Touched by the Noodley Summer Rolls

Summer Rolls

For making the above summer rolls I basically followed a recipe on Vegweb.com, but I added in things that I liked and worked with what I had available. I was out of bean sprouts like I used the previous week, so I used mung bean noodles. These worked out very well. They're the clear noodles, not the thin white rice noodles. Mung bean noodles are typically called cellophane noodles.

I have quite a lot of mung bean noodles. They're very popular here on Maui. These noodles are used in many local dishes including chicken hekka and chicken long rice. I'm not a fan of either dish, and the noodles are definitely a texture that has to be gotten used to. Hiding them in summer rolls seems to be a great way to use them. They're so cheap, and I have a lot of them, so I'm glad to have found a way to use them up. The other wonderful thing about mung bean noodles is that they're gluten-free.

I served the summer rolls with Thai Kitchen Sweet Chili Sauce. The sauce is kind of expensive at $5 per bottle. As you know, whole meals can be made for $5 as is done over at $5 Dinners. But, it's worth it for the flavor. I know that it is something that I can't easily make myself, and that I'd have great difficulty in finding the ingredients here. I also know that I promote a mainly local foods diet, but sometimes you just have to have a treat.

Strawberry Chocolate Smoothie

Speaking of treats, right now I'm slurping down another strawberry chocolate smoothie. I added extra cocoa powder this time (about 1/2 tablespoon extra). I like how chocolate-y it tastes, and I enjoy the creaminess. I don't think I added the protein powder last time like the recipe suggests, but I did this time. The box of strawberries in the picture came from the farm stand. They had the strawberries on sale for 2 for $5. I know that I can get them for 2 for $4 at Pukalani Superette, but I decided to just grab them at the farm stand and let the money go directly to the ladies and gentlemen who farm them right there next to the stand. Lucky me, strawberry season is year round on Maui. Promise me you'll get some strawberries the next time you're on Maui, or if you live on Maui and you're not buying local berries it had better be because you're allergic or have an extreme dislike of them. There is no reason anyone should ever buy non-local strawberries on Maui.

Antioxidant Chili

Oh, and for dinner tonight we ate leftover chili. We had friends over past dinner time, and we didn't get to eat dinner until 8pm. So, to make things easier I just pulled some chili out of the freezer and fed the Nerd, myself, and our friend J who wasn't feeling well. Since the chili was vegan it worked out perfectly as J is a vegetarian. The chili was from The Gluten-Free Vegan and was the Antioxidant Chili. It contained carrots, onions, bell peppers, zucchini (my addition), black beans, kidney beans, and diced tomatoes. I did use canned beans and tomatoes, but it is my intention to use dried black beans for the big pot of salsa chicken and black bean soup later this week.

Well, it's getting late here in Hawaii and I've got some project to work on tomorrow. I need to finish my powerpoint for my class presentation, I need to do a little clean up, and I need to do some more work on my desk project (which I have touched in about a month the poor desk). There might also be a run over to St. Joseph's church in Makawao tomorrow. They're having their annual festival with lots of yummy food and a good thrift store. Although I can't eat most of the food, I can at least eat vicariously through the Nerd. That reminds me, I need to find a gluten-free Malasada recipe. Does anyone have one yet? How about a gluten-free Chow Fun recipe?