Almond and Mushroom Salad Rolls

Hey there! I always love salad rolls when I visit Vietnamese restaurants, and so I thought that I’d make some of my own. These Salad rolls include lots of veggies, plus almonds and mushrooms cooked in a soy honey glaze. Rolling the rice paper is surprisingly not that hard, once you get the hang of it. I used square sheets of rice paper that were given to me, but round sheets also work. You can find sheets of rice paper in most grocery stores. These rolls make great snacks, appetizers, or light lunches. Enjoy!

Almond and Mushroom Salad Rolls

Serves: Makes 5 rolls

Total Time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 5 small mushrooms, diced
  • 1/3 cup chopped almonds
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1/2 an avocado, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 a cucumber, thinly sliced
  • 1 small carrot, grated
  • 1 cup shredded lettuce
  • 1/2 a red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 5 rice paper sheets, square or round

Directions:

  1. Heat the olive oil in a small pan over medium heat. Add in the mushrooms and almonds, and cook for two minutes. Then add the soy sauce and honey, cooking for another minute until most of the liquid has cooked off. Set the mixture aside.
  2. Take a large plate and fill it with a shallow layer of water. Place a sheet of rice paper in the water and press down on it to submerge it. Let it soak for about one minute, then flip it over, making sure the whole sheet is still submerged, and soak for another thirty seconds, massaging the water into the paper a bit until it’s translucent and pliable.
  3. Grab the sheet of rice paper and transfer it to a dry plate or cutting board. Place a pinch of lettuce in the middle of the sheet in a log shape, with the ends about an inch away from the side edges. Spread a tablespoon of the almond and mushroom mixture on top of the lettuce, followed by some shredded carrots, cucumber, pepper and avocado.
  4. Fold the inside edges of the rice paper sheet in towards the middle of the roll. Fold the edge closest to you over top of the ingredients in the centre, and continue to roll up the paper until a salad roll forms.
  5. Repeat steps 2-4 until 5 salad rolls are complete, then enjoy!

Hope you like these unique salad rolls! See you Wednesday!

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked;))

Easy Guacamole

Hey there! I don’t know about you but I find guacamole super addictive! I love it in bowls, wraps salads, and with veggies or crackers. This guacamole is super easy to make; it requires no blender and simple ingredients. It also tastes delicious! I used it in the Burritos I made yesterday😍😍 Enjoy!

Easy Guacamole

Serves: 4

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 1/2 a tomato, diced
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Scoop out the flesh of the avocados and mash it in a bowl, until the consistency is to your liking.
  2. Add all of the other ingredients and stir until combined.
  3. Enjoy!

There you go! A super simple Sunday recipe that’s great for meal prep. Have a great week!

Your Truly,

MyDayIsBooked;))

Red Bean Burritos

Hey guys! I’m back from a bit of a lull in my posting schedule with these Red Bean Burritos. They’re full to bursting with delicious ingredients (and a lot of cilantro) to bring a ray of sunshine to your drab winter lunches! I made the filling with red kidney beans, but black beans work just as well. Top these suckers with tons of guacamole and salsa and you’ve got a fiesta in your mouth! Here’s the recipe;)

Red Bean Burritos

Serves: 2-3

Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 can red kidney beans
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 tbs cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp Chili powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 2/3 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1/4 a tomato, diced
  • 1/2 a small onion, diced
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • A handful of fresh cilantro leaves
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Pita and salsa and guacamole for serving

Directions:

  1. In a pan over the medium heat, stir together the beans, water, and spices. Let simmer for about 2-5 minutes, until most of the liquid is gone and the mixture has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
  2. Mix together the quinoa, tomato, onion, cilantro and lemon juice.
  3. Warm up a wrap or pita and scoop some of the quinoa mixture, beans, salsa and guacamole into it. Wrap it up and enjoy!

*this recipe can also be enjoyed as a bowl- just omit the wrap and use more quinoa!

Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked;))

Soy Marinated Tofu

Hey there! This year I’d like to start eating more plant-based, and exploring different kinds of plant protein. Although everything that I post on MyDayIsBooked is usually vegan, I’m not a vegan or vegetarian myself.

I feel like tofu is a little intimidating to a lot of people, because it’s not something that they cook very often. I cooked it for the first time a few weeks ago, and it’s actually super easy and delicious! In this post I’ll give you the run down on how to cook tofu, plus an awesome marinade to get you started.

Tofu

Tofu is a plant-based protein source made from soy beans. The varieties of firmness range from silken to extra firm. Silken and soft tofu are usually blended up in desserts, and medium to extra firm are used fried, sautéed, baked or steamed. This is because the firmer types stand up better to marinades and being cut into cubes and cooked. Pressing tofu is a common technique that gets rid of extra water in the tofu, letting you achieve a crispier texture. If you’d like to press your tofu, place a block of it on a folded dish towel on a sheet pan, and place another folded dish towel on top. On top of that dish towel, put something heavy such as a book or pan weighted with cans. Leave the tofu to be pressed for about a half an hour. The recipe in this post does not call for you to press your tofu, and it is by no means necessary.

Soy-Marinated Tofu

Serves: 2

Total Time: 40 minutes +

Ingredients:

  • 1 175g block of extra firm tofu
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • Juice of 1/2 a lime
  • 1 clove of garlic, smashed

Directions:

  1. Cut a slit in the package of tofu and drain all of the water out. Remove the block from the package and cuto it into one centimetre cubes. Place them in a large ziplock bag.
  2. Add the soy sauce, lime juice, and garlic into the bag. Squeeze all of the air out and then seal, giving it a shake to combine the soy and lime juice, then placing it in the fridge for at least thirty minutes, and up 4 hours.
  3. When the tofu is finished marinating, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Pour the marinade form the bag into a bowl, and dump the cubes of tofu into the pan. Cook until slightly browned on each side; about 1-2 minutes per side.
  4. Eat in a bowl with quinoa, in wraps, or in a stir fry, and use the leftover marinade as a sauce. I ate mine in a bowl with sprouts, avocado, roasted sweet potato, quinoa and kimchi;)

I hope that was helpful and that you’ll try tofu sometime!

Yours Truly,

MyDayIsBooked;))

Basil Week: Tomato, Basil and Avocado Salad

Hello:) I think that basil is my favourite herb out of the ones that I’ve posted about- the smell of it when you pick it off the plant is just amazing! This salad really showcases fresh basil, along with plump Roma tomatoes and perfectly ripe avocados. The simple balsamic dressing ties everything together. For this recipe, you’ll need to Chiffonade your basil, which basically means to cut it into thin strips. I’ll show you how to do this before giving you the recipe to this tasty salad. Enjoy!

How to Chiffonade

You can use this technique on any other flat leafed vegetable that you want to cut into strips. To chiffonade your basil, lay the leaves on top of each other, then roll them lengthwise.

Proceed to cut the rolled basil the opposite way that you rolled it. Does that make sense? When you unravel the leaves they should be cut into long strips that look like this:

There you go! Use this technique to chop the basil for your salad;)

Tomato, Basil, and Avocado Salad

Serves: 1-2

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 Roma tomatoes cut into eighths
  • 1 ripe avocado, cut into small chunks
  • 10-12 leaves of basil, chiffonaded (I just made up that word)

For the dressing:

  • 3 tbs olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Toss all of the ingredients for the salad and dressing together in a bowl, and season to taste.

Super simple, but also very fresh tasting and delicious;))) Hope you like it! I’ll see you later this week for the last post of Basil Week, and of Herb Month!

 

Yours Truly,

 

MyDayIsBooked