Stir-fried Chinese Long Beans with Chicken

You can buy the Chinese long beans at the Asian supermarket.  I don't think you would miss it because it is long and green.  If the long beans look fresh and green, I would buy it.  In Malaysia, we love to fry it with sambal belacan (chili paste) and make it into a spicy dish.  However, since I have some leftover grilled chicken breast, I decided to make a non-spicy dish out of it.  You need to fry it in oil so that it will be crunchy and crisp and delicious.  These long beans are good in fried eggs too where we chopped the long bean into small cubes.  I think I have that recipe in my blog from years back.

Healthy Muffins

I always trying to make my muffin more nutritious.  I was not happy with just a plain banana muffin, I wanted it to be packed with superfood nutrients.  So, for this I added oats, flaxseeds, chia seeds, stone ground whole wheat flour and good oil, extra-virgin olive oil (you can use coconut oil too).  I also added chocolate chips (per my girls request) for my girls and dried cranberries for us.  Next time will also add some walnuts to kick it up a notch!  I made these muffins for our breakfast and it keeps well at room-temperature for up to three days.

These muffins are soft and moist and a delicious healthy muffin!  Try it and feedback to me ya!

Vegetarian Mapo Tofu

I loved mapo tofu!  The usual mapo tofu is cooked with ground pork and since I stop buying pork and too lazy to mince some chicken breast, I created a vegetarian version.  I substituted the ground pork with fresh shiitake mushroom, of course you can use the meaty portabello mushroom too (or crimini or button mushroom).  Since mushroom is good for us, I try to cook more mushroom dishes. 

How to eat Nagaimo? 怎么吃山药?

Nagaimo as it is called in Japanese or  huái shān (淮山) or shān yào (山药) as in Chinese is a nutrient rich tuber/ root vegetable that is loaded with health benefits.  山药 literally translates to "mountain medicine" and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine long time ago.  You can read more about nagaimo and the nutrition facts here.  The Taiwanese cooking show that I mentioned before introduced me to this way of eating the nagaimo.  It is so easy to prepare and I just need to pound it and mix in with my rice or noodle, so why not?  You can buy the fresh nagaimo at the Asian supermarket.  It is not very cheap but not too expensive either.  Since I am the only one who eats this in my family, I usually buy a small piece, the above picture is 1/3 of what I bought.  I cut about 1/3 of the tuber, wash it and peel it (be careful as it is very slippery, it might cause itching if you are sensitive but you can soak it in vinegar water first), then cut it into smaller pieces and place it in a Ziploc bag and pound it with the back of a cleaver or an empty bottle until mushy like picture shown above.

Blueberries Preserves without Pectin

I loved buying organic jam or preserves but it can be quite expensive as it ran out fast in my household.  So, the next alternative would be making my own blueberries preserves!  Organic blueberries/ blueberries are cheap during the summer but organic apple is not.  Luckily I can make do with just one apple for this recipe.  I don't use pectin in all my homemade jam and thus far it works pretty well for me.  This blueberries preserves recipe is very easy to make and don't take a lot of times.  It is a great way to preserve the blueberries besides frozen and save some money too, in addition, this homemade preserves is delicious!  I would freeze more blueberries to make this during the winter when the organic apple is cheaper. 

The Best Brownies Ever

I finally found the best brownies recipe!!  Years ago before I became more health conscious, I always bought brownie premixed in a box.  I never know to look at the ingredients list before buying anything.  Now, it's a different story.  I was not satisfactory with the previous brownies recipes that I had tried and always in search of a better one and am glad to report that I finally found the keeper recipe for me.

This brownie is chocolatey, soft, slightly chewy and moist and so irresistible with each bite that I have to give you a warning.  Self-control is required when you bake this brownie as it is not really low fat but I made it less sinful without the frosting and also cutting down on the sugar.  You really don't need to add extra fat and sugar with this already divine brownies in my opinion.  We all loved this brownies and it's our best brownies recipe ever!  I hope you try it and feedback to me ya!

Enoki Mushroom as a Side

We always add enoki mushroom in the end of cooking or in soup or hotpot.  We hardly eat it as a side dish.  One day, I just had a different idea and trying to play it as a side dish and the above was my experiment.  Since enoki mushroom cooked quickly, so I blanched it in boiling water and set it on a plate.  Then, I pour some Kikkoman teriyaki sauce on top and sprinkle it with toasted sesame seeds and some cilantro.  Mix it to serve. 

