Collard Wraps

Has anyone tried collard wraps? Seems to be the new thing! I had my first one from Bare Burger when I was deep into gestational diabetes and had a moratorium on carbs. It's kind of genius. You can use a big, sturdy collard leaf to wrap up anything that you would normally use a tortilla to wrap. You can do burritos, wraps, sandwiches, etc. I tried it for a desk lunch and it was quick and delicious, and of course, healthier than a couple big slices of bread or a big tortilla. Will definitely be doing this more! I stuffed the wrap with some sriracha chicken salad.

You just wash and dry a big collard leaf, put it vein-side-up and shave the vein down to be the same level with the leaf (to make it more pliable), then use the leaf as you would use a tortilla or wrap. 

Slow Cooker Black Bean Soup

So my slow cooker is my new toy, hence the multiple slow cooker posts this week. This soup is super easy, tasty, and healthy. I've frozen it in individual lunch size servings so I can just pop it in the microwave at work. It made five individual servings. (Got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium size red onions, chopped
1 medium size red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium size green bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tsp ground cumin
1 16-oz package dried black beans
1 tbsp chopped chipotle chiles, from a can
7 cups hot water
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Brooklyn Farmacy

Brooklyn Farmacy is so adorable. It's an old-timey diner in a space that used to be a pharmacy. They have delicious milk shakes and the food is excellent. Jamie and I went on Saturday and had a great lunch. I had the pastrami sandwich and it was incredible. It was a pastrami sandwich on thin rye toast with melted cheddar cheese and sour kraut. It was so delicious and the cheese was gooey and it was so flavorful. It came with a little mustard to dip. Yum! If you're in the Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, stop by for lunch. I also can't wait to try one of the sundaes. We were eyeing the people next to us who had some sort of peanut butter sundae that looked fantastic.

Tomato Sandwich

Tom Robbins wrote a story saying how if he was on death row and he could request anything he wanted for his last meal, it would be a tomato sandwich.* (Man after my own heart.) One with white wonder bread, mayonnaise, and the best summer tomatoes. When you get it right, a tomato sandwich is unbelievably good. The tomatoes are the star and the tomato juice mixes with the mayo and oozes into the bread and it's amazing. Luckily, today, I had a whole bunch of ripe, colorful, bursting-with-flavor tomatoes (from the garden, of course), some good white bread, and some quickly whipped up basil mayo. Yum! This might have to be my lunch from now until my tomato plants die.

Quick Basil Mayo:
Ingredients:
A small handful basil leaves, finely chopped
Squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp mayo
pinch of salt

Directions:
Mix it all together, add more salt if necessary.

*Tom Robbins is one of my favorite authors and this was from "Wild Ducks Flying Backward."

Best Lunch - Burritos

Often I have to run out during lunch and end up spending like $10 on a little salad. I hate spending lots of money on lunch just because those are the only options. I do bring leftovers a lot, but not every day. Then I decided I should make some burritos and freeze them, wrapped individually, to take to work for lunch. Also, if I made them myself, I knew I could make them taste just the way I like, and be sure they're actually pretty healthy at the same time. I made 8 the other day and Jamie flipped out and loved them so much he begged me to make more, so last week I went to the store and loaded up on supplies.

Beecher's Mac and Cheese

Yum! I'd read on TastingTable or somewhere that Beecher's, a Seattle-based cheese shop, was opening a new location in New York. They're known for their Flagship cheese. I'd also read about their macaroni and cheese - a guilty pleasure. The store is on 20th and Broadway, just a few blocks from my office, so I ran over to try it out. Amazing! Creamy, thick, cheese sauce with a great kick (I think there were a few red pepper flakes in there) on perfectly cooked penne. It was unbelievable. They also have a glass room where you can see people actually making cheese. Pretty cool. They had all sorts of sandwiches and snacks etc, so I'll have to branch out next time. This macaroni and cheese is amazing - definitely worth a trip to the Flatiron to try it!

Saganaki (Greek Fried Cheese)

Just back from an amazing trip to Greece! I have a house in the Cyclades (my family does) and I went for a week with a few friends. Even though the kitchen is rustic - no electricity, the fridge runs on gas, etc - it is my favorite place to cook. I love to cook up a simple lunch of tzatziki, pita, and saganaki which is always a huge hit after sitting on the beach and swimming in the beautiful, salty, Aegean Sea. Saganaki is essentially the Greek version of mozzarella sticks. Usually at a restaurant, they serve it as one big square, but I prefer cutting it into little squares to make it easier to snack on and share and it's great for groups. After lightly flowering the cheese, you quickly fry it up and cover the cooked cheese with a generous dose of fresh lemon juice. The big, red, ripe tomatoes and the acid of the lemon juice cut through the heaviness of the cheese and make the most delicious lunch! Served with a cold bowl of tzatziki and some toasted pitas (and a nice, icy Mythos) it's the perfect meal for a hot, sunny summer day.

Ingredients:

1 package of Kolios cheese (a Greek semi-hard cows milk cheese)

PLT

When I made the gnudi, it called for crispy pieces of prosciutto. These salty, crunchy slices made me realize they would be an excellent bacon substitute. For lunch today, I went to Faicco's, picked up a few slices of prosciutto, and made myself a PLT: prosciutto, lettuce, and tomato. My favorite part of a BLT is the crispy, salty bacon, and often the bacon doesn't have that crunch you're expecting. The PLT was great. I think it's also probably a lower fat option, but I'm not 100% sure. I also used pita because I didn't have any bread. (This is for 1 sandwich)

Ingredients:
2 slices prosciutto, cut in half horizontally
about 5 grape tomatoes, sliced
a handful of lettuce
mayonnaise
half a pita
salt

Directions:
Take the half pita and separate it into two pieces (as if it were 2 pieces of bread) and toast them.
Put a tsp of olive oil in a pan and add the prociutto. Cook until they are crispy and beginning to brown on both sides. Drain them on a paper towel. Spread as much mayonnaise as you like on the toasted pita slices, then top one slice with lettuce, then with the tomato slices. Here I like to sprinkle a little salt over the tomatoes. Then top it with the prosciutto and a little more lettuce and finally the other pita slice.

It's really easy, and the prosciutto cooks up faster than bacon. Feel free to use regular bread.