Egg Roll Bowls

Leave a comment April 8, 2018 Ceceonthegoblog

I’m always on the look out for healthy, flavorful, QUICK meals. Since I avoid dairy products, a lot of what I eat regularly is Asian inspired. In addition to generally not containing dairy, Asian food is delicious! Stir fries and curries are my flavor jam! I love just about anything with garlic and ginger.

However, I’ve never been a huge fan of traditional fried egg rolls. I know, I know…there’s just always been something a little off-putting about them to me flavor wise. Then add in the often greasy outer fried shell, and it’s a no-go in my books.

Recently though, I stumbled upon this recipe from Peace, Love, and Low Carb that I found intriguing. Upon looking through the ingredient list, I thought that this was an egg roll variation that I could on board with.

Garlic, ginger, soy, and sriracha form the base of the flavors so what isn’t there to like about it? I keep many of the ingredients on hand so basically just have to grab the coleslaw and broccoli slaw mixes(and maybe fresh ground pork and ground turkey if I don’t have time to thaw out the frozen stuff) to prepare.

You can also make it both Paleo or Whole30 compliant, so along with being dairy free, many types of eaters can fit this into their eating style! If you avoid soy or soy based products, you can use coconut aminos. A little about coconut aminos – clearly from the name, it is made from coconut. More specifically, coconut sap. While I do enjoy soy sauce, I try not to consume too much soy based products because of my thyroid disorder. Coconut aminos is a pretty good substitute and is Paleo and Whole30 compliant. It is MUCH lower in sodium (about 75% less, which is generally a good thing) and also has a slightly sweet flavor. It doesn’t taste like coconut, but if you use it in place of soy, be prepared to need a bit more salt in your recipe than if you use traditional soy sauce.

So, back to the recipe: it comes together really quickly thanks to using convenient items such as bagged coleslaw mix! And since it makes a pretty large quantity, you’ve got lunch taken care of for the next couple of days!

egg roll in a bowl meal prep

We’ve been enjoying this around our house regularly (at least every other week) for the last couple of months and I don’t intend to quit anytime soon :). Enjoy!

*Note – you need a pretty large skillet or wok for this! Alternatively, you could use 2 smaller skillets and split it evenly amongst them.

egg roll in a bowl in skillet

*Second note – if you use a lot of fresh garlic, I highly recommend investing in a good garlic press! My mom bought me one from Pampered Chef for Christmas, and it’s a total game changer! You don’t even have to peel the garlic! Just pop the clove in, press the handle down, and scrape off the perfectly minced garlic! Remove the skin, and repeat! Find a similar one here, with great reviews!

egg roll in a bowl served up

Egg Roll Bowls

Servings: 6 Time: 30 min

Ingredients:

1 lb reduced fat ground pork
1 lb lean (93% or higher) ground turkey
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, large dice
14 oz bag coleslaw mix
14 oz bag broccoli slaw
1 T ground ginger
1 t ground pepper
4 T coconut aminos or reduced sodium soy sauce (I used 2 T of each)
3 T rice wine vinegar (I’ve also used apple cider vinegar)
2 T sesame oil
3-4 T sriracha (or Whole30 compliant chile/hot sauce)
About 5 green onions, white and green parts, sliced
2 T sesame seeds
Fresh cilantro for topping, optional

Instructions:

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the turkey and pork and cook until no longer pink. Drain the fat from the skillet.
Add the onion and garlic and saute a few minutes.
In the meantime, whisk together the ginger, pepper, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, sriracha, and soy sauce or coconut aminos.
Add the bag of coleslaw mix to the meat and onion mixture. Pour about half of the liquid mixture to the skillet, and gently toss it, allowing the coleslaw to cook down a bit and make more room in the skillet. This is where it gets a bit tricky to keep it all contained in one skillet so be patient. 🙂 Start adding the broccoli slaw mixture, in smaller batches, to allow room in the pan. It helps to use tongs and just kind of flip portions of the mixture around. Continue adding the liquid to help flavor and steam the veggies down. Once it’s all added, test for seasoning and add more sriracha, salt, pepper, etc. as needed.
Portion into bowl, top with green onion, cilantro, and sesame seeds.
Dig in!