Luckily my family ate it without any complaint as I was worry that they might not use to this way of eating the enoki mushroom.  If you want to try a different way of serving the enoki mushroom, you can try this.

What is your creative way of serving up the enoki mushroom besides in soup?

Slow Cooker Spiced Cauliflower

My second dish using a slow cooker (not counting soup and dessert).  While typing this post, I realize that I can actually add garbanzo beans.  Oh well, will sure to remember it the next time I make this.  Just add 1 can of garbanzo beans (drain) into the mixture if you like (to make it a one dish meal).  Since the day I made this was Monday, so it was a meatless Monday dish for us.  I am trying to cook more meatless meal again (need to lose some extra weight!) since I have not been too discipline lately.  We really enjoy this easy vegetarian dish and hope you like it too!

Whole Wheat Chia Banana Muffins

Just like the name implied, I modified my original banana recipe to make it 100% whole wheat with chia seeds.  Next time I would add additional 1 Tbsp. of ground flaxseeds into the mixture instead of using it as topping.  By adding the whole wheat and flaxseed cereal, it would be crispy when it was warm out of the oven but it would turn soft later.  So, if you would like to eat it right away or on the day it was baked, then it would be a good idea, if not, just omit it and add the ground flaxseeds into the mixture before baking (I added it in the recipe for your convenient).

This muffin is soft and not very sweet (just nice for Asian taste bud).  I purposely cutting down on the sugar to make it healthier.  I hope you like it!

Spinach Mushroom Soup

Spinach is so delicious in soup.  If you haven't tried cooking it this way, make sure you give it a try!  This soup is nutrients packed as I have spinach, beech mushroom, eggs and shrimps, all are healthy for us.  Just add another side dish and a little brown rice and you can call it a meal.  You are welcome to use vegetarian broth and omit the shrimps to make this soup vegetarian.  Happy trying!

Stir-Fried Lo Mein with Onion Crunch

Do you know about Onion Crunch?  I didn't know about it but I have eaten it on the sushi that I bought at King Sooper.  I was wondering what kind of fried onion was it because it was crispy and delicious, unlike the fried onion that I bought at the Asian supermarket.  Then, I received an e-mail for a Onion Crunch review and one click on the Website made me realized that this was what the sushi chef used on their sushi!!  Of course I wouldn't miss the chance for this review as I really like the taste of it.  As you can see, I top it on my stir-fried lo mein!

What I loved about Loeb's Onion Crunch is that it is made with 100% real onions with 0 gram of trans fat, low in carbs, low in sodium, no cholesterol and non-GMO certified.  It makes a great crispy, crunchy and delicious condiment topping on your favorite food and it remains crispy and crunchy for a long time which makes it a plus.  You can get it at Walmart supercenter, Safeway, etc. (there is a store locator that you can search on their webpage) or buy it online at their website.

*I received the above product free for the purpose of this review.  All opinions are mine.*

Asian Style Slow Cooker Chicken

I always in search of an easy to cook meal for my family.  Recently fell in love with my 2 quart size slow cooker again after putting it away in a box for years.  I really love the turn it on and leave it conveniences that a slow cooker provides.  Also, the 2 quart size is just nice for a family of four.  I have been using it to cook herbal soups and sweet dessert soup and now venture into making a main dish out of it.  This is my first chicken dish and we all loved it, so don't be fooled by the look of this dish, even I have to admit it doesn't look quite appetizing but it sure tastes delicious.  Good serving it with a bowl of rice!

The benefits of slow cooker are you can use frozen poultry or meat and also you can turn it to low and go to work or do whatever and come home to a meal.  As for me, I like that I don't have to watch the stove when cooking as I will have to fetch my girls from school.  I will make more dishes via slow cooker so stay tuned!

Shrimps Quinoa Salad

After reading several blog posts from Tigerfish-Teczcape about quinoa, and said several times this is something I wanted to try, I finally bought the quinoa and made my first quinoa dish.  Oh yeah, it took me a long time but better late than never right?  I made this after a week trip to San Francisco and San Jose areas and back home with no mood to cook.  Haha... Who can blame me as I was so spoil with choices and easy excess to authentic Chinese food while in SF and SJ.  Now back home and back to cooking!

