Healthy Spring Summer Rolls

Have you ever realised that you just go with the flow and you desperately need to stop and stare? This has been my condition for couple of weeks recently until I just couldn't neither sleep well, nor relax. And then I decided it was time to change. Maybe not fully change everything but at least my attitude. Because in the end work is just work and "life is what you miss when you are busy making your own plans", right?

Nowadays, we are victims of a speedy life when time is precious and everything is done on our ways. But the thing is, when we are trying to recall even what we ate yesterday we can hardly remember the menu... Hm... Of course! If a person eats, watches a movie, talks to a friend and checks an extremely interesting Instagram account she has bumped into by chance and all of it simultaneously, the brain does not really concentrate on a particular activity. Which means that our body is actually not really expecting the food we are consuming at such moments and we do not even notice how we eat our daily portion in a bite. 

And therefore another trend gets even more popular. SLOW FOOD. Slow living, slow time, slow food... Whatever you call it. We have to just go back to the basics. Eating and enjoying each bite. Because that is what brings us the most benefit. Add a good company to this, cook your food together and then enjoy it at the big table. That is what a slow life should be like... 

My input in the slow living today is a wonderful recipe of spring rolls. Made in the summer but that does not matter because they taste perfect during any season. Done very quickly. And suitable even for parties.

Ingredients:

yields 8 rolls

8 rice paper sheets (*easy to find in the Asian stores)

200 g fresh salmon

1/2 avocado

1/2 yellow bell pepper

1/2 cucumber

10 cherry tomatoes (*my choice San Marzano)

2 cups salad leaves

1 cup precooked black rice

1 cup precooked quinoa

Philadelphia cheese 

fresh herbs

soy sauce

1 tsp Wasabi

The trick with the rice paper is that you need to soak it in a cold water in order to make it flexible and sticky. So prepare a bowl with cold water and set it aside. Wash the veggies and cut them into pieces (medium size, not turning into mush). Wash salmon loin and cut it into long pieces about 1 cm wide and 0.5 cm thick. Put the first sheet of rice paper into the water and keep an eye on it. The water should just cover it. Wait until it gets flexible and take it out. Put it on a plate and start filling. So just put a salmon string into the middle, Then some rice beside it, add veggies alongside, Philadelphia and herbs. Then fold as shown below.

   

Do the same with the second sheet and continue until you wrap all of them. As you've already understood you can use any vegetables you like and be creative.The original recipe would contain sushi rice but using black rice or red rice, quinoa will be much healthier and more beneficial for you so the choice is up to you :)

Serve the rolls with say sauce mixed with wasabi. Just dip the roll into the sauce and enjoy the taste...

Fro home-made to gourmet. 

XoXo

Anastasiya

Low-carb cauliflower recipe

Another week passed by so quickly. I got frightened when I realised that my last post was 2 weeks ago.. A disaster, I have to say! Days are changed by nights, you wake up in the darkness and come back in the darkness. Hello November! What else can I say?!

Indeed my last week was quite intensive: some appointments, new James Bond premiere, pilates, yoga, cooking class... All in all gathering more impressions and experience to share with you and cheer you up even when outside it is so rainy, wet and miserable. Therefore today we will make a nice risotto variation. It is a special recipe and I believe not many of you ever imagined this product to be used as a main ingredient for risotto. But "YES! It is cauliflower!" and we will make it a hero today. I am considering us all being creative and curious so I thought "Why not?". We are mostly used to make fried cauliflower in Ukraine and nothing else. Especially when I know that it is a low-carb product and in autumn our bodies usually gain weight just in case the winter will be too cold:)

And by the way I served in a self-painted plate. We made those during the "Decoration" workshop organised by IKEA in the beginning of autumn.
How do you like it? Let me know in the comments below.

So let's start!

Ingredients:
(for 2 portions)

2 cups Cauliflower or 1 middle sized Cauliflower
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small chopped Shallot onion
1/2 cup Bouillon Vegetable Broth
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (Grated)
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds

The directions are as usually very easy, quick and the result will surprise you by its' uniqueness and nutrition value.

1. Wash Cauliflower and cut it into smaller parts. Pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor until they are small enough to be rice-like.

2. Cut shallot onion. In a skillet over medium heat fry it in the olive oil until tender.

3. Add cauliflower, vegetable stock and cook about 10 minutes.

4. Salt and pepper and add grated cheese.

5. In a dry saucepan heat sesame and sunflower seeds. Stir them all the time so that they do not get burned. It takes about 3-5 minutes to feel the pleasant smell in the air. But be cautious not to keep them too long on the heat.

This is it. I served my portion with smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes. It is up to you what you like the most. It may be a good combination to meat, fish on any other source of good protein. What is your beloved source of protein?

Bon Appétit!