I was talking to my mom who reminded me how good summer rolls taste. I really like them, but for me the problem is most contain seafood, in reality that means shrimp. I am not against shrimp, I just do not care for them myself. Instead I chose to create summer rolls with chicken. I love how fresh these came out tasting. I also appreciate that even though I made them for lunch the extras were fine in the fridge until dinner. The other thing I noticed when searching the internet is that many people serve theirs with a peanut sauce, I too made a peanut sauce. I also created a spiced soy sauce that my husband and I devoured with the summer rolls, just a tip from us. Another note, the rice paper I used I bought on Amazon here (affiliate link). It probably could be found at your local Asian market, I just was busy when I last went grocery shopping and had limited time. You can probably guess by now what I am going to say is the first step. Prepare your ingredients. I found for me having all the ingredients prepared and ready made the rolling part fun. One thing I would also note is that although your first summer rolls may not look the best, they stick together quite well. I think this could be something that is done with children and they would have fun rolling up the rolls or deciding what goes in theirs. Kids love having ownership over their food. Even if their summer rolls are not perfect, they will taste great and the kids will be proud they could do it by themselves, provided ingredients are prepared ahead of time. I started by preheating my oven to 350 degrees. Then I took a chicken breast and seasoning it with salt and pepper. I then heated a pan with a drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat. I cooked it 2-3 minutes until seared on both sides, the time this will take varies by stove in my prior apartment this took 3-5 minutes, just watch and be careful the chicken does not burn. Then placed the entire pan in the oven until the chicken registered 165 with a meat thermometer. Then allow to cool and slice. I wanted it to be more simple and that is why I seasoned it such. I found this whole dish to be quite fresh and clean tasting, which is what I wanted. Next chop into thin strips, 1/2 of a cup of napa cabbage, 1/2 of a cup of purple cabbage, 1 peeled carrots into strips, and 1/4 of a cucumber sliced and then cut into strips. You could make this easy by slicing an avocado as well, if you are doing this with kids I would suggest you chop this ahead of time. You can also use 1/2 of a cup each of alfalfa sprouts and bean sprouts. Next you will make your dipping sauce. In a small bowl combine 1/8 of a cup of reduced sodium soy sauce, 1/8 of a cup of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1/2 of a teaspoon of powdered garlic and 1/2 of a teaspoon of powdered ginger. Stir to combine. Next add 4 tablespoons of peanut butter with at least 4 tablespoons of water and 1/2 of a teaspoon of powdered ginger. If you are using natural peanut butter you may want to add a bit of sugar to taste for sweetness. Stir to mix together, if still too thick add water a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved. This will look like it has separated but if you continue stirring it will come together in a creamy consistency. Then it should look a bit like below. Next you will take your rice paper and in a shallow bowl with warm tap water, you will wet the paper. The design will disappear when you wet the rice paper. Then you can place it on a flat surface, I used a cutting board. Next you will layer your ingredients in your roll. I found that I liked the look of avocado or colorful vegetables on the outside most so I put that down first and then added a small pinch of all the other ingredients. I found that it was better for me to lay them out lengthwise and not to attempt to overstuff the rolls. Then you tuck the bottom of the roll up, the one side and the other and then roll it like a burrito until the final side is tucked as well. Your roll should be done, repeat until your ingredients are all used up. You can then dip and enjoy. Summer Rolls
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I am working to plan out future content and I figured who better to ask for thoughts than my current readers. What do you prefer I write about? Any topics you want me to cover? Here is what I have mostly written about in the past -food, books and reading, travel, exercise, and my thoughts on life. If you have any specific ideas please share them below. I just went to Japan and could write about that experience, I could also review local restaurants. I am working on more food and recipe posts but because I do not have an infinite budget and testing takes me quite a bit of time until I get it right, I do not share recipes daily, it just does not currently work for me, but I can work on specific recipes or share what I am cooking or working on? I also can share about other food or book related topics or about my life in general, just let me know below in the comments and I will work on it in coming weeks. Any questions you want answers to or want me to look into, please leave them in the comments below!
Traveling is hard enough. How can we make it easier? One of the things I have started to do is to prepare for traveling in advance. Depending on the scale of the trip this can mean different things. No matter the trip I always start with the basics. Cleaning my house thoroughly so when I come home I do not have to do a thing. I clean out the fridge, make the beds, wash and put away all the dishes, and take out the trash. I find the calm of a clean worth the work of doing more before we leave. For local trips or road trips, this means packing up the car and giving travel notices to the bank. We usually bring bags for separating laundry as it accumulates on the trip and for the car to contain the garbage. For larger trips, this means securing tickets, exchanging currency as needed, and ensuring all items we need are with us before we go, these include outlet converters, extra batteries, charging packs, laundry bags, and ensuring passports are still valid. We tend to leave packing to the night before because most of what we bring we use on a regular basis and we find packing all at once means less things are forgotten. When we return, we immediately unpack. I love the feeling of having everything be back where it belongs and have no suitcase to unpack the next day. How do you prepare for travel? What tips do you do before you leave or immediately upon returning?
