Collard Green Wrap

I like wraps as an alternative to sandwiches.  You can stuff a bit more filling in them if you have tortilla big enough and they keep everything inside.  Now for the paleo diet, bread/wheat is a no no.  Plus, I just like to reduce the amount of carbs I eat/increase veggie intake at the same time.  So what do you do?  Use collard greens to wrap instead and make a collard green wrap!

What are collard greens?  It looks like a gigantic spinach leaf.  It is a slightly bitter and very durable leafy green.  It has a thick stalk in the middle that we will deal with later.  I have used collard greens to make wraps before, but I had to steam them to make them more pliable.  On the plus side, they didn’t rip when folded, but the downside is that they were a little soggy.  So this time, I tried something different.

How to prep the collard green wrap

To prep the collard green leaves, I cut of the stalk and shaved the center stalk along the leaf until it was as thin as possible.  Be careful not to make holes in the leaves.  Wash all the leaves to get any dirt off of them.  Fill a large bowl or your kitchen sink with warm water.  I didn’t measure this, but I would say I added about 1 tsp of white vinegar for every 3 cups of water.  Put the collard green leave in the water/vinegar solution and let them soak for 10 minutes.  This will help them to be a little more pliable.  When they are ready, take them out, dry them off, and make wraps or store in ziplock bags for up to 5 days.

Overlap 2 collard green leafs about half way with their stalk ends on opposite sides.  Fill with whatever filling you want.  This time around, I used cucumbers, red bell peppers, alfalfa sprouts, chicken, tomatoes and covered it in avocado-lime-cilantro-jalapeno dressing.  Bring the two stalk ends in towards the middle then tuck and roll from one end.  For easy eating, wrap the collard green wrap in parchment paper an cut in half.  The parchment paper will keep the wrap from falling apart while you eat.  Trust me!

Lessons Learned:

• If eating the wrap later, add a napkin between the wrap and parchment paper to soad up any juices leaking from the veggies or sauce.
• Alfalfa sprouts can mold quickly, so eat within a few days of purchase.
• Be gentle with the collard greens when you wrap so they don’t tear.
• Tuck while you roll!