Monday Meals: Nori Rolls

Weekday Lunch Inspiration: Nori Rolls

Packing a healthy lunch to take to work or school is essential to keep you on track when you’re trying to eat well. With a little bit of preparation, you won’t end up eating a bag of chips at your desk or forgoing lunch altogether, causing you to overeat at dinner. Lunch can get a little boring when you are trying to avoid bread and other refined carbohydrates. If you are looking for a sandwich replacement, try these nori rolls. You can eat them with your hands and they don’t require reheating so they make a great meal on the go.

Sometimes I replace the tuna with 3 hard boiled eggs, or lay ham or turkey on the nori and slice the avocado on top. Fresh vegetables like thinly sliced cucumber and carrots are great too.

The tuna and avocado are excellent sources of omega 3 fatty acids that will keep you full until dinnertime. Nori is an excellent source of iodine, a nutrient that is very important to maintaining a healthy thyroid, but that is very hard to find elsewhere, other than in iodized salt.

Roast your vegetables on a Sunday night, then all you need to do is assemble the rolls the night before or in the morning. The roasting process releases the natural sugars in the vegetables and makes them sweet and caramelized, making this a hearty but healthy lunch. A little bit of preparation goes a long way to help you stick to your healthy diet. If you don’t have roasted veggies, just swap them for fresh ones.

Ahead of time: roast your vegetables.

1. Coarsely chop a combination of eggplant, field mushrooms, pumpkin, brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, bell peppers and zucchini.
2. Lay them on a baking tray, or two. Drizzle with melted coconut oil to coat and sprinkle with sea salt.
3. Roast at 400 for 45 min to 1 hour until tender and browning, stirring every 15 min or so.
4. Place in the refrigerator when cool, ready to eat during the week.

Nori Rolls

Ingredients:

2 sheets of nori

½ avocado

1 5oz can of tuna

2 cups roast vegetables, cold

2 small handfuls of baby kale

Salt and pepper, to season

Tamari or coconut aminos, to serve

1. Mash avocado in a small bowl, add tuna and mix well until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Lay flat one sheet of nori and spread half of the tuna mixture over ¾ of the nori.
3. Place half the vegetables and one handful of baby kale on the tuna.
4. Roll the nori to resemble a sushi roll. If it is having trouble holding together, sprinkle a little bit of water on the nori to soften and seal it.
5. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
6. Roll them in foil to keep them together in your lunchbox.
7. You can dip your nori rolls in tamari, or if you are packing these for work or school, drizzle a small amount of tamari on the tuna after step 2.

Note: Tamari is gluten free soy sauce and coconut aminos are an excellent replacement if you are trying to avoid soy.