This recipe is one of many hearty, yummy, low-fat, all-natural dishes in The Engine 2 Diet, by Rip Esselstyn. I’ve had such fun discovering the book, meeting its author, and having him as a guest on my last show on HealthyLife.net Radio. It all started when I wandered into Stogo, a vegan ice cream parlor in the East Village, befriended one of the owners, and got myself invited to the cool downtown book party for the launch of The Engine 2 Diet.
In the few years since, Rip has gotten pretty famous. If you’re not in on his story, he was an Austin, Texas, firefighter back when he wrote his book; he’s also the son of the Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr., MD, of the Cleveland Clinic (his book is Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease). When a young firefighter at Rip’s station showed up with a 344 cholesterol level (plus a family history of men dying in their early 50s), the whole firehouse adopted the elder Esselstyn’s low-fat, plant-based diet, lost weight, lowered their cholesterol levels, regulated their HDL-LDL ratios, and came up with some good ol’ Tex-Mex, stick-to-your-ribs recipes, all included in the book.
When I saw him last year at a Forks Over Knives screening, he walked up to me and out of the blue said: “Apple Computer got 10% of the market today.” I said, “Only 10%? Everybody I know has a Mac.” And he said, “Precisely. When you’re 10%, you look like the majority.” We vegans — or as Rip likes to call us “plant-strong” eaters — are now 2.5% of the U.S. population. When we hit 10%, watch out, world!
Anyway, here’s the recipe. It’s sorta like a trip to Texas.
Jammin’ Jane’s Burritos
Serves 6
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 zucchini, chopped
2 yellow squash, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cups shredded napa cabbage
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans fat-free vegetarian refried beans
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 teaspoons cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6 large Ezekiel sprouted-grain wraps (or burrito wrap of your choice)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the onion and garlic in a large sprayed skillet on high heat for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini, yellow squash, red pepper, and cabbage to the skillet. Cook 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are soft but firm and the cabbage is wilting. Add the black beans, refried beans, and rice to the skillet. Stir the ingredients together on low heat until the mixture is thick and mortar-like. Season with cumin and cayenne.
Slap a large spoonful of veggie mortar onto the center of the Ezekiel wrap and spread it from top to bottom along the center line. Fold the sides over using a bit of the veggie mortar as adhesive for the top flap. Rest the burritos next to each other and place them seam side down on a sprayed baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the wraps are crisp. Serve with salsa and guacamole on top. (The Engine 2 guys make a lower-fat guacamole by adding a cucumber to a standard guac recipe.)
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