Homemade California Rolls

I've recently discovered my love of sushi...well, to be honest. I still don't like raw sushi, but I love my California rolls! Publix actually had some delicious spicy California rolls, but at the rate I was eating through them, I figured there had to be a way to make them myself! Plus, I actually looked at the label and there was SO MUCH processed ingredients and chemicals in something that should be so simple! AHH.

I found a wonderful sushi recipe on one of my favorite blogs: 100 Days of Real Food. I made these a few weeks ago, but we're making it again tonight which reminded me that I needed to post this! The hardest part was finding the Nori Seaweed sheets. Most grocery stores had no idea what I was talking about. I ended up finding several choices at Whole Foods, so I stockpiled! It really doesn't take many of the sheets for a dinner. I also bought some organic Shoyu Soy Sauce which is supposed to be closer to the real soy sauce, and there's no weird ingredients! Let me tell you- that stuff is delicious! So much better than any other soy sauce I've eaten!

It's so much easier to make than I thought it would be! And it's really fun to assemble. We did it as a family and had fun making our own rolls! One trick I learned is to have a bowl of salted water to dip your fingers in when you're dealing with the sticky rice, or else it's ... sticky. You'll end up with more stuck to your fingers that to the Nori! I also kept the plastic wrap on the roll as I cut it. This kept the rice together and made it much neater and prettier! You can put whatever you want in these! Last time, we used salmon and crab (real, not imitation!), but the salmon was a little too strong for me. Tonight we're trying tuna and shrimp. All cooked of course ;)

UPDATE: The short grain brown rice wasn't nearly sticky enough to hold the roll together. I may try a different brand later, but if you want to make sure it sticks use the white sticky rice!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups short-grain brown rice (we used the white sushi rice the first time, but we're trying the brown rice tonight!)
• 4 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• seafood filling- last time we used 1 can of salmon and 1 can of crab and it made enough for 5 with some left over. 
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut lengthwise
• 1 cucumber, peeled and cut lengthwise
•  Avocados, sliced lengthwise
• Nori Seaweed Sheets

Other Necessary Supplies:

• bamboo rolling mats- or use a cookie sheet and plastic wrap
• Chopsticks (if preferred)
• Wooden or plastic spoon to prevent rice from sticking
• Bowl of salted water
• Any spices, wasabi, etc you want to add

Method:

1. Cook the rice according to package instructions. Once the rice is done stir in rice vinegar.
2. Chop veggies- I put each type of seafood in a seperate bowl and put a plate with all the veggies on it to make assembly easier.
3.  Cut Nori sheet in half long ways. You may need to experiment with how much you cut off depending on how fat you make your rolls ;)
4. Lay Nori sheet on plastic wrap, and start patting rice in a thin uniform layer over the entire sheet. (The 100 Days blog has pictures of the process if you get stuck!)
5. If you prefer the nori to be on the outside of your sushi roll then leave it the way it is with the rice on top.  If you like the rice to be on the outside (like me) then flip it over.
6. Make a nice and neat row along the very bottom edge of the nori with whatever ingredients you’d like on the inside.
7. Roll it over as tightly as you can and keep rolling until it is closed up completely. Then squeeze down on the roll with a little force to really secure it together. I had to add a little extra rice at the end the first time, because I didn't put enough to close it together!
8. Using a sharp knife cut through the plastic and the roll until you have the desired number of pieces of sushi.

Enjoy and get some organic Shoyu to dip it in! Mmmmmm, so yummy!

Cheesy Quinoa Cakes with Remoulade Sauce

Whoops! I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post. However, I've spent the past two months trying lots of new recipes, so now I have a lot to write about!

I did stumble across a new quinoa recipe on Pinterest this week, and it was delicious, healthy, filling, and there were lots of leftovers! It's a win-win situation! Plus, I think it would be easy to freeze, and I love when things are baked into individual servings. It was so easy to make and we had everything on hand!

Cheesy Quinoa Cakes
(Originally found at So Very Blessed )

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 2 stalks green onion, diced (We were out of onions, so I used 1 tsp of onion powder)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I substituted parsley instead)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used 2 cups of cheese...I like things very cheesy!)
• 2 Tbs all-purpose flour(I used whole-wheat flour)
• 1/2 tsp seasoning salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

 1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Mix together quinoa, carrot, egg, green onion, garlic, cilantro, cheese, flour, salt and pepper.
3.  Distribute mixture into a greased mini muffin tin, filling each cup to the top (1 heaping Tbs each).
4.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

I wanted bigger servings, so I used a regular muffin tin and added 5 more minutes to the baking time. They turned out so lovely, with a slight crunch to the outside. My mom said they tasted like cheesy biscuits! Success!

