Patricia Chuey

Food and Nutrition Expert | Recipe Developer

Well-Fueled Tournament Travel: Not for Wimps

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Medal food
Packable Tournament Food Ideas

After getting many ‘thumbs up’ when I post pictures of our hotel-rooms-turned-kitchens for sports tournaments (visualize cooler, mini fridge, microwave and a counter made from the ironing board), I figured a list of travel snack ideas might be a helpful thing to share too. Although I’m speaking from the context of hockey and lacrosse tournaments for kids, many of these ideas also work well for business travel or summer road trips to spare relying on expensive and/or low quality food from gas stations, convenience stores or airplanes.  When traveling by car and you have room for a cooler, even a small one, the sky’s the limit for the healthy snacks you can bring. Inquire ahead of time about the availability of a fridge in your hotel room. No Fridge Plan B: bring plastic bags and keep your cooler cold with ice from the hotel.

  • All vegetables: pre-wash, cut up and transport in zip bags or containers – carrots, snap peas, cauliflower, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, pepper strips, cucumber slices, radishes…Small containers of dip are nice too. If you don’t have time to make hummus or something homemade, mixing plain Greek yogurt with fresh herbs or even a little salad dressing like Ranch or cucumber works well. Also in the vegetable snack category are made-in-advance edamame, baked potato wedges or salad rolls – all taste just fine served cold.
  • All fruit: pre-wash apples, grapes, strawberries…even consider pre-peeling and packing orange segments. Bananas and blueberries are great sport foods! Also in the fruit category: small containers of pineapple chunks or applesauce and dried fruit. Individual 100% real juice in normal-sized, non-humongous portions is a great way for active kids to stay hydrated and get some nutrients.
  • Hard boiled eggs – assuming you have a cooler, boil the eggs at home, peel off the shells and transport in a sealed container (handy for quick hotel room breakfasts too) 6g protein, 14 essential nutrients and only 70 calories per egg!
  • Nuts and seeds like almonds, peanuts, trail mix, mixed nuts, pumpkin seeds or hemp hearts, for example. (Always respect any allergy issues on the team)
  • Smoothies. Pack a small, portable blender and a few cups. In this case, I’m not talking about a heavy duty VitaMix. Department stores (or online) sell single serving, lightweight blenders for around $20. Once in the hotel room, you can blend together fruit and 100% juice or milk for various flavours of smoothies. Our favourite for easy transport is banana, nut butter and milk (or chocolate milk). We feel better when our hotel room neighbours are teammates so we aren’t waking up random people with our blending.
  • Grainy crackers, mini bagels or toast with nut butter or cheese
  • Quality cereal and milk (look for cereals with <8 g sugar and >4 g fibre). Instant oatmeal packets plus milk – cut sugar by mixing with plain oats – make a great snack or quick breakfast option too once in the hotel.
  • Pita bread with hummus or tzatziki dip
  • Homemade sandwiches, wraps or quesadilla triangles. Alternatively, bring a package of tortillas and fixings to assemble in the room.
  • Milk or chocolate milk, cheese cubes, cottage cheese and/or yogurt
  • Chunks of cooked chicken, turkey or ham
  • Pre-made mini pancakes, French toast fingers or rolled up crepes sprinkled with a little cinnamon
  • Homemade or decent quality muffins, cookies, granola bars and kid-friendly  (not from an adult body-building gym) energy bars
  • Microwave popcorn (if a microwave will be available). If the microwave or a full stove and oven are available, pack along potatoes to bake (great sports food), eggs to scramble and much more!
  • Water bottles

Because it’s always the 80-20 approach around here, you’ll  find a few small treats in our luggage too…most likely a bag of chips, pretzels or even a little chocolate or candy. It’s only offered over and above, rarely in place of, the items listed above. Keep it real, normal and free of adult diet hang ups folks!