My shrimps quinoa salad and I hope you like it.  I wanted a flavorful quinoa so I cooked it in chicken stock.  Added frozen peas and carrots because I wanted more veggies (cook it with the quinoa).  After it is done,  I added fresh romaine lettuce, sunflower seeds, raisins and pan-fried spiced shrimps and mixed all together.  Later, I regretted that I didn't add a can of black beans into the mix.  So, feel free to add some beans (whatever bean you like).  This makes a great picnic food too as it's good eaten at room-temperature. 

If you are still thinking of what to make for 4th of July, this can be a great healthy recipe for you!

Summer Pesto Rotini

I made this summer pesto rotini for a picnic, I named it summer because this made a great summer picnic food, also great for potluck.  I wanted something easy to make and tasted good at room-temperature and this dish was created with what I had at my house at that time.  I made some cilantro walnut pesto for this dish, it was easy to make with a food processor.   If you are thinking of what to make for your 4th of July BBQ or picnic, give this dish a try!

Homemade Cilantro Walnut Pesto

Vietnamese Noodle Bowl

We loved Vietnamese food and we probably go there once a week.  In cold weather, we really enjoy a big bowl of hot pho, it warms us up and tastes delicious.  On hot summer days, I prefer the cold noodle bowl, it is so refreshing as it is fulled of vegetable and herbs.  We also like the rice plate and their fried egg rolls and fresh summer rolls.  Since some restaurants charge $2 for one summer roll, I prefer to make it at home.

Actually I had no intention of making this noodle but I only left with half of a English cucumber and a little romaine lettuce and I had to think of dinner for my family.  Luckily besides kimchi, my fridge also has some pickled radish and carrot at most times.  So, this dish was born.  I also always have some ground toasted peanuts in the freezer for emergency like this.  Since I finished all of it, it's time to make a new batch to freeze.  I served it with leftover spicy hot wings that my husband bought.

This noodle would be great with leftover Hawaiian BBQ chicken too!

Granola Hemp Seeds Yogurt

While shopping at World Food recently.  I came across a Hemp seeds sample booth.  Truthfully I am not familiar with hemp seeds but I am interested in anything healthy.  Haha... The salesgirl served the hemp seeds with 365 organic vanilla yogurt and I was impressed with the yogurt.  The hemp seeds didn't taste bad but couple with the yogurt, it actually tasted pretty good.  So, I picked up the yogurt to eat with the sample bag of the Hemp Hearts raw shelled hemp seeds that was given.  With my no-bake granola bar, this was indeed made a delicious breakfast.

Flaxseed, chia seed and now hemp seed.  I read that hemp seed is one of the "Super Food" and one of the nutrient dense food that we should be eating.  Compare to flaxseed and chia seed, hemp seed is more well-rounded as it has fiber, proteins, essential fats, some vitamins and essential amino acids and other nutrients necessary for promoting good health.  It is said to increase energy, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, improve memory, control blood sugar, lose weight and an antioxidant food.  About 4 to 5 tablespoons a day is enough to get the benefits.  Google it to learn more!  Compare to chia seed and flaxseed, hemp seed is soft, easily digestible
and great in eating it raw.

No-Bake Granola Bars

No-bake granola bars!!  Who wouldn't love it?  When I saw this easy no-bake granola bars, I just had to try it.  A healthy more natural piece of granola bar is selling for $1.80 or more in a grocery store.  That was pricey if you asked me.  With this easy recipe, you can make a batch and grab one on the go or as a snack, nothing beat homemade.  This would make a healthy school snack for my girls in the coming school year too.

These granola bars are delicious.  Soft and chewy with the taste of peanut butter and all the goodies I put in there.  I added chocolate chips because my girls loved it, but you can certainly omit it.

Lotus Root Cold Dish

Root vegetables are really good for us, so make sure your diet consists of some root vegetables.  I bought a small lotus root recently but instead of making soup with it, I wanted to try something else.  I saw a Chinese cooking show before and they used lotus root to make a cold dish.  I never tried that before and really interested in giving it a go.  There are few recipes in my blog containing lotus root, such as in soup, stir-frying, simmering and even deep-frying, but not a cold dish.  The minced ginger, green onion and toasted sesame seeds gave this dish a great flavor and it was really fragrant with crunchy lotus root.  I loved this way of enjoying the lotus root too.  Give it a try if you haven't tried it this way!

Blueberry Cheesecake Cups

I eat fruit based on whatever fruit is on season, same with vegetable.  And when Whole Food had their one day 1 pint organic blueberries on sales for $1.99, I couldn't pass it up.  Did you all manage to get some too?  For the most benefit, it is best to eat it raw, without cooking or baking to get the most nutrients.  So, instead of baking with it, I used it as a decoration on these cheesecake cups.  The rest, we just washed and ate it by the handful.

