Breakfast Summer Rolls

It’s winter. I know this because we finally got some snow here in MI. It was lovely and now we can move on to summer. Spring is nice too but some summer heat is welcome now.

If I can’t have summer heat then I’ll make do with summer rolls. They are crisp and fresh and very adaptable.

These aren’t hard to make. HOWEVER, they will take you some time to put together. There are sort of a lot of steps here. . .ok not sort of. . . there are absolutely a lot of steps involved in making these. They are not speedy. But they aren’t hard. . .I know you can do it!

I don’t eat/make many pancakes or waffles or omlettes. My at home breakfast inspiration is usually oatmeal, yogurt, scrambled eggs. (I have a pancake handicap. . .they come out bad when I make them.) So in the spirit of breaking out of my boring breakfast habits, I came up with these rolls for you.

If we go out to breakfast and Eggs Benedict of any kind are on the menu, I will try hard to resist them, but the hollandaise will lure me in! I can’t be bothered to make hollandaise sauce at home. Which is probably a good thing or I would cover a kitchen sponge in it an enjoy every bite. If I did make hollandaise, it would be delicious to dip these rolls in. FYI.

I don’t see any reason that summer rolls can’t be breakfast. Then again, I think it’s reasonable to eat a cupcake for breakfast, so. . .

I got my rice paper wrappers at the Asian market but you may be able to find them in the ethnic aisle of larger grocery stores. I should warn you that this recipe is not exact. It’s also easy to change if you want to use different veggies. I chose cucumber, carrot, green onions, and red pepper. Some cilantro would be a nice addition or even some lettuce leaves or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Long, thin, julienned veggies work best. Except for the onions. Tim thought the long strip of onion was too strong and it also was hard to bite through and would pull out of the roll whole. If you use the green onions I suggestion dicing them up and just adding a sprinkle to each roll.

Cook your ground breakfast sausage and drain. I used lean turkey sausage that didn’t need much draining. Put it in a bowl and set aside while you chop up all your veg. You’ll want to get everything ready and set up to make the rolling quicker.

Have a baking dish full of hot water to soak your rice paper in (ONE AT A TIME) and a tea towel on the counter to put the wet rice paper on to fill and roll.

Place a couple tablespoons of sausage and a bit of each veggie on a soaked and softened wrapper. Fold up the sides and roll up to completely enclose filling. Set finished roll on a plate. Repeat.

See not hard. . just time consuming. I like time consuming kitchen time. . it’s relaxing to me. A calming, creative outlet. Plus, I like to eat. A win win.

I fried up some eggs and made a fruit salad to go with our spring rolls.

The rolls were good dipped in a little egg yolk. I’m a toast dipper so this was an obvious choice for me.

Breakfast Summer Rolls

(This isn’t exact. . just a guideline. You can add or subtract as you wish and this may make more or less than you expect depending on how full you make your rolls. Don’t make them too big though or they won’t roll up and seal correctly.)

8-12 rice paper wrappers

1/2 lb ground breakfast sausage, cooked and drained and set aside

1 cucumber, cut into thin strips

1 small red pepper, cut into thin strips

3 or 4 green onions, diced (I cut them into long strips but it would work better diced)

1 bag matchstick cut carrots (you can cut your own but I decided to save myself a step)(I only used about half the package)

One at a time, dip rice paper wrappers in a dish of hot water to soften and then lay on a clean kitchen towel. Top the wrapper with 2 tablespoons sausage and a little of each veggie. Fold sides of wrapper up and then roll up to enclose the filling. Set aside on a plate and repeat with the remaining wrappers and ingredients.

Eat up! I made some eggs with ours but you could skip the eggs and focus on the rolls. Maybe dip in a little soy sauce? Or use some bottled peanut sauce? So many options!

Can be refrigerated for a few days and eaten cold or heated in the microwave a few seconds to warm through.