Brown Rice Yam Rolls

Well, I am a deep-fry virgin no longer. I dunked my battered yams into that sizzling oil like a seasoned veteran. Somewhere mid-fry, I realized the irony of trying to increase the health of the sushi with brown rice, while stuffing it full of yam tempura. The yam rolls were delicious - however, due to the extra fiddling I think that tempura will be making only special appearances in my sushi roll line-up. The brown rice sushi was great - health notwithstanding, I loved the flavour and texture, and will definitely be making this swap in the future (I forgot to tell Mike about the brown rice and I don't think he noticed).

I do have a thanks to give: a big shout out goes to my elastic-waist maternity pants- I think I ate the baby's weight in sushi tonight. Of course, you can't make yam tempura without some sampling.

Brown Rice Sushi

I don't have a recipe per se, there are many guides to making sushi a la google. However, here are some tips.

I used this method to make the yam tempura.

For the brown sushi rice I cooked 2 cups of calrose brown rice, which I find has a stickier grain, and added sushi vinegar and salt to taste (sushi vinegar is just rice vinegar, sugar, and salt).

Just before you roll your sushi it's time to cut up your other filling options. Tonight I sliced avocado and cucumber to go along with the yam. For other sushi dinners I mix and match lots of different fillings: matchsticks of carrot, egg omelet cut into strips, crab, shrimp, smoked salmon, thinly julienned red peppers - you can be as creative as you want. I have to confess I have never used raw fish, I love it at restaurants but I'm too nervous at home.

Again, if you've never made sushi before just google the directions for how to put it all together, there are lots of good step-by-step photographs out there. Here's what I do:

It's time to roll baby! Place your nori sheet on the mat, then spread over enough rice to cover the sheet up to about an inch from one edge. Press the rice onto the nori with water-moistened fingers, and also wet the rice-less edge. Put your fillings a few inches up from the bottom of the mat and roll up toward the moistened edge. You want to be give the mat a good squeeze as you go so that your sushi is nice and compact. Next slice. I like to keep my pieces thin - particularly as we have small mouths around the table. I have a fabulous serrated bread knife that Mike gifted me a few years ago and it slices a clean piece of sushi.

Finally serve with soy sauce to dip. I love pickled ginger on the side, and it lasts forever in your fridge. If you like wasabi it will also last indefinitely in the fridge - you can also buy it in powdered form and add water to make a paste as you need it.

One final question for all those more experienced deep-fryers - how to dispose of the leftover oil?

Grape Nuts Cereal

I love cereal; not only for it's sweetness, crunch, or thirst-quenching milk, I also dig the strange variety, the oddity of shapes and colours. Is this food? I've wondered upon seeing a string of various coloured Fruit Loops around a child's neck. My Fruit Loop necklaces never lasted long. I was invariably left with a soggy string. As a kid, I also dug the boxes. At breakfast, you could barricade your face, and suck back cereal while reading about magnifying glasses that could be ordered with box tops, or the specs of a sports hero who ate Corn Flakes EVERY day.

The trouble is, cereal isn't really very good for you. The list of ingredients is typically populated by words I cannot pronounce or define. Plus, cereal never tastes as good as I remember. Perhaps it's the additives or the long-shelf life, but the flavor is...off. Fortunately, I found out you can make cereal. Actually cereal. Not just granola. I found this recipe for cereal in the More With Less Cookbook. I love the Mennonites.

This cereal is actually delicious. It's crunchy and a little bit sweet and made with all whole-wheat flour. We devoured it.

Grape Nuts Cereal (Adapted from the More with Less Cookbook)

3 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup wheat germ

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups buttermilk

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat the ingredients together in a large bowl. Grease two cookie sheets and spread half of the mixture over each sheet. You want to spread it out as much as possible.

Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let the giant crackers cool of ten minutes, then brake them into irregular pieces (large shards is good). Then bake them again, lowering the heat to 250 degrees for another 20 minutes or until they are crisp.

Let cool and then whir the pieces in a food processor.

Enjoy with milk.

Quinoa Chocolate Cake

First off, for the curious, yes I did wake up at 2:30 am to watch the festivities and hats last week. I didn't stay up for the whole wedding, just long enough to see the bride make it the altar, from there I trusted Prince William to take care of the rest. And yes I did enjoy a scone at 3 am, and then at 7 am and then later at... those Royal scones were delicious. I'm not going to wait for another royal event to make another batch.

Quinoa has been nagging me for awhile. I've been hearing the buzz about quinoa - the health benefits and high protein content, but I hadn't gone out and tried any recipes myself. Well, Joan took care of that by gifting me with the quinoa cookbook. I started off with the quinoa pizza dough and then attempted the chocolate cake, which Joan has been giving rave reviews.

According to my fellow blogger, Rachel, the quinoa chocolate cake has been making the rounds in Victoria, ever since this recipe was featured in the Times Colonist. I felt it was my duty as a proud Chilliwack-ian to see what we were missing (note to those in the 'Wack - while I haven't looked around for quinoa at other grocery stores, Superstore carries it bulk in the natural foods aisle).

Kylie and Ty, some of my regular Reems Eats taste-testers was over for tea, and it was time to try out the chocolate cake. I made it in two 9 inch pans, though it was supposed to be in 8 inch, because that's what I had, so it resulted in a slightly lower cake, but it was lovely and moist.

This is a gluten-free recipe

Moist Chocolate Cake
from Quinoa 365, the Everyday Superfood by Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming

2/3 cup white or golden quinoa
1 1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Bring quinoa and water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the covered saucepan on the burner for another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork and allow the quinoa to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease two 8-inch round or square cake pans. Line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper.

Combine the milk, eggs and vanilla in a blender or food processor. Add 2 cups of cooked quinoa and the butter and continue to blend until smooth.

Combine sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the contents of the blender and mix well. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and bake on the centre rack for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool completely in the pan before serving. Frost if desired.

Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to one week or freeze for up to a month.

Special Thanks to my neighbour Laura for coming up with the remainder of the cocoa after I realized mid-recipe that I was a half cup short.