*****Unfortunately, Suzie’s Farm is closing down July of 2017*****
Living in San Diego, we have access to so many amazing family activities. There is only one downside to living in such a beautiful city- the secret is out and people are starting to realize how great our city is!
San Diego is now a very popular vacation spot and many of my favorite places to visit get extremely crowded during the summer. This year, I tried to explore new spots off the beaten path to make some great summer memories with my family. Rather than frequenting the Zoo or Seaport Village, we tried to find lesser known areas to explore. One of the highlights of our summer was our trip to Suzie’s Farm.
Suzie’s Farm is a working farm down in South County, which is known for their yummy organic produce. However, unlike other farms in the area, Suzie’s Farm invites the public to come in and pick their own produce. They offer tours on certain days of the week, or you can choose to become part of their U Pick club. If you become a U Pick member you are able to go out into the fields with a knowledgeable guide to pick a few bags of produce to take home. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am always looking for new way to get my kids active and increase their veggie consumption- so this was perfect for us!
We went on a Tuesday afternoon and there were only two other families picking with us, which was wonderful! Our guide was so informative and patient with all of the kids on the tour, we spent quite a bit of time sampling fresh vegetables right off the vine. My daughter declared the lemon cucumber was her favorite out of everything we tried. I had never even heard of lemon cucumber!
We spent about an hour and half out in the fields picking everything from melons to tomatoes. We even had a chance to go visit their impressive flock of chickens. At the end of the tour we were very dirty and dusty, but we had two good sized bags of freshly picked produce and we had all learned something new. My entire family had such a great time and it was a great excuse to get everyone active and out in the fresh air.
Being a typical mom, I looked at all of our produce once we got home and immediately started thinking of ways we could eat up all these delicious vegetables in creative ways. Since the school year is starting soon and I’m always looking for easy lunch box recipes, I decided to try a garden salad wrapped in a piece of rice paper. It’s a fun twist on a spring roll- kids love to dip these into salad dressing! If you want to make this into a hearty meal you could easily add in a bit of chicken salad or some seafood. Plus, these are gluten-free and nut-free, so they are perfect if you need to be aware of specific food allergies.
Garden Salad Spring Rolls
Ingredients:
Rice paper (sometimes called a spring roll wrapper)
Assorted vegetables, sliced
Salad dressing of your choice
Step one: Slice up the veggies you want to use in your spring roll. I used lettuce, carrots, cucumber, avocado and tomato.
Step two: Prepare your spring roll wrapper, most brands will tell you to soak the wrapper in warm water for a few seconds.
Step three: Fill your wrapper with all your great veggies! I like to put the lettuce on the bottom and layer all the veggies on top.
Step four: Wrap it up like a burrito. Fold in the shorter sides, then fold in the longer sides.
Step five: Dip into your favorite dressing and enjoy!
