Showing posts with label cucumber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cucumber. Show all posts

Monday, October 15, 2012

Vegetarian Sushi Roll



 Random weekend, INDEED. Jubilee- didn't go there for the first time in a while. It was a strange incident. HOWEVER, my friend Steve and I did find ourselves at the casino...and we found...a club. Yes, Gypsies, we found a club. 

We also found ourselves playing penny slots for approximately 20-25 minutes-it didn't take us too long to lose all 10 dollars worth of free money that we got for going to the casino. One slot I played was "KITTY GLITTER"- like of course I'm going to post this one and take a picture of it! Scariest part? The cat on the kitty glitter slot machine looks exactly like my 17-year old cat JULIE! Can't you see the resemblence? #scary


At work today, my boss wanted something new. So what does he say? He wants sushi. So me and my friend from work decide that this will be easy. Love her to death, I probably wouldn't have said yes without her! Have I ever made sushi before? No, but I've watched my little sushi men make it in front of me. Did we say no to this challenge? Absolutely not. We took the challenge, and here it is, my version of a VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE SUSHIII ROLLLL. She made some with crab- and she taught me the techniques of assembly...and thank goodness for her!

Only thing here is the portions are going to be a little iffy- I had to make this in bulk at work so I'm guesstimating everything. Therefore, you might have extra of a lot of stuff- so why not use it to make more sushi or something else, ya know?

Vegetarian Sushi Roll with Spicy Veganaise 
glutenfree~vegan
For the sushi
1 package of sushi nori paper
4 cups sticky rice
2 avocados, pitted and sliced
 2 large carrots, julienned
2 cucumbers, peeled and julienned
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil

For the Spicy Mayo
2 cups veganaise
1/4 cup sambal oelek (or sriracha works too)
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
if you want to make less- it is 1 tablespoon of mayo for 1 teaspoon of chili sauce

1. Cook the sticky rice according to your method of cooking. Make sure you clean the rice before you cook it! I used a rice cooker, sprayed the sides with oil, filled it with the amount of water specified, and let it cook. 
2. While rice is cooking, julienne your carrots and cucumbers and slice your avocados- they should be very fine any very thin. Once cut up, put in a dry paper towel (you want everything to be very dry, otherwise your nori paper will rip!)
3. For the spicy mayo, add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and stir. Put in refrigerator until ready to use!
4. When rice is done, add in the sugar, sesame oil, and vinegar to your rice. Let the rice cool.
5. To assemble to sushi
          - lay out your nori roll
          - when the sticky rice is cool, take 1/2 cup and put it in the middle of your nori paper. Using dry hands, pat the rice on a little over THREE QUARTERS of the paper (so a little over 1/4 of the paper will not have rice on it)
          - take a handful of carrots, a handful of cucumber, and 3 slices of avocado and lay them on top of the rice. don't overlap them- each vegetable gets a portion of the rice!
          - take a tablespoon of spicy mayo and dollop it across the vegetables
          - now comes the wrapping part- take the end with the rice and start rolling it towards the end with no rice- be careful, this is where it gets tricky!
          -when you wrap it all the way, take your finger and carefully moisten it and dab the ends of the nori paper so it sticks.
           - cut it in half with a serrated knife, then cut the halves again. This will give you four big sushi rolls! Cut them again and you'll get 8..however you like them!




Sunday, September 16, 2012

Cucumber and Tomato salad with 'rawnch' dressing




This recipe, is LONG past due! I've been meaning to put it up for quite some time but kept forgetting! Definitely, this one is well kept in my recipe book. My mom loves it extraordinarily so! In our garden, we have tomatoes growing as well as something called a "cucumber melon"- some type of misguided hybrid we created. woops. Well anywayyyzzzz, I wanted to make a cucumber salad with this cumbermelon. I've been dying to create a ranch dressing, and I finally did it EEEEEEE ^.^ 

Although this is probably a great summer recipe, I dare you to at least try to make the ranch dressing. It's too heavenly to pass up

Also another little tidbit- in my recipe, I use tarragon instead of dill (which is the usual for ranch dressing). I only did this because I had a terrible experience with dill one time and I refuse to ever use it again! The taste still scars me. Tarragon is a great option because it is subtler in the licorice taste. However, if you want to use dill- go for it! But for dill, use fresh!

Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Salad with Rawnch Dressing
vegan~glutenfree~can be made raw!

 For the Rawnch
1 block silken tofu (or a recipe of cashew cream if you want it raw!)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
4-5 tablespoons dried tarragon, or 2-3 tablespoons of fresh dill

Puree all of the ingredients in a food processor. Voila! You have the easiest rawnch dressing that is gluten free and vegan!

For the Cucumber & Tomato Salad
5 tomatoes (we had some awesome plum tomatoes!), chopped 
2 cucumbers (or if you actually have cucumber melons, those work too!), chopped
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1) Put your chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and three tablespoons ACV into a medium sized mixing bowl. Combine, and let it marinate for approximately 1 hour (you should do this before making the ranch). 
2) Once it is done marinating, drain the vinegar really well then mix in the dressing (you might have some leftover- which is great for other uses!)
3) Let it chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, before you serve it!


Monsieur Iggy helping his mommy clean out the lint catcher while I do laundry- ISN'T HE THE BEST?!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Watermelon Gazpacho



It's already halfway through the summer and I realize I have not even posted a recipe about watermelon. Like, really? I eat it every day and still have yet to make it more creative than cutting it into a wedge and throwing the occasional spice on top!! 

Today turned out to be a perfect day to make it, considering it was so hot, yet no too scorching to make a perfect gazpacho- a soup served cold [dahhh]. This gazpacho is the perfect combination of refreshing and spicy. 

I made mine for my mom's friend for a party. Apparently it was a huge hit because my mom said people were guzzling it down! and the best part? It literally took less than 10 minutes.

Watermelon Gazpacho
serves a party; 10 minutes to make
4-5 cups watermelon, seedless, chopped
1 1/2 medium cucumber, chopped
1 large beefsteak tomato, chopped
1 medium shallot, diced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon EVOO
1 tablespoon of fresh basil or mint (I used basil since it was fresh from the garden), chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon pepper

1. Place all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
2. Add your mixture to a blender in 3 parts- make it as chunky or as smooth as you want. I made my first two batches chunky (blended for 5 seconds), and my last one very smooth (blended for 15 seconds). Serve in a large bowl and ladle into elegant cups or glasses and garnish with a fresh basil leaf!

Just catching up on the latest news in the Pocono Record. My smart boy ;]