shrimp + mango spring rolls

I already have the final product displayed on IG, but I thought I'd give the step-by-step for these here. I didn't find any recipes online that were quite right, so I made this one. I am really trying to make an effort to pack my lunches for work and eat less take out...after all I do like to cook, and definitely feel better when I'm eating fresher stuff. The recipe isn't exactly *exact* because I just threw this stuff together, but here is an approximation~ 

Mango Shrimp Spring Rolls

Ingredients-

(I got 'em all at haggen, because stanwood is lacking in grocery store options)

Medium sized pre cooked shrimp/prawns, 1-2 packs (I got one average grocery sized tray from the meat section, a little more would have been good)

1 mango, peeled and chopped into smallish pieces

A bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped with a scissors or herb knife

1 pack rice stick noodles (in the Asian section)

Spring roll wrappers (rice starch- in Asian section- looks like this~) 

Mint (I couldn't find fresh unfortunately so I used dried)

So first boil some water. While you're doing that, combine shrimp sans tails, mango chunks, cilantro, and mint in a bowl. You could cook and season the shrimp, but I didn't, since there was enough flavor in the recipe already.

Next, pour boiling water over rice stick noodles in a bowl. Drain them once they are softened. I rinse them in cool water too. Then, use scissors to snip them into more manageable sized pieces.

Andie Lu was my "helper."

Then, get a large flat dish/pan and fill it with warm water. Put the spring roll skins in there one at a time and remove once they are clearish looking and soft. Be gentle with them. If (when) they start to get stuck to themselves like cling wrap, you can either rinse them back out under the tap, or lay it on the counter and try to spread it out.

Next, lay the skin out and lay the noodles on it first, and then a scoop of the mango/shrimp mixture.

Place it near the edge, then fold in the sides first, then roll. Keep it tight! This takes a little practice. You wanna fold the sides almost all the way in, then start rolling it up while compressing the filler.

Place them on a plate and voila! 🍴🍤👍

Just remember to refrigerate, so this doesn't happen

🚽

I have a bunch of rice stick noodles left over so I might make another variation of these later in the week with chicken.

I like mine with a peanut dipping sauce, but a soy-lime-chile kind of concoction would be good, too. 

I plan to put a few of these in my lunch bag this week :-)

gobble gobble

We spent this fine turkey day at my dad's house this year. It's just about the only holiday I'm NOT working this year, so that in and of itself made it a good day (of course I worked the two days before and at least the next 3 days after...can't recall my schedule beyond that, it's all becoming a blur...but yeah, I "had the holiday off." Whatever.)

One exciting thing was that my brand-new niece was there! Meet Mina Lee. She's adorable. So glad that her and Avery are so close in age! (Mina is six weeks, so they are four-something months apart). 
 

As always, Aili and Andie love this tea set.
 

My sweets. Andie and I get along the best when she is asleep ;-)

 Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the fabulous food (if you care.)
In anticipation of said fabulous food, I did not eat all day, and waited patiently for dinner at 6pm. So there were no pictures being taken, only turkey, stuffing, and gravy being shoveled in like a pig at the trough. I even wore stretchy pants and a dress, once again, in anticipation of the festivities. Only amateurs wear jeans or tight pants to a holiday meal.

Next, came some beautiful family portraits.

Our attractiveness knows no bounds...

 Us Sluys women sure are hot. If it wasn't for the fact that about half my family is missing in these pictures, I swear this is the holiday card that would have shown up in your mailbox this year...

 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Joyous Kwanzaa, peeps

At our holiday dinner, for me, there was a lot of THIS:

...Which explains why I was so entertained by THIS....
 

 (I would be an AWESOME children's book author, just saying).

And then, I was sort of sad that there were no pictures of Jeff and I that night. So, I took one:

 

  (No, the husband is not stoned. I think. I wasn't with him all night, so I suppose it's possible. It was past his bedtime, though.)

 

He woke up, a little. Poor guy had no idea what he was getting into when he married me. 

Annnnddd in a totally random, not-at-all-related photo(s) from today, here is what it looks like to have 3 kids and 2 working parents:

 

 That is called, doing laundry for 5. Yeeeaahhh those little girl socks stretched from one end of the room to the other (not all pictured here). Having 3 girls may just be the death of us. Looking at this picture kinda makes me wanna go shove an IUD up myself right this very second with no delay makes me realize just how cute my little family is, even though it can be more work than you could possibly imagine.

 

6 & 3

Somehow I now have a six year old and a three year old...when did this happen?! I swear, I hear that Taylor Swift song about being 22 and it was like it was yesterday... Can't hardly believe I am a mother to three girls, one of whom is now in school doing actual homework. 

We just had a little party at our house for this year's celebration. 

Love the expression on Aili's face on that one!

The kids were way into the sweets...the amount of sugar consumed by Lu alone was absurd. 