The keenest sports parents I’ve met, and who have inspired me, are SO incredibly skilled at tournament food packing. They bring along a bin with lightweight plates, cups, bowls, cutlery, napkins and even plastic wrap or bags for leftovers, dish soap and tea towels. They also bring a small toaster and their slow cooker for heating frozen homemade meals like spaghetti, chili, stir-fries, pulled pork and more! (Recipe for regular and vegan pulled pork) If you run out of time to cook in advance, bringing cans of baked beans, chili, tuna, salmon or quality soup can help out too. Don’t forget the can opener. Tournaments can be costly endeavours for sure!

Google ahead of time to find out what’s near your hotel if you need to pick up anything extra from the grocery store. If you’ll be dining out the whole time, consider a little advanced research to know what the nearby options are. When the game is over and the kids are hungry (possibly “hangry” depending on fatigue and game outcome), getting food into them soon makes a big difference in mood, muscle fuel and recovery especially if heading back into competitive action in just a couple hours. Investigate the cost of having a pasta, burger or taco buffet set up for a team meal in the hotel versus a meal out at a restaurant. In some cases, this can offer a time and cost-saving benefit.

It’s NEVER just about the food. Training, adequate rest, genetics, natural talent, passion, fun, great coaching and much more factor in along with the love and support of parents.

Keeping growing kids well fueled for the high energy demands of tournaments is not for wimps! I applaud the many families out there who put in a tremendous effort many times throughout the season. It’s as much work as packing for a weekend of camping.

Keep up the awesome work!

 

If you live here, you help: 16 Ways to Increase your I.K. (Intelligence in the Kitchen)

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Meal StrategiesNourishing a family is a job that seems endless. It takes a permanent amount of love, concern, effort, shopping and cleaning to keep everyone well fed. There’s perhaps no better investment though in terms of the outputs that come from quality home-cooked meals: strong, healthy, alert, energized people functioning well in society! And, kids who grow up knowing what it takes to keep a kitchen stocked to whip up nourishing meals build a bank of ideas they’ll carry into the future. Research backs the notion that gathering around the table to share a meal, even if it only works to do so a few nights a week, is so worthwhile – an important self-esteem enhancer for kids.

Do you have special memories of being in the kitchen with your Mom, Dad or Grandma? Are you creating an environment in which your own kids can have today’s version of those memories – and a high I.K?(Intelligence in the Kitchen – my official new term for practical daily meal making skills, coined today!) As a kid and with my own family the unspoken rule has always been that if you live here, you help. You’re not paid to shop, help cook, set the table or clean up afterwards. It’s a requirement – a vital life skill and a privilege to live in a home that allows these opportunities. (Although, when you’re 10, there’s not yet much appreciation for the food skills being built. Money would be a far bigger motivator in the moment.) Still, I encourage families to hold firm knowing you’re doing the right thing “forcing” your kids to help and building their IK. Fifty-six percent of millennials wish they had more kitchen skills given that they value quality food and increasingly want to understand where their food comes from. Interestingly, they don’t necessarily even want recipes or cookbooks. They want an inspirational photo from which they can then make their own creation. For them, kitchen intelligence (IK) will go far.

Here are a few ways that we make meal management easier in our home and boost our I.K. These aren’t difficult and I suspect many of you keeners are already doing similar.

