I Dare You To Eat It

Now that the dust has settled and construction is finally completed on my new and much improved kitchen, I’ve begun a total remodel of my three month supply of food storage. Still planning to use my wheat, rice, beans, pasta, and potatoes in 30 normal, everyday meals, but this time the focus is going to be on using even more fresh vegetables, beans, and whole grains, with a little less meat and creamy casseroles.

My first recipe is the New York Goodwich, with the addition of a little cooked wheat berry. Technically a diet wrap, this yummy-fists-full-o-goodness is at the top of my list because it tastes absolutely fantastic. Plus, our family purchased something like 600 pounds of wheat while living in New York, and I’m bent on using, or disguising, every last kernel:) The Goodwich is an excellent hiding place. If you haven’t ever tried serving your family something with whole cooked wheat berries, START HERE.

Fresh Ingredients

2 cups broccoli

1 cup cauliflower

1/3 cup carrot, finely grated

1/3 cup red cabbage, finely grated

1/3 cup yellow squash, finely grated (sub any squash but yellow is best)

1 large onion

3-4 cups lettuce, finely shredded (or spinach)

1 cup alfalfa sprouts

1 avocado, sliced

Storage Ingredients

1 cup precooked whole wheat berries

4 whole wheat or multi grain wraps

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon oil

2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise

dill pickles, sliced thin

salt and pepper

I don’t know why the original versions of this recipe are for only 1, or maybe 2, sandwiches. Like the good people who would go to this much trouble and preparation don’t have any friends or family. Weird. I’ve pumped up the ingredient quantities so that there is at least enough for about 4 full sized wraps. The goal is to stuff a ton of veggies into each wrap and it’s totally worth all the effort.

Begin by slicing very thin the broccoli and cauliflower  tops, and steam about 5 minutes or just until softened. Grate the carrot, red cabbage, and yellow squash. Slice pickles, avocado and lettuce and set aside along with the alfalfa sprouts.

Dice onion and saute in oil on medium heat until golden. Stir in cooked wheat berries and barbecue sauce and warm through.

Combine steamed broccoli and cauliflower with the shredded carrot, purple cabbage, yellow squash and mayonnaise. (It’s not going to be pretty.) In a dry skillet, heat the wrap or tortilla until softened but not toasted. Spread center of wrap with BBQ onions and wheat combination. Add a heaping line of vegetable mixture, and please use much more than I have pictured here. Then top with pickles, lettuce, sprouts, and avocado slices. (DO NOT forget the avocado, like I did.)

Roll as tightly as you can, being careful not to break the tortilla, and then wrap at least the bottom half with plastic so that you don’t loose even one drop of goodness.

This picture DOES NOT the whole story tell. Ask anyone, the New York Goodwich is a veritable flavor explosion! Lizzie, our 16 year old kept saying, “Dang, this is gooooood” and she couldn’t believe that it was meatless…and cheese-less.

And I couldn’t believe that we were using our basic/boring food storage in a completely new way. The wheat berries are from my long-term supply. The tortilla wraps, barbeque sauce, mayonnaise, and possibly pickles are part of my three-month supply.

I don’t want to live in fear but in the event of an emergency my stash for New York Goodwiches will be used to make spicy wheat, bean, and rice wraps! It may not be as amazing as the piled high vegetable version but it will be familiar and I think that’s more than half the battle when it comes to comfort food.

Tags: 2013 goals kick off at the end of Feb, getting FRESH with provident living, old dog learning new tricks

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 at 5:25 pm and is filed under Recipes, Uncategorized, Wheat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.