As a child, one of the vegetables we frequently order when we got Chinese food was broccoli with garlic sauce. I found it to be one of the only vegetables I remember that stood alone, not in fried rice or lo mein. I am excited to share I have managed to recreate that experience at home which makes a simple side that takes barely any time at all. Broccoli with Asian Inspired Garlic SauceWhat are your favorite vegetable sides? Any recipes you want me to recreate?
This month my reading came back on track I know last month reading tended to be a struggle, but this week I was more willing to and dedicated to try more books, which meant abandoning many books as well as eventually finding a few I loved.
Bringing Up Bébé by Pamela Druckerman
I started reading parenting books before I knew I was pregnant. One of the pieces of advice that I found in looking for books to read was to only read books that make you feel more sane. This was the first book I started reading and I found this book to be a delight. I devoured it and appreciated how it gave me confidence to trust myself and not feel overwhelmed by the sea of information and I found I was able to trust myself and my instincts more. This book is a mix of memoir and advice. I would describe her style as less is more. I also love that she describes not only things she does well, but also missteps, failures and how she rectifies these things. I really appreciated her perspective and through this lens I was able to continue my journey into books.
Book Rating: 4/5 Cress by Marissa Meyer
One of the themes you may have noticed in my fiction books as of late is that I am loving fairytale retellings or fairytale related books. This book falls into that category. This book is the third in a series called the Lunar Chronicles. This book continues the story incorporating the fairytale of Rapunzel into the dystopian universe that the storyline contains. I have to say I really enjoyed this and I find this young adult novel has a fast pace and keeps me engaged. My one critique is that I found the characters to be pairing up in expected ways and I wish that there was more diversity of relationships and that some of the characters did not end up in romances.
Book Rating: 4/5 Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole
This I started reading when I found out I was pregnant. I was not sure how to eat while pregnant when I am not dieting. I had been wanting to read this book for a while and I was glad I used that as the impetus to start reading it. As I read this I found myself making the changes it suggests and it just makes more and more sense. For me I found that listening to my body and not losing my mind over trying to be healthy has been a welcomed change. I feel like even if I am not ever going to be the thinnest person on the world there are many other goals I care about more and my mental health and physical health are both important factors, one should not dominate the other. This is a nonfiction book that describes a way of eating that is sustainable and long lasting through listening to your body and trusting yourself with food and enjoying the food you eat rather than being filled with shame and guilt.
Book Rating: 4/5 The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
This is a book I have been meaning to read for a while. I have even had it on my shelf. My mom gave it to me because she thought I would enjoy it. This book is adjacent to books on old men. The main character is not as old as most of the characters in those books, but his attitude is similarly curmudgeonly. This is a novel about a bookstore owner who is quite grumpy and it shows how his life changes over the course of many years. I loved the scope of this novel and I found it to be quite detailed and nuanced. I appreciated how realistic it was and how the character's stories were not tied up in a neat bow, but still ended in a satisfying way. I loved this book so much I read it in a single day.
Book Rating: 5/5 The Science of Mom by Alice Callahan
This book is another parenting book. I have found that some of the parenting books I have appreciated the most are ones that are science based and that do not preach what to do. I really have found that these books give me the information that is scientifically based but in a way that is not written to incite fear or to preach what to do. This book falls into that category and describes many decisions to be made over the first year of your child's life.
Book Rating: 4/5 Pride and Prejudice
This is a book I was supposed to read in high school, but honestly never did. I know I read parts, but I did not read it in its entirety. I was quite familiar with the story having watched the film and the miniseries. I have to say I think that made quite the difference in reading this book. I did not feel like the language was a barrier, because I had an idea of the basic plot line I really did not struggle with following the story. I have to say I did find that because it had been a while and because this was a book not a film adaptation I really wanted to know how it ended and stayed up late to try to find out how it ended. I noticed that there were a number of differences in the format because it allowed you more of an omniscient viewpoint. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and really loved reading this book.
Book Rating: 5/5 Winter by Marissa Meyer
This is the final book in the Lunar Chronicles series. This book adds the fairytale of Snow White to the dystopian world, and wraps up the variety of plot lines from all the characters. I found this to be quite satisfying read, but I also wanted a little more nuance, which again for a young adult book is not always present.
Book Rating: 4/5
What have you been reading recently? Any recommendations or books you have loved?
