Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls

I had a crisper full of bits and pieces of a variety of vegetables, and Greg and I had a big lunch so we only wanted something light - this totally fit the bill!  Easy to put together, super healthy and delicious!

VIETNAMESE FRESH SPRING ROLLS

Ingredients:

Rice paper wraps

Any fresh vegetables you enjoy (I chose pea shoots, enoki mushrooms, Thai basil, yellow bell peppers, cucumber and carrots). Larger veggies such as cucumbers and carrots should be cut into thinly sliced matchsticks

Warm water in a medium-sized bowl

Sauce:

4 tsp fish sauce

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp lime juice

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp garlic chili sauce

• Combine fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce in a small bowl.  Set aside.
• Place the rice wrappers, one at a time, in the warm water for approximately 5 seconds each, or until softened.
• Lay the wrapper on a clean, dry towel.  Layer vegetables on top of each other, down the middle of the wrapper.  Fold the right side of the wrapper over the vegetables.  Fold bottom of wrapper up toward the middle, roll the wrapper from right to left.  Place wrapper on platter or plate.
• Repeat for as many rolls as you want to make.
• Serve spring rolls with fish sauce and ENJOY!

*Another delicious sauce to create for these rolls is a Hoisin & Peanut Sauce.  3 tbsp Hoisin sauce combined with 1 tsp chopped peanuts!*
*The rice wrappers, fish sauce and Hoisin sauces can be found in the International section of most grocery stores or Asian supermarkets.*    

       

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

I was appalled to see that my last blog post was in September?!  What the heck have I been doing?? LOL!  I've actually been cooking a lot of the foods that are already posted on this blog (AKA being lazy and not very inventive in the kitchen!)
Last night I decided to try something a little bit different with the boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I had defrosted - and they were a hit with the entire family (PHEW!)  This recipe is easy and tasty, and paired with roasted root vegetables that can be baked in the oven at the same time and temperature as the chicken thighs, you have one super tasty dinner!

ASIAN GLAZED CHICKEN THIGHS

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice vinegar

5 tbsp honey

1/3 cup of soy sauce

1/4 sesame oil

3 tbsp Asian chili garlic sauce

3 tbsp minced garlic

Salt, to taste

8 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

• Whisk together all the ingredients before the chicken thighs.  Pour half of the marinade into a large freezer bag and add chicken thighs.
• Place bag in fridge and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour or up to 12 hours, turning often.
• Pour the other half of the marinade into a small saucepan and place over medium high heat stirring often to thicken.
• Preheat oven to 425F
• Remove chicken thighs from the bag and discard used marinade.  Place chicken thighs into a 9x13 baking dish.  Brush thighs with 1/3 of the thickened marinade
• Bake in the oven, uncovered for 30 minutes.  Brush with another 1/3 of the marinade and bake for another 5 minutes.  Check temperature of the thighs with a thermometer - it should read 165F.  Remove thighs from oven and let stand.
• Meanwhile reheat the remaining 1/3 of marinade.  Place thighs on plate and drizzle marinade over top.  
• Serve and ENJOY!