Super Simple Sushi Salad

Close-up of texture. 

The finished product, serves 2

You can see from the first picture that this salad has a lot of color, a lot of texture, and a lot of appeal--and it's all very inexpensive and very quick to cook. 

Here's what you need: 

Sushi rice, enough to feed however many people your dinner feeds.  I only have myself and my husband, so I generally make 1.5 cups of rice in 3 cups of water.  It only takes about 10 minutes to cook, and I fluff it with a little vinegar (whatever kind I have on hand) before spreading it on the plate. 

Canned chicken, drained.  You could also use salmon or tuna, I suppose, for a more fishy taste.  Sprinkle on top of the rice.

Green onion or shallots--snip with kitchen scissors and sprinkle on top.

Ginger--I use sliced sushi ginger, and just sprinkle some on top. 

Furikake/Furigake or seaweed--sprinkle it on top.  If you're using seaweed, use kitchen scissors to cut it into tiny pieces and sprinkle it on top. Furikake is available at Asian food stores and is a great tasty topping for any rice dish. 

Other things you might try:  Sliced cucumber, sliced avocado, sliced radishes, wasabi (only for the adventurous!), grated carrot, broiled fish, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds. 

Options

I have documented evidence of two recipes, and I'm letting the fan(s?) decide which will be the topic of my next post.  Do you want to read about:

How to make chicken sushi salad (no raw meat involved!)

Or

How to make a tasty homemade salsa? 

Poor neglected blog

I saw a blog post that made me smile--thought I'd repost and add my own story here:

http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2011/07/06/how-one-woman-became-one-of-them-guest-post/

I know how I became "one of them."  I wasn't born this way, it didn't come naturally to me, but I love every minute of it now.  I'm about to weird out half the members of my small group tonight at the cookout, but I'm looking forward to it. 

In college, I went shopping with my brand-spanking-new first boyfriend ever (I have since married him) and his roommate.  I about got mad.  They were, and still are, avid foodies.  I was a southern girl raised on biscuits and gravy and pork bacon.  Though my man had talked with me before about loving home-made and fresh foods, I didn't understand the extent that food influenced his life until we reached the fated moment when they decided to step up to...the hot dog section of Walmart. 

My idea of college males and their dining habits was that they'd pick whatever was free or cheap, then cook it up and eat it.  I had no idea that these two extremists would spend nearly 20 minutes reading the labels and making fun of the ingredients in these poor hot dogs.  In fact, I was starting to get embarrassed at the stares from other people as this outing turned into an event.  Finally, they settled for some sort of gourmet all-natural wieners, and we paid for the food and left. 

Then came the learning, the working with fresh broccoli for the first time, the discovery of how to make stir fry, reading about nutrition and how best to give your body what it needs.  I tasted new things I'd never tried, and learned how to eat healthy on a budget (which is tough to do). 

I remember conversations with my mom, who was concerned that this line of behavior would end in us making poor health choices for her potential grandchildren.  What if they got sick?  Would we refuse to vaccinate them and never take them to the doctor?  If you don't drink milk, you won't get enough calcium and your kids won't have strong bones.  There's no evidence that organic is any different than normal food. 

And here I am.  I made homemade hamburger and hot dog buns today for our cookout, featuring unbleached wheat flours (2 varieties, mixed), honey instead of sugar, sea salt, organic milk, and real unsalted butter. 

You know what?  Even if there is no more nutrition in my hot dog buns than in the store bought ones, at least I'm missing out on a few preservatives.  And even if I'm not missing out on preservatives MY HOT DOG BUNS TASTE BETTER. 

What southern girl could argue with that?  (oh, and if you're in my small group, we're getting turkey burgers and some more of those gourmet hot dogs for tonight)

Lemon Curd

You may have been wondering: I see the making do part of this blog, but most of this stuff has more to do with utilizing what you have than making something truly spectacular. 