Nutrition Info:

380 total cal, 21 g fat, 10 g carbs, 31 g protein

Review of OnTrend Wellness Event

Leave a comment April 4, 2018 Ceceonthegoblog

So I’m a few days late on posting this…I forgot to bring my notes with me when we left town last weekend to visit family! Whoops!

Anyways, last week I attended an awesome event called OnTrend Wellness that was hosted at New You Health Studio in Mission Farms here in KC.

Four amazing ladies from Enjoy Pure Food + Drink, Fusion Fitness, Xiphium Aveda Lifestyle Salon, and New You Health Studio, all located in Mission Farms, came together to discuss current trends in health and wellness and offer their advice and knowledge on various topics. It was such a great event offering the opportunity to learn from local experts in the health and wellness industry.

From left to right: Dr. Alexander, Jaime Huntoon, Darby Brender, and Staci Cross

The evening started off with a sweat session at Fusion Fitness, which unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend, but I’m sure it was a kick-butt workout just like every class I’ve attended there in the past!

Afterwards, everyone met at the beautiful New You Health Studio. Enjoy Pure Food + Drink provided some delicious goodies such as various hummus dips and their newly added menu item, lemon turmeric protein balls – which were AMAZING! They also provided wine – always a plus 🙂 P.S. I freaking love their food! And they offer options for gluten free, dairy free, vegan, and paleo eaters! It’s so great to have a nutritious and delicious place to grab a bite that doesn’t require scouring the menu for something that can be easily modified to be made without dairy! Anyways, I digress…

After attendees got settled, they transitioned in to the panel of speakers. I’m sharing just a few of the key points that were discussed here, but there was much more information provided and it was a jam packed hour that flew by! I could have listened to these wonderful women talk for hours!