I remembered my lazy cheesecake cups recipe that I did back in 2009 and this is another version revised from that recipe.  I used ginger snap cookies as a base this time and it soften up just like a crust.  Brilliant!

I did a no-bake cheesecake cookie cup in 2011 using the ginger snap as well if you are interested.
 

Spicy Eggplant with Chicken

Eggplant or aubergine is from a nightshade family of vegetables such as potato, tomato and sweet peppers.  It is a good source of vitamins and minerals and has phytonutrients which have antioxidant activities.  However, it is not suitable for people with kidney and gallbladder problems.

I do like to buy eggplant occasionally because I try to eat variety of vegetables with different colors.  I can't buy it often because my hubby and my girls are not a fan of this vegetable, so whenever I cook this, they only eat the chicken.

Are you someone who tries to buy different fruits and vegetables every time you go grocery shopping?  Since we shop at the Asian supermarkets, our selections are wider and there are lots of different green vegetables, root vegetables that we can buy.  Next time, try to vary your choice of vegetables instead of sticking to the few that you like.

Milo Chia Seed Pudding

Chia seed is so popular these days because of its high omega-3 fat and long shelve life.  Also, it doesn't have to be crushed (unlike flaxseed) to get the full benefits.  I have been added it in bread, waffle, pancake and muffin. But I also like to try new thing and chia seed pudding caught my eyes.  It seem easy enough, just add liquid and chia seeds and see it transform into a pudding like consistency.

I made a small batch to test it out and luckily my girls loved it too.  Just that we have to add more syrup to make it tasty.  Next time I would probably mix the syrup with the milk first before adding the chia seeds so that the pudding would be sweet.  I think it would be delicious in the Asian style sweet soy bean milk too.

Flaxseed Pumpkin Cake

After seeing all the delicious cakes baked by fellow bloggers, it made me realized that I haven't been baking cake in a while.  But I wanted something that was easy and not too troublesome to make, like my one whisk and one bowl cake recipe.  I finally decided on this pumpkin cake recipe because I have some organic pumpkin puree stock up in my pantry.  This time I added ground flaxseed just to make it healthier, no harm in getting an extra omega-3 right?

This cake is best eaten the next day.  The texture doesn't look like the usual pumpkin cake yet it is dense, soft and moist and so good with my morning cup of coffee.  I could taste the flaxseed, pumpkin and spices in the cake. Delicious!

Easy Stir-fried Leeks with Beef

Cooking doesn't have to be difficult, this super easy stir-fried leeks with beef is an example.  Minimal ingredients used yet super delicious.  I used leftover beef here but you can use a small piece of beef and thinly slice it and marinate it to make this a quick stir-fry.

Leek is in the Allium family, together with onion and garlic.  Not only it is low in calories, anti-oxidant but it also provides lots of health benefits and vitamins and minerals.  I don't buy leek all the times because lots of veggies that we eat are also very nutritious but I certainly include leeks occasionally into our diet.  I am thriving for a variety of vegetables that have different health benefits and try to mix and match them every week.

Spicy Miso Buckwheat Noodle Soup

I loved this Taiwanese cooking show called "食在有健康", not only it teaches us what food to eat to make us healthier, it also uses that food and teaches us how to cook it.  I think the featured food here is mushroom.  I like that the chefs in that show always managed to create yummy food with easy cooking method.  I also like their theme 食在有健康, 吃出好健康!  Meaning eat healthy food so that you will have good health.  I agreed with it whole heartedly that's why I am a big fan of that show.

Pina Colada Yonana

It has been almost a year since I owned my Yonana maker and I am still loving it.  It is always cool to have a new recipe to try.  When I saw the Pina Colada recipe posted at Yonana's Facebook page, I just wanted to try it.  This recipe was posted by Gerry Quesinberry and thanks Gerry for sharing this fantastic recipe.  I made one quart (more than the recipe stated) to freeze so that I can have few scoops a day.  I always like to make a big batch so that I can freeze for later, also I don't have to wash the Yonana maker every time I feel like eating some.  *wink*

Seasoned Burdock Root

 

Chinese health guru said root vegetables are good for us, so I am trying to eat more.  Root vegetable such as nagaimo (山药), burdock root/ gobo, lotus root, ginger, turmeric, etc.  Nagaimo is really good for us but I have not bought it often as I still have no idea how to incorporate it into our family meal besides making a dessert.  I bought burdock root occasionally to make soup;  even tried it in stir-frying once, but I found it to be quite fibrous and my family members didn't like it.  But I was glad to found this Ueong Jorim (seasoned burdock root) recipe on Pinterest one day.  This is surely a keeper for me, I guess by stir-frying and simmering, it makes it less fibrous that even my little girl likes it. 

