinating cook it in a pan. I used a grilling pan.

Now for the rest:
Boil a large pot of water. While that's boiling dice your onions, tomatoes, and basil.
Once the water is boiled place your clean collard green leaves (I soaked mine in warm water for about 20 minutes) in the pot to blanch them for 3 minutes. While that process is going on, begin sautéing your onions in a pan with EVOO. When the onions start to caramelize add your tomatoes, garlic, & kale & continue to sauté until tomatoes & kale are tender. Top it off with the basil and continue to saute for a few more minutes

You should have removed all of the collard green leaves by now, but if not, remove those from the pot of water to let cool.Spray the leaves w/ a little Pam on both sides

Take the cool leaves and remove the end of the stem on each. Then use a sharp knife to shave down the center stem on the leaves. Now lay the leaf stem side up with the widest part facing you. Then add a tbsp or 2 of the filling, a little bit of chicken, 1-2 portobello mushrooms a little bit of shredded carrots, a pinch of mozzarella cheese & a sprinkling of feta. Do not over stuff. Now roll tightly, after the 1st roll fold the leaves in to seal and then continue to roll. Voila that's it...kind of.

For dinner last night I ate 1 wrap just like that with my salad and it was so good. 

Delicious as is without baking

However I made 9 wraps that I knew I couldn't finish by myself so I decided to bake the rest to make them more appealing to my husband.

Preheat oven to 350. Place the rolls in a pan that has been lightly greased w/ baking spray. Then bake for 40 minutes.

Before Baking

Post Baking

 I'm going to eat these bad boys for dinner w/ the Asian crunchy salad.

You can stuff your wraps with whatever you want. Get creative!


Now on to today's workout. This morning I woke up at 6 am, and did the following workouts 1. Move your body twice ( the 2nd time was w/ my 12 yo brother Joe) 2. Keaira Lashae's Hip Hop Booty Shaking Workout, 3 & 4. Pop Pilates w/ Cassy- Butt on Fire Routine & Total Body Workout for Beginners. The total workout time was about 50 minutes. I had to finish my Pilates workout with Deuce either laying on my back during cobra or crawling under me during downward dog. Luckily, Deuce was only awake & running around for the last 10 minutes of my workout. After my workout I once again had one of my delicious kitchen sink smoothies.

The Pop Pilates routines are a beast! Cassy provides you with great directions, and pushes you to push yourself to the limit. I usually get delayed muscle soreness 1-2 days after my workout, but yesterday after doing Cassy's leg, arms and abs workout I was sore that same evening. In fact, I was even sorer this morning, and I LOVE IT! I'm one of those weirdos who loves DMS. There's nothing better than a deep tissue massage when your body is sore from a good workout.

Now I'm off to chase my kid around at the Children's Museum, then I'm taking him bowling with our family, and then I am going to take him to a toddler's birthday party at one of those places where the kids run through obstacle courses & jump around. I am tired just from writing that!

Have a good one!
E