This blog recommends using Honey Dijon, salsa, or sour cream to dip them in, but I wanted something with a Cajun flair! I ended up adapting a Remoulade sauce, and it was so yummy!

Stephanie's Remoulade Dipping Sauce

½ cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
lemon juice- I just squeezed a wedge of lemon
1 spoonful of minced garlic
chili powder to taste
Creole Seasoning to taste
1 tbsp Tabasco Sauce
1 tsp garlic salt

The actual recipe can be found at All Recipes. 

Roasted Chickpeas

I discovered a new. healthy snack today: Roasted Chickpeas!



I've always been a big fan of hummus, but I never realized how much you could do with chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans). You could flavor these in so many different ways, and the best part is that they will keep in an airtight container for up to a week. I've had a hard time finding healthy snacks that are also travel friendly or that I could just throw in my purse!

We bought a bag of dried beans at Whole Foods. Our local grocery store only had the canned version, and if you look at the ingredients list there is so much other junk in there too! Why?! I just wanted the beans. Anyways, more on that rant later. We cooked the beans according to the instructions on the bag. Then, we dried them off and put them on a metal baking sheet. Next, you drizzle with olive oil and any seasoning you want (we used garlic salt). Bake at 400* F for 30-40 minutes and enjoy!

To me, they tasted like a cross between corn nuts and popcorn, and they're surprisingly filling! They also only lasted about an hour in the house. They're that delicious, and give you a satisfying crunch if you're missing those chemical-laden potato chips :) I want to try using honey & cinnamon, and other spices like chili powder too! Yum!

Do you know what you're eating?

I've decided to start blogging again, and the direction might change. I think I'm going to continue to post crafts, but I also want to document the change in food my mom and I are taking.

Recently, I've been inspired by Micheal Pollan's books Food Rules and In Defense of Food. One of my favorite books was Dr. David Kessler's The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. That one visually explained what companies and restaurants do to our food, and it's horrible! Everything is engineered to make us eat more and more, and it's all mostly fat and sugar. I've never been disgusted with additives and processed foods until reading these books. They prompted me to research more about what I eat and how it affects my health. It's been enlightening.

The past 3 weeks my mom and I have been trying to cut out all processed foods and additives. I'd estimate we're about 90% of the way there. It's hard. I've never realized or cared about how many chemicals where in my food. We've been sticking to our 5 ingredients or less rule (from Pollan) and have been using the 100 Days of Real Food blog as inspiration. I've been trying to only use honey as a sweetener, eat more lean protein, and try new healthier foods.

Since changing our diets I have felt better, my skin is clearer, my sugar cravings have lessened, bloating has decreased, and my taste buds have started changing. Restaurant food doesn't taste as good anymore- it's too salty or makes me feel sick afterwards. I haven't been eating as much, because by eating more 'real' food I'm not as hungry. I've lost 4 inches in my stomach, and 6 pounds so far. Mom's grocery list has shrunk and we're spending less even though were getting lots of yummy fruits and vegetables and fresh seafood. It's exciting! I actually find myself wanting to eat vegetables, and not fries. And I used to looooooove fries.

I plan to start posting more recipes and things we learn along the way as we start to eat all real food and make more from scratch. Hopefully, it will inspire you to read the ingredients list and give real food a chance too!

Car Caddy & Play Mat

I've had a lot of changes in my life recently. The most notable being the beginning of my student teaching which has really eaten into my free time. However, I finally feel like I can juggle lesson planning, grading, and behavior management without feeling the need to collapse at 4pm... So back to blogging I go!

Somehow I managed to find the time to craft a few new things, and the first that I want to share was actually a new milestone for me! It was my first sewing project with an actual machine! Woot! In the past, I've always hand stitched everything or just used fabric glue, but lately I've been seeing all kinds of cute projects, and gosh darn it! I want to learn to sew like a real person!

So, with the help of my lovely and talented Aunt B, I created a birthday present for my boyfriend's nephew's 3rd birthday.

