Fresh spring rolls...

Or fresh rolls? I'm not sure of the exact name, but we like to order these when we go out for Vietnamese food, and I like to buy them for lunch sometimes from the sushi place in my building. Because of that, I am not entirely sure of their country of origin!! Oh well, I do know that they are completely delicious.

I had been craving these all week, and since my husband was going to be gone all day on Saturday, and I was looking for a way to pass time, I thought I could try to make these myself! They were pretty easy, and not too expensive. They'll definitely become a staple in our diet now! The best part? Three of the rice wraps were 70 calories, and they were filled with veggies and a little vermicelli, so I feel like they are pretty Weight Watchers friendly. I will have to try to actually calculate the points value... and report back!

Here's what I needed:
- rice wraps (there are a ton in 1 package, we have lots left over)
- 1/2 package of vermicelli
- a handful of salad shrimp (I hate seafood so these went into the ones I made for my husband)
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1/2 red pepper sliced
- 1 cup of shredded carrot
- 1/2 cucumber (peeled, seeds removed, cut into spears)
- 2 sprigs of fresh mint
- 1 sprig of fresh basil (which I picked from our garden!!!!!!)

I cooked the vermicelli by putting it in a pot of boiling water for about 45 seconds. To prepare the rice wraps, I filled a large pasta serving bowl with hot water. I liked the pasta bowl because it was big enough for the rice wrap to lay flat. So, you have to prepare one wrap at a time by letting it soak in the water until it is soft. Then you lay the wrap carefully onto a damp dish towel. Add the ingredients to the center of the wrap.

I then folded the left and right slides onto the fillings, and then just rolled them up! I put them all on a bed of lettuce on a platter. Since I had done this a couple of hours in advance, I put them in the fridge with the damp dish towel covering them.

Of course, none of this would have been possible without my most valuable kitchen tool:

I didn't stop at the rolls though, I knew my husband would be super hungry when he got home, so I cut up some pita to have with hummus, and made a huge salad for each of us! Oh, and how could I forget about the peanut sauce for dipping??? YUM. I didn't make it from scratch since my coworker recommend the "Thai Kitchen" peanut satay sauce instead. Oh man, it was awesome.

The salad had cucumbers, baby romaine, tomato, red pepper, carrot, croutons, and ranch dressing.  That wraps up my weekend adventures in the kitchen! We really enjoyed this meal and I highly recommend it. This might be start of many good things to come :).

What have you guys been making lately?