How to Make Sushi at Home

Sushi Rolls are a lot easier to make at home than you'd think. And they're A LOT CHEAPER than going to a restaurant, too.

When my brother James and I were in college we had a ritual every Sunday. It was called Sunday Sushi Sake Cinema night. He had learned how to make his own Sushi after having visited Japan on deployment in the Navy and since he had become vegetarian, we made some really amazing veggie sushi together. Who needs fish when you have ingredients like jalapeno, avocado, red pepper and cream cheese? Though this recipe is easily alterable if you want to add crab or salmon. Best when served with warm Sake, great company and a good movie.

Here are some essential ingredients that you can pick up at your local Asian Market:

1)      Calrose Rice

2)      Nori (get at least ten up to twenty sheets)

3)      Wasabi

4)      Rice Vinegar

5)      Sriracha Sauce if you like it spicy

6)      Soy Sauce

7)      Sushi Mat Roller. I’m sure this has a technical name. I don’t know what it is.

At the grocery store, get lost of yummy veggies. My favorites are:

·        Avocado (this is a must)

·        Jalapeno

·        Cucumber

·        A colorful Bell pepper

·        Sprouts

·        Marinated tofu

·        To make it non vegetarian, you could also get crab or sushi grade salmon or tuna

·        Cream Cheese

 

Directions

1)      Cook at least four cups of Calrose Rice. When fluffy, add a generous drizzle of Rice Vinegar and mix. Let rice cool a bit.

 

2)   While Rice is cooking, slice your ingredients thinly.

3)      Lay a sheet of Nori shiniest side down on the sushi roller. Spread rice evenly on Nori, leaving about an inch uncovered at the base of the roll.

4)      Spread with cream cheese (if you’d like) and top with yummy veggies. Add Sriracha sauce in a line if you want it spicy.

5)      Roll starting at the base of the veggies and tightly push down with your thumbs as you get closer to the end.

6)      Place on a cutting board and slice in one-inch pieces with a serrated knife. If knife gets gunky, dip it in a glass filled with hot water which will help it slice through the sushi better.

7)      Serve with dipping plates filled with Soy Sauce and use wasabi to your liking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Salad {Guest Post}

My friend Jen Rittenhouse has been a Beauties and the Feast fan since its very inception. I consider her to be an expert in blogging and social media and therefore ran the idea by her before we even started the blog. It's an honor to have her as a guest blogger today, three years into what once started as just a simple idea! Thanks for all of your support over the years, Jen!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

An Amazing Salad for Summer

By guest beauty Jen Rittenhouse

I am obsessed with this salad. I dream about it, write poetry about it, and in the summer I eat it just about every damn day.

Like most good things in my life, this salad was born on a whim. It was during my days as a crazed commuter (insert nostalgic pause here). I had a 5:30 a.m. train to catch and limited time to pack a lunch. Thankfully my weekly produce delivery box had just stocked me with all of my summer faves: lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, carrots, cucumber and corn. I threw it all together with a can of garbanzos, black beans, feta and a lemon and discovered the most amazing salad I’ve ever eaten.

You can’t eff this salad up, promise. And it can be modified infinity different ways. Cilantro, bell peppers and hard-boiled eggs make nice additions. The lettuce in this thing is more of an afterthought. Sometimes I don’t even bother.

Ingredients:

-1 can black beans*

-1 can garbanzo beans*

-handful of cherry tomatoes

-1 or 2 carrots

-1 avocado

-1 lemon

-a few shakes of feta

-1 ear of corn

-a few lettuce leaves

*I use half a can of beans when I’m making this for myself and use the other half for the next day’s lunch.

Directions:

-Chop vegetables

-Mix with feta

-Add juice from one lemon

-Eat it up!

Isn't she lovely?

Tip: If you are packing it for lunch, I recommend you layer the feta and beans on the bottom and build up to the lettuce on top.

