Ingredients for a colorful fresh spring roll.

Rice paper wraps filled with raw vegetables.

I love Vietnamese fresh spring rolls, also known as summer rolls. Rice paper wraps offer another gluten free wrap option. Be sure to double check the ingredient list as not every rice paper wrap is gluten free if you are looking for this option.

Just like nori for making sushi maki, rice paper wrap can be used to roll up anything you can think of. My kids like to make their own and they can get very creative with it; imagine a fresh fruit coulis drizzled over it—blueberry to be precise. I am kindly reminded by them that I a missing a spectrum of blues, indigos, and violets for it to called a rainbow.

Here's a blend of my veggie fruit wrap. It's a light starter and a pretty bite size treat for everyone.

Rainbow Rolls

INGREDIENTS

• 1 carrot
• 1 red pepper
• 1 mango
• 1 cucumber
• 1 avocado
• A handful of mint leaves
• Rice paper , 22 cm

PREPARATION

Cut and slice your vegetables into thin strips. Place them into separate bowls.

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare a pan filled with a half inch of warm water. Take a piece of rice paper and place it in the pan of water, flipping it quickly so that both sides are wet and then place it on a flat work space (I use a silicone or wooden chopping board). Use your fingers to rub in the water and to flatten out the rice paper.

Place your sliced vegetables about a a third up of the rice paper and leaving an inch and a half on the sides. Then line up two or three pieces of mint leaves next to it and another line of avocado so that you will have 3 rows neatly lined up next to each other.

Start from the bottom and roll up into your first line of vegetables, tuck in the sides of the rice paper and continue to roll up.

Using a sharp knife cut the rolls in half and then in thirds. Line them up on a tray and serve immediately. You can also plastic wrap it and place it in the fridge to serve later.

NOTE

You don't want your rice paper to be too wet otherwise it will tear. Give it a give dip on both sides and quickly take it out as it will continue to absorb the water once it is placed on your flat work space.

Practice makes perfect. Keep your rolls tight when rolling and make sure not to overstuff your rolls.

Fruit flavors, coconut milk, and agave syrup.

Early Sunday morning as I stepped out the door on my way to the market, I was greeted by brisk weather. We had a heat wave just up until then so the contrast was startling. A surge of anxiety immediately entered my head—Where did I store the children's down jackets? Time to pack up the summer clothes (gosh, didn't i just take them out a month ago?) And the comforters?...

At the market, my hoarding tendencies shone through and I quickly filled my bag up with as much summer fresh fruit as possible. We never know when that dark, grey nimbostratus cloud may appear and disappear. If we are lucky, by next spring we will see sunshine again. That was me heading into panic mode.

We love berries & coconut and mango coconut flavor.

That all went away rather quickly. The sun proved stronger and stuck around. I came home with a load of fresh fruits, spent the following days making different flavor fruit popsicles, and eating them on our balcony in the sweltering heat with the kids.

We clung onto our last summer days together, sucking down our popsicles before heading back to school today. After the long summer hols, people are back at work, and children are back to school. Paris has resumed its daily rhythm. In France, they call it la rentrée. Wishing everyone a bonne rentrée!

Homemade Fruit Popsicles

INGREDIENTS//Yields 8 popsicles (2 ounce molds)

• Fresh fruit
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons agave syrup or maple syrup
• 1 lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

You will probably have to adjust the quantity of fruit and coconut milk to fill your popsicle mold.

We chose to make different fruit flavors for each popsicle holder so we blended each concoction individually and then filled the mold.

Prepare your coconut milk by adding 3 tablespoons of agave syrup to it. Stir to combine.

Choose a couple of pieces of fresh fruit (don't be afraid to mix and match!), add two tablespoons of coconut milk, and squeeze a couple of drops of lemon juice. Blend it, fill your mold, and then freeze it.