She ate *most* of these, yet still didn't puke....? I mean she knocked back a ton of marshmallows, plus more than one (actually maybe more than 3) cupcakes, plus god only knows what else. She kinda camped out by the food table all night and I didn't feel like being the Food Police all night, so there ya go. Andie's dream scenario. 

Lisa helped me make those cupcake crowns out of banana laffy taffies...damn that Pinterest. Those things were a pain in the a&$. And thanks to little toddler hands, most of them are falling apart in the picture. Sorry Lisa you worked so hard...

There was a lot of pink at this little girl party. So, we had a lot of alcohol. You know, so the adults could stomach all the pink. 

"Watermelon" Jell-O shots. I may have had some while cooking and getting ready for this shindig. But like, just one. Cough. We also had a keg and margaritas. Hmmm. Starting to wonder what kind of parents we are, all that alcohol for a kids birthday party, plus my menu included cheese and chocolate fondues, with accompanying skewers. Probably not my best move, seeing how kids and fondue go together like guns and a vegan, but oh well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and by some miracle from above, no child knocked back a Jell-O shot and skewered another kid (that I know of)

Andie loved her princess dress up clothes and shoes. Watching her try to walk in those is so cute. Although trying to get her out of them when she's teetering her way to the car with intent on wearing them in public is murder. Oh, the screams...

Aili and Ari painting a jewelry box present...Aili loves any arts and crafts project and couldn't wait to bust into this one.

This is what my living room looked like after they started tearing into their presents...and the invite said no prezzies! Our friends and family are way too generous. 

The birthday girls...

Aili was super excited to have all her friends over. All in all, I think they had a great birthday. And as always, I am very appreciative to my friends and family, who came out in the torrential downpour and drove a ways to celebrate with us. For us, a birthday is just a good excuse to get to see a lot of great friends and family. And there were plenty to do that with this year :-) 

Muchos cumpleanos my sweets! 

30 + yummies

Somebody turned 30 recently...

No, not her obviously. But she's pretty cute right? Her ouchie is looking a lot better, too.

                                    They made me work for it, too.

 

I got to celebrate with all these cuties too...I'm a lucky girl :-)

 

I got some pretty awesome presents too, including a 50mm fixed lens and a new tripod. So no more balancing the camera on the car. Pretty cool.

I'm loving these tulips. So far we've had red ones and these ones pop up...I can't remember if I planted any purple ones. I'm thinking I should, if I didn't already.

 

Kiddos bouncing...they had a pretty fun time.

Counting the number of candles on the cake...yes unfortunately it is true, there are 30.

My asparagus patch is thriving...yummy.

 

 

Let's end this post with a recipe, because we haven't done that for awhile...

For brekkie the other morning I made everyone strawberry stuffed french toast, which is always delightful. Any fruit will do though...pear/peach/raspberry.

Well fig might be kinda sketch. Maybe just stick with one of the above.

 

Stah-bee Stuffed French Toast

(as the little ones would say)

 

So to start, you're gonna want these ingredients:

 

Eggs, Cream Cheese (whipped or reular), Sugar, (granulated and confectioner's is optional), Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Milk, Bread, Fresh Fruit.

 

So obviously you want to use the best ingredients possible. I use our chicken's eggs, which are awesome, but any organic free range would be fine. For vanilla we use some nice clear vanilla we get from Mexico, or if the Queen is coming for breakfast, you could use a vanilla bean, see left above (split lengthwise and scoop). For Cinnamon, either grind up some from a stick or use ground. Bread needs to be good. Preferably thick sliced, preferably artisan or homemade. No freaking wonder bread ok?

 

 

 

 

So first, you want to stir up your cream cheese. Throw in some granulated sugar to taste (and, um, you'll need a lot. This is not a diet-friendly recipe, this is an occasional treat). Then throw in some more for good measure. Now add your sliced/chopped fruit and mix it all together. Once its well mixed, stash it in the freezer to get it nice and cold while you're doing your bread.

 

 

See how nice and dark yellow/orange our chickie's eggs look? Good eggs really do make a difference. Anyway, hand beat eggs, milk, vanilla (I always increase the amount of vanilla in any recipe, and dump a hefty amount in this recipe too), cinnamon, and nutmeg. Then drench your bread really good, and lay it on a medium hot skillet. Flip when golden brown.

 

Now, assembly time. Get your fruit and cream cheese mixture out of the freezer.

 

 

Slather on a good amount of the mixture on top of the piece of bread, then add another piece on top. If you're a small servings kind of person, just fold the bread in half over it.

 

 

Dust with confectioner's sugar and top with a decorative piece of fruit. And if you're reaaaallllyyy nice, serve it to the bedmate you let sleep in in bed with some coffee.

 

.....Annnnndddd, you're welcome  ;-)