Herbal Grass Jelly with Soy Milk

 

Feeling a little heaty lately so I made myself a glass of herbal gelatine grass jelly with soy milk and palm sugar syrup.  We have this drink in Malaysia and it is also known as Micheal Jackson drink.  Herbal grass jelly drink is very common in Malaysia, usually they just cut it into smaller pieces and simmer it with water and sweeten it with sugar.  Because my soy milk is less sweet and the grass jelly is unsweeten hence I sweeten it with Gula Melaka syrup/palm sugar syrup.  As you can see my soy milk is brownish in color.  This grass jelly has cooling properties and very popular in hot weather.  Other than making drink with it, you can also make dessert.  Just cut it into cubes and mix it with cut fruit, sago, red beans, cendol, coconut flesh, sea coconut and syrup.  Or whatever you can think of that would make a good match.

Samgak Kimbap Lunch Box

Samgak kimbap or triangle kimbap is the Korean version of rice balls.  This is another easy to make lunch box idea for your kids at school.  I used the same recipe as my post in making onigiri.  You can either buy the samgak kimbap seaweed wrap (it came with seaweed in a plastic wrap with sticker) at the Korean store or supermarket (I read that 40 pieces is about $10+) or you can use the ordinary kimbap seaweed and do as what I did below to keep the seaweed dry and crisp (and save some money).  My girl loves the extra hand on approach in wrapping the rice balls herself.  It is like she makes it herself and showing off to her friends at the same time.  :-)
 

Three Seed Bread

I always make our bread from scratch via the bread maker at home.  I am also happy to try out any healthy bread recipe for my family.  Recently, I am into flaxseed and chia seed, so I bought a packet of Bob's Red Mill flaxseed and at the back packet of the flaxseed, it included two recipes and one of it is this Three Seed Bread.  I decided to try this recipe because I have all the ingredients and it sounded great.  This bread indeed turned out delicious and soft and we loved it.  Hence, I decided to share it here with all of you. 

Flaxseed and Chia Seeds Waffles

You know I make my own bread/buns for breakfast right?  Sometimes I will make muffins or waffles as they freezes well.  My old waffle recipes used oatmeal and since I no longer buy oatmeal, I tried out a new recipe here.  I added flax and chia seeds simply because I have some in my pantry.  Next time I would buy the ground flaxseed  instead of  the whole flaxseed since it is easier for our bodies to digest.  (Update: I grounded my flaxseeds using a food processor and store it in a Ziploc bag in the freezer.)

I served my waffle with butter and Malacca palm sugar syrup and it was so delicious.  My girls asked me to make another batch of waffles after we are finished with this because they loved it a lot.  I used chocolate chips for them and raisins for us.

Onigiri Lunch Box

This lunch box is super easy to make since most of us have some leftover rice in the refrigerator or from the night before.  I stock up on pouch tuna when it goes on sales and that comes in handy.  If you have these two main ingredients, you can make onigiri!  Onigiri is Japanese rice balls and you can eat it with a piece of roasted seaweed too.  Korean have their own version and it is called samgak kimbap (triangle rice balls) and it is wrapped in seaweed (will do a post on this later).  Both of these make easy lunch box or picnic food and kids love them.

Samples Lunch Box 2

White rice with stir-fried kailan and braised A1 emperor chicken spices with boneless and skinless chicken thighs

For me, making lunch box for my girl used to be saving money.  But now it is to ensure that she gets a healthy and balance meal.  She used to envy her classmates who get to eat in the cafeteria, but now she loves bringing her lunch box to school as her classmates would come and check on her lunch box (they are curious) and say things like it looks good, it smells great, oh are you eating spring rolls, that's the best thing ever, some even want to exchange her lunch box.  She gets compliments on her lunch box and I guess that changed her attitude towards it.  I do let her eat in the cafeteria when they are serving special meal such as Thanksgiving meal and Christmas special.

