Sushi: Guest Recipe! from my momma

Hi! 

     Colleen has been busy this week interning on a fabulous film being shot here in
Savannah, so your’s truly has volunteered (begged) to be guest blogger extraordinaire.
I feel quite honored as this blog is the bomb.
     As a new vegetarian, I have begun to find food a bit repetitive (rice + beans + corn =
mexican, rice + beans + edamame/bok choy = oriental, rice + peas (smaller beans) +
spinach = Indian) so Colleen purchased a new veggie cookbook for me with gorgeous
pictures that I would equate to food porn. Shannon (the famed hippy sister of previous
blog) and I realized that very few Sushi restaurants in Franklin have good vegetarian
sushi, so we embarked on a quest to make the perfect sushi roll. Even though I am
considered a decent cook, a food so beautiful intimidated the hell out of me. After a
few modifications, and several rolls, this is our recipe, and our tips. Enjoy!

• 4 cups of cooked Japanese rice (sticky rice...it can be white or brown, follow directions on package for cooking)
• nori sheets (basically seaweed paper)*
• rice vinegar
• mirin (Japanese cooking wine)
• soy sauce or nama shoyu
• shitaki mushrooms (they must be shitaki) 2 cups loose
• 2 Tbls sesame seeds, toasted (sometimes you can find them toasted, but we will tell you how)
• Vegetables of your choice (carrots, cucumbers, advocadoes, bean sprouts)
• Sushi rolling mats (they look like little bamboo placemats and can be picked up for a few dollars wherever they sell the sheets of nori
• Cream cheese if you are not vegan, cut into bricks 1/3 by 1/3 by 4 inches.

AND if you want Tempura Fried rolls

• Tempura mix
• Deep Fryer
• Vegetable Oil

PREPARATION:

1. The key to pretty and tasty sushi is cutting the vegetables to matchsticks. Theyshould be 1/4 in in heighth and width. They can be 2 or 3 inches long.
2. Put between 2TBLS and 6 TBLS rice vinegar in your rice after it is cooked and still with a wooden spoon (do not “mush” it). This depends on your taste, so start with alittle and add more if you like.
3. Chop your mushrooms up fine, about the size of peas. You should have about 1 cup.
4. Toast your sesame seeds. Put them in a pie plate or cookie sheet and slide them under the broiler in your oven. Shake gently and check frequently, about every 30 seconds. When they are light brown remove.
5.  Add your sesame seeds to the mushrooms. Add 1 TBLS Mirin and 1 TBLS soy sauce and mix. Even if you think you don’t like mushrooms, you will like this. And it really adds a nice texture and exotic flavor to the roll.

ASSEMBLY

1. Roll out your sushi mat so the wide edge is closest to you and the shorter edges are on the side. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on top.
2. Place a seaweed sheet on the mat with the shiny side down.
3. Spread about 1 cup of sticky rice on the sheet, leaving 1/2 inch on the long side farthest from you and 1/2 inch on the long side closest to you bare. You will have to wet your hands to pat the rice down evenly and firmly.
4. Spread 1/4 cup of those chopped mushrooms on the rice. YUM.
5. Lay veggies in a strip in the middle (side to side, not front to back) of the square. It should be about 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide. Do not overfill. If you want, also put in a slender brick of cream cheese.
6.  Begin to roll sushi away from you, folding over close bare long side of sheet to begin and then pressing with mat, continually rolling up sheet tightly while using mat to press and maintain cylindrical shape of roll. DO NOT ROLL THE MAT OR PLASTIC INTO THE SUSHI.
7. Seal the roll by pressing firmly into the bare end and let the roll rest for several minutes.
8. Cut the roll with a very very sharp knife very slowly to maintain shape.

TEMPURA ROLLS

1. Prepare tempura mix. We found it easiest to make batter in a loaf pan because it was long and thus easy to dip the roll. Really use ice water. Let water sit with ice for several minutes then add to dry mix and stir. Gently. Do not over-mix. There will still be lumps.
2. Put vegetable oil (not olive, not canola, not crisco) into deep fryer to the correct depth and let heat to between 375 and 400 degrees.
3. Put uncut roll in batter. We used our hands and kitchen tongs. Cover ends. Retrieve and scrape off excess batter. We liked ours best when the tempura coating was very thin.
4. Gently put the entire roll into the fryer. Let fry for about 3 to 4 minutes or until it is very light brown. If your roll is not submerged, be sure to use tongs to turn it.
5. Remove with a slotted spatula or tongs. Place on paper towels.
6.  Let cool a minute or two then cut.
7. The cream cheese melts beautifully in these rolls. We restricted the veggies to mushrooms and carrots.

SERVE SUSHI WITH SOY SAUCE, WASABI, AND PICKLED GINGER.

