Spring Rolls with Almond Butter Sauce

Ingredients

4 rice paper wraps

2 1/2 cups cooked rice noodles

1 avocado, thinly sliced

1/2 cucumber, cut into thin strips

3 green onions, cut into thin strips

1 cup orange bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Almond Butter Sauce

1/3 cup almond butter

1/8 cup coconut milk

1 Tbs water

1 Tbs fresh lime juice

1 Tbs soy sauce

1/4 Tbs fresh ginger, minced

1 garlic clove, pressed

2 Tbs cilantro, chopped

1/2 Tbs hot sauce

Directions

First prepare the almond butter sauce by mixing all the ingredients together.

Next, place 1 rice paper sheet in a large bowl of warm water for about 10 seconds until it has softened. Quickly fill the rice paper wrapper with rice noodles, avocado, cucumber, green onions, peppers, and cilantro. Roll up like a burrito. Repeat with remaining rice paper wrappers. It is important to work quickly with the delicate wrapper. Cut each roll in half and serve with the almond sauce.

One of my favorite appetizers at Thai restaurants are spring rolls, especially if they have a great dipping sauce. I usually make a peanut sauce, but I thought I would experiment with almond butter. The results were great! This sauce would also be great in a stir-fry. You can serve the spring rolls as an appetizer or you can turn it into a complete meal like I did. It's a great light summer supper.

Oat Soda Bread

Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup spelt flour

1 3/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/4 tsp kosher salt

2 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 Tbs sesame seeds (topping)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk. Mix to combined and knead for 30 seconds until well combined. You may need to adjust the amount of buttermilk if it is too dry. Place the loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cut 2 slits 1 inch deep on top, brush with buttermilk, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30 minutes, then move to top rack, and bake another 20 minutes.

Nothing is better than freshly baked warm bread slathered with butter:) I have a tendency to steer away from yeast breads and go for the quick and easy soda breads, so when I saw the recipe on the 101 cookbooks blog I knew I had to try it. I made a few adaptations to the original recipe. I ran out of all-purpose flour, so I substituted spelt flour which is a lighter flour than my other whole-grain options. I also used a lot more buttermilk because it was too dry and I was having a hard time mixing the dry ingredients in. You could add any seed that you would like on top. I just happened to have sesame seeds. Pumpkin seeds are also great. Eric and I devoured this bread when it first came out of the oven. We sat outside with tea, some warm buttered bread, a deck of cards, and we were in heaven:)

Smoked Tomatillo Enchiladas

Ingredients

Tomatillo Salsa

3 tomatillos, diced

2 Tbs red onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeño, minced, seeds included

1 Tbs honey

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp himalayan salt

1 cup cilantro, chopped

6 tortillas

1 Tbs ghee

1 red onion, thinly sliced

2 zucchini, sliced

1 head savoy cabbage

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

2 cups button mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp himalayan salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp agave nectar

1 cup cilantro, chopped

1 cup smoked cheddar, shredded

2 garlic cloves, minced

sour cream (on side)

Directions

Make tomatillo salsa by placing all ingredients in the food processor and process until well chopped and combined. Refrigerate 1-2 hours for flavor development.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Caramelize onion in ghee on medium low heat for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes. Set aside. In 2 large saute pans, saute zucchini, cabbage, mushrooms, and red peppers in ghee until tender. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt & pepper, and agave nectar the last minute of cooking. Stir in 3/4 cup cilantro and caramelized onions. Place about 1/2 cup veggie mixture on each tortilla, top with some smoked cheddar, roll up like a burrito, and place in 9x13 baking dish with some tomatillo salsa spread on the bottom. Next, spread remaining tomatillo salsa on the tops of the tortillas, sprinkle with remaining cheese, garnish with cilantro, and bake for 30 minutes. Serve with sour cream.

I saw some beautiful tomatillos at the co-op and I was inspired to invent this recipe. You don't have to have all the veggies I put in it. I was just cleaning out my refrigerator. The key ingredients really are the smoked cheddar and the tomatillo salsa. The veggie mixture makes way more than you will need, so you can lessen the veggies if you chose or you can do what I did and add them the next day to some rice or pasta for a quick delicious meal. I made these enchiladas for Eric's friends and they were all huge fans. It takes some time, but it is well worth it.

Berry Green Smoothie

Ingredients

2 cups kale, stems removed & leaves torn into small pieces

2 cups unsweetened hazelnut milk

1 banana, frozen & sliced

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 cup frozen berry mix: blackberries, blueberries, & black raspberries

1 cup wild blueberries, frozen

1 Tbs nut butter (almond or cashew)

Directions

Blend kale and hazelnut milk until smooth. Next, blend in the banana. Finally add in remaining ingredients and blend until well-combined.

I was a bit reluctant to try greens in a smoothie, but a friend convinced me that you could not taste the greens. I made sure that I blended the greens very well in the hazelnut milk because I didn't want to get a random chunk of greens in my smoothie. To my surprise you honestly can not tell that you are drinking 2 cups of kale, which is awesome for those that don't care for greens because then you are getting all the great nutrients delivered in a pleasant way. I usually have a bunch of frozen fruit in the freezer and will just grab what looks appealing at the moment. I also usually have bananas in the freezer. When I buy a bunch and they start to get too ripe I throw them in the freezer for my smoothies. I like to add some nut butter for some protein. You can really just make this what you want. You really can't mess it up:)