Jen is a copywriter, mama, runner and denim enthusiast. She's been published a few times on the Internet but this is her first post about food. You can follow her on Twitter and see what she's up to on Instagram @YennyPie.

Breakfast Post Part Deux: Megan's Huevos Rancheros

View of Quebec City from my porthole

If you recall in my last post, I talked about being in Quebec City.  This was a beautiful spot and we were able to take advantage of many things it had to offer:

Yes, those are Chocolatine's freshly baked.  Yes that is my ipod next to it because
I picked them up when I was on my run

Hungry for late night food? You should definitely have your chef make Poutine (this is a French Canadian speciality and is French Fries, Gravy, and Cheese Curds. Michelle made the ones below with Horseradish Cheese Curds):

Poutine!

The one thing Quebec City didn't have to offer is Mexican food. I left Hermosa Beach two and half years ago. When I left, I admit I had some not nice things to say about California. I know, crazy right? I mean I was a little tired of it taking forever to get to the bank, a million dollars a year in taxes no matter how much you make, and the shame in others eyes if you wore your sweat pants to the grocery store. However, the more I travel the more I love California. The irony is not lost people! I mean it has amazing National Parks, California Mexican Food (you might remember Emily's California Breakfast burrito), California Sushi, California Cuisine, the beach, the mountains, my family....you get the picture. I also found out a shocking piece of information. Are you ready? South Africa (where I'll traveling in, in November) doesn't have Mexican food. Can you imagine? I have been busy trying to help Michelle improve her Mexican portfolio. In my noble effort, I was able to come out with a serious winner. Beauties, you better be ready.  This may be made on every Beauty get together from now until eternity.

I have to admit, it is pretty cool to be in charge of finding the best produce, freshest fish & seafood, and the nicest cuts of meats in any new town. Again, my kudos goes out to Wisconsin. We hit up the most amazing meat market I have ever been to. It was this adorable market called Miesfield's. The morning I decided to make my new breakfast speciality, I hit the yacht freezer jackpot. Yes, that is right: I found a lone package of Miesfield's chorizo sausage. My inspiration was born. The best part about this meal is there is really no cooking involved, the hardest part is timing.

Megan's Huevos Rancheros

1 egg per serving
1 can black or red kidney beans - your preference
1 can enchilada sauce
1/2 of chorizo per serving, chopped
1 corn tortilla per serving (Michelle ate three, but she was unable to eat for almost a whole day after)
Shredded Cheese Blend
Vegetable Oil for frying the tortilla

You will also want all your Mexican condiments: Salsa, Sour Cream, Avocado/Guacamole, hot sauce, etc.

Turn your oven on to 350 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil.  Cook the chorizo, set aside.  Heat up the beans with the enchilada sauce in a sauce pan, set aside. Fry corn tortillas in vegetable oil until the tortilla is almost crispy. Pat dry the tortillas.  Place tortillas on cookie sheet.  Put cheese, chorizo, and beans on each tortilla.  Get the egg pan nice and hot and ready to go.  Put cookie sheet in oven.  Fry eggs per your preference.  Pull the cookie sheet out of the oven and top each tortilla with an egg.  Top with your favorite mexican condiments.  This of course goes perfect with Hashbrowns.
 

Fried Avocado Taco

Get ready to get your socks knocked off. Yep, a fried avocado taco. As if avocado can get any better, right? Of all of the things I knew you could do with avocado I had never thought of frying it. But everything tastes better fried so why not!?!? And with beer batter? And in a taco?  Get. Out. of. Town. YUM!

Ok, here’s how you do it. Easy peasy.

