Spinach and Sesame Roll with Tofu Steaks

It's been such a long time since I've posted anything here.

Since Christmas I have been trying as much as possible to make healthy food from scratch rather than rely on pre-made and pre-packaged food. And there have been so many time that I've thought to myself, "I should really take some pictures and post them." So, finally, a made myself do it.

The following two recipes I found in two separate Japanese cookbooks. I had been eyeing the spinach roll recipe for some time, just waiting for the right night to try it.

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These sesame seeds were actually already toasted (or so they say on the package), but thought it it couldn't hurt to heat them up a bit. They give off such an amazing aroma.




My new mortar and pestle, a bit of soy sauce (tamari), and a pinch of fine sugar.



In the pestle and mortar, combine sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar and grind to a paste.



The sesame paste in it's final form. The original recipe calls for a bit of mirin, which I did not have. I think that the mirin would have given it a bit more of a paste texture, and will make sure I have some for the next time.



Wash spinach well, and transfer to boiling water for about 1 minute. After cooking, drain, and transfer to a bowl of ice water, to stop the cooking process. Drain the spinach again.



Taking the cooked spinach, roll in a bamboo sushi mat, and squeeze as much moisture out of the spinach as possible. In hindsight, I wish that I has used a little bit more spinach, as I ofund my roll was kind of small.



Once rolled and the moisture squeezed out, take the spinach roll and cut with a sharp knife into small pieces. Now take the sesame paste dressing and place on top of each piece. Voila.

Now it's time for the tofu steaks.



First, drain the tofu block, wrap in paper towel, place in strainer, and weight with one or two heavy plates on top of the tofu to help drain as much moisture out of the tofu as possible.

Prepare slices of portabello mushrooms, zuchinni, and tomatoes.



Combine vegetables with a small amount of oil and cook.




Lightly coat the tofu pieces in flour and place in the oil. Cook, turning when golden on each side.



Combine vegetables and tofu. Mmmm.

The Bacon Files

My love of bacon is legendary. Well, not really. But a lot of people know. I just can't fathom why when you've got the choice between bacon, sausage, ham, or bologna, you would choose anything but bacon. It's bacon.

So, how delighted was I to discover that Sobey's had store brand bacon on sale last week, 2 for $6. Very, that's how delighted. So now I've got all this bacon, plus a new digital camera, and a lot of free time until school starts next week. As a result there may be a lot of bacon-themed posts this week.

Today's bacon infused meal is one of my childhood favourites: grilled cheese sandwich with bacon. I was a "fussy eater" as a kid, and often cranky on family vacations when my parents would stop for meals at random roadside restaurants. As time went on it was discovered that provided they chose somewhere that served grilled cheese sandwiches, I was a happy camper. And as everyone knows, bacon makes a good thing even better.



I like to use two slices of processed cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich. So when there is bacon involved, I nestle it between them. Omg, melty greasy goodness.


This is butternut squash soup from a box (not to be confused with Dick in a Box.) I'm pretty sure it's just baby food with some additional spices. Whatevz.


All washed down with Diet Dr. Pepper and that dreamy Ian Hanomansing. Delicious.

Hot Sesame Chicken and Avocado Salad

Cut two skinless, boneless chicken breasts into small finger-sized pieces.



Combine lemon juice, dijon mustard, and honey in bowl and mix well.



Add chicken pieces to the lemon / mustard / honey mixture.



In a wok or skillet, cook chicken pieces until done.



Meanwhile, cut avocado and remove pit.



Slice avocado halves into smaller, thin pieces.



Just before chicken is done, add sesame seeds and cook for 2 - 3 minutes, or until you can smell a "roasted" smell from the seeds.



Toss the avocado slices with fresh lettuce or spinach leaves. Add the chicken to the salad mixture.

Spiced Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup

Peanut Chicken and Oriental Green Beans

Summer Tomato Pasta

Mary says: I've been eating this pasta salad a lot this summer. It's very easy to make, and it works well as leftovers to take for lunch at work.

Above: four roma (plum) tomatoes roughly chopped, cubed mozarella cheese, tossed with 1 part lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil, and 2 parts balsamic vinegar.

Add cooked pasta (whole wheat rotini in this case), shredded basil leaves, and voila.

Fried Noodles, Bean Sprouts, and Asparagus

w/ Sweet Potato, Zucchini, and Mushroom Tempura

Chopped onion, two cloves of crushed garlic, 1" peice of ginger root grated

Cooked egg noodles, tossed with 2 tbsp vegetable oil

fresh asparagus

Stirfry the onions, garlic, and ginger in 2 tbsp vegetable oil for 2 or 3 minutes, then add asparagus and stirfry for a few minutes more

Add noodles and beansprouts, followed by 3-4 tbsp soy sauce and black pepper to taste

Mary says: A few weeks ago, Trip bought a large hardcover vegetarian cookbook from HomeSense in Moncton and we've been trying out a lot of the recipes. This noodle stirfry is by far my favourite of the ones we've made so far. It could easily be made vegan if you substituted rice noodles for the egg noodles.

Also the tempura thing is getting out of hand. I had it for breakfast this morning.

Sushi

So, based on a suggestion by Mary earlier this week, we made sushi today. It was my first sushi-making experience (okay, well more like helping as she did most of the work).


Mary says: Trip is a very good helper, though.

We were supposed to go to Halifax last weekend and eat here, but stuff happened and we couldn't go at the last minute, so making sushi at home seemed like a reasonable alternative.

Pictured above is the makings of a make roll with sweet potato tempura, lettuce, and a little mayo. We made this in attempt to recreate the sweet potato roll they serve at the sushi place on Main Street in Moncton... name escapes me... Google Local is no help... will check later...


Left to right: toro (fatty tuna) nigiri, uncut toro make, and uncut sake (salmon) make x2. This was my first time making nigiri because I usually can't find/afford the cuts of fish needed. It turns out I should have made the rice balls smaller. The final product was pretty good, but the fish to rice ratio was definitely off.


This is all the vegetarian make we made. There was the roll with sweet potato, lettuce and mayo shown above, as well as a roll with just sweet potato tempura, just zucchini tempura, and one with both. Tempura is greasy deliciousness, and also fairly easy to make. The batter consists of one egg, one cup of flour, and one cup of water. The trick is to use ice or fridge water, otherwise the batter gets too sticky.

This is the final spread. You can see some toro and sake sashimi on the left, more tempura veggies, and Pump House Blueberry Ale.