Make dinner easy on yourself with these tasty and nutritious white bean wraps. Fresh thyme leaves and a tangy yogurt-lemon dressing add flavor to the comforting combination of long-grain brown rice, great northern beans, and melted mozzarella cheese. Add a handful of leafy greens, and you have a tortilla full of delicious vitamins, minerals, and protein. Serve these wraps with tortilla chips and your favorite salsa, and add avocado and other vegetables too. They are versatile and easy on the budget.
I am constantly striving for a balance between eating well and staying within a reasonable food budget. If left to my own devices, I am like a kid in a candy store when I go into places like Whole Foods or the little gourmet food shop I recently discovered. However, with many other things going on, staying within a reasonable food budget is a necessity and a challenge I enjoy, so when I find an inexpensive, healthy, and delicious meal, I keep it in our regular meal rotation. This white bean wrap recipe is one of those, and though it varies a little bit from week to week depending on which vegetables are in season, when it comes to taste and economy, the rice and bean combination always delivers.
Now that the weather has finally warmed up around here, I look forward to more and more fresh vegetables at the farm stands that dot the countryside around my home. Our black raspberries are looking promising so far, and my aunt recently gave me a bunch of rhubarb. I can’t wait to make a pie! Our screened-in porch is all cleaned up and ready, we will be eating out there as often as possible. Last night my husband and I sat out there and listened to the night noises–the insects and frogs, and looked at the stars.
I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you are in the U.S., enjoy a long Memorial Day weekend. A friend recently said to me, “I feel like the cold is finally out of my bones.” With the warm weather we’ve been having, I feel the same way, and it feels really welcome and really good. I hope you find time to relax, spend time with family or friends, get outdoors, and eat some really good food! I will be sharing this recipe over at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, along with some inspiring bloggers I admire.
White Bean Wraps
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of long-grain brown rice, cooked
- 1 14-ounce jar or can of white beans (I used great northern beans)
- 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (optional)
- a large handful of fresh greens (lettuce, kale, or any type of greens you prefer)
- 6 to 8 fajita-style tortillas (I used whole wheat ones)
Directions:
Cook the rice according to the package directions. While the rice is cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the Greek yogurt and lemon juice. Wash the thyme and remove the thyme leaves from the stems. Place the shredded cheese in a small bowl. Wash and dry the greens and set them aside. I like to warm the tortillas (wrapped in foil) in a 160-degree oven while the rice is cooking, so they are warm and soft. In a small saucepan, gently warm the beans over very low heat.
Once the rice is done and everything else is ready, spoon some rice onto a tortilla. Top with some beans, thyme leaves, and shredded cheese. Then top with the Greek yogurt and greens, and wrap up the tortilla. Repeat until everyone is well fed. Serve with chips and salsa, and avocado and other vegetables if desired. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator and warmed up easily. Enjoy!
I love a good leek and potato soup, but this time I wanted to add chicken to make the meal extra filling for my growing boy and my hungry husband. The mild flavor of chicken and chicken broth go great with the potatoes and leeks. At the end of the cooking time, I added milk instead of the traditional cream, to make it lighter, yet still creamy and silky. Leek and potato soup is usually pureed in a blender, but with the chicken, that is not such a good idea. However, I found that since the vegetables cooked all day in the crockpot, they were very tender and soft anyway. Topped with some fresh chives and salt and pepper, this meal is a keeper.
I have had my crockpot for many years, and I find it to be such a lifesaver during the times in our life when I am unable to be home making dinner at dinner time. This week has been that kind of a week, and this soup really hit the spot for my guys–with leftovers, we had it two nights in a row. If you need a quick crockpot soup to throw together in the morning so you can get out of a pinch in the evening, this is a delicious one!
My kids both had their band concert a couple of nights ago. There is something about listening to live music that is so invigorating and satisfying. It brings up all kinds of emotions and memories, and it brings people together. At the end of the concert, the combined high school and junior high bands played “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Someone turned on the disco ball in the auditorium, and we in the audience sat there in the dark, with little twinkling lights swirling around us, listening to our kids play a song that was part of our own teenage years. For a few minutes we were suspended in time. When the concert ended and the lights came back on, I was not the only one with moist eyes. The band sounded so good! The kids played so well. Children grow so fast. Time flies. We are all in this together.
With my daughter being a vegetarian (actually, she eats fish, so I guess that is a pescetarian…), we eat a fair amount of portabella mushroom burgers. For a change, I have been buying mixed mushrooms and making these flatbread pizzas for her. They are so good! We love the sage and mushroom combination, and sage has its own health benefits and healing properties. It is known as the herb that imparts longevity and wisdom, and in the days when the use of herbs was more prominent, sage was used to soothe coughs and colds, ease night sweats, purify the spirit, and ward off evil. I’m not sure if baking some fresh sage leaves in this pizza can accomplish all those things, but it can’t hurt, and it tastes so savory and earthy, so delicious with the mushrooms and cheese! In addition, sage is really easy to grow, and it comes back year after year. We have had some in our garden for years, and I love to go out and pick the leaves as I am making dinner.
For Mother’s Day, I walked in the woods with my mother, husband, and kids, and with it being mushroom season, I got to thinking about how I would like to learn more about foraging for mushrooms. I know that morel mushrooms grow in my area, and I think it would be a worthwhile hobby to cultivate, and a great excuse to get out into the woods more! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy spring! Although it’s supposed to get cold again this weekend, so many trees are flowering here, and our lilacs are in full bloom. I believe that is my favorite scented flower, so I am savoring every minute of the lilac season. 
