Sushi Night

Although it's time consuming, J and I love making sushi together. It's a great meal to make with someone and there are so many combinations to try - it never gets old! We got hit with yet another snow storm today and decided not to risk driving to restock our fridge, so it was a let's-see-what-the-heck-is-in-the-fridge-and-wing-it kind of night. Wing it nights might be some of my favorite. Somehow we always end up with awesome results!

First, I started by making the rice (while J was kindly shoveling) because it needs to cool before you can handle it. I used Alton Brown's sushi rice recipe and it turned out nice and sticky. While the rice cooked, I chopped up a bunch of different veggies. It's fun to cut up all the options hanging out in your fridge and use whatever you end up using without worrying about not using it all. If you don't use it all, you can throw it into a salad for tomorrow's lunch, or save it in a container for a stir-fry later in the week. In other words, don't sweat it!

So tonight I sliced yellow bell pepper very thinly, some dinosaur kale, sautéed some thinly sliced mushrooms in a little oil and Braggs, julienned a few carrots, diced up a 1/4 cup of cilantro, thinly sliced a 1/4 of a cucumber, and 1/2 of an avocado. I also sliced some tofu in long, thin rows after it had been pressed.

Then J took over and started the assembly process! To accompany the sushi, we made a delicious tahini miso ginger sauce from This Rawsome Vegan Life which J used inside one of the rolls and we also served as a dipping sauce on the side.

While J assembled the sushi rolls, I made a Seaweed Salad similar to the recipe we posted about a year ago. This time, I added some of the sautéed mushrooms and didn't marinate the tofu, but just tossed it in. 


I used some of the leftover sticky rice to make two rice balls which had avocado in the middle. To make rice balls, you'll want to wet your hands with cold water to prevent the rice from sticking so much. Pick up a handful, create a little crater in the middle, and mash the avocado into the crater. Then cover it by patting and rolling the rice into a ball. Sprinkle some sesame seeds and kelp granules in a dish and roll the rice ball around to coat.

We made the table up all fancy and served dinner with sake shipped to us by my best friend straight from Japan.

All fancy sake comes in a juice box with a straw :-)

Tahini Rice Noodles Revisited

Remember how I made Tahini Rice Noodles the other day? Well, after an awesome session at Springboard Pilates and a brusque walk home, I felt like a big plate of veggies, rice noodles, and tahini again! I took a picture this time so you can actually see what it looks like. Made a few changes such as adding zucchini, carrot, and white turnip and not using bell pepper. I also included a few shakes of dulse granules on top for some seaweed-goodness. And again, it's delicious.

Let me just mention that the kale, red cabbage, white turnip, zucchini, carrot, yellow beans, and radish are all from our farm share through Snell Family Farm. It's incredible how amazing it feels to eat food that was picked a few days ago and didn't need to travel from California or New Mexico to get to your plate. Farm share = do it. You will thank me.

Also, I'm seriously love tahini, you guys. I might need an intervention; I almost added it to my oatmeal this morning.

Tahini Rice Noodles

Tahini Rice Noodles
8 oz wide rice noodles
1/2 to 3/4 cup red cabbage
1 kale stem with leaves removed
1/4 cup orange bell pepper, sliced
1 crimini mushrooms, diced
1 large radish, thinly sliced
4-5 yellow string beans
1-2 Tbsp light tahini paste
1/2 tsp Braggs
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp flax seed oil
Pinch of cayenne pepper

Cook rice noodles as indicated on package. Drain and rinse with cold water. Return to pot and toss with flax seed oil. Let sit.

In a small skillet, heat olive oil. Add radish and bell pepper and cook through (I like them to get a little blackened). Add in mushrooms and string beans. Cook through. Add Braggs and then add cabbage and kale and cook only until the kale's bright green. Remove from heat.

Toss room temp rice noodles with tahini. Add veggies and toss. Sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

Serves 2.