*We got all of our ingredients at Whole Foods, including the mats, but Publix probably
has them

Sweet and Sour Chicken

I have been a bad blogger :/
I have been out of town for the past three weeks and now that I'm back in Savannah, I'm doing an internship and classes which have kept me busy. However here is a delicious recipe that I made for my mother when she came in town a couple weeks ago. It's healthy because it's baked instead of fried and it was pretty simple and doesn't require a ton of ingredients even for the sauce! I got the recipe from this site (Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken) and I didn't tweak it but I do have a few hints for you and some pictures!
Hints

• Don't go too heavy on the cornstarch when dipping. and do dip cornstarch then eggs but shake off excess egg
• Like the recipe says, DON'T cook the chicken all the way in the pan, look at my picture if you need help with when to take it out of the pan
• Don't forget to turn your chicken every 15 minutes so that it cooks evenly

Enjoy!

Assembly line: chicken, cornstarch, eggs

Chicken in pan

chicken just out of oven :)

Served with rice and salad with balsamic dressing! YUM!

I was in SPAIN!

Hey everyone!
Sorry I haven't posted in so long. I had finals, then graduation, then I went to Spain! I have a new recipe to post but it will have to wait for a couple weeks for technical difficulties.
However! In the meantime, I just got back from a trip to Barcelona and Granada Spain so I'm going to make a list of my impressions of spanish food.

•  When in Spain you should probably stick to Italian food. 
•  They have really good pizza and pasta if you can find it. I had a pizza with onion, pear, tomatoes, goat cheese and honey. I know it sounds disgusting but I'm going to try to make it here because it was delicious!
• Spanish food is actually not very good at all haha or healthy. The don't have a lot of fresh stuff and they eat a lot of meat and fried things! Who would've thought?!
• When in Spain, go to Granada and do a "tapas crawl"
• I invented this word, but basically Granada, Spain was one of the coolest places I've ever been and if you go to a restaurant or cafe and order anything (even just a water!) they bring you a free tapas. You don't get to pick but normally it's pretty good and it's free!
• So basically just go around to different cafe's ordering drinks and you will be full after about 4 free tapas!
• When in Spain, expect to eat a lot of ham.
• These people love their ham. It's on everything: pizza, toast, vegetables, it's even served by itself on a plate as a tapa.
• I witnessed a small child point at a dead pig hanging outside a restaurant and the server smiled and chopped off a piece and handed it to the delighted child like it was a lollipop. The whole thing was very strange. I don't get it, but if you go to spain, I hope you like ham.
• When in Spain, Tapa and Sangria yourself.
• Sangria is delicious. It tastes actually a little spiced cider-ish. But really I drank Sangria at ever meal and they have cool straws with spoons on the end to eat the fruit with.
• Tapas are the best invention for a picky eater like me. They're basically like small appetizers and you just order a bunch and share. You get to try a bit of whatever and you get to share it so if you don't like something hopefully your companion does, and it helps you avoid ordering a bunch of stuff you'll never eat. I was a big fan of tapas.
• When in Spain (or really anywhere in Europe), eat Ketchup Chips and gelato daily.
• Ketchup chips- I love them, you will love them. They taste like french fries, just trust me. 
• Gelato- I don't need to explain this concept but you will get fat if you do this daily probably but I really happen to think that once you explain to people the 50 extra pounds is from daily gelato they will just be extremely jealous.
• When in Granada, try a Churro
• but not just anywhere or it may suck. There are key places that have the best ones so ask around. 

Cauliflower Pizza Crust (low carb AND delicious!)

So my boyfriend is on this new low carb diet. Wait, excuse me "it's not a low-carb diet. It's the PALEO diet and he's doing it to be more healthy".
Anyways regardless, the boy is basically only eating meat fruit and veggies (no dairy, no grains, no fun deliciousness basically). However the other day he was craving pizza and because I am such an amazing girlfriend I looked up a recipe for some sort of no-wheat pizza crust and found this!
Cauliflower Pizza Crust.
I know it sounds absolutely disgusting but it was actually really good! And it's healthy! It had dairy in it (cheese) but he relaxed his diet so he could try it just this once. I found the recipe from the blog above and followed it exactly however I have a few hints for how to make this.

Tips:

1. This is probably much easier if you have a food processor of some sort for the cauliflower but I did it with the cheese grater and it didn't actually take THAT long. 
2. You want your cauliflower to be as dry as possible so I poured mine on a paper towel and tried to squeeze the moisture out of it that way.
3. DO NOT overcook your cauliflower in the microwave. Make sure you cook it altogether. If you split it into smaller batches it will burn into a little black crisp (I am speaking from experience).
4.  I greased my pan before I put the dough on it but it still stuck to it like glue and I had to get it up with a knife :/ I'm not sure if this is because I let it sit for awhile before putting the toppings on and putting it under the broiler or if I pressed my dough too thin but just be aware of this and try to use a super non-stick pan and grease it well!
5. Pre-cook your ingredients before you put them on the pizza. I put spinach, mozzarella, goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes on mine so that wasn't necessary, but I did saute some onions before hand and then put them on.
6. Watch it carefully under the broiler! It will start to burn the edges but the dark edges on mine didn't taste particularly burnt and I'd rather have that then a soggy center

Eat Right, Now. or Eat. Right Now.

I’m a small girl, I don’t think I’m fat, but I have a confession...