  1. Everyone’s always allowed to bake or cook when they get the urge. They’re in charge of the cleanup.
  2. We don’t use any formal meal planning tool but do keep a grocery list on the go at all times. When someone uses the last of any ingredient (and remembers), it gets added to the list. I have zero ability to recall everything we need once I’m at the store. Years ago, before there were even Apps, I met a dietitian who made and used a monthly meal plan that was posted in her kitchen. I was impressed! Other than her, I haven’t come across many people who consistently make this happen, App or not. We go more on what we feel like eating on any given evening. To keep it homemade, that’s only possible for having a reasonable food supply on hand. (When I travel for work, I grab those ‘souvenir’ little note pads from the hotel room for grocery lists!)
  3. Generally, if I make dinner my husband and son clean up and vice-versa.
  4. We rely a lot on plan-overs. When preparing meals from scratch we purposely make extras to serve as lunch or dinner the next day or to freeze for a meal when we don’t feel like cooking.
  5. We also rely a lot on our freezer and microwave. If we don’t think we’ll get to it in time, we freeze leftover food. I can’t bear the pain of throwing away a meal that took a good chunk of time to make then was forgotten in the back of the fridge. When too tired to cook, finding a homemade frozen meal, quickly thawing and accompanying with a fresh salad is a gift. (Right or wrong, I choose not to fear microwaves. Thus far the time-saving benefits outweigh any risk. We don’t stand right in front of it while it’s on.)
  6. Everyone makes their own lunch (with help when under age 8). School lunches are ALWAYS made the night before either while dinner is being prepped or while cleanup is underway. Doing this in the morning would be tough to me.
  7. Dad looks after breakfast pretty much every day. It’s almost always a hot meal like an egg-vegetable-potato scramble of sorts, oatmeal or French toast. I often cut up fruit or make a fruit salad the night before so it’s cold and ready in the fridge. On hockey practice mornings (up at 4:40 am, gulp), something like a scrambled egg-veggie wrap-to-go is prepped before bed. The coffee maker is pre-programed too!
  8. We don’t love leftovers, but we almost always use them up. The best leftover ingredient in the world is rice. I swear they should sell leftover rice! It’s an ideal quick base for chicken fried rice, a Greek-style salad with lentils, or rice pudding for dessert.
  9. Every Tuesday is pasta night due to sports practice. It’s the only night that has any kind of advanced plan.  I make a tomato-based sauce that includes lentils and meat. It takes on a new form each week depending on the chopped fresh vegetables added to the sauce like peppers, broccoli and mushrooms or pureed leftover cooked veggies like green beans, carrots or zucchini. The next day’s school lunch is a thermos of…leftover pasta! I try to make a HUGE batch of sauce and freeze to spare making a brand new batch every week. We also grab these to go when heading to sports tournaments if the hotel room will have a fridge and microwave.
  10. If the kitchen sink is available, making a vegetable-based dinner is a whole different, easier, enjoyable experience than if it’s cluttered. It seriously makes the difference between listening to great music, sipping a nice glass of wine and calmly cooking versus complete and utter chaos. ?
  11. We have a great blender (VitaMix). Smoothies are a staple after-school snack.  Various combinations of frozen fruit with yogurt, tofu, nut butter, milk or juice. We also have a single serving small blender that our 10 yr old and his pals use to make their own smoothies. The mini blender comes on the road to tournaments too.
  12. Friday night is often a ‘casual’ meal. Something like homemade pizzas or tacos…and in a large enough amount to spare cooking a whole new lunch on Saturday. Although no exact plan, on Sunday’s we have our ‘fanciest’ family meal and I fight so hard against sports and kids activities that keep trying to hijack this precious time slot.
  13. We freeze leftover cooked veggies from meals and small bits of meat or fish. When the assortment of small bags is cluttering up the freezer, we make a hearty meal soup. (About once a month – especially so in winter.)
  14. When I bake muffins or cookies and all of that ‘stuff’ is out on the counter, I double the recipe to have extra to individually wrap and freeze for quick adding to school lunches.
  15. I’m part of that small minority who loves grocery shopping and am fortunate to be able to get to the store mainly in less busy times. I’m in a grocery store at least 3 times/week for fresh produce. I shop at many stores but do have a few favourite places where I know the store layout well. If you hate shopping, having a list is a key to help get everything you need in 1 trip and spare return visits until next week. Everyone helps carry groceries into the house from the car. Remember, it’s a privilege to unpack all of this great food! My husband also shops. Our son is enlisted regularly so he knows how to check best before dates, choose a juicy lemon and be able to spot a true deal.
  16. Most neurotic of all (perhaps extra high I.K.?) ever since I’ve lived on my own, when putting the groceries away, I take time to wash, peel and cut up at least one container full of vegetables to have in the fridge for quick snacking, adding to packed lunches or salads. “Don’t you lose nutrients by doing this ahead of time?” You lose more if you throw the limp veggies out at the end of the week still in the plastic bag you brought them home in!

