The Lulus Blog is excited to introduce our newest contributor, Christina Evert! Christina will be sharing her delicious recipes and mouthwatering food photography with us twice a month. With a focus on vegetarian and pescatarian recipes, Christina shares her cooking adventures on her Instagram, @abuelitaeats, showing how easy and tasty it can be to incorporate more fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet via her simple yet scrumptious meals and snacks. Be sure to follow her Instagram for even more incredible food content and check back every other week for a new recipe from Christina on the Lulus Blog! xo

When the weather heats up, summer rolls are some of my absolute favorite things to make because they are so light, fresh, and filling, and they don’t require you to use the oven or stove! I also love that you can customize each roll based on your taste and what you have on hand. While these rolls are amazing on their own, the sauce is really what takes them over the top. I like to make my version of a classic Thai peanut sauce by replacing peanut butter with almond butter, and by using ingredients that I know I’ll always have on hand in my pantry and fridge. In a pinch, plain old coconut aminos, Thai chili sauce, or your favorite salad dressing can be a fun way to mix up the flavors!

Don’t let these rolls intimidate you! If you can wrap a burrito, you can wrap a summer roll.

For the Summer Rolls:

  • 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced*
  • 1 English cucumber (skin on), thinly sliced*
  • 1-2 avocados, sliced* (I mean, the more avo the better in my book)
  • 1 mango, peeled and sliced*
  • 1 bell pepper, sliced*
  • 1/2 cup purple cabbage, thinly sliced*
  • Fresh butter lettuce broken up into smaller pieces
  • Fresh Thai basil
  • Rice Paper sheets (can be found in the Asian cooking aisle of pretty much any grocery store these days!)
  • Optional: mint, cilantro, thinly sliced tofu, sesame seeds

*Try to have all of your veggies roughly the same size/length so nothing pokes out when you’re wrapping!

summer rolls recipe - prepped ingredients

If you’ve never worked with rice paper before, stay with me here. You might have to toss a couple of your first attempts (still delicious, less Insta-worthy), but I promise after a couple rolls you will fully get the swing of it! Fill a large sauce pan or pie dish (just something big enough to fit one rice paper sheet) with hot, but not boiling, water. This will be where you give your rice paper sheets a little 30-45 second bath before gently lifting them out of the water, placing them flat on your cutting board, and filling with all your yummy fruits, veggies, and herbs! Work with one sheet at a time to begin with, and follow these steps: soak until soft, remove, fill, and wrap. Once you’ve wrapped the rolls, you can sprinkle with sesame seeds, set to the side, and move on to the sauce!

summer rolls with almond butter dipping sauce

For the Almond Butter Dipping Sauce:

  • 4 tbs almond butter
  • 2 tsp coconut aminos
  • 2 tsp tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 tsp garlic powder or fresh minced garlic
  • Water to thin

Whisk all of your ingredients, excluding the water, in a bowl until smooth and thick, then slowly add water 1 tsp at a time until you reach a consistency you love! This sauce will keep covered in the fridge up to a week.

finishedrecipe1

Eat these rolls right away, or store them with a damp paper towel in the fridge for 1-2 days. You guys! Trust me, these will become an instant favorite of yours and I can’t wait for you to try them out!

Enjoy!

Christina ❤️ @abuelitaeats

Thanks, Christina! Did you try her summer rolls recipe? Show us how they turned out on Instagram, tagging @lulus and @abuelitaeats!

xo