By: Kate Marley

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June is always such a wonderful month—warmer weather, summer barbecues, and celebrating Pride month. When Pride rolls around, everything seems to be covered in rainbows, and it always makes me happy to see people celebrating who they are. Plus, many companies, including Kush Queen, rainbow-fy their products and actually donate portions of people’s purchases to LGBTQ+ organizations such as TransLifeline. It’s just such a wonderful way to spread love and joy.

Parades and celebrations often take us outdoors, and what better way to enjoy hot-weather foods and ice-cold beverages than at a barbecue with your dearest friends? I had to give up my grill when I moved from a house to an apartment, so I’ve been trying to find delicious indoor options that anyone with an oven can make. This week, I’ve settled on a recipe that’s super easy but crazy-delicious, and will hopefully remind you of all the summery, rainbow-filled joy that June brings.

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CBD Butter Makes Everything Better, Trust Me On This

This week’s Rainbow Roasted Veggie recipe with garlic-herb butter uses Kush Queen bäre Daily Wellness CBD oil, but you can also use this homemade CBD cannabutter instead. I recommend adding the oil or cannabutter to the garlic-herb portion of the recipe, which will ensure maximum potency of CBD, rather than roasting the veggies with the oil.

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I chose red bell pepper, carrot, yellow crookneck squash, broccoli, and red cabbage to make my veggie rainbow, but there’s so much colorful produce to choose from! I considered adding a few more kinds of vegetables, like kabocha squash and green beans, but I ran out of space on my baking sheet. Also, make sure the veggies are chopped to be similar sizes to ensure even roasting.

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Toss your veggies in a bowl with a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil. If you’re interested in a hint of barbecue grill flavor, add a few dashes of liquid smoke to your oil. I love the mesquite wood flavor, though, admittedly, liquid smoke just isn’t quite the same as a classic charcoal grill. Spread them out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Squash and peppers will cook faster than broccoli and carrots, so check in on your oven periodically to make sure nothing’s too blackened. I, however, enjoy a little crispiness to my roasted veggies, so a few burnt edges make me happy.

How simple was that? But wait, we’re not done yet! Time for the best part:

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Garlic butter! I could coat everything in garlic butter and I’d be the happiest camper. I melted 1 tbsp. unsalted butter with a spoonful of minced garlic, dried parsley, and a pinch of salt and pepper. After mixing, I added two droppers of Kush Queen CBD oil. If you prefer, you can melt CBD cannabutter into the butter mixture instead of the oil, and the flavor won’t be overwhelming when combined with the garlicky deliciousness.

This recipe makes approximately two servings, so if you’re serving a crowd, feel free to double and triple the ingredients. Make sure you spread the veggies out onto multiple baking sheets, or even roast one sheet at a time if your oven temperature is inconsistent. Piling too many vegetables on top of each other will cause uneven cooking and it’s awkward when a third of your food is burned and the other two-thirds are mushy.

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Toss the veggies with the garlic butter, and you’re good to go! I’ve made this recipe three times since I initially wrote this, that’s how much I love it. Rainbows, veggies, summer vibes, and Kush Queen? Please and thank you.

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Don’t forget to follow and tag @kushqueenshop & @kushqueenco in your Instagram posts and stories.

Grab a bottle of Bäre Daily Wellness below for all your summer CBD recipes!

By: Kate Marley

Okay, I might still be on a rainbow kick. I’m not at all sorry, though, rainbows are delightful. This week, I’m back with another rainbow veggie recipe, but this time, we’re keeping the veggies raw and bright. It’s always so hot in July, and there’s nothing I’d like more than to continue my fresh, cold, crunchy food trend. 

And whether it’s July or December, salad weather or soup weather, I’m honestly always craving Vietnamese and Thai food. I moved away from my favorite Thai restaurant in February and my life just hasn’t been the same since. I miss it every Friday. My typical Thai orders involve satay chicken and spicy curry, but no meal is complete without summer rolls. They’re addicting even though they’re so simple, and making them at home is not as hard as it seems. Plus, summer rolls are often served with peanut sauce, and I could bathe in that stuff (Kush Queen hasn’t approved a  peanut sauce-scented bath bomb yet, so I guess I’ll stick to the Citrus and Matcha bath bombs for now). But this peanut sauce is twice as dope because it’s got a healthy dose of CBD oil. Who knew you could make peanut sauce even better. 