I share a few more IK-boosting ideas in first 40 pages of the Dietitians of Canada cookbook Simply Great Food. You can often find a great deal on a ‘gently used’ copy. (Because once you boost your IK, you can give the book to a friend who’s working on boosting theirs!)

A Country Mouse in City Mouse Clothing

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Country Mouse City Mouse

In October 2016, Farm and Food Care Saskatchewan’s campaign #OurFoodHasAStory inspired me to share this post again. I am only who I am (able to share user-friendly evidence-based healthy eating guidance with consumers) because of Saskatchewan and a work ethic learned from my prairie farmer parents and grandparents.

I’m super fortunate to share with and learn from many nutrition students, interns and young dietitians who are heading down an entrepreneurial path in food and nutrition. Their energy and ideas are always inspiring! They often ask me why I chose this career in food and nutrition and how I knew it would be right for me. It truly has always felt more like play than work (at least 80% of the time!) Like for the happiest people I know, the best and healthiest career choice is the one that feels like an extension of your personality. An authentic representation of who you are and what you stand for. That said, it doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind along the way or still watch the clouds float by and dream about what else you might become when you grow up.

On the prompting of a keen intern to jot this down, here are a few random musings on how I knew a food-related career was the right direction for me:

  • My grandparents were Saskatchewan farmers after immigrating from the Ukraine and Norway. Although my 3 sisters and I grew up in the city in Saskatchewan, we always had a huge vegetable garden. We spent many holidays visiting friends and family on the farm. If there ever was a berry patch near any place we vacationed, guess what we were doing?
  • Working from our backyard playhouse kitchen, the first ‘recipe’ I ever created was Carrot Coin Raspberry Snacks. Fresh-picked garden carrots, washed, sliced and made into mini ‘sandwiches’ with freshly squished garden raspberries as the filling. I was about 6 years old. To this day, this is what summer tastes like to me!
  • When we moved to a new home in an area of the city that was just starting to be developed, while other people had big front lawns, we had a giant potato patch! What seemed a bit odd at the time, Dad was into edible landscaping long before it was trendy. When I met my husband and he shared that HIS Dad grew a potato lawn too we knew it would be true love!
  • Mom was like Martha Stewart of the prairies. Her roots were in the 4H Club. Incredibly resourceful and creative with all things food, crafts and home. She (and Dad, who also cooked) always allowed us to be in the kitchen helping make family meals. I recall cooking my first ‘meat and potatoes’ complete dinner for our family when I was 10, in grade 4. I think it was tied into scoring the coveted cooking badge in Girl Guides! (Still so resourceful, Mom will call and share that she made my mango and blueberry salad, although she had to use other ingredients because she didn’t have any mangoes or blueberries on hand!?!)
  • The first cookbook project I was ever part of was in grade 6. It was a Mother’s Day gift. I thought it was THE BEST project ever! Years later, Mom gave me that little cookbook and I still use recipes from it today. A large shelf in our kitchen holds my cookbook collection.
  • I need to be creative to feel alive. Food offers tremendous opportunity for creativity – whether preparing it, sharing it, photographing it, inventing a new food product, advising, writing or speaking about it. My passion is making something from nothing. Bring on the 3-ingredient recipe challenges, creative uses for leftovers or food-based business ventures!
  • A Christmas gift I received when I was 14 was a cake decorating set. I got totally into decorating cakes for family occasions. I thought those Wilton catalogs were sooo beautiful! I still use that same set today.
  • In high school I became interested in being a teacher, like my Dad, but was also thinking of becoming a doctor. When I found out about the (then) College of Home Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, the food and nutrition program seemed like the perfect blend of both worlds. My calling was to use food to help encourage healthy people to stay that way. If I hadn’t chosen this path, I feel being a Home Ec teacher would have also been super rewarding.
