Collard Roll-ups

I came across a recipe on Pinterest for Collard Rolls and checked out the recipe.  The reviews averaged 2 stars - not good!  Confident I could improve on the idea, I put together this recipe.  I made it tonight and it was scrumptious!  I served them with beans on the side, but next time I'll try adding the beans to the filling.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry white rice (I used basmati)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 large portobello mushrooms, diced
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 bunch of asparagus, discard dry ends and dice remaining into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1.5 tsp. ground thyme
• 1 tsp. sea salt 
• 1 bunch of collard greens, see if you can find a bunch with large leaves

Lemon Sauce Ingredients:

• Juice from 2 meyer lemons
• 4 tablespoons Earth Balance
• Fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh tahini
• 1 tablespoon flour whisked with 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to package directions.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
3. Wash the collards and remove and discard thick stems.  Place the leaves in boiling water and cook 5 minutes or until just tender. Remove the leaves from water and drain.  
4. Dice the veggies above and saute over medium heat with the olive oil, thyme and salt, until veggies are soft, about 5-7 minutes
5. As the veggies cook, combine the lemon, earth balance, pepper and tahini in a different saucepan over medium heat.  Once the sauce begins to bubble/boil, add a small amount of the flour/water mixture to thicken the sauce.  Depending on how lemony you like your sauce, you can also add more flour/water to make the sauce more subtle.  Using the meyer lemons are the key to the sauce, regular lemons make your sauce too bitter.  
6. Add the rice to the veggies in the sauce pan and combine well, then turn off the heat.  
7. Arrange the collard leaves on your work surface and top with 1/2 cup rice filling. Roll up, starting with the large end of the leaf and rolling it over the filling, tucking in the ends, like a burrito.
8. Top with the lemon sauce and serve. 

Well, I don't think they would hire me at Moe's or Qdoba after my sorry attempts at rolling up these little collard "burritos". All of them came out looking terrible with the exception of the last 2!