I am hungry or eating all the time and it used to be unhealthy food. So here are a few of my tips on How to eat mostly right on a small budget with a large appetite and a bit of a sugar addiction (like me):

1.  Instead of drinking sodas (or in my case straight lemonade 24/7) buy powdered drink mix (i get country time lemonade at Sam’s Club but that's definitely not the best health-wise haha, i do make it weak though so technically less sugar) then buy POM juice or straight no sugar added all natural cranberry juice. Pour yourself a glass of your juice and add a splash of cranberry or POM. It’s yummy and it has lots of antioxidants and other good stuff that's in pomegranate and cranberry juice. You also save a bunch of money because one thing of POM will last you for awhile depending on how much you mix and powdered drink mix is pretty cheap as well.
2.  Make your own trail mix. I take mine to class for break. I love freeze dried peaches or strawberries and you can get them in bulk from this great company Provident Pantry. They may seem expensive but they are so good and there are a ton in one can. Because they are just the pure fruit there are no additives and they last forever and have just as much vitamin c as the fresh fruit. I also add pecans and (because I have chocolate cravings 24/7) I bought almonds covered in cocoa powder. They’re healthier than chocolate covered ones and they’re really good and have protein. You can get them in a big jar for cheap at Sam’s.
3.  Organic milk. I always used to avoid organic milk because as I insisted “I like my milk with as many preservatives as possible so it's not gross”…and don't worry I realized how stupid I sounded. However, one day I noticed the sell by date on the organic milk versus the super-fake-not-even-from-a-real-cow milk and decided I was only drinking organic milk from now on (it lasts sooo much longer.)
4.  Snacks. I snack all the time. Like I said I'm always hungry and so instead of trying to just stop snacking (which I realized was too much effort and made me grumpy ) I just decided to snack healthier. Here are some of my favorites (I am not paid by any of these companies although they really should): 

• cherry tomatoes- dip them in balsamic and they're delicious. Don't put them in the fridge though (they get gross and wrinkly)
• Soy crisps- like mini rice cakes only better for you and only 230 calories if you eat 1/3 of the entire bag! I know…awesome. And they come in flavors like ranch (my favorite), salt and vinegar, barbecue and original. Organic Section in Kroger
• Pop chips- they're not fried and they have no preservatives yet they're not baked so they still have taste. They're literally "popped".  You can find them in some convenience stores now but definitely in the organic section in Kroger.
• Snikiddy all natural baked fries- they’re baked. they’re organic. they’re cheesy. and I eat a whole bag if I dont watch myself. They are so good I have to keep checking to make sure they’re actually not normal junk food. Organic section in Kroger.
• hummus and pita-classic. hummus does have a lot of fat in it though so if you're worried about this switch it out with an organic salsa or a homemade one!
• organic chocolate bars- I like the brand “Endangered Species” They are a little pricey but so good and they help save endangered species!! My favorite is the cranberry and almond one partly because that's a delicious combination and partly because it has a picture of a wolf and wolves are my favorite.
• Snapea Crisps- I like the original, but they have “Caesar” as well. It says to put them on a salad but I eat them by themselves. At first I didn't like them but then I found them strangely addicting. They have a lot less calories than potato chips and they are snap peas so they’re good for you and the method in which they're preserved also preserves the nutrients in them.

Roasted Carrots

These were delicious. This was the first recipe I got creative enough with to call my own.

sorry for the poor picture quality. they don't look very pretty anyways but they taste delicious!

What you need:

• 4 to 5 medium to large carrots
• Cinnamon
• Honey
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Olive oil
• salt and pepper
• brown sugar

Steps 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Wash and peel carrots then cut in half and cut down the middle. 
3. Place curve side down on a baking pan
4. combine a drop of honey, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, mix together
5. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil then mix together. 
6. Brush (if you have one) olive oil over carrots, if you don't have a brush then just sprinkle and try to coat it with your clean finger
7. sprinkle on cinnamon salt and pepper
8. Cook 25-35 minutes depending on thickness of carrots

Sour Cream Chicken

I'm a big fan of chicken breasts in case you didn't notice. Chicken is tasty, easy and you can easily cook it for one. However I used to hate chicken because I always seemed to be eating really dry chicken. Lately I've been baking my chicken cause I've found I have more luck keeping it moist that way. So here's a great EASY quick recipe for baked chicken with sour cream and breadcrumbs. If I did it again I'd sprinkle on a little more seasoning or maybe use Italian dressing instead of simply seasoning. I also made rice and served it with that. Because I have an obsession with balsamic vinegar I sprinkled some balsamic on the rice and the chicken once it was cooked and like it but then again, I'd probably eat dirt if it had balsamic vinegar on it.

Also most of this recipe came from loveintheoven.com and was only slightly modified by yours truly.

 Ingredients:

• chicken breasts
• italian seasoning or italian dressing
• sour cream
• bread crumbs (or just toast bread and crumble it)
• shredded cheese (parmesan is best)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Put chicken breast on it
3. Sprinkle on italian seasoning, salt and pepper or italian dressing
4. Cover with sour cream (spread pretty thick)
5. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of the sour cream.
6. Sprinkle cheese on top
7. Bake for 35-45 minutes