Cassava

Cassava isn't just a fun word to say, this vegetable is packed with a long list of vitamins and minerals.

I had never heard of cassava until recently.  I was craving wraps of some sort and on a recent grocery trip I found brown rice papers.  I looked at the ingredients, green tea, brown rice, sea salt and cassava.  I had never heard of cassava so I left the store and went home to do some research. Before I put anything new into my body I do my research.

To my utter delight I found some incredible benefits from this tropical tree root.  Cassava has a variety of B vitamins including folates, pyridoxine, (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid and thiamin.  It's an excellent source of Vitamin C and protein.  What else?  It also has minerals such as calcium, zinc, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese and potassium.

To truly understand your vitamin profile, I recommend getting a panel done by your doctor using the Spectracell Micronutrient test.  On my recent micronutrient results, I was deficient of several of the vitamins and minerals that are present in cassava and I would much prefer to eat a food rather than take a supplement.

The brown rice papers are easy to use.  Simply dip them in warm water until they become clear, add some vegetables and roll up.  They can be eaten just like that or baked.  I put mine in the oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until light brown, let them cool off for 5 minutes and enjoy.

I've made these Black Bean "Flautas" with Avocado Dipping Sauce and substituted the brown rice papers for corn tortillas.  The avocado dipping sauce is fantastic and I've used it when I've made vegetable wraps.  There are several other recipes on my  Pinterest Recipe Page.  Don't be afraid to alter recipes so they work for you.  One of my most frequent substitutions is Coconut Aminos for soy sauce.  Coconut aminos can be used by itself as a dipping sauce.