Back To Back Runs

Pre and post recovery from running, you require a mix of carbohydrates, fat and protein. Making your own healthy wraps becomes an easy way of getting all three in one, including all the other important vitamins and minerals you need along the way. What’s more, if you have half an hour to spare, you can make your own healthy tortillas from scratch, while your protein and veggies hit the pan. With that, here is my whole-wheat tortilla recipe, and my favourite toppings to go inside on a running diet.

WHOLE-WHEAT TORTILLAS

Making any grain product from scratch is easier than it might seem, and tortillas are one of the most cost-effective, given that they require zero yeast. So while it’s not incredibly easy to get the softness of the shell in the cooking process, you don’t have to wait for your dough to rise before cooking (like bread and pizza dough). When you make grain products from scratch, you can also guarantee that your meal is made without any added sugars or preservatives.

Here’s my recipe, yielding roughly 4 medium-size tortilla shells:

• 2 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour or whole-wheat bread flour
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

As you knead the ingredients together, if you’re dough is looking too wet, you add more flour 1 tablespoon at the time until the dough no longer sticks to your hand. If for whatever reason it’s not coming together and remains crumbled in pieces, just add water 1 tablespoon at a time until you’re able to form the dough.

Once you have your dough, simply rip your dough into smaller pieces, or use a circular cookie cutter to form your dough balls. With flour on the surface and your rolling pin, roll the individual circles out incredibly thin. Then all you need to do is heat a pan on medium heat with olive oil, and cook your first tortilla shell while the rest of your ingredients heat up.

ESSENTIALS

The other essential thing you need to do whenever making healthy eating choices is to always have vegetables and legumes on hand that you enjoy eating, and that go nicely with other ingredients you enjoy. For me this includes…

• Potatoes
• Broccoli
• Green peas
• Black beans
• Lentils
• Spinach

But my list may look entirely different from yours! I find that every protein will go nicely with the ones above, as relatively unassuming flavours, but that’s also down to the tastes that I enjoy most. I typically also have ingredients like chickpeas, tomatoes and avocado on hand, but these can change the taste of the wrap more drastically.

The other set of essential ingredients that you should always have on hand comes in the form of your spice rack. Again, it’s all about finding flavour profiles and combinations that you enjoy. For me, with every protein and vegetable combination, I find all I need is salt and cayenne pepper. While it’s cool to experiment, you don’t want to throw too many spices into the mix, as it only increases the chance that something will go wrong in your concoction.

Essentials for wraps include:

• Salt
• Black pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• Garlic powder
• Minced onion
• Chili powder
• Tex-mex
• Cumin

Again, you don’t have to enjoy all of these spices simultaneously. In fact, sometimes the tastes can get in the way of one another when added in the wrong amounts. It’s also important to consider how much flavour your protein already has. I find just about all proteins quite bland on their own, but that might be down to my slightly higher tolerance toward spice.

So with that, these are my favourite combinations. Each of these concoctions creates enough topping for about two medium-sized tortilla shells.

BEEF-LENTIL

• 1 extra-lean beef burger
• 1 cup lentils
• 1 golden potato
• 1/2 cup green peas
• 1/2 cup white onion
• 1 cup spinach

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

Start with the oil and the seasoning on medium high heat, and cook the beef, potato and onion together from the start. Lentils can be separated and in the boiler while your main ingredients cook together, and then added later on. Spinach and green peas can be added right at the very end, since they take very little time to cook.

TOFU-BLACK BEAN

• 1 cup tofu
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 golden potato
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/3 cup green peas

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

Start with the oil and the seasoning on medium high heat, and cook the tofu, potato and broccoli together. Black beans can be separated and in the boiler while your main ingredients cook together, and then added later on. Green peas are again added right at the very end, getting in an extra green vegetable into the mix.

PORK-POTATO

• 2 pork chops
• 1 golden potato
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/2 cup white onion
• 1/3 cup green peas
• 1/3 cup mushrooms

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

I like to do my wraps without any sauce, sour cream, guacamole or salsa, but this recipe does go fantastically well with some sugar-free bbq sauce. If you take out the potato + mushrooms and add in some cheese, lettuce or a tomato instead, salsa also goes awesome when paired with the broccoli and pork.

CHICKEN-TOMATO

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup tomato
• 1/2 cup spinach or lettuce
• 1/4 cup skim or low fat cheese

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

For this final one, the chicken and spices cook on their own, as the other ingredients are simply table-toppers. As the only one without a potato, this recipe goes particularly great with salsa!

ENCHILADAS

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 cup black beans
• 1/2 cup tomato
• 1/4 cup green onion
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup monterey jack cheese

• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

Chicken cooks first with the spices listed above, as the beans and tomato sauce (can be homemade or store-bought) each cook separately. You then bring it all together with the sauce first, before wrapping all the ingredients up in your slightly undercooked shells. Top the bottom of your pan with extra sauce before placing the enchilada in the oven, to ensure it doesn’t stick to the pan. I also like to add extra sauce and cheese to the top of the enchilada for added flavour. I bake these for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the cheese on top is melted golden brown.

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Now that I’ve shared my favourite recipes, what’s your favourite wrap combination? Share with me in the contact form below, and I might just try your creation!

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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Strava Profile | Rhys Desmond