Ground Turkey Lucky Lettuce Wraps

These are the salad days. The wrap days. The low-carb dog days of summer where suddenly May's pants don't fit and I am afloat with so much bloat I can be my own life preserver. These times call for a bit of leaning out, post birthday gluttony.

I knew I was doing it: happy hours, pizza, french fries, wine tasting, birthday brunches and day drinking. Who did I think I was? I'm a nimble minx in the gym but a gluttonous ogre in the kitchen.

I started my meal prep this week with an easy favorite - ground turkey wrap. I use these as base for a taco salad, or wrap them up in lettuce leaves topped with avocado and salsa for a Mexican flair. I totally cheated and used Trader Joe's taco seasoning packet this time around. You can totally change the flavor profile though -- go for ginger and teriyaki for a more Asian style wrap, topped with crunch won tons or water chestnuts.

 I had some extra kidney beans lying around, (hey, they are a good carb!) so I threw them in.

Ground Turkey Lucky Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients

 

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 green bell pepper, chopped into small pieces
1 small red onion, diced
Finely chopped garlic (as much as you like, I usually do 2-3 cloves)
1/2 packet of Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning (or any seasoning brand of your choice)
1/2 cup of kidney beans (optional - or other beans if you choose)
Cilantro to garnish (optional) 
1 tbs olive oil

The How-To

1. In a medium skillet, brown the ground turkey. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the pan with olive oil and add the bell pepper, red onions. Saute until onions are soft. 
3. Add the garlic, ground turkey and seasoning according to directions - some call for a few tablespoons of water. 
4. Throw in the kidney beans. Stir together until mixed and garlic has become fragrant. 
5. Transfer to a bowl and serve over a bed of salad or wrapped in lettuce with salsa and avocado etc.

Vegan Kale and Chickpea Salad

I'm  neither vegetarian nor vegan, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying my veggies. When I feel like I've gone a bit overboard on the wine drinking or diet, I like to clean things up with this salad. It's made from fresh, cleansing ingredients, has tons of vitamins and tastes amazing too. This is great for a packed lunch, keeps well in the fridge for a day or so and well, folks seem to have a love affair with kale these days, don't they?

Kale and Chickpea Salad

Ingredients:

1 large bunch of kale, stems and ribs removed, cut into tiny strips or chiffonade
1/2 cup of canned chickpeas, rinsed
1 roasted red pepper, diced
5 cherry or grape tomatoes halved
1/4 cup of diced red onion
a handful of shredded carrots (I like to keep a bag of pre-shredded carrots around to throw in random meals)
1-2 tbs of sunflower seeds or pine nuts

For the dressing:

1 tbs of good olive oil
1 tbs of apple cider vinegar
1 tbs of a good mustard (i used a spicy garlic but you can just use dijon)
1 tbs of honey or agave nectar
1 clove of garlic crushed
dash of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
chopped green onion (optional)

The How-To:

Rinse and spin dry the kale. Massage the kale with your hands for 1-2 minutes. Don't look at me like I'm crazy. This is key! Instead of cooking my kale or having raw, uber hard strips to chomp on, I massage it. It reduces the volume a bit and makes the leaves much easier to chew and digest because it's softer. Throw it in a bowl along with other veggies.

In a small bowl, whisk together (or shake up in a small jar) the dressing ingredients. Throw in with the veggies and kale, toss to combine and serve. It was even good the next day -- I go fairly light on the dressing.

Lucky Lentil Salad

A while back in Hayes Valley, I had a really good chilled lentil salad. I wanted to recreate it since it's something chock full of protein and nutrients and quite filling after a work out. I've been known to just shove spoonfuls of peanut butter into my mouth after a run I'm so ladylike. I figured this would be  step up.

This one I made was cold and keeps in the fridge for a few days - which was great to snack on.  I made a big batch and cooked the quinoa and lentils together in a rice cooker, but you can cook each separately in a pot if you wish. It's real easy to put together, good for any veggie lover (or even vegan) and something I usually snack on periodically or throw over a bed of greens or brown rice.

Chilled Lentil Salad

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of quinoa cooked in broth
1/2 cup of green lentils cooked in broth
1/2 cup of canned chickpeas rinsed
12 cup of shredded carrots (our you can use zucchini)
1 cup of kale, chopped (I like baby kale, it's softer and less bitter)
1/ 4 cup of raisins (I liked the sweetness they add)
1-2 tbs of fresh parsley chopped

Dressing:

1/4 cup of vinegar of your choice (I used apple cider)
1/4 cup of olive oil (I used garlic flavored)
1 garlic clove minced or 2 shallots finely chopped
1 tbs of Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste

How To:

Cook the quinoa and green lentils in broth. This adds flavor and I usually use 1 1/4 cup of broth to the 1/2 cup of grain/lentil. If I have any frozen herbs lying around, I'll add those to the water too. Usually it's frozen garlic and/or basil or cilantro. If I have any mixed seasonings or dried onions, I'll add that to the cooking water as well. It really gives the quinoa more depth and less "dirt" flavor some folks complain about.

Whisk the dressing ingredients in a bowl, set aside to let the flavors mingle.

Cool the quinoa and lentils to room temp. Throw them in a big bowl or container with the rest of the ingredients, toss with dressing and eat. Super simple!