Whole Grain Mexican Rice

Yesterday, Anna and I were craving something Mexican-like for lunch. While Anna was at school, I improvised this Mexican rice. It was scary for me, improvising a cooking recipe without Anna! And when I got done, I was afraid that the flavor was too strong and that it would have to be fixed by Anna when she got back from school. However, when she got back from school, Anna tried my rice and she said it was perfectly fine, which is kind of a big deal for me. I have never made a new cooking recipe without Anna before. I'm more of a baker than a cook. ^_^'Anyway, here is the recipe; the measurements are approximate. Don't forget: the most important tools here are your tastebuds! At least, that's what Anna says all the time. ;P

Mexican Fried Rice

Some vegetable/canola oil

½ large red onion, diced

1 or 2 green bell peppers, diced

1 small can of tomato paste (about 6 oz.)

2 ½ to 3 cups of cooked, whole grain brown rice

Garlic Powder

Cumin

Mushroom Powder

Any other seasonings of your choice

1. Heat up a saucepan on high heat.
2. Pour some oil (about 1 tablespoon or so) into the saucepan (keep it on high heat).
3. Add the onions when the oil gets hot.
4. Once the onions start to smell good, add the green bell peppers, and add half of the tomato paste. Stir the mixture around so that it doesn’t burn.
5. Add all the rice to the mixture, and lower the heat to medium heat.
6. Put the rest of the tomato paste into the rice (put some rice into the can to get the last bit, if you know what I mean).
7. Keep mixing, and add dashes of garlic powder, cumin, mushroom powder, and any other seasonings to your taste. I would suggest chili powder.
8. Once you are done seasoning the rice, take the saucepan off the stove and transfer the rice to a rice cooker to keep it warm until you are ready to serve. Be sure that the rice cooker is set on the “keep warm” setting, not the “cook” setting.
9. Serve with a dash of pepper, a couple of scoops of guacamole and refried beans, or whatever you like! ^__^

Sushi [Ann]

[Note: I am very displeased about the font and size of this post. It's uneven and I try to change it to be consistent but blogspot just won't let me. I am so bad at these things. haha. Enjoy, anyway.]

Sushi is pretty much my favorite food to make! It’s ridiculously easy as well. People may scoff at the idea of “vegan sushi” and exclaim “What’s sushi without fish? Isn’t that an oxymoron?” or something of the sort. On the contrary, from what I gather, vegan sushi is still perfectly “legit”. =P I was talking to a foreign exchange student from Japan, and we got to talking about sushi. He suggested that I make some for him sometime, and I was like “Oh by the way, it’s vegan sushi, so there’s no fish in it.” And he was like “So what? Sushi is sushi. Doesn’t need to have fish.” You just need rice, nori and some kind of filling. The filling doesn’t necessarily have to be fish.

Regardless of the question of its “legitimacy”, vegan sushi is delicious and loads of fun! I make this for my friends all the time, especially those who are allergic to fish or are grossed out by the thought of raw fish. Call it what you like; this is my kind of sushi. ;)

The ingredients and assembly are simple; as you know, rice and nori are required. Here are some of my favorite fillings:

• Avocados
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Banana peppers(!!)
• Asparagus
• Shitake mushrooms
  • Dried/fresh, steam them and season with soysauce/tamari, cut into slices =)
• Green/red bell peppers
• The former give the sushi a refreshing taste, and the latter gives a sweet flavour.
• Mangos
• Get the light yellow kind that is not quite ripe yet. Think sour.
• Fake “Meat Fluff”
• (My family gets this from Vietnam; it’s from my friend’s trusted company. It is available for purchase online here.)
• Note: if you decide to use this, I recommend cutting your sushi with scissors (it totally works), because the “meat fluff” is a little tough to cut with a knife. It tastes great. ;)
• If you aren’t using meat fluff, you could also put some kind of seasoned tofu in your sushi (don’t just use unseasoned white tofu!)
• Another suggestion: Fake crab.
• Be sure to check the ingredients, because on many occasions, I have found “crab extract” listed in the ingredients of so-called “Fake Crab”. I think fake crab seasoned with lemon juice and salt & black pepper would make an excellent addition to the sushi.
• Roasted sesame seeds
• just sprinkle some on before you roll the sushi
• Spicy Tempeh
• Recipe found here.

I just cut everything into strips and make my own sushi combinations. :)

Condiments: spicy mayo, ponzu, soysauce, gari (pickled ginger), and wasabi.

You can buy most everything at the store, except spicy mayo, which I have a wonderful recipe for.

Ingredients:

• Vegan Mayo
• I use Vegenaise, Follow Your Heart’s brand. It’s the best. ^__^
• Sriracha Hot Sauce
• Garlic powder

Just spoon out a few dollops of vegan mayo, and add the hot sauce and garlic powder according to your tastes. I don't have exact measurements for this because all you really need are your tastebuds.