  • In University, I despised studying diabetes. At the time it seemed to be about mathematical calculations. I have long since realized that it is way more about food than math and that a diabetes-friendly way of eating can still be incredibly delicious. The more practical and less ‘mathy’ the guidance remains, the more success people have in living well with diabetes. Having counseled hundreds of folks, I’ve seen that the same can be said for the most part with nutrition for sport performance. I had success in that arena for keeping ‘nutrition’ messages food-based for my clients. Although I feel so sad for those who struggle, I also always knew the complex area of eating disorders was one I would never be able to specialize in. My favourite class of all was in the Foods Lab. Community nutrition classes, thanks to Dr. Shawna Berenbaum, were all awesome too.
  • I taught cooking classes for teens as a summer job. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would say most of the teens who attended did as well! If you aren’t a great cook, cooking classes are a fantastic way to learn more and to hone your skills.  I never used to think about going to culinary school. Cooking seemed so automatic to me…from an everyday home-chef perspective. I have tremendous respect for the amazing culinary experts out there who inspire me. I chose sewing over cooking in highschool Home Economics. Cooking seemed like something I already knew about. Today, I think more about culinary school than ever before and am ALWAYS wowed when able to experience a 5-star meal.
  • ‘Health food’ tradeshows and old-school ‘natural’ food stores always turned me off. I disliked the scent and vibe in the air and avoided those places. It worried me when people knew I was a nutrition student and thought my future meant working in one of those terrible stores. To me, health didn’t mean having to have a home that smelled like a weird mix of stale dried herbs and minerals. In these places, it seemed like people spent more money on so-called natural ‘remedies’ than on food. A natural grocery store full of wholesome, delicious food, is a different story. I enjoyed 9 years working on recipes, food ideas and other well-being initiatives for a major grocery retailer and remain involved in the industry today.
  • In grad school in the College of Physical Education, I became an instructor and taught fitness classes to make a little extra money while trying to keep fit. Although, throughout my life fitness has been the result of incorporating activity into daily life as much as possible rather than a prescriptive approach at the gym. Camping, gardening, walking or biking to school, lake swimming, games like kick the can, skipping and hide-and-seek, dancing like maniacs to every single song at any wedding or event, cross-country skiing on the prairies and teaching ourselves to skate on that slightly bumpy yet amazing backyard rink that Dad made over the garden every winter.
  • My food memories are the strongest. For example, the first time I picked and ate a ripe pear right off the tree (a trip to California), begging to go to McDonald’s after church as a kid yet getting to go only very occasionally, my garage sale purchase of an Easy-Bake oven that I used to make tiny cakes for my friends…cooking with a lightbulb?!?
  • The public has been incredibly kind, complimentary and supportive of my work. That said, there’s a theme with the occasional outspoken ‘hater’. It has been that I’m not vegan enough or don’t promote enough supplements. This has helped me solidify my brand in staying right where I am in supporting others on a deliciously do-able, healthy path that fits for THEM. (I’m not vegan, but our family meals are very vegetarian-inspired.)
  • We choose to live where we can have a large garden. We grow over a dozen different types of fruit and many vegetables. We have 3 freezers to help store all of the produce for use throughout the winter. We home-can food and also use a dehydrator for drying fruits and vegetables when the freezer is full. We have a small blueberry orchard at the family farm.
  • I love seeing kids at play cooking in the kitchen. They’re into it and it’s much less messy than people think. The benefits FAR outweigh any minor mess to tidy up. Besides, they help clean up if you let them. As I write this I’m trying to dream up a memorable birthday party for a group of 11 year old boys centered on them cooking the meal.
  • My favourite type of trip whether for vacation or work travel is anywhere that involves a farm, factory or seeing where food is made. I’ve been fortunate to go on many. I know I’ll get to the Reggiano Parmesan ‘factory’ in Italy and the olive groves of Greece one day.
  • We are very careful not to waste food. I get excited about sharing practical food ideas and have had the opportunity to communicate frequently on this subject.
  • When I dine with others, I’ve never studied what’s on their plate. I’m all about the togetherness and enjoying a ‘nourishing’ experience. Every exceptional dietitian I know is the same way. None of us want to micromanage what you eat. Instead, it’s all about enjoying delicious food and an overall healthy, active life.
  • I’ve never been on a diet and dislike self-deprecating discussions about weight and calories. I surround myself with friends and colleagues who avoid those topics and put the energy towards more rewarding pursuits.

