Fabulous Vegan Recipes

When I make rice in my rice maker, I add the tiniest big of water so that the rice ends up sticky and not water-logged. The worst is when the rice doesn't absorb the water and it ends up awful. I pour enough water in my rice maker just to cover the rice, pat it down so it's completely under water and it turns out great. So much so that I didn't need to make sushi rice for this recipe, I just used the rice as is. When I say sushi rice, I mean I didn't need to add sugar and vinegar to make it sticky rice. I added curry powder, turmeric, sea salt and pepper and it was pretty amazing.

I go in and out of making sushi, obsessing over it then taking a break from it. After hitting the bulk section at Whole Foods, buying some rice and beans, I thought how easy it must be to make sushi rice from short grain brown rice; short grain brown rice is in itself a little bit sticky already and would be perfect for this recipe. If you remember, the last time I made sushi, I used quinoa . It turned out well but the sushi stays together best when you prepare the quinoa right before you make the sushi. With the brown rice, it was easy to make sushi with leftover, refrigerated rice.

There was a health food store in my neighborhood that sold nori sheets in bulk but sadly, the store closed a few months ago. Therefore, I have not had nori sheets OR homemade sushi in months! Yeah, that's huge. I love making sushi at home since I eat it alot, it's just cheaper and healthier to make at home. So (duh) I searched on Amazon and I found a pack of 50 sheets (yay!) When they arrived, I got right to work using up my sushi rice and making avocado sushi. After I ran out of rice, I started researching quinoa sushi.

Ahhh sushi, all you can eat, homemade, love it! It got pretty hot pretty quickly here in NYC and the last thing I have felt like doing it cooking. Smoothies and salads are what I'm all about lately and now I'm adding sushi to the summery food mix. For this recipe, instead of making sushi with a few veggies, I made a salad and used that as the filling for the sushi. It was so delish and I know you will love this! Sushi takes a little bit of time and planning, mainly because you need to cook the rice ahead of time but my advice is to make alot of rice at once. You will need to buy sushi rice, which is stickier than regular rice, and buy sushi nori sheets, these are the seaweed wraps used for sushi. I have a sushi mat but you don't need one; instead you can use wax paper. Making sushi at home is SO EASY and it saves you money. You can make the sushi as healthy as you want while being as adventurous in the kitchen as you dare.

My wonderful friend Helena is back with another post about veganism and its impact on the environment! Did you know animal agriculture is responsible for more carbon emissions than all transportation combined?  Helena and I met when we both participated in the vegan pledge/mentor program at the beginning of this year. After Helena's post, I'm flashing back to my sushi recipe from December. 

If you're like me, I get take out sushi alot; I also love dining at a sushi restaurant with friends or by myself with my Nook (I'm reading Prince Lestat if you need a good book for Christmas!)  I recently learned how to make sushi at home and I have not looked back.  So, don't think you need to spend money on takeout, make your own!  If you have wax paper and a cutting board you are good.  If you want to get fancy, get a sushi mat.

I have been a fan of vegetable sushi since I first tried it, I don't even know when. There's just something about veggies wrapped in rice and seaweed that says awesome comfort food. It never feels like comfort food because it seems so light and even though I'm filled after a sushi dinner, I feel like I just ate whole, fresh, healthy food. I watched a few videos as to how to make sushi the other night, went to the health food store near me (it was a very hot, humid walk!) and bought sushi nori and sushi rice. I have not looked back! Gone are the days where I spend money on lots of sushi dinners...now I can make my own! Check out this video before you start,