This car caddy was inspired from a tutorial found on Homemade By Jill, although I made several changes. First off, being the broke student that I am, the materials I used were: a thin place mat on clearance at Target, a terrycloth hand towel, and an old pair of jeans. Another aspect of the project that I changed was the closure. Instead of Velcro or a tie, I used the button of the jeans. I just cut part of the waistline off, and sewed the ends between the layers.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! Since Little C is always on the go, he can load up all of his cars, take them anywhere, and have a road and garage to play with. Plus, it's machine washable! Overall, it was a quick day's project, and I had fun learning how to use a sewing machine for real! Thanks Aunt B!

DIY Reading Bag

I've been in an extremely crafty mood as of late which is both good and bad. Good in the fact that making stuff relaxes me, and I really enjoy it, but bad in the fact that I really need to be studying for the GACE. Yup. I'll be taking my teacher certification test this Saturday, and I'm nervous! Many people have already told me that it's no big deal, but being me, I still have to get a little worried! I'm also not excited about the fact that I'll be taking 4 tests on the actual test day.... blah! It's going to be a long day!

Anyways, back to arts and crafts!

I love making gifts for people, and packaging is half the fun! It's not nearly as exciting to wrap something in store bought paper after spending so much time creating the present. I feel the same about cards especially now that they've gone up in price. I have a good stock of supplies, so I might as well be productive! (Side Note- I really think this is going to be fun when I actually have my own classroom! I can't wait to use the excuse... "But it's for school!" when I want to make something! YAY!)

Source: Personal Photo

Here's a 'Book Bag' I made for a toddler's 1st birthday party. Everyone needs a special bag to take with them to the library, and although the colors are a bit 'girly', I think he'll still enjoy it! I tried to stay with somewhat neutral colors, so anyone in the family could use it!

It was really easy to make. I got the tote bag as part of a three-pack from Michaels, and used some iron on transfer paper for the back of the bag. I used Photoshop (You can just as easily use Microsoft Word) to edit the colors of the text, and then just printed it out on the inkjet printer. Easy!

For the owl, I didn't have the colors I wanted in any of my fabric scraps, so I bought three bandanas. I used pinking shears to cut out the pattern, and then used fabric glue to piece the owl together. I did sew the eyes onto each piece to hold the whole owl together before gluing it on to the bag.

To finish the present, I bought a couple of board books at a bookstore that was going out of business, and then wrapped them in some Kraft paper that I had on hand. The whole package was tied off in some twine. I used the tote bag as my 'wrapping' for the books, and I loved how the whole thing came out! I definitely think I'll use this idea again. The books were the most expensive part, but it was a very affordable present to make! Depending on what books you added, you could easily make this for under $10 depending on what you had on hand.

Whirlyball

Saturday was a crazy day. My fella and I were headed to one of his friend's birthday parties which had morphed into an all day extravaganza. It was exhausting, but completely awesome! The actual locations were a surprise to the birthday guy, so the rest of us had fun talking in code. We did a whole bunch of stuff like laser tag, arcade games at Dave & Busters, and eating lots of yummy food and cookies! But, there was one thing that I had never even heard of.

Let me introduce you to.....

Whirlyball.

What is Whirlyball, you ask?

Source

Just picture lacrosse on bumper cars! Two teams of five play 15-20 minute games where you try to hit the other team's target with a whiffle ball- all while dodging everyone else. It was intense!

And I was very bad at it.

I sat out the first game with some of the other girlfriends just so I could see what exactly went on in a whirlyball game. It looked pretty slow from the outside, so I was feeling a little more confident. I joined in the second game, and had the hardest time getting my bumper car to steer! Because you have to have one hand free for the scoop there's only one pedal and a crank that you move from side to side to turn. Apparently, this was way too complicated for me.

I spent the majority of the second and third games just staying out of everyone's way, and running into select people who were headed towards our goal. It was still fun, and my steering slowly improved! Of course, I found out a little bit later that it wasn't completely my fault- my little car was fixed after the third game, and suddenly worked so much better! I took the opportunity to let everyone know that clearly I was not as bad a player as I seemed, it was a conspiracy!

Several banged knees, sweaty shirts, and tired hours later, we called it quits. I feel like it's a game that if you could play regularly, you could plan strategics and pick up steering a little quicker! But as a whirlyball newbie, I highly enjoyed it!

Really, you should go try it! They have leagues, national championships, and everything!