Well, my friend, the wait is over.  And yes, I'm talking about Lemon Curd.  

If you think "that sounds like barf and looks like snot" you're wrong on both counts, it looks like egg yolks and sounds like the sweet music of summer tea parties with scones and chocolate covered strawberries on the lawn.  For those who have never tried it, it's the sophisticated distant cousin of that yellow gunk they put in donuts, and more closely related to Grandma's lemon meringue pie.  And it is indeed easy to make, and delicious on scones or biscuits.  Actually, I recommend making it with meringue, as you can use the two leftover egg whites that way. 

Lemon Curd
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 c sugar
Zest and juice of 2 lemons (I used organic)
1 stick of butter

Chunk it all in the top of a double boiler and cook over hot water, stirring pretty much constantly until it thickens to about the texture of mayonnaise (it took me about 10-15 minutes).  Chill and serve, or serve fresh.  Yield: 2.5 cups. 

Oh, and if you want to buy it, it's $5.95 for a 7.5 ounce jar from Stash Tea.  This recipe makes 20 ounces.  That's over $15.  Making do, or amazing?  You decide. 

Are you bored?

I am.  This malady rarely effects those with nothing to do, but instead those to whom nothing appeals at the moment.  Break out of this with me. 

Start here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/buttonsbowsandbirds

Find some other Etsy shops that sell cool handmade items.  If a shop makes you say, "dang, that's awesome" or anything like that, post the link to that shop in the comments thread for me to look at. 

Finally, be inspired.  Think of something cool and creative to do and tell me about it. 

Test on Friday.  Just kidding.  *Dances to Alice Cooper's "School's Out"*

PHOTOS! Apartment gardening, pt. 2

As promised in one of my first posts (see the one with the elaborate Microsoft Paint attachment), I have photos of my porch garden and some ideas to grow some lovelies yourself! 

I really like the window boxes, and there are braces available for those who want to put them on the porch railing.  We get a lot of wind, which equals a lot of plants overturned by me practicing that very method, so I set them on a more protected area.  I've also seen people who used shoe organizers for herb gardens: http://www.instructables.com/id/VERTICAL-VEGETABLES-quotGrow-upquot-in-a-smal/

Those upside-down tomato and strawberry growing kits are pretty tempting as well, offering utilization of bird feeder hooks and possibly the porch railing as well.  Here's how to make on yourself, and it looks really cool to boot!  http://www.curbly.com/diy-maven/posts/1620-how-to-make-an-upside-down-tomato-planter

The soil around here is decently poor, especially close to the apartment, and weeds are always an issue, so I've spent quite some time adding rich soil in order to make the ground a little more garden-friendly.  One advantage we have is sunlight.  Most people in apartments tend to have lots of shade but very little sun, and it's hard to find vegetables that thrive on shade.  Herbs do pretty well and are pretty popular because they don't need a big, deep pot to grow, nor are they particularly high-maintenance. 

This article (no pictures, sadly) is all about container vegetable gardening and what veggies need what size container: http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-8105.html

I hope this helps some of you limited-space people!  So, what did I miss?  Any other ideas, recommendations, stories about what to use/not to use when limited-space gardening? 

And now for something completely different...

I've noticed my recipe blogs of late have tended toward the exotic, involving ingredients that are kind of hard to come up with and flavors that, quite frankly, not everyone likes.  Those of us who crave East Asian cuisine on a budget love it, but I don't live in East Asia.  I live in America, and since it is spring/summertime in America...

Kick Booty Coconut Cake

1 cake mix (and ingredients to make it)
1 tub cool whip
1 bag flake coconut
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can coconut milk

Bake cake according to box directions (or bake a yellow cake from scratch).  With a chopstick or similar utensil, poke a bunch of holes in the cake.  Mix the two "milks" and pour the mixture into the cake and let it soak in.  When the cake has cooled completely, spread the cool whip over it and cover in coconut.  Chill overnight and serve cold.