New Recipe Assignment: Sexy Summer "Spring Rolls"!

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been intensely focused on wrapping up the 3rd Beauty Detox book — and am so unbelievably excited! 

At the same time, it’s a lot of time and energy, so I find myself focusing on faster, lighter meals that feel light and refreshing. And today’s recipe assignment is exactly that. I think you’re going to love it! 

First, let me thank all the girls who participated in last week’s writing assignment — it was such an honor to read through all the beautiful experiences and expressions from all of you. Thank you for pouring your heart into that process and sharing your experience with eating Light to Heavy. I know it can seem like a new, or seemingly more advanced principle, but it really makes a big difference. 

Here are some standouts I noticed and loved: 

A. http://marysmeatlessmeals.com – Mary Rosales
B. http://sweetpotatoesandspatulas.wordpress.com – Shelby Cohn
C. http://lemonandginger.co.uk – Karen Manning
D. http://www.sogoodvegan.com – Lucy Eleni

Mary – I loved reading your blog because it was inspiring to you speak about how you struggled to get started with the blogging assignment but ended up really enjoying it. You also express how adjusting your eating from light to heavy made such a difference.

Shelby – You’ve been following Beauty Detox Solution for 14 months and speak about how it helped you clear of your hypoglycemia. Even though you struggled at the beginning, you were able to overcome the struggle by taking it one step at a time!

Karen – Your blog entry talks about your struggle with asthma and how you found my book and recipes. Love also how you detail your daily eating habits for light to heavy.

Lucy – You talk about how this step was the hardest for you and how you overcame it! Amazing! I’m so happy you did this and that you have more energy and feels better than ever!

Again, we LOVED them all — everyone did an amazing job. These were just a few that we wanted to comment on and share with the community. Thanks again. 

I think we’re going to start alternating — one week a recipe, the following week a fun journaling assignment, and so on like that. It feels like that’s the most fair thing for everyone who may not be able to make a full-blown recipe every single week. Please let us know your thoughts on that as well. 

Speaking of food… let’s quickly cover the guidelines before we get into the prep and pictures. 

Now for This Week’s Recipe… 

I call these Sexy Summer “Spring Rolls” because they look delicious and make everyone around say “mmmmmmm” and yum! They’re also mostly raw and extremely light, making them perfect for the warm summer months. 

The ingredients are also VERY simple, which is excellent for your digestion. They contain lots of vitamins and minerals from the raw greens, beauty fats from the avocado, and antioxidants from the tomatoes, making them an all around beautifying dish. 

Let’s get into it… 

Sexy Summer “Spring Rolls”  

Ingredients 

Serves 1-2 

• 5 small handfuls of arugula 
• 10 small slices of tomato (usually one whole tomato) 
• half a small onion (cut into 1-2 inch long slices) 
• 1 ripe avocado 
• 5 sheets brown rice spring roll wrapper (also available individually in many Whole Foods and other natural markets) 
• Organic gluten-free tamari (for dipping at the end!) 

Note: You don’t need to use this specific brown rice paper, it’s just what I used. Remember this is an opportunity to experiment and you can use nori sheets, collard leaves, romaine, chard and other veggies to “wrap” whatever you choose to create for filling! 

Here are the pictures and directions: 

First, get all the ingredients out on the table. 

Here are the rice wraps I used, but again, don’t feel like you need to run out and buy these. Part of the creative process can be figuring out to adapt this recipe to whatever you have! You can certainly just wrap in nori, collards, etc. 

Next, begin cutting your veggies and avocado… 

 

If you use rice paper, you need a bowl of lukewarm water ready to dip each sheet in and moisten, before you put the veggies inside and roll it! 

 

Hold the wrap inside the water for about 10-15 seconds, and then remove and let the excess water fall off. 

 

Now, it’s time to start wrapping! First thing I like to place onto the rice paper is the arugula/greens. 

 

After that, the tomato and onions. 

I add the avocado last! Partly, because avocados have the most fat and are easier to overdo than the other veggies… It doesn’t have to be chopped super neat, especially if you are making this as a fast meal! 

  

Once the veggies are all inside, begin to roll from the top down, trying to keep it as tight as possible. 

 Fold the outsides inward as you are rolling, burrito-style!

Once you have all five rolls done, your cutting board will look something like this… 

 

I then cut them down all the middle until you get even halves for each roll. 

Here’s the brand of organic, gluten-free tamari that I use! 

 

And there you have it! Once you cut them, put them on a plate with the sauce, it should look something like this: 

Sexy Summer Spring Rolls! 

 

Here’s an up close shot, notice how I like to add a LOT of greens — I feel like that’s a big difference between these Beauty Detox-focused rolls and what you’d normally find in an Asian restaurant. 

 

Also, most restaurants use white rice paper, which is not a whole food. It’s not the end of the world but as you know, we are all about whole foods here, and brown rice is a much better choice! 

 

And that’s it! If you make all five wraps and cut them, you have ten pieces in total, that should be enough for two people as a appetizer or as a meal for one person if you’re really hungry. 

Because they’re so light and mostly raw, you can eat them during the day and not feel weighed down at all. 

Now It’s Time to Unleash Your Creativity! 🙂

Here are the next steps to make this recipe your own:

1) Try out this recipe with the ingredients that you have at home. Don’t worry about getting the rice paper if you don’t have it. There are plenty of substitutes like nori sheets, collard greens, and more!

2) When you make your own version, be sure to write down the ingredients, take pictures and turn it into a simple blog post. It might seem like a lot, but once you get into it, you’ll find it’s both fun and easy. 

Once your blog post is live, be sure you share it — while linking back to this post, with the original recipe idea.

3) Be sure to also post your recipe post into the Private Facebook group, so that we and others can see it. We’ll like or share or comment on all recipes that you send our way, to support you and show the community your amazing work.

4) Also, email the link to Katelyn, our community manager, at beautydetoxgirl (@) gmail dot com with a link to your post so she can keep track.

5) Share your post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram — and be sure to hashtag #beautydetoxrecipe so that others can find it. 

It’s just five easy steps, and you’ll find it so rewarding, I guarantee it! 

I hope you’re enjoying the summer and I look forward to what you create over the next week. 

Lots of love,

Kimberly

P.S. — Don’t forget again to link back to this specific blog post, so we can find you and also because it holds the integrity of the process; and be sure to use the hashtag #beutydetoxrecipe when you do!