Bariatric Foodie Play with your food
This recipe was developed as part of a partnership between Bariatric Foodie and Celebrate Vitamins. Here on Bariatric Foodie you’ll find pictures and helpful recipe hints, then use the button at the bottom of this post to click through to the Celebrate Vitamins website to view and download the recipe, complete with nutrition information!
Ok, here me out on this one.
Because I know what you’re saying. “Burritos??? Really, Nik??? Burritos haz ZE CARRRRRBBBBBS!”
Breathe…breathe…are you breathing? Ok.
Now…you all know me so you know I would never lead you down the path of destruction. But I will say that this recipe is not for every post-op. For example, this recipe is not for you if:
- You are fresh out of surgery and have not been cleared for all foods.
- You cannot tolerate high-fiber foods well.
- If you’ve been specifically advised not to eat tortillas – even low-carb/high-fiber ones – as a part of your bariatric plan
If that’s the case…I’m sorry! There’ll be a new recipe next week!
Like many recipes I do here on the blog, the inspiration from this one came by way of travel. To the Obesity Action Coalition “Your Weight Matters” Convention, to be specific. Now one thing I love about this convention is that every single meal is designed by a dietician who has experience with bariatric patients. So that shakes out to mean a few important things:
- In my registration packet, I get a list of every single food item I will be offered during the convention, along with nutrition info.
- I know that the foods I am being served will include lots of protein, the carbs will be complex and the fat will be reasonable.
- I know that foods won’t have added sources of sugar (although they may have natural sources).
So that’s comforting. Because there’s nothing worse than getting stuck at a conference where the food can kill you. Trust me. I’m nearly nine years post-op and I have been in this situation more than a few times! Worse yet is being stuck at a conference with tables full of trigger foods. (It’s enough to send me into a public bathroom to assume the fetal position.)
Anyhoo…the second morning of the convention I came down for breakfast and they had these wonderful pans of mini-breakfast burritos. The filling was eggs and turkey sausage. They were wrapped in high-fiber tortillas. And there was melty cheese on top. I had my choice of salsa and unflavored Greek yogurt to dollop on top.
It. Was. AHHHHH-mazing!
What I loved most was that they were baked. My main beef (no pun intended) with high-fiber tortillas is their texture. They can be a little…tough. To chew. To swallow. To digest. Just tough!
Baking them made them soft, pliable, chewable – wonderful! Now mind you I can’t eat much tortilla, but what I was able to eat of this went down just fine! Un-baked tortillas? Sometimes give me a tummy ache.
So…while we are talking about how much tortilla we are eating, let’s talk about tortilla choices, shall we? My tortilla of choice is either the La Banderita Low-Carb/Whole Wheat tortilla in the taco size or Aldi’s Fit & Active tortilla (same size, and pictured). Those both are high-fiber/lower-carb and both have a decent amount of protein. Plus…most of my household will actually eat them!
But there are, of course, other options (linked for visual reference only…seriously…it’s cheaper at the grocery store!) that may give more protein bang for your caloric/carb buck:
- Misson Low-Carb/High-Fiber Tortillas
- ProteinUP wraps (although that’s going to make a hella-big tortilla)
- P-28 protein wraps (again, very large)
Now if you find one that’s large, that doesn’t necessarily disqualify it from use. It just means you may need to perform the extra step of cutting it into a more manageable size (using a saucer or salad plate, and cutting around it with a knife, for example). I personally am a convenience kinda gal so…I’m going with my preferred tortilla, which comes a bit smaller!
Also a word on seasoning. You can use whatever kind you like best! The kind in this recipe is meant to keep the sodium down, but by all means, adjust to your liking! For convenience there are also seasoning packets you can buy (just get taco seasoning), which makes things super easy! For the smoky flavor I used a combo of smoked paprika (with which I am currently obsessed) and ground chipotle powder (omit if you don’t like spicy food!)
So…in the interest of full disclosure, this recipe went over really well with 3/4 of my household. I loved them (obvs). My youngest daughter loved them (she loves what I love so, again, not surprising). My older daughter loved them (now that’s a shocker because she hates 90% of the healthy dishes I make). My boyfriend…was not a fan. I think he is just too attached to flour tortillas.
Ah well…you can’t save everyone.
At 9 years post-op I could eat a whole one of these burritos and I was satisfied (not overly full, but satisfied). Your mileage may vary. The great thing about burritos is, they are easy to cut in half! Which means you can portion them out for yourself but also it makes it easy to recalculate the math of the nutrition info in your head. This recipe is also easy to downsize if you need to. As always, make it your own!
But first you gotta head on over to the Celebrate website and claim yo’ recipe!