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Summer rolls are actually Vietnamese, but have become popular in Thai restaurants as well. They are different than spring rolls—it’s summer name was a seasonal play on spring rolls—primarily because they are not fried, and are usually a little bit bigger, but sometimes the terms are interchanged. Though I love a crispy spring roll, I prefer the refreshing chill from a summer roll. They’re often made with shrimp, but are also made with chicken, tofu, and just veggies on their own. It’s an all-around wonderful and versatile meal that’s easy to make too much of.

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The most time-consuming part of this recipe is cutting up your rainbow veggies. I recommend julienne-style so you get an easier mouthful but also because it’s easier to roll. It always takes me forever but it’s worth it, I promise. In this recipe, I’ve also added a hint of sweetness with a few slices of strawberry and mango in my rolls. Once that’s done, everything else is smooth-sailing. Usually.

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While you’re cutting your vegetables up, bring a pot of water to a boil. When the water is bubbling, add your vermicelli rice noodles and stir. Be mindful, because these noodles are very thin and do not take as long to cook as traditional noodles, it’s easy to forget about them. But if they’re overcooked, they’ll turn to mush in your hands and won’t make nicely-shaped rolls.

Prepare an ice bath for the noodles (ice baths are simply ice and water in a bowl that will shock your hot foods and immediately stop the cooking process). When your noodles are ready, strain them and toss them in the ice bath. When the noodles have cooled, I like to drain them and sprinkle a bit of rice vinegar and salt on them. I do the same thing when I make sushi rice, and I like the flavor it adds to the rolls.

Next, we’ll make the peanut sauce. I like to do this prior to assembling the summer rolls, because I find that summer rolls will do one of two things the longer they sit: they either get too soft and sticky and tear easily, or they get stiff and chewy.

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The peanut sauce is so quick that you can throw it together in the microwave. You could also heat it on the stove, but I’m all about shortcuts. Combine all the ingredients except the Bare CBD oil in a small bowl, and microwave for 15 seconds at a time. Depending on your honey and peanut butter, sometimes it can come to a boil quickly. I love crunchy peanut butter and think it adds a nice additional texture to the sauce, but creamy peanut butter works great, too. When the sauce is hot and the peanut butter melts with a quick stir, add the CBD oil. If you cook the sauce too long and it becomes thick, I find adding a little extra water at a time smoothes the sauce out and makes it much easier for dipping.

Lastly, let’s assemble!

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Prepare a hot water bath in a wide bowl. It needs to be a higher temperature than lukewarm, but needs to be comfortable to the touch. Take one sheet of rice paper wrapper at a time, and submerge the sheet in the water. After a couple of seconds, place the wrapper on a cutting board or smooth surface. I like to dangle a very small bit of the wrapper from the edge of the cutting board to make it easier to grab.

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Layer your ingredients. I usually start with noodles first but there’s no hard and fast rule. If you add a decorative top, like I’ve done with my fruit, place them slightly above the rest of the ingredients. It will help separate them with a wrapper layer and they’ll stay clean and pretty.

When I roll, I start from the bottom and follow the same rules as burrito-wrapping. Bring the bottom over your primary ingredients, and pull in slightly to tighten the wrapper around. Then, fold the left and right sides over. Lastly, continue to roll the rest of wrapper up, pulling inward to yourself with just enough pressure to keep everything tight.

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You can cut your rolls in half, or in quarters, if you’d like. I really enjoy keeping them whole because I lose less filling when I dip them in the peanut sauce. However you’d like to plate them, I hope you enjoy them. I know I could eat them every day and never get bored. So, continue enjoying the rainbow this summer and save yourself a few bucks on delivery!

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Don’t forget to follow and tag @kushqueenshop & @kushqueenco in your Instagram posts and stories.

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