Make, Bake, Be Happy!

One of my favorite foods at the moment is bread.  I know, bread = carbs but it’s so good.  And who says you can’t have healthy bread, in moderation?  I recently bought the book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day: 100 New Recipes Featuring Whole Grains, Fruits, Vegetables, and Gluten-Free Ingredients by chance.  I saw the video on the Amazon page and was so intrigued by the fact that bread could be made that easily.  Seriously.  The idea of baking bread intimidated me, and honestly, I was expecting to mess this loaf up.

It took longer than 5 minutes to prep for me only because I boiled water and it took forever to get lukewarm.  I probably would have been better off microwaving the water for 30 seconds or so.  I also got to use my trusty Kitchenaid mixer to easily mix up the bread dough and then placed it in a plastic bowl to give it time to rise.  For some odd reason, I like the smell of bread dough rising.  I guess I’m just weird like that.  Anyway the baking was a success and I learned some things along the way.

• Parchment paper and wax paper is NOT the same.  Glad I caught that one before I really messed up the bread.
• Following directions is key, reading ahead is even smarter.
• Do not open the oven door while the bread is baking, as I wanted to do this many times, and read it’s best to keep the oven closed in order for the bread and steam to stay inside.  I was excited, what can I say?

Here is the end result.  A nice looking loaf of bread.  I was so excited, I cut into the bread right away.  It was pretty hot.   I topped the bread with sesame and poppy seeds, as you can see… Does it look home made??  The taste is very good and wholesome.  I can’t help but say that I am proud of baking this loaf of bread.  Yay!

I have enough dough to make a few loaves which I’m going to make for my parents and Glen’s parents to bring to Thanksgiving.  I guess I can only get better from here.  The book I got has loads of recipes, so I’m sure you’ll see more bread recipes attempts in the future!!

On Friday I discovered an interesting sandwich at Starbucks.  I don’t know about you, but I love the sandwiches at Starbucks.  They’re not too expensive and they’re healthy and quite filling.  I usually get the turkey and swiss on wheat bread, but I had found a different turkey sandwich variation called, “Grandma’s Turkey Sandwich” which has cranberry, stuffing and turkey on whole wheat bread.  It was actually REALLY good, and today I decided to create that sandwich myself.

I basically took multigrain bread (the only bread we had on hand at that moment) and toasted it really well.  I cooked some Stovetop Savory Herb stuffing and opened a can of cranberry sauce.  I had bought some turkey breast at Publix at the deli to last for the week.  And seriously, that was it.  I put it all together and voila!  My own Thanksgiving-esque sandwich.  It’s quite tasty, and I couldn’t even finish the whole thing!

Who says you can’t have Thanksgiving early?

After I went out to exercise, which consisted of some jogging and walking, I got home and tried to figure out this week’s food consumption for the week. Planning ahead always helps, and saves money too. We’ve been pretty lazy lately and went out to eat a lot last week, so I wanted to cook more this week. For some reason, I stumbled upon sushi recipes online and was intrigued enough to try doing it myself. Sushi isn’t cheap and after my stint of DIY sushi, I totally understand why.

Sushi requires a special rice, which is stickier than regular white rice. I also learned that you have to add flavor to the rice using a sugar/rice vinegar combination, and that I need more practice rolling sushi, but for a beginner, the end result wasn’t too shabby.

Ingredients I Used:
Sushi Rice
Rice Vinegar
Sugar
Sushi seaweed
1/2 a cucumber
1 small avocado
2-3 pieces of imitation crab

How I Made It:
Depending on the type of sushi rice you get, you probably should follow their instructions. I used 2 cups of sushi rice, washed it and added 2 1/4 cups of water and mixed it on high heat until it boiled. Then I covered the pot with the lid and reduced the heat to low and let it cook for about 25 minutes. After that, I took it off the heat and let the rice cool still with the lid on.

To make the sushi rice seasoning, I used 6 tablespoons of rice vinegar and 5 tablespoons of sugar in a small pan and let the sugar dissolve in the vinegar. Once dissolved I then put the seasoning into a small boil to cool off. Once cooled off, I put mixed the seasoning into the rice. I set the rice aside and began to cut the veggies.

I cut the cucumber into skinny strips, as well as the avocado. The imitation crab is already in strips but I cut them in half, lengthwise. That’s all I cut as far as the sushi ‘filling.’

Then, using my bamboo placemat, which emulates those sushi rollers that sushi chefs used, wrapped in plastic wrap, I placed the seaweed on top and put the rice on top of it, covering all the seaweed. Then, I added the filling at the end (the end right in front of me) and began rolling. I realized that I really should have rolled as tight as possible, otherwise, it results in falling apart rice and sushi filling. I learned this in the first round. The second round of trying to make a roll was better, but the third was probably the best, I guess because I learned from my mistakes!

Once the roll was made, I cut through it, making little sushi pieces.  I also decided to add some sesame seeds on top just because I love them.

End Result:

Yay!  By the way, this is the best wasabi in a tube I’ve ever had with Soy Sauce!

And here is me, proud of my attempt of sushi and being silly.  It was a pigtail type of day.

I think with more practice I can make my own sushi, and try making other sushi favorites of mine such as salmon skin rolls and dragon rolls!  Ever try to DIY sushi?