I’ve been making and eating a lot of lettuce wraps recently. For lunch, for an appetizer, for no real reason at all. I know it might not sound very exciting, but trust me, I'm talking about some high-maintenance lettuce wraps here.
High-maintenance in the best way possible. Bear with me now...
Not the kind of high-maintenance that would scare you away. You know I don't like things to be too complicated around here. Just the kind of high-maintenance that takes something that needs a little fixing up and making it a little fancier.
It all started when I found the most beautiful head of butter lettuce at my local Whole Foods, that was grown here, locally in Brooklyn. Beautiful lettuce from Brooklyn? I was smitten. This lettuce was meant for big, beautiful, veggie-filled lettuce wraps.
I started with a basic lettuce wrap with lots of raw veggies and some pea pesto that I had made recently. They were delicious. The pea pesto really made the wrap, but I thought maybe it could use a little something else.
A few days later, Michael and I wanted a snack, and I had a little leftover butter lettuce so I decided to make some more lettuce wraps. This time I added some black beans for some protein and a dash of hot sauce for some spice. These lettuce wraps rocked our world.
Because they were so good, I had to make them again. This time for myself for lunch, but I went one step further and I decided to make my own hot sauce. I have been dying to make my own sriracha for quite some time and in browsing some favorite blogs of mine I found this great recipe to make a proper sriracha (one that would taste exactly like the original but without the added preservatives) however it requires days of fermentation. Something I will be tackling soon, but not today. I needed some hot sauce, pronto.
So I found a few other recipes, this one from Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen, via this post from Sarah from Sprouted Kitchen. It looked super easy so I gave it a go. This hot sauce is awesome. Although it is not exactly like sriracha, it is close enough for me. I made a large batch and have been putting it on anything and everything.
I have a thing for hot sauce if you couldn't guess.
Now, of course, if you are not a hot sauce person, you can totally leave it out. The lettuce wraps are just as great without it. You can also make up any combination of veggies and beans that you like. White beans and red pepper, chickpeas and carrots. This is a fridge leftover kid of recipe.
What's also great about these is that they are like a reconfigured salad. So if you are bored with your salad routine, go make yourself some fancy, high-maintenance lettuce wraps for lunch.
I started writing this post from my dark, powerless apartment in downtown nyc. Thankfully for me that was the biggest inconvenience for me and my family during hurricane sandy. We now have power again, and things are slowly getting back to normal where I live.
We are extremely fortunate. This has not been the case with many people, especially those in the boroughs of NYC + the coast of NJ. The people who have not been as fortunate have weighed heavy in my thoughts.
I am always so impressed at the way new yorkers pull together in the wake of crisis and hard times. I'm also impressed with so many of my family members and friends who have donated their time and goods to people in need without any hesitation. We all know what we have to do, and taking care of our neighbors and people in need just comes naturally to the people of this area.
Whether you live in NY or not, there are ways you can help. I found a couple of links that can point you in the direction so you can donate your time, money, or goods to people who need it most.
7 ways to donate to hurricane sandy victims online via mashable
12 ways to donate time, skills, or supplies to hurricane victims via treehugger
buy an I (still) love NY t-shirt - 100% profits go to hurricane sandy relief
It may seem a bit trivial to post about something as simple as hummus while we are still recovering from one of the biggest disasters the nyc area has ever seen. We all have to get back to some sort of normalcy, and eating hummus daily is a part of my normal, everyday life.
I eat a lot of hummus. It's pretty much my go-to snack food, and because of this I find that it's definitely better for me to be making my own. This hummus, however, is a fancier hummus. A hummus I might make if I want to impress someone, or make for a fancy party or pot luck. The toppings are more of a creative suggestion, a guileline, not a rule. Feel free to omit the toppings though if you are not in a fancy mood.
*If you have any other suggestions/links on how to help hurricane sandy victims, or want to share what you did to help, please feel free to leave that info in the comments section below*
