Sushi Rice and Shaggy Dog roll

Shaggy Dog Roll

Photo credit Natasha's Kitchen

Ingredients

Sushi Rice

4 T Rice Vinegar

2 T sugar

2 tsp salt

2 cups Japanese or short grain rice

3 cups water

California Rolls or Shaggy Dog Rolls

6 half-sheets of Nori

1/2 lb imitation crab meat 

1 Avocado

1/2 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced into long matchsticks

Toasted Sesame Seeds (optional)

Panko breadcrumbs, tempura style (optional)

1 carrot, peeled and sliced into long matchsticks

Pink Mayo

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2-3 T Sriracha sauce

1-1/2 T sweetened condensed milk

Directions

Sushi Rice

1. Cook the rice in rice cooker.

2. As rice is cooking, make sushi rice by combining rice vinegar, salt, and sugar in a small sauce pan and letting them dissolve together over low heat on the stove, then let the mixture cool.

3. When the rice is done cooking, transfer the hot rice into a large bowl and break it up to get rid of all the hot clumps.

4. Let the rice cool down until it is just warm, then stir in your cooled sushi vinegar. 

Assembling Rolls

1. On a sheet of parchment paper, spread a generous handful of sushi rice onto a 1/2 sheet of nori. Use wet fingers or a spoon to spread the rice evenly over the entire surface of the nori, taking care to cover all the way to the edges of the nori.

2. Flip the rice covered piece of nori over so the rice is facing down. This way your rice will be on the outside. (The rice will stick surprisingly well to nori and it's relatively easy to flip the nori over.) Place your fillings across the center of your rice in the middle of the sheet.

3. Start rolling away from you using the parchment paper, using your fingers to hold the ingredients in place. Roll tightly enough and apply pressure to make a tight roll.

4. Once all the rolls are rolled, run your sharp knife through damp paper towel before slicing so the rice won't stick as much. Slice two rolls at a time, quickly with a sharp knife, into 1 inch wide rolls. 

5. Sprinkle with panko crumbs or toasted sesame seeds. To make a Shaggy Dog roll, top with tiny flakes of imitation crab and pink mayo.

Dairy Free Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce

Photo credit Blendtec

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients

1/3 cup raw cashews

2 cups cauliflower florets

2 cups chicken stock
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1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp salt
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6 cloves garlic

Directions

1. Combine cashews, cauliflower, and chicken stock to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then add nutritional yeast, pepper, and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Carefully add 1/2 of mixture to Blendtec (make sure to include at least 1 cup of the chicken stock). Press the Soup button. Add the garlic and the remaining cauliflower mixture. Press Soup button to blend again. 

Creamy Tomato Slow-Cooker Chicken

Photo credit Betty Crocker

Ingredients

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1-1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 jar (15 oz) Alfredo sauce (or dairy free Alfredo sauce, see recipe below)

1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained

1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

2 T cornstarch

2 T water

Alfredo Sauce

6 cloves garlic

1/3 cup raw cashews

2 cups cauliflower florets

1-3/4 cups chicken stock

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1. Combine cashews, cauliflower, and chicken stock to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then add nutritional yeast, pepper, and salt. Simmer for 20 minutes.

2. Carefully add 1/2 of mixture to Blendtec (make sure to include at least 1 cup of the chicken stock). Press the Soup button. Add the garlic and the remaining cauliflower mixture. Press Soup button to blend again. 

3. Spray 3-4 quart slow cooker crock with cooking spray. Arrange chicken in bottom of slow cooker. Top with garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.

4. In jar of blender, add diced tomatoes and tomato sauce to alfredo sauce. Pulse to blend until just combined. Pour mixture over chicken.

5. Cover, cook on Low heat for 5-6 hours.

6. 10 minutes before serving, in a small bowl stir together cornstarch and water. Stir into mixture in slow cooker. Increase heat setting to High. Cook uncovered 5-10 minutes longer.

7. Serve over brown rice or pasta.

Almond Joy cookies

Photo credit Friday is Cake Night

These are easy to make either dairy free or with dairy. Just sub the butter and chocolate chips with dairy free versions.

Makes 30 cookies.

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1¾ cups flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• ¾ cup sweetened flaked coconut
• ¾ cup shaved almonds

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream the butter and sugars. Add the egg and both extracts until fully combined.
3. Add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir together.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut and almonds.
5. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, form the dough into 30 balls. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and press down slightly.
6. Bake for 10 minutes. Let the cookies sit on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Coconut Milk ice cream

Makes 6 servings (fits in my 2 qt ice cream maker)

Ingredients

3 (15 oz) cans full fat coconut milk

3/4 cup honey, agave nectar, or granulated sugar

3/8 tsp salt

3 T cornstarch

2-1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup dairy free chocolate chips, nuts, etc.

Directions

1. Shake the cans of coconut milk thoroughly before opening. Scoop out 1/2 cup of coconut milk and set it aside. Combine the remaining coconut milk, agave or honey, cocoa powder, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat until the sweetener thins and is easily mixed into the coconut milk, about 2 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, whisk remaining 1/2 cup coconut milk with the cornstarch until well combined. Stir into the warm coconut milk base and cook until over medium heat until the mixture begins to thicken — enough so that it coats the back of a spoon, 6 to 8 minutes. Do not to allow the mixture to boil. Whisk in the vanilla extract.

3. Remove from the heat and pour the coconut base into a separate bowl. Allow to cool on the counter for 30 minutes, then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 hours — you need the base to be very cold before you process it in the ice cream machine.

4. Churn the mixture in your ice cream machine following the manufacturer’s instructions. Add the chocolate chunks at the very end. When thickened to an soft-serve ice cream consistency, spread into a large loaf pan (or pie pan) and freeze for a few more hours (or overnight) until the ice cream has firmed up completely.

Perfect Popcorn

Ingredients

3 T coconut oil (or other high smoke point oil)

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

1 T (or more) of butter

Salt to taste

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat. If you are using coconut oil, allow all of the solid oil to melt.

2.  Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.

3. When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. This method first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.

4. Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner.

Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper).

Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl. With this technique, nearly all of the kernels pop, and nothing burns.

5. If you are adding butter, you can easily melt it by placing the butter in the now empty, but hot pan. Note that if you let the butter get just a little bit brown, it will add an even more intense, buttery flavor to the butter and to your popcorn. Just drizzle the melted butter over the popcorn and toss to distribute. Salt to taste.

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/perfect_popcorn/#ixzz3n0Sh7XlD