Happy Saturday! So, yesterday when I was driving to work, it dawned on me what day it was. It was May 17th which means it was Moose’s 5th birthday!  Our little guy is now 5 years old which is just pure craziness! We celebrated by giving him a couple of pieces of cheese with his pain meds and antibiotics last night and he got to lick the end of the peanut butter jar. 🙂 Lucky guy, huh?

Another thing I was remembering while driving was that last year at this time we were in the Boundary Waters with my brother Scotty and his girlfriend Nicole. The weather was a whole lot different last year and we were actually bathing in the water! It was cold, but it was tolerable. It was definitely an adventure I will never forget. If you want to reminisce with me you can check out this boundary water post!

I’m slowly pulling myself out of my food rut and I got creative in the kitchen again last night! It was a Vegetarian Spring Roll night in our casa!

I began by prepping my veggies: cutting cucumber, red bell pepper and carrots into strips, chopping up fresh cilantro, and opening up a bag of broccoli slaw.

Next, I prepared the peanut sauce. Into the bowl went 1/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter, 2 tablespoons of hot water, the juice of half a lime, 3/4 tablespoon coconut aminos (you could use soy sauce instead), and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil. After I made all of the rolls up I decided I should have added some heat to the sauce, so I recommend adding either red pepper flakes or a dash of hot sauce to the peanut sauce!

Next, we submerged the rice paper into a hot water bath one by one, rotating it until it becomes slightly floppy and pliable. Don’t be intimidated by rice paper, it is really SO easy to use! I placed the paper onto the counter and smeared on the peanut sauce and piled on the veggies (broccoli slaw, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, and cilantro).

I rolled the long side over first, then tucked each side over, and continued the rest of the roll.

And the end result is these gorgeous spring rolls!

You could also use the peanut sauce as a dipping sauce on the side instead of inside the wrapper, but I was in the mood to tuck it inside.

Aren’t they gorgeous?! They tasted so fresh and delicious and they were actually very satisfying as well. The best part about these rolls is you can use up whatever you have on hand as the filling. The last time I used these rice papers to make rolls I made a warm baked Santa Fe version and they were super good too! The kids would love these rolls especially if you served them with a dipping sauce.

Have a fabulous day! I have to go get Insane…