Shrink-My-Ass-Month: Hummus and Grilled Vegetable Wraps

Sorry, carniverous beasts! It's a Monday (well, Sunday if you want to get technical) for the Meat Averse, so if the sight of a zucchini sends you shreiking for the hills, don them sneakers!

Growing up, I didn't really know any vegetarians. The first vegetarian I encountered was our neighbor, Jan. Her daughter was in my fourth grade class and Jan and Mama soon became thick as thieves. I still remember listening to them whisper and laugh in our living room, glasses of iced tea sweating in the afternoon heat. I also remember a few days later, opening a drawer in a living room cabinet and discovering the source of all that giggling: A dog-eared copy of The Sensuous Woman.

Even at the tender age of ten, I could tell that The Sensuous Woman was one of those books you read cloak-and-dagger fashion; naturally, I did just that. Armed with my trusty flashlight, I fled to the basement to see what that tempting, well-read tome had in store. Hoo-Boy!! Seriously ladies? Those women in the late 1970's had it going on. I came whizzing out of that basement a while later, eyes a-buggin.'

Jan was quite glamorous; she had luxurious red, thick hair and green eyes and was always tanned. She also had the slowest, most God-awful metabolism on the planet. I never saw her eat more than a few bites of food. One summer she abandoned meat entirely, subsisting on leaden, cardboard-colored pita pockets stuffed with avocado and wild, sprouty stuff that looked like hair. I watched her chew those concoctions slowly, amazed that she could gag it down.

Luckily for the Veggie Vixens of today, we no longer have to eat Bedrock Bread and shit that looks like hair. There's some lovely options nowadays and some are even easy-peasy. Which is what this wrap is. We like it for lunch but it's just as good for a light dinner or, if you are a freak like me, for breakfast (with a couple of potato chips stuffed in for salty goodness). Hey, don't knock it till ya try it.



Hummus and Grilled Vegetable Wrap
serves 4
from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave

2 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick-slices
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup store-bought hummus*
4 pieces whole-wheat wrap bread, about 9 inches in diameter, such as Flatout
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 jarred roasted red bell peppers, drained, rinsed and sliced
2 ounces baby spinach leaves or romaine lettuce leaves (2 cups lightly packed)
1/2 cup red onion, thinly slices into half-moons
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

Preheat a grill pan over medium heat. Brush both sides of the zucchini slices with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Grill until tender and slightly browned, about 4 minutes per side.

Spread 1/4 cup of the hummus over each piece of bread. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the pine nuts on top. Top with zucchini slices, red peppers, 1/2 cup spinach or romaine, a few onion slices and 1 tablespoon of mint. Roll each of them up and slice on the diagonal.

* You can use any kind of Hummus you like. Personally, I think the Sabra brand hummus kicks everyone else's ass.