What are any tips you have for people in the kitchen? I would love it if you would share them below.
Ever make a recipe and find it bland and boring. Oh the number of times I have done this and been disappointed with all the effort I have put into my meal. One of the things I have gotten good at is what I call doctoring recipes, meaning I adjust the ingredients at the end or add something else to make the meal more delicious. The following are what I reach for when I find my meal to be bland. There are times where a food simply tastes bad and it is not worth eating, but hopefully these tips will help with you budget and help you to enjoy your food. Add SeasoningsI usually reach for garlic salt first, because I find it to be a flavor boost and typically cook with large amounts of garlic. You could also add simple salt and pepper, seasoned salt, everything bagel seasoning, taco seasoning or simply start adding spices from your cabinet. When I was in graduate school and my former boyfriend now husband was living in Florida with all of our belongings. He would make ground beef in a skillet and simply test out all the seasonings. I have always been something of a spice hoarder. In this case, I find it to be extremely useful. Add a SauceYou can use sauces in your fridge to play with the way something tastes. Add soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, toasted sesame oil, ketchup, oyster sauce, chili paste, salsa, and simply get creative with what already exists in your pantry or your fridge. Condiments can make a big difference. Add DairyTypically I mean sour cream. I find that if a sauce needs a bit of creaminess you can add yogurt or sour cream to enhance the flavor and give a bit more of a rich taste. I also sometimes to a pasta dish will add a dash of heavy cream to add that richness too. I will also add extra cheese, because I love it and I find the flavor to help most dishes. Add FatFat also adds that richness like dairy, I usually add avocado, a bit of butter or olive oil can do wonders for a dish. Additionally you can use nuts to add a fat and a crunch, which might help if your dish has a more lack luster texturally speaking. Add a CrunchSometimes if what you are eating is too uniform in texture you can find the experience to be bland. If you had a few nuts, a couple crushed up chips, toasted breadcrumbs, all of these components and I am sure more add a textural contrast that can make the eating experience more enjoyable. A crunch of sugar on top of a pie crust or a sprinkle can add a contrast to sweet things too. Add SugarI usually only use sugar to combat a spicy curry, but I find a pinch of sugar makes it taste a bit more edible. Eat With StarchSometimes if a meal is too intense stirring it with some rice, or eating it with pasta or over a potato will make it lose some of its potency because you are spreading it over something milder. Keep in mind though if you do this you are likely to eat it for longer because you will eat smaller amounts at each meal. What do you do with your meals that don't come out as you expect? What are your tips and tricks?
Ever felt fed up by trying to find the tool you need but overwhelmed by clutter. Here are ways to clear space and create a kitchen you love. There are many things that may not be for me but are for you so as you read this keep that in mind. Not working for me does not mean it won't work for you. Here are things that I do not have or do in the kitchen:
What are things you avoid or ways you try to keep your kitchen a place that you love?
Does baking bread intimidate you? It really doesn't have to and I have some resources that can help. I have been making bread for a few years. In college, my final roommate baked bread and it inspired me to try, before then I had only made yeasted rolls. I would be lying if I said my bread was always great, I had many loaves that were undercooked and inedible. After college, I took a few years before I started baking again. I checked out Baking with Julia from the library and started baking bread in Florida. I found the most challenging part finding the ingredients. The breads in that book required many trips to stores and were eventually acquired at a local beer-making store. Next I started with a sourdough starter my mother in law bought me for my birthday. I tested all the King Arthur recipes that came with it, some had better results than others. What I found to be most helpful and free when I was getting started was this blog, The Fresh Loaf. Specifically this guide helped me to understand the steps of bread making and make my attempts at the other loaves better. What has really been a game changer started with this recipe, also free online. I found this to be the best loaf I had made at the time, the photos and descriptions were also quite helpful. In reality though now the best loaf I have made has been from the book Tartine Bread. I have found it to be simple to follow and also gives me the irregular crumb structure I am looking for me inside my loaves. If you have made bread, what resources do you find useful? I am always looking for new ideas and any suggestions would be great. Right now I am testing out varieties of bread with different grains and I am excited to see the results.
Is blogging old? It doesn't need to be. I find blogging to be as relevant as you choose to make it. One of my goals for the upcoming months is to become a better blogger. In the first few months of this year I have started being extremely consistent and blogging five days a week, but I do feel like there are many things I can do to improve. Below are five videos I watched recently that helped me think of blogging differently. I share them in the hopes they may help you too. Blogging in GeneralVideos about Writing a PostPlease share below any videos that have helped you or any resources that have been useful to you as you blogged.
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About MeI'm Sarah; a wife, traveler, foodie, and adventurer. Archives
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