Taco Ingredients:

·         2 to 3 firm-ish avocadoes, peeled, seeded and sliced into ¾ inch slices

·         1 cup beer

·         1 cup flour

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         Aprox. 4 cups  vegetable oil

·         Flour or corn tortillas

·         Cabbage, thinly sliced

·         Grated cheese

·         (anything else you want to add – onion, corn, black beans, you name it. Treat this like you would a fish taco)

Sauce Ingredients

·         Half cup mayonnaise

·         ¼ cup sour cream

·         1 teaspoon (or more!) Sriracha sauce/Tapatio/spicy sauce of choice

·         1 lime, squeezed

Directions

Combine beer, flour and salt into a medium sized bowl. Heat oil in a deep pan or pot on medium heat (375 degrees) until hot. Roll avocado in beer batter and drop into pan. Rotate once and remove when batter has turned to a golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. Combine sauce ingredients while avocados are frying. Assemble. Devour.

Tomato-Avocado-Corn Summer Salad

When you have leftover corn on the cob, you make Tomato-Avocado-Corn salad. It's what you do. It's what I did, anyway.

To this particular batch, I added some extra carrot shavings, and instead of cilantro, I picked some lemon thyme. If you have feta, you won't regret tossing that in as well.

Start by mixing in a bowl:

1 can or two cobs fresh corn
1-2 avocados
Cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, diced

Dressing:

1/3 cup (+ or -) EVOO (I used lemon-infused)
A few squirts of lemon and lime juice
A few shakes of salt and pepper to taste
Cilantro or other desired herb

Mix dressing and pour over salad fixings. Enjoy!

If corn had models that all other corn hated for being so perfect and beautiful, this cob would be it. 

California Avocado Breakfast Burrito

We just spent a long, sunny, glorious weekend in San Diego visiting our good friends, The Korns. At the time, summer had not yet hit Washington which made that sunny weather extra special. While there I learned about a new food, local to San Diego: The California Burrito. The definition from Serious Eats:

There are burritos, and then there are California Burritos. The San Diego staple is not trying to be authentic Mexican cuisine—it's basically meat and potatoes stuffed into a flour tortilla for hungry, sand-crusted surfers. The beast of a thing usually involves carne asada, french fries, a bunch of cheese, salsa fresca and of course guacamole.

I didn’t have a chance to try one while we were there (guess we need to go back soon!) but this surfer super food did come up a few times in conversation. Michelle said she likes the breakfast burrito version best and Al mentioned she and JT make them at home with tater tots. So in honor of avocado month combined with a hankering for this newly discovered delicacy; I did my best to create it. And we made it even better by having it for breakfast and adding avocado.

For the “French fries” my options were to run to McDonalds or to use the tater tots we had in the freezer. Running out to McD’s would have been quicker than the 25+ minutes it took to cook tater tots in the oven, but it would have meant changing out of my pj’s, so in the end the frozen tater tots won! Does McDonalds sell French fries before noon or would I have been stuck with a hash brown patty?

Here’s my version of the California “Breakfast” Burrito. The key components here are French fries (or tots) and avocado.

California Avocado Breakfast Burrito 

Tortillas
Tater Tots or French Fries (5+ per person)
Bacon (3 pieces per person)
Sharp cheddar cheese (we used Coastal)
Cabbage, shredded
Chipotle Sauce (canned chipotles mixed with sour cream, Greek yogurt, cream cheese or mayo - make ahead and dip chips in your left over sauce!)
Eggs, scrambled (2 per person)
Avocado, sliced (lots!)

Optional Condiments: 
Feta
Green onion
Cilantro
Salsa
Ketchup
Sour Cream
Extra chipotle sauce

1. Cook the tater tots or French fries
2. Get the bacon going and fry it until it’s crisp
3. While the fries/tots and bacon are cooking, get out the rest of the ingredients for your burrito bar
4. At the last minute scramble a few eggs

To build the burrito:
Melt grated cheddar cheese on a tortilla. Add a little shredded cabbage (for crunch) and chipotle sauce (this is best made ahead, I combined canned chipotles with ½ Greek Yogurt and ½ cream cheese). Add a layer of tots, scrambled eggs, bacon and all the slices of fresh, delicious avocado you can fit. Roll it tight and top with salsa, feta, green onions, sour cream and extra avocado. And yes, if you’re following along that means there were three kinds of cheeses in our breakfast burrito. We may not be hungry surfers, but that’s how we roll.