I feel strongly that food beliefs and choices are very personal and a function of each person’s unique circumstances, finances, values, tastes, upbringing and more. I don’t think it is healthy to judge, upstage or try to force food values on others. Rather, support them if and when they’re looking for a hand from someone knowledgeable in making improvements. The less trendy, gimmicky or complicated the act of nourishing your family remains, the greater success. The more scientifically-sound the advice, the better!

Ten Ways To Still Eat Enough Veggies When Cauliflower Is $7 A Head

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Cabbage Leaf Wraps 007

Vegetable prices ARE crazy high right now.

Aiming to eat at least 5 daily servings of vegetables and fruit all year long helps ensure we get the disease-fighting nutrients they offer. In cold and flu season (on now), this remains super important. Ideally, we eat more like 8 servings a day. So how do we cope when fresh cauliflower (and other vegetables) are so incredibly expensive?

I felt compelled to share a few tricks from our home.  If you’re an adventurous cook and the kind of person who gets excited by creative, waste-reducing food ideas, you’ll love these. Note that 1 serving of vegetables equals 1 cup of fresh leafy greens or just half a cup of cooked vegetables…so it can be easier than it sounds to get in your 5-8 servings.

  1. Embrace cabbage. Even it is a bit pricier than normal right now, but you’ll get far more mileage from a head of cabbage than cauliflower yet it contains similar powerful nutrients. Using cabbage leaves, give these wraps a try.  Just one wrap provides 2 servings of vegetables. (I used almonds in the recipe pictured here, but go with seeds for a less expensive option.)
  2. Make a large coleslaw using grated green or red cabbage, carrots, grated beets, green onion, sesame seeds or any ingredients you like. Use an oil-vinegar or Asian-style sesame dressing to keep it lighter than a traditional mayo dressing. If you like the creamy mayo-types, use some mayo mixed with plain yogurt and lemon juice to make it go further and lighten it up while still being tangy and delicious. Coleslaw stays fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days and is a great side to just about anything. It can also be the base of a meal when topped with a few chickpeas (canned chickpeas are super affordable) for added protein, chunks of canned salmon or protein of your choice.
  3. Saute cabbage as a base and add in all of those remaining veggies in the drawer in the fridge that you don’t quite have enough of for a dish full. Two diced carrots, those 8 remaining green beans, half a zucchini. This makes a colourful, attractive, tasty vegetable dish.
  4. Make a lazy cabbage roll casserole. Spare the work of rolling and instead make this lasagna-type dish using layers of cooked cabbage with rice, ground meat and canned diced tomatoes. A hearty serving makes a complete, balanced meal in itself.
  5. Eat Asian greens. For example, a large bag of bok choy is typically affordable and is a great alternative to broccoli in a stirfry while we wait for local, more affordable options to return as we get closer to spring and summer.
  6. Look for deals in the frozen aisle. If you have the freezer space, watch for sales on frozen Brussels sprouts, green peas or mixed vegetables. These are great served on their own and also work nicely in the idea in point #3 above.
  7. Although ‘clean eating’ is on our minds, this doesn’t mean every single item in the middle aisles of the grocery store is bad. Canned tomatoes are often on sale and make a great base for an Italian-esque saute of tomatoes, green beans and zucchini. Canned corn kernels combined with black beans, a vinaigrette and southwest seasonings makes a quick salad. Look for canned goods with a short ingredient list and still keep an eye on sodium levels here. Rinsed and drained canned legumes in general (aka pulses) are awesome to combine with vegetables to stretch them further while adding nutrients, fibre and protein!
  8. Get creative with carrots. Buy them in large quantities to reduce the unit cost. In addition to raw carrot sticks, grate them in coleslaws, leafy green salads, cut into coins and combine with frozen peas, use in curries, soups and stews.
  9. Save every single remnant of vegetables for soup. Celery is crazy expensive right now too. Before it goes limp, dice it and freeze. Do the same with leftover cooked veggies from meals. When you have a few bags of these frozen leftover veggies available, make a hearty vegetable soup.
  10. Potatoes and onions are vegetables too 🙂  and the affordable possibilities are endless. Soups, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, curries, potato salad, homemade french fries…

