Salad Rolls (also called Summer Rolls)

By request, we had salad rolls for dinner tonight. They were a big hit, as always, which I also always seem to forget. It surprises me every time how much the kids seem to enjoy them. I think the best rolls are fairly simple with lots of fresh crunchy flavors. The kids lean toward the sweeter veggies and always the fried tofu. My 8 year old can roll her own successfully while the 3 year old dictates the ingredients for hers and then always undoes it and eats it all separately anyways.

Notes and Next Time

• Don't forget to get more herbs! This time we only had mint in the garden (the mint forest has recovered well from the massive haircut it got last month) but I like the rolls better with basil or cilantro to offset the mint pungency.
• My kids and I managed to eat an entire block of tofu. We probably need more (or some lightly chilled cooked chicken or shrimp) if PEter is home as well.
• The window between still crunchy rice paper wrappers and overly soft wrappers is short. Don't get distracted!

Ingredients/Recipe

• rice paper wrappers - at least a few each
• mung bean noodles (or super fine rice noodles) -a small amount soaked in hot water until they expand and soften (maybe 5 minutes), then drained and refrigerated
• cucumber, julienned
• red pepper, julienned
• carrot, julienned
• herb leaves, julienned if you like, otherwise picked off the branches (basil, mint, cilantro are great)
• romaine or butter lettuce
• tofu, cut into strips and fried in sesame oil until lightly crispy
• other odds and ends from the crisper drawer (I had avocado and the leaves off of some radishes from the garden)
• sauces - sweet chili, hosin, peanut 

Step 1: (this is the longest step, give yourself plenty of time!) Cut EVERYTHING!!! Slice and dice and put all the ingredients out onto platters so that you can plop it all into the center of the table.

Step 2: Fill a pie plate with water (Pro tip: put the pie plate on the table first and then fill with water unless you enjoy drying your floor)

Step 3: Call everyone to the table! This is a "Assemble it yourselves" meal.

Step 4: place one rice paper wrapper in the water and let soften. Using warm or hot water speeds up this process but it also shortens the window from just done to mushy so be careful. Take the paper out BEFORE you think it is done as it will continue to soften during your assembly. Put it on your dinner plate and the next person can slide theirs in the water to continue the process.

Step 5: Add stuff. Like a burrito, err on the side of fewer filling ingredients else it may burst. Stretch the wrapper as you roll the slides in to secure. 

Step 6: Dip and eat! (note that some (cough, PEter, cough) like to put the sauces inside the roll but I think this is wrong and also too messy)

Good Side Dishes

We like potstickers with these or other small "appetizer" type foods as it makes the whole meal feel like snacks. Remember that you'll need your entire dinner plate to roll so you can't fit many sides on it at the same time. Soup (miso, wonton) is also a nice choice.

Preparing and planning

We both are starting new jobs in the next few weeks (and mine will involve a commute for the first time in a year) so I'm trying to rethink our daily routine and figure out how it can be adjusted for our new reality. Part of that reality is going to involve less time for dinner prep in the early evening and an increasing need to get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. While we weren't creating elaborate meals most nights anyway, I've been used to having the time to make this that require longer cooking times while I work around the house.

I'm also trying to use this time before all the jobs begin to create a stockpile of recipes (ha! as if I follow recipes!) as well as the building blocks for meals we like to eat. Today, that means that I need to turn 2 packages of ground turkey and one package of chicken breasts into something I can freeze for a future meal. I'm thinking that the turkey might become a batch of precooked meatballs and frozen burgers. I know that I'll slice the chicken up, but haven't figured out what to season it with. I've already got a package of "Asian-ish" chicken in the freezer. 

It's also Wednesday which means it's our local farmers' market day. I'll need to decide whether we're going in a couple of hours and then make some appropriate dinner plans. It's pretty overcast, so I'm leaning to a night staying home. 

Summer is coming!

With summer around the corner, I'm beginning to think about what we'll be cooking, canning, and growing this season. I've just reorganized the extra freezer and our garden is in and growing. On top of all of this, I start a new teaching contract in a few weeks for the summer. We're going to be busy!

So, what's on my agenda/wishlist for the summer? Well, I'd like to work on doing a better job of using and saving more of the food that we buy. It's so sad to find a soggy bag of carrots down at the very bottom of the crisper. So, that's priority number 1. In addition, I loved the little amount of canning I did last year (jams and the pickled beans). I even made a small batch of strawberry-lime-vanilla jam a few weeks ago! But, we don't go through as much jam as I like to make, so I'd also like to work on making things OTHER than jam! Where does this leave me? Well, I'm not entirely sure. We made yogurt a few weeks ago which was fun. Chickadee found it a bit too sour, so I might try making some lightly presweetened next time. We've also been prepping more beans and freezing them, which I like to do. In fact, there's a big batch of pinto beans in the fridge right now that I need to break down and freeze. And I started a pot of tomato sauce this morning while working from home that I'll also freeze. I also have a bunch of chicken breasts in the fridge (buy one get one at the store) that I think I want to cut up and freeze in different marinades. I've found that we like some of the TJ versions and why not make our own and save some money. And I'm also intrigued by the idea of relishes. I keep seeing recipes on line for them so that's definitely something I'd like to investigate. Alas, I also need to figure out if there are something we'd regularly eat because, as much as I love canning, it seems silly to can things we won't eat.

The garden will be providing us some nibbles soon. We picked a snap pea each on our way to school this morning for an early snack! And we can probably start taking some early potatoes from the plants as well. There are two teeny, tiny zucchini on the plants but no patty pans yet. And the eggplants are looking a little sad. The beans and edamame are about 10 inches high now, but I don't think we'll have enough of either to save, just enough for some meals in late summer. However, we ought to have LOT of tomatoes of all shapes and colors. I'm super excited about those!