The majority of this dish was made using produce from our farm share with Snell Family Farm!

27 is here

Today I turn 27 and the day is always bittersweet. I'm happy to be another year older and don't fear the approaching 3 - 0 as many do. What's makes it bittersweet is that someone isn't here to celebrate with me. In 2007, my mom died from an extremely aggressive version of cervical cancer. She was my idol, my hero, my best friend. And so on this day, I'm spending the day at home by myself with the kitties, baking for an event on Sunday, remembering her life, and feeling thankful she brought me into this world.

I'm glad today is quiet. I'm going to test out two new types of cupcakes: Cookies n' Creme and Peaches n' Cream. It's another test of my willpower over sweets! I've lost another pound this week and am down by 17 since starting, so I'll just keep reminding myself that fitting into those jeans and that skirt and that blazer are WAY more worth it than scarfing down a cupcake.

Yesterday, I took off work and treated myself to a haircut in the morning and then walked around the city with J. We went into LeRoux Kitchen, an amazing kitchen supply store in the Old Port. While there, we did buy a little Taza Chocolate that was salted almond and I stowed it away in my purse. Taza Chocolate is incredible and if you haven't tried it, you need to. It comes as a small circle and although it looks and feels like a dense chunk of chocolate, it tastes incredibly airy and light. Then we walked around a bit more and started feeling hungry by 1:30, so we went over to the Portland Public Market and visited our friends at Granny's Burrito, Kamasouptra, and Market House Coffee. Whenever I visit the Public Market, I try to spread my wealth around by purchasing something small from several vendors. So for lunch we shared a burrito filled with peanut tofu, rice, lettuce, and hot sauce from Granny's, a small cup of vegan chili from Kamasouptra, and a pineapple coconut water from Market House Coffee. It was certainly a larger lunch than we're accustomed to and I was glad we'd skipped both our morning and afternoon snacks. We also spent the good part of the day walking at a good pace - I'm guessing we walked 5-6 miles by the time we were done.

It's all about balance! My coworker says it's simple, "Calories in must be equal to or less than calories out." I think it's important to celebrate things once in a while and to not deprive ourselves of things forever because that is exactly what causes me to fall off the weight loss wagon.

So for dinner last night we had a very very light dinner of 1/2 cup of brown rice over arugula with 1/2 cup of shiitakes and a wedge of lime squirted on top. We followed dinner by a few bites of the Taza chocolate and then ran some errands for my day of baking today. After returning home, we were both hungry. Stomach grumbling hungry. So I suggested we make some Ginger-Lime Hummus and have a little with some carrot and bell pepper sticks. It totally did the trick and I'm pretty sure Ginger-Lime Hummus is our new favorite flavor!

Tonight, J's taking me out for a birthday dinner at the Green Elephant - my favorite restaurant. We've already talked about the idea of getting an appetizer to split and then sharing one entree so that portion sizes are smaller. Green Elephant makes vegetarian and vegan food and it's wonderfully fresh and elegant. I'm excited :) J's birthday present to me is a two night stay in Camden, Maine next weekend and I'm super excited about that!

Since 2006, I've thought my birthday was "cursed." In 2006 and 2007, my mom was re-diagnosed with cancer once on my birthday, once the day before. In 2008, we were told my grandmother (my mom's mother) going to die from cancer just days before my birthday. So I've had trouble celebrating these last few years, no wonder. But I'm going to move past the past and look to the future. A future filled with healthy happiness and a celebration of the strong and beautiful women who helped shape me into the woman I am today.

Ginger-Lime Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained - reserve water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 cup tahini
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 1/2 limes
2 - 3 Tbsp ginger

Food process chickpeas, salt, cumin, and a few tablespoons of the chickpea water (this helps make your hummus nice and smooth). Add tahini, lime, oil, and ginger, and blend until smooth, adding more chickpea water until the desired consistency is reached. Done!

Store in an air-tight container; should last several days.

Makes about 2 cups