If you live where you have available garden space, start thinking about what you might be able to grow this spring and summer to later stock in your freezer for the winter. If fruit is on sale, for example oranges and apples, stock up. Fruit provides valuable nutrients to keep our immune system strong, especially if our vegetable intake temporarily drops a little. Avoid becoming a believer in the dangerous myth that healthy eating is WAY more expensive than a junk-based diet. The items in the list below remain affordable staples for a healthy diet and I’m up for a good argument on how affordable healthy eating can be – anytime!

12 Must-have Low-cost Healthy Staples: lentils, carrots, onions, apples, eggs, rice, yogurt, oatmeal, potatoes, canned beans, canned tuna, cabbage

Savoy Cabbage Leaf Wraps

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Cabbage Leaf Wraps 006

Consistently making half your plate vegetables  – along with quality protein and whole grains on the same plate – is the best way to consume more disease-fighting fibre, antioxidant nutrients and even pre-biotics that promote optimal gut bacteria. It’s critical if weight loss, better blood sugar or cholesterol control are goals too. It’s easy to get in a rut of rotating the same three to five vegetables all winter – potatoes, carrots, celery, cucumber maybe? Those are worthwhile for sure, but don’t forget to include an assortment of fresh green leafies. Often more top of mind come the spring, bright green leaves help keep a supply of energizing nutrients entering the cells in cold and flu season. Frequently served with vegetables or fruit rich in vitamin C like oranges, lemon juice, berries or peppers, dark leafy greens are just far too valuable to limit to salad season. Spinach, kale, chard, collards, romaine, green leaf lettuce, cabbage, Bok choy, Gai Lan and other Asian greens, they’re all very worthy. Rotate your choices as various options become more affordable from week to week. Switch up a typical tortilla with these leaves in your next wrap for added appetizing colour and crunch.

Savoy Cabbage Leaf Wraps Makes 4 servings

  • 8 large savoy cabbage leaves
  • 1 cup hummus*
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa or brown-wild rice mix
  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 1 cup grated beets
  • ½ cup finely chopped toasted almonds or peanuts

*a classic garlicky lemon hummus works great here

  1. Wash cabbage leaves. To a large pan or baking dish, add about an inch of boiling water. Using tongs, place leaves in the water and allow to sit for about 10 minutes to soften, yet not cook, while assembling the other ingredients. Dry leaves well. Trim excess thickness off of stem end.
  2. Using 2 leaves per wrap to make a bigger base, lay leaves on counter, overlapping each other, stem ends facing each other inwards to the middle.
  3. Spread ¼ of the hummus in the center of the leaves. Top with rice, carrots, beets and nuts.
  4. Roll as you would a burrito: roll partially, tuck ends in and continue to roll. Slice in half to serve.

This recipe will also work with large collard green or even Swiss chard leaves.

Cheers!

Meet Patricia

Eating well is just one spoke in the wheel of health. An active life...

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