Recipe: Collard Green and Black Eyed Pea Burritos

Happy New Year, Ya'll! I don't usually get super excited about a new year but I have a lot of projects coming up that I think you will be interested in. More to come on that, I promise. First though, let's start with some good luck for 2013.
Enter the black eyed peas and collard greens. In the South (of the US) they are traditionally eaten on the New Year to bring good fortune. Let's get us some then, eh?!

Now I've heard of people using collard greens as wraps but I always thought "Oh god, why!?!" My experience is that the buggers need to be cooked for FOR-EV-ER (again, I grew up in the South) and then they make not really hold up as a wrap. Also, I thought they might be bitter. I was wrong.

This is my absolute favorite new way to wrap up foods. I feel like going out and buying a truckload of collard greens. They are simply steamed for a minute or two and then you roll you favorite filling in. The result is a really healthy but also amazingly delicious container for your fillings. (The wrap is always about what's inside, not outside.) They are tender but sturdy and not a hint of bitterness. They are really quite mild - I was shocked I tell you, shocked. 

Anyhow I needed a great black eyed pea filling so I smashed some up with some brown rice. Added in some spicy jalapeno, sweet red pepper, garlic and green onions. Some hot sauce and a bit of nacho sauce (but that part is totally optional!) sealed the deal. I ate.. a lot. I may make them again tomorrow. 

These wraps have half of your daily value of fiber per serving. They are also loaded with healthy vitamins & minerals like vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, folate and calcium. 

I found a great video on how to prepare your collard greens for wraps. Watch it really quick to see how to get your collard greens perfect for wrapping around the black eyed pea filling (or any other thing you can think of!)

Collard Green and Black Eyed Pea Burritos

Serves 4 (2 rolls per serving)

2 cups drained black eyed peas (Cook em from scratch or if you're in a hurry 2 cans should be good.)

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice (leftovers or make some real fast...) 

1/2 red pepper, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

1 or 2 jalapenos, chopped (depending on how spicy you like it you can remove the seeds/membranes)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Nacho Cheese Sauce (optional! Just makes them that more awesome but they work fine without it)

several dashes of your favorite hot sauce

8 large fresh collard greens, washed

• Mash up your beans in a large microwave safe bowl with the back of a fork. 
• Stir in the remaining ingredients (minus the collard greens.)
• Heat in the microwave until nice and hot (my microwave is OLD so yours will probably work totally differently. I heat it for 1 minute, stir, 1 minute, stir, and so on until hot.) 
• Prepare your collard wraps as show in the video above (Cut out the stem but leave the leaf attached at the top, steam for 1-2 minutes, cut the leaf now at the top and overlap.)

Spoon in about 1/2 cup of filling onto your leaf.

Fold in the sides.

Now tightly roll up the burrito.

Cut in half to serve if you want.













Nutritional information per serving : (calculated without optional sauce) Serving size: 2 rolls
5 WWPointsPlus, 208 calories, 1.8g total fat, 0mg cholesterol, 42.7g carbohydrates, 10.5g fiber, 3.2g sugar, 8g protein