Collagen supplementation – One thing all the speakers were avid supporters of is collagen supplementation! Collagen is a pure source of protein. One scoop generally has 8-10 grams of purse protein, with varying amino acids depending on the type (I, II, III, or IV). It is typically sourced from grass-fed bovine (cow) hide and connective tissue, thus it is NOT vegan. Many brands are odorless and flavorless so can easily be added to recipes without effecting the flavor. Pure collagen dissolves easily into liquids. It’s slightly different from gelatin, which offers the same benefits, but gels when added to liquids. Since I am a pharmacist, I feel obligated to mention that since collagen is a supplement, and not a medication, it is not evaluated by the FDA and studies surrounding the benefits are not as robust as those conducted for medications. That being said, I myself use it regularly, adding it to my morning coffee each day as well as to several foods, such as my Protein Pancakes, oatmeal, even non-dairy yogurt. I’ve only being using it for about 2 months, but I will say that my nails and hair do seem stronger and less brittle and dry. I’ve tried two different brands – Further Food and Zhou Nutrition. I felt like I could somewhat smell the Zhou brand, but maybe that’s just because it was the first kind I tried so psyched myself into thinking I could smell it :). It also offers all 4 types of collagen peptides while Further Food is only type I. Collagen’s touted health benefits include the below.
- Gut health
- Healthy and strong hair, skin, and nails
- Healthy bones and joint
Intermittent Fasting – this topic was primarily supported by Dr. Alexander with New You Health Studio. She recommends working towards 16 hr fasting, starting in the evening following dinner and continuing into the following day, with 8 hr of eating/feasting. One important point with this is to ensure adequate nutrition during the feasting portion of the day and Dr. Alexander reiterated that this feasting period is as important if not more than the fasting state. Intermittent fasting can help promote fat burning and mimics how our bodies were designed to function, as was done during the “hunting and gathering” period. To help reach the 16 hrs of fasting, collagen, MCT oil, and ghee can be used to help promote satiety while still maintaining a fasting state as these substances are already largely broken down or “digested” and be easily absorbed by our bodies.
Darby Brender with Fusion Fitness discussed that she hopes for what she terms “body neutrality” to become a trend of the future. Essentially, body neutrality means being okay with where you’re at and that society would stop body shaming. I interpret this as not focusing on how your body looks, but more importantly, focusing on what your body can do and being grateful for that!
Jaime Huntoon, Esthetician with Xiphium, recommended trying to make just one healthy change. It can sometimes be overwhelming when researching how to start living a more healthy lifestyle, but if you focus on just one thing to change at a time, you can continue to make progress without being overwhelmed. This leads me to the next topic, which is one thing I definitely recommend trying as your one healthy change!
Eat your veggies! Veggies contain MANY required nutrients necessary for optimal body functioning. Additionally, they are filling while also generally low in calories. As Staci Cross with Enjoy Pure Foods explained, the fiber in vegetables help expand your stomach, helping you feel full longer, and also helping keep you “regular”.
Inflammation – many common foods can contribute to inflammation, with the top offender being processed sugars! In addition to inflammation, having a diet high in processed sugars can contribute to reduced gut health and skin troubles. Craving sugar can be caused by “bad” bacteria in your gut sending signals out in your body because they want to be fed. Other common foods that can contribute to inflammation include dairy (yay – all my recipes are dairy-free!) and gluten. Alternatively, there are some natural anti-inflammatories that can be included in your regular diet such as turmeric, curcumin, and ginger. You can find both turmeric and ginger in my Immune Boosting Chicken Soup as well as in most curry seasonings, which is part of my Basil Chicken Coconut Curry.
Finally, the panel discussed some of their favorite mindfulness practices, including meditation, breath work, and use of a weighted blanket. Two recommended tools include the Insight App, which is free, and well as the Brain Health YouTube channel. Darby had the great analogy using glitter to help explain the benefit of mindfulness practices. Imagine every component of your life as a different color of glitter – work, family, extracurricular activities, faith, to-do lists, etc.- all layered together in a glass jar. Then imagine shaking that jar and mixing all the different colors of glitter together. Throughout the day, our minds can become like that mixed up jar of glitter. Mindfulness practices help to sort out that mixed up glitter and get it back to a state of carefully sorted layers. I didn’t explain that nearly as well as Darby, but hopefully you get the picture!

Well, I hope you find this review helpful and if you get the opportunity, I definitely recommend attending the OnTrend Wellness event if it is offered again in the future!

2018 Food and Wellness Trends, prepared by Staci Cross

Basil Chicken Coconut Curry {DF, GF}

1 Comment March 18, 2018 Ceceonthegoblog

I love curries of just about any type. Curry is also surprisingly versatile, especially when paired with chicken, which naturally lends itself to being flavored in just about any way imaginable!

Last week, I was feeling a bit uninspired, and happened upon a recipe for basil chicken with coconut curry sauce, which sounded delicious! I saved it, thinking I would come back to it at some point. That some point happened to be that very evening!

While at the grocery store, I was perusing the vegetable and produce section and realized that asparagus season is upon us! I don’t know about you, but for me, asparagus is just SOOO much more enjoyable during the spring months when it’s in season. So I put a few bunches of it in my cart, and aha! inspiration hit! Why not bump up the vegetable factor in that basil chicken recipe and add some seasonal vegetables such as asparagus! I also knew I had some frozen peas in the freezer at home, so I ran with the idea.

What a great decision it was! This smelled DIVINE while simmering away and was oh so delicious and flavorful! It was pretty hard to sit there and let it simmer as my mouth was watering from the smell! I nearly burned my tongue because I didn’t wait long enough to dig in after serving it up.

It’s actually pretty mild as far as things in the curry department go, so if you’re new to curry, give this a shot! Even if you’re a curry aficionado, I guarantee you will love this! It’s a curry that just about anyone could get on board with!

Basil Chicken