During the winter break, everything revolves around food for me. I love experimenting with new recipes and finding ways to incorporate all of the healthy fruits and vegetables that my diet is so lacking during the school year. During this long winter break, I came up with two new recipes that are both filling and tasty.
As a starter we have a couple of crispy rainbow spring rolls. Spring rolls are one of my favorite starters. Whenever I choose Thai or Vietnamese food, I always like their lightness and freshness.
Preparation time: 10 mins
ingredients:
1 purple cabbage
3-4 Persian cucumbers
1 large carrot
1 mango
1 avocado
2 limes
1 red or yellow pepper
1 bunch of Thai basil
1 pack of rice paper
instructions:
- Prepare all vegetables by washing and drying them thoroughly.
- Dice all vegetables into thin matches and set aside on a plate or bowl.
- Fill a shallow bowl or plate with lukewarm water.
- Dip the rice paper in the water and briefly moisten it for about two seconds.
- Take rice paper out of the water and place on a cutting board.
- Place the vegetables on top of the rice paper, squeeze some lime on top, being careful not to overfill the roll.
- Fold the top of the rice paper over the vegetables and fold the sides over by rolling from the top.
- Set the spring rolls aside and cover them with a lid or cling film if you want to leave them out before you eat.
While these spring rolls are great on their own or dipped in some soy sauce, I love pairing them with this creamy peanut sauce. The sauce makes the rolls a little more filling and convinces with their taste. This sauce recipe is easy to customize to suit your needs – you can add sriracha to spice it up, leave out the honey, or swap almond butter if you don’t like peanuts.
Preparation time: 5 minutes
ingredients:
1/4 cup peanut butter – I use smooth, but crispy also works
2 teaspoons of soy sauce
1/2 lime, juiced
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon fish sauce
instructions:
- Mix all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Mix well and cook for about five minutes without a lid.
- The sauce should thicken a little, but if it gets too thick, add a splash of water and mix well.
- Try it and take it off the stove – it’s ready to serve!
One of my favorite winter recipes is butternut squash soup. This soup is as tasty as it is easy to make. Making soups can be intimidating, but fresh soups are always so much better than canned ones. This soup is a light and reddish version of a childhood favorite. I like to serve it with some broken pepper and a slice of crispy bread.
This soup also keeps well in the fridge, so I can have lunch for days at a good price. My trip to the grocery store for ingredients was around $ 11, so not only is this soup full of essential nutrients, but it’s super affordable too.
Preparation time: 30 minutes
ingredients:
2 tablespoons of salt
Pepper to taste
1 whole butternut squash
1 can of coconut milk
1 bunch of sage
1 tablespoon of paprika
Red pepper flakes to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 shallot
1 ginger root
1 Granny Smith apple
4 cups of vegetable broth
instructions:
- Prepare the pumpkin by cutting it into 1 inch pieces and removing the skin. This is the most time consuming part of the recipe, but I promise it’s worth it.
- Wash the apple and dice it into 2.5 cm pieces, leaving the skin on.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Add a handful of sage, a few shakes of red pepper flakes, the diced shallot, and two inches of fresh ginger. I like to prepare my ginger by peeling the root with a spoon and cutting it into large slices.
- Cook the shallot, ginger, sage, and pepper flakes for two to three minutes, or until the shallot is translucent and stops stinging your eyes.
- Add another tablespoon of olive oil to the saucepan and add the butternut squash and apple. Cook for 10 minutes without a lid, mixing often.
- Add one tablespoon of paprika, two tablespoons of salt, and as much pepper as your heart desires.
- Add half a cup of vegetable broth and cover for five minutes or until the pumpkin is fork tender.
- Add the rest of the broth and remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Put half of the mixture in a blender and stir until smooth. Transfer this to a new bowl and set aside.
- Put the other half of the mixture in the blender and blend. Pour the mixed soup back into the original saucepan and set it back on low heat.
- Stir the can of coconut milk into the soup until smooth and serve with another pinch of pepper.
I don’t usually prepare these two dishes together, but I do them both pretty regularly this winter season. Some of my roommates made me explore more plant-based and vegan options for dinner, which I really appreciate. I’ve found that including a variety of vegetables in my daily meals helps me look and feel good. Hope you try your hand at these healthy and tasty vegetable dishes.
