Kitchen Magic & Fave Food Swaps

While I was supposed to be productive on my final research paper on Pride and Prejudice yesterday, I was much more productive in the kitchen!  Good for the belly, bad for the paper. But I had to put some of my Whole Foods buys to good use!

Let me begin with a spontaneous couplet to show my love for my favorite little pals:

Oh black beans you are quite the treat
My addiction to you I cannot beat

Wow, I’m silly.

I have been craving my favorite pizza from California Pizza Kitchen.  Can you guess which one?  The tostada one, of course, because it has black beans! Instead of going out, spending the money and wasting the calories, I decided to come up with my own version for lunch.  While CPK does not have the nutritional content/caloric content of their pizzas online (shame on them!), I would guess that one slice of that delectable devil has about 400 calories and who knows how much fat. My version? Oh it’s a dainty, but super filling, delicious swap! Gotta love the magic of creating healthier versions of your favorite foods right in your kitchen.

Bella’s Mediterranean Black Bean Pizza Wrap

Ingredients

• ½ cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained – 70 calories, 0g fat, 6g fiber, 5 g protein
• ¼ cup Polly-O Fat-Free Ricotta Cheese – 50 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 10 g protein
• ¼ package Cedarlane Tabouli – 55 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein
• 1 c. Romaine lettuce – 8 calories, 0 g fat, 1 g fiber, 0.6 g protein
• 1 Rudi’s Organic 7 Grain with Flax Wrap – 160 calories, 3 g fat, 3 g fiber, 5 g protein
• Garnish with tabouli, cilantro, corn, and cheese if you like

Directions

• Blend black beans, ricotta cheese and tabouli in a blender
• Bake tortilla in oven at 500 degrees, middle rack, until its the “crust” texture you like* and remove
• Spread black bean mixture on tortilla as the “sauce”
• Add lettuce and garnish

*Caution – I know not everyone is as “special” as I am, but please be careful when putting your tortillas in the oven:

Yowza! This tortilla literally caught on fire because I’m an idiot and put it on broil on the top oven rack for like 10 minutes.  I almost had a heart attack!

This was super filling and you could easily eat half, have an apple and be stuffed!
Nutritional information for entire pizza (without garnish) – 343 calories, 7 g fat, 11 g fiber, 21.6 g protein

Dessert was an apple and some Dark Chocolate Dreams

1 medium-sized red apple sliced – 72 calories, 0.3 g fat, 3.3 g fiber, 0.4 g protein
1 tbsp Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams –  85 calories, 6.5 g fat, 1 g fiber, 3 g protein
Total:  157 calories, 6.8 g fat, 4.3 g fiber, 3.4 g protein

Have you guys tried any Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butters? Which is your favorite?

Dinner was a nice little snack plate (I think I’ve been reading Gliding Calm’s blog too much!)

2 tbsp Cedar’s Garden Vegetable Hummus –– 50 calories, 2 g fat, 3 g fiber, 3 g protein (I used the nutritional content from the package, which differs a tiny bit from their website. oy!)
¼ pakage Cedarlane Tabouli – 55 calories, 4 g fat, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein
½ a cucumber – 22.5 calories, 0.15 g fat, 0.75 g fiber, 1 g protein
1 Rudi’s Organic 7 Grain with Flax Wrap – 160 calories, 3 g fat, 3 g fiber, 5 g protein
Total:  287.50 calories, 9.15 g fat, 7.75 g fiber, 10 g protein

Just a note that the hummus and tabouli were AMAZING! Wow, my body is so content with the food choices I’ve made!  I am, however, screwed in terms of my paper. Wish me luck!

Anyone have any black bean recipes I should try?

I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!

p.s. Has any one read The End of Overeating by David Kessler?  Just curious what you thought.

Tags: Black beans, California Pizza Kitchen, calories, hummus, nutritional content, nutritional information, Peanut Butter & Co., Recipes, tabouli, wraps