Bibim Naengmyun (Spicy Mixed Cold Noodle)

Bibim naengmyun or Korean mixed spicy cold noodle is so economical to cook at home.  Furthermore, we can add whatever ingredients we like.  The one sold in the restaurant mostly has cucumber, radish and boiled egg and they charge $9 for a bowl.  I would rather spend my $9 on some chicken/meat and side dishes.  A plus is this cold noodle dish is so easy to make and I calculated the cost to be less than $6 for 2 bowls.

If you have a craving for spicy mixed cold noodle, why not make it yourself?  One thing though, you got to be able to take the heat, as this is a SPICY noodle dish.  Those that cannot take spicy food, can try the naengmyeon, is a cold noodle dish serves in cold radish kimchi broth or clear beef broth (with crushed ice), suitable for hot summer days.

Chinese Watercress Soup

I made this soup occasionally so I thought I had posted the recipe in my blog, but when I went to search for it, I couldn't find it.  Only then I realized I haven't posted the recipe.  So, I shared it here for my record so that next time if my girls want to make it, they would know where to look for the recipe.

The health benefit of watercress is plenty and it has been dated since ancient time.  It is high in calcium, iron, Vitamin C, beta-carotene, folic acid, potassium, phosphorous and rich in fiber, iodine and anti-oxidants.  You can read more about it here.  It is also a cooling food for Chinese.

Black Porridge Dessert

According to the Chinese, black food is a golden food for the kidney.  And taking care of your kidney is very important as it can reverse aging and makes you look vibrant and younger.  A good kidney can erase the sign of aging, black spots and blemishes on your face, and even turn white hair into black hair.  If you maintain a strong healthy kidney, you will have strong bone and bone marrow, articulate, hear well, clear face and jet black hair. Other black foods that need to be noted are black fungus, black mushroom, kelp, seaweed, fermented black beans, black chicken, black lentils, blackberries, black grapes and etc.  Are you impressed?

So, I made a quick and fuss free black porridge for us, using a slow cooker (the idea came from a Chinese source).  I finally found another way to enjoy some black beans besides cooking it in soup.  Since this is sweet, it is enjoy by everyone, even my girls loved it.  Not only this is delicious, fuss free to cook but also extremely healthy.  For the real benefit, it was recommended to have a bowl everyday and you will see result in week 3 +.  I am not sure whether I want to eat it every day though, but probably once a week (good enough for 3 days) as I do cook with black sesame seeds, seaweed, mushroom and black fungus often during the week.

All ingredients can be found at the Asian supermarkets except walnuts.  If you don't see the black slab sugar, feel free to buy the brown slab sugar.  Dried lily bulbs can be found at the herbal aisle in the Asian store.

Samples of Evy's Lunch Boxes

Kimchi Fried Rice with Roasted Seaweed to wrap the rice

Turmeric Brown Rice with Stir-Fried Spinach and Chicken with Wood Ear Fungus and Tofu Knot

Turkey Meatballs Spaghetti

An easy dinner with the baked turkey meatballs that I made earlier.  I liked the whole wheat angel hair pasta because it cooked fairly quickly.  Since this was a quick and easy dinner, I used the Target brand traditional spaghetti sauce, added some chopped red onion and button mushrooms and lastly some spinach to make it more nutrition.

If you look closely, you can see a dollop amount of red chili paste on top of my pasta.  That was my extremely spicy chili paste (that's why a small amount was sufficient) to increase the appetite of this dish.  If you haven't tried eating it this way, try it next time, it's really delicious (given that you can take the heat to begin with).

Vietnamese Shrimps Spring Rolls

I think I wrote about the Vietnamese spring rolls or summer rolls before but never really provided the method of making it.  Since I make this quite often now and have been playing with variety of fillings, I am definitely getting better.  I will show you a picture of my ingredients and guide you along in my next page (if you are a newbie of course).  As for my ever popular peanut hoisin dipping sauce, you can get the recipe here.  I have perfected the recipe, so you don't have to go else where for the recipe, just get it here!

This is definitely an appetizer or snack or lunch (it's great for picnic too) that you can make ahead of time.  It also becomes one of the food that I prepare for Evy's school lunchbox.  I cut the veggie, par-boil the vermicelli and shrimps and make the hoisin peanut sauce the night before.  Then, on the next day, I just have to wrap it with a rice paper and enclose it with a cling wrap individually (so that it won't dry out and easier for her to eat) .  I also pack a small container of peanut sauce for her to dip.