Easy, healthy spring rolls recipe and demo!

I was SO proud of myself when I made spring rolls the other day!!! I had always assumed they’d be messy or would fall apart, but when my friend, Lindsay, decided to have an Asian-inspired dinner party, I thought I would give them a try! Turns out, they were incredibly easy and they are a tasty way to get more veggies into your meals or party appetizers!

I give a full video demonstration here (and to prove how easy it was to make the rice paper rolls, I had to do it with one hand in order to film it!): https://youtu.be/97wWg5kH7BQ

The rolls were super simple to make. Fillings are totally up to you and your tastes. I made these rolls twice and each time I used some kind of combo of romaine lettuce, shrimp (I gave my recipe for shrimp with a little extra kick in the video!), thin rice noodles, avocado, red pepper, carrots, cucumber (all the veggies I either cut into thin strips or spiralized), mint (I loved the flavor that the fresh mint added so I used even more the 2nd time around!), and sesame seeds. The video explains all about the rice paper, what to look for when buying it, and how to prepare it for rolling!

The homemade peanut sauce absolutely MADE these rolls! They were good without it, but it added so much extra flavor, plus I liked having something “liquidy” on them. I apologize for not being the kind of cook who measures everything perfectly. With my background in the sciences, I do love things that are exact but unfortunately my cooking tends to be very free-spirited. I used multiple recipes online to come up with this concoction (so if you are someone who likes things exact, google a homemade peanut sauce recipe). I included a picture of what I used in the peanut sauce here since it was a little hard to see in the video. The main ingredients were basically peanut butter and soy sauce (I used liquid aminos- a healthier, gluten-free alternative to soy sauce- available from amazon associate link here- disclosure: I get a small commission if someone purchases from this link). Mash some peanut butter with some soy sauce (I used a hefty amount of each- more soy sauce will make it spicier, more PB will make it sweeter). Everything else I used to taste. I really liked the addition of the sesame oil- I felt like that gave it a good Asian flavor. The honey sweetened it up a little. I added some rice vinegar (I like what that did to the texture). Black pepper, hot sauce, garlic powder, actual garlic (minced), and red pepper flakes (not pictured) all added to the flavor but can be used generously, sparingly, or not at all depending on your tastes. When you mix all of this together, it will be pretty chunky and think. Add water (small amounts at a time) to thin it out to the consistency you want! Mine thickened a little in the fridge and I actually liked it even better the next day (just FYI).

I served the peanut sauce on the side (garnished with red pepper flakes) but it was so good, I ended up using it generously over each one of the rolls I ate!

This entire recipe is all gluten-free- just make sure you use a gluten-free soy sauce or an alternative like the liquid aminos that I used! The liquid aminos can be found on Amazon here: http://amzn.to/2jqWfpj Full disclosure: I get a small commission from Amazon if you buy this product but this is honestly what I use at home and wanted to make it easier for you to find!

If you are vegan and don’t eat honey, that can easily be taken out of the peanut sauce or substituted with agave or pure organic maple syrup.

If you don’t like or eat shrimp, don’t worry- I made a bunch of them without it and they were just as good!

Watch the video, let me know what you think, and let me know how yours turn out! Feel free to contact me with any questions!!

Happy cooking!

Katelyn

I would be honored to help you with your health and fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

You can contact me or find out more information using:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk

Beachbody page: http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk

Or my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/kate37721

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Fancy, healthy, delicious recipe: lemon garlic broccoli with bacon and scallops

I try new healthy recipes fairly often but now that I’m a full-time online health and fitness coach (meaning I work from home) AND the weather and Pittsburgh is getting colder, I wanted a way to ensure I had a reason to get my butt to the grocery store every week (last winter was freezing so it was hard to motivate myself to leave my house for non-essential errands… like getting food haha). So… one of my New Year's resolutions was to try a new healthy recipe at least once every 2 weeks! The recipe I picked out this week was from my Inspiralized cookbook by Ali Maffucci: lemon garlic broccoli with bacon. And since I’ve always wanted to learn how to make my own seared scallops and they seemed like a great accompaniment for my broccoli, I decided to make those too!

My definition of what I consider to be healthy foods has changed and evolved throughout the years based on the latest research as well as how my body responds to certain foods and the needs of my lifestyle. I used a lot of healthy fats in this recipe (yes, including butter, which I spent majority of my life avoiding!) and bacon. I am super careful that anytime I am eating healthy fats/meats like this, I buy the REALLY high-quality versions (meats and butter that come from grass-fed, hormone-free organically-raised animals; the bacon is organic and nitrate free as well; any oils I use are all organic). But if your definition of “healthy” varies from this, you can easily omit the meat and replace the butter with olive oil.

One of the things that I LOVED about the broccoli recipe was that it also showed me how to use the stems, which I normally throw away even though I hate wasting them! I used my Vegetti to turn the long broccoli stems into “broccoli pasta.” For tips on how to use a veggie spiralizer, you can watch my demo of zucchini pasta here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY5w3dHoyL0.

For the broccoli dish:

I chopped up the broccoli (3 large heads) and spiralized the stems. Meanwhile, I brought a saucepan (about half full of water with some Himalayan sea salt added) to a boil. I added the broccoli to the boiling water and cooked until tender. The next time I make this recipe, I will use a steamer instead. I like the texture of steamed veggies better (plus you preserve more of the nutrients)!

While the broccoli was cooking, I used a skillet to start cook the bacon (about 8 pieces cooked in olive oil for a few minutes on each side, until desired crispness). I removed the bacon from the skillet once cooked and set it on a paper towel-lined plate off to the side. I drained some of the excess oil from the skillet but didn’t clean it (I figured the remaining oil and bacon grease combo would give the dish some extra flavor and it did)!

Next step was to add the cooked and drained broccoli to the skillet over medium heat, along with some Himalayan sea salt and pepper, about 4 cloves of minced garlic, and the juice from 1 small lemon. When the broccoli mixture was cooked to desired texture (about 5 minutes), I added in the bacon (cut or ripped into small pieces) for another minute or so.

Voila’! I rarely measure things when I cook (hence the lack of exact specifications in this recipe) but I promise this recipe is super flexible and can be adjusted for your own tastes. Exact measurements not necessary :)

For the scallops:

I have always been told scallops are really easy to make- they were BEYOND easy. Makes me question why I pay so much for them in restaurants haha! I got fresh, never-frozen, wild caught scallops from Whole Foods- they were unbelievably delicious.

To cook them, I used the same pan the broccoli and bacon had been in for extra flavor (although honestly I think the majority of the flavor comes from the butter the scallops are cooked in). Even though the pan had some remaining oils from the broccoli and bacon dish, I melted some grass-fed butter in the pan- enough to coat it. I spread out the scallops in the pan and then added a small pat of butter on top of each scallop (recommendation from a friend). When I could tell the bottoms were getting crispy, I flipped them over (the pat of butter goes with it and the other side cooks in that). Again, no exact specifications. I think I had it on medium-high heat and cooked for about 2 minutes on each side. I could tell when they were ready by pressing down on them with the spatula- I was able to notice when they started to firm up.

I’m so glad I made the broccoli dish and scallops together- it was a great combination meal! Cheers to the first new recipes of the year! I hope you enjoy!

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.