I’d still like to try an authentic “California Burrito” but let me tell you, this was amazing. Perfect for a big breakfast on a lazy weekend!

Quick highlight of our trip:

The beach at Coronado Island

Handsome PJ, my San Diego doggie love

The San Diego Zoo

Maggie the Polar Bear

WWU reunion with JT and Alison, Kevin and Amy, Rob, Michelle & Maggie at Craft & Commerce. Besides the company the highlight there was bacon corn dogs. I never knew I could love a corn dog that much. The night before we had tapas at Davanti Enoteca in Little Italy. We got to eat under the stars and every bite we had was amazing, but the white bean bruscetta with arugula and parm and the mascarpone polenta really shined!

Our awesome hosts and good friends, The Korn family!

And of course we were happy to come home to this guy and sunshine in the NW!

Guacamole Hot Sauce Dog

Guacamole Hot Sauce Dog = Best. Hot Dog. Ever.

I am a hot dog and pizza traditionalist. I like ketchup and mustard on my dogs and pepperoni on my pizza. I definitely branch out and try new things and usually end up liking them...but I always go back for the good, boring stuff.

So I made my guac hot dog for avocado month with a side of ketchup and mustard hot dog just to be safe. After devouring the guac dog, my ketchup and mustard dog was a big let down. And that's a first.

I'm not really sure what else to write -- you just have to try it this summer. Host a hot dog topping throw down and bring out this big gun recipe to blow the competition away. If you like guacamole and hot sauce, I promise you won't be sorry...

Guacamole Hot Sauce Dog 
Adapted from Real Simple recipe

Ingredients

4 hot dogs
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon
fresh lime juice
kosher salt and black pepper
4 hot dog buns, split
4 small romaine lettuce leaves (I used red lettuce)
1/4 small red onion, chopped
hot sauce (such as Tabasco), for drizzling (We ran out of our beloved Crystal hot sauce so I topped it with Frank's Wing Sauce and it was awesome!)

Directions

Cook the hot dogs according to the package directions.
In a medium bowl, mash the avocado with the lime juice; season with 1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Dividing evenly, top hot dog bun with the lettuce, mashed avocado, then add hot dog and sprinkle with onion. Drizzle with the hot sauce.

Note: You have to add enough guac and hot sauce that it comes gushing out of your hot dog with every bite -- it's the only way...

~ Posted by Missy

July Ingredient - Avocado

July Ingredient – Avocado

Avocado to me is like bacon to most other people. If that analogy doesn’t make sense to you, I will explain: there are quite a few people on this planet (my husband included) who feel like everything is better with bacon. He scans the menu at a restaurant looking for any kind of sandwich that has bacon on it. This is how I am with avocado. It is good on everything (except maybe pie).

A couple of months ago when I was with my family on vacation I mentioned that my final, dying, last wish would be for someone to bring me an avocado sandwich. This started a hilarious dialogue because my parents and sister, God bless them, took this comment seriously and started to take my order. Did I want mustard on it? Lettuce? What kind of cheese? What kind of bread? I mean, I guess, if they really cared about me they should know about this right?

So this month I’m asking my fellow beauties to come up with a recipe that uses avocado. And please, also include the last meal you would choose should you suddenly find yourself prepared to walk the green mile. This is meant to be funny, not sadistic; I’m honestly curious! Plus, it’s something we should all know about each other, shouldn’t we? If we truly call ourselves foodies!

And with that, I’ll give you my order:

Green Mile Avocado Sandwich
-Thick and crusty sourdough bread
-Avocado (and lots of it, sliced and sprinkled generously with salt)
-Sharp white cheddar cheese and/or deli sliced American cheese
-Sprouts
-Tomato
-Shmear of cream cheese
~ Amber