QUICK LUNCH RECIPE + BRAND REVIEW: PALEO TURKEY WRAP

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THE RECIPE: PALEO TURKEY WRAP

This is a healthier twist on a classic sandwich that will please your palate and fill your tummy in less than 20 minutes from chopping block to empty plate. 

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

  • 1 Pure Wrap paleo wrap (or, if you tolerate gluten/grains, feel free to sub another wrap of your choice)
  • 3 oz. No-salt-added turkey breast (try to select a brand that is free of nitrates, preservatives and funky additives. You just want to eat TURKEY when you buy turkey, ya know? P.S. I love Diestel.)
  • 2 Slices bacon (same notes on selection as turkey)
  • 1/4 avocado, sliced
  • 3-4 Big leaves of butter lettuce or any other mild lettuce (romaine works well too), washed and dried
  • 1/2 small tomato, sliced (shoot for a juicy heirloom if they're still available where you are!)
  • 1 Tablespoon clean mayo or ranch dressing
  • OPTIONAL: add some sprouts for an added nutrient punch

NOTE ON MAYO/DRESSINGS: I STRONGLY advise peeking at the back of your mayo and salad dressing labels. There is some weird stuff in conventional mayo and even weirder stuff in most salad dressings. None of us need to be eating MSG or high fructose corn syrup, and Americans already have way too much soy bean oil in their diets, so explore some new brands made with simple ingredients and consider making the swap. Primal Kitchen is a good place to start. I stay away from mayo mostly (eggs) so I used a homemade Vegan Hemp Seed Ranch here. You can see the little cube of it defrosting above!

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DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat while you begin to gather your ingredients.
  2. Set all your goods out on the counter and then go toss your bacon into the hot skillet. Set a timer for 4 minutes so you don't forget about it (like I do sometimes).
  3. Slice your avocado and tomato and set aside. 
  4. Smear your spread of choice on the wrap, then cover the whole wrap with lettuce leaves (they'll serve as reinforcements when the filling tries to slip out the bottom).
  5. Flip your bacon.
  6. Working at a diagonal (see above), add turkey, tomato and avocado, leaving about 2 inches of space before the bottom corner of the wrap.
  7. Grab your hot, crispy bacon once browned to your liking (use thongs!) and place atop your other fillings. 
  8. Fold the bottom corner up, then the left and right corners over to close it up. Pretend you're swaddling a little turkey BLTA baby. 
  9. Enjoy!
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THE BRAND REVIEW: THE PURE WRAPS

After toying around with "gluten-free" for a few years in an attempt to appease my digestive system, my gut still wasn't in a great place. Gluten-free helped a lot with bloating and constipation, but there were so many other factors contributing to my mess of a gut that I didn't realize at the time (stress, anxiety, allergies, medications, surgery, etc etc). At the peak of my gut sh&t-show (no pun intended), I ended up going mostly grain-free for a while. It was by no means a happy choice (I LOVE brown rice, black rice, all the rices), but wholesome, high-quality grains were too hard for my compromised gut bacteria to break down. Because I had little interest in enduring the cramps and pains that came after eating grains, I instead suffered the trial and error that comes with exploring "alternative" products like paleo wraps. 

I don't even recall how I stumbled upon Pure Wraps, but I will tell you that although I'm back on the grain train, I STILL eat these babies at least a couple of times a week.

MFW LOVES: The lightly sweet coconut flavor, the malleability offered by healthy fats found in coconut, SUPER short ingredient list (There are A LOT of gluten-free, grain-free, this-free, that-free products out there that aren't much better than their alternatives. Again, read your labels. (I know, I'm such a nag.) It's important to understand that just because a product omits an allergen, doesn't mean it's healthier or less processed than its counterpart.)

MFW DOESN'T LOVE: The price, lack of availability (I can only find on Amazon and haven't seen them in local stores), insufficient parchment between wraps (I know this sounds ridiculous but I would appreciate a single sheet between each wrap so I don't continue to accidentally use 2 wraps at a time, making them even MORE expensive!) 

So, if you're exploring a paleo or grain-free diet or working on a gut repair protocol, I recommend you give these babies a try. You can make breakfast wraps with them (think almond butter, banana, racao nibs, chia seeds and a drizzle of honey). They are deee-lish stuffed with Indian or Thai curries and rice. They are great replacements for wheat wraps at lunchtime. Oh and they make good dessert crepes too!

RECIPES, REVIEWSElizabeth OCarrollhealthy fats, greens, protein, fast, easy, nourishing, energizing, recipes, simple recipes, lunch, paleo, pure wraps, bacon, avocado, turkey club1 Comment