Happy 2015 everyone! I know it's been a long while since I wrote, but I've had good reason. After spending Christmas with the fam, I was off to sunny Cuba for a week. I had an AH-MAZING vacation, and realized just how sun-deprived I'd been. It's amazing what a little vitamin D will do for sun-starved Canadian. Since coming back home to sun-less Southern Ontario, I've been busy working on my report cards - the worst time of the year for a teacher. YUCK! So, that's another reason why I've been neglecting this blog. But I've been really trying not to neglect my efforts to eat whole, nutritious foods. Admittedly, it's getting harder and harder to stick with eating fresh, local produce, since much of what's available in Southern Ontario these days is root vegetables. There's only so many onions and sweet potatoes a girl can eat. |
Anyways, as you can imagine, it's pretty difficult to stick to non-processed, wholesome, nutritious, fresh foods when you're on vacation. But I wasn't going to get too bent out of shape about that. Still, whenever I could, I tried to go for local fruits and grilled vegetables. And I had a lot of eggs at breakfast. Like, everyday. Their seafood was pretty good too. Check out the lobster tail we had one night with rice and veggies. Didn't expect to be having lobster like this in Cuba! |
I used cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumbers, green and red bell peppers, and apples for added sweetness. For my dressing I mixed some dijon mustard, sesame oil, a little bit of pure honey, and balsamic vinegar, then chopped in some garlic and added ground ginger.
If you've never used rice paper before, there is a bit of a trick to them. They are dry and hard in the package and will break easily if you don't handle them carefully. You need to get a large bowl or deep dish filled with warm water. Gently lay the rice paper into the water and carefully move it around a little (kinda like the old-style method of developing film photographs). In a few seconds the rice paper will become pliable and thin. Then you're ready to roll it.
Vegetable Spring Rolls Ingredients
For Dipping Sauce:
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- Mix all dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside or in the refrigerator.
- Julienne all vegetables and set out in assembly line format.
- Working one at a time, prepare rice paper by carefully soaking in a dish of warm water until pliable.
- Fill with vegetables and roll tightly.
- For thicker rolls, you may want to double up the rice paper.
- Serve with dipping sauce.