Is it June already?

Hello!   It's been a while since I've posted here!   We had something great for dinner last night and I wanted to capture it!    First off though - reporting in on Project Fitness 2012:

So far, I have lost 35 pounds!    I've had to go through my closet and purge a lot of things that did not fit anymore.    I'm working out at least 5 days per week and am working towards my goal of climbing the Manitou Incline sometime this summer.    I feel much better!!!!

This is a pile of clothes that no longer fit - all TOO BIG!

So last night for dinner, we had Shrimp Spring Rolls.   They were healthy, delicious, very fresh and tasty and easy to make.    I found a couple of recipes online and adjusted them to suit what I had and what I wanted.    You can check here and here to see the webpage references.

So here's what I did:

Shrimp Spring Rolls

Pickled Carrots:   (you could use other veggies too - broccoli slaw would be good)
1/2 cup rice-wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 cups shredded carrots

Combine rice vinegar, sugar, and water in a small saucepan.   Heat and stir until sugar dissolves, remove from heat and pour over veggies.   Refrigerate at least an hour but longer is fine too

Peanut Sauce: 
2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet white miso
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

I did not have miso, so I skipped it and I used siracha instead of red pepper flakes.   Add to your taste!    I put all of the above ingredients in the food processor and mixed them all together

Filling
Cooked Shrimp
Lettuce
Basil
Mint
Cilantro
Pickled veggies

I really think you could use whatever appeals to you though.   Cucumber would probably be good or broccoli slaw, bean sprouts, essentially whatever floats your boat!

Making the Spring Rolls:
 Put a small amount of warm water in a pie plate.   Dip the dried spring roll wrapper* in the water.   Many recipes say to leave it in the water until it's completely soft, but I found a website that advocated just keeping it in the water until it just barely starts to soften.   That seemed to work well and the wrappers did not tear.

Place the softened wrapper on a plate.   Place some lettuce on the wrapper and top with your ingredients.   The lettuce seemed to help the wrapper hold together.    Add filling as you see fit.    You can put the sauce inside the roll or dip it.   Don't overfill the roll!  

Fold one end of wrapper over the ingredients, and then fold the sides in and roll it up.   You want to roll it tightly!    Make as many as you want to eat!   Enjoy!

*Spring roll wrappers are purchased dry.    I found them at my local grocery store.    You may have to go to a specialty store if you can't find them in your local market.