Homemade Sushi and Pizza, Our garden and More

As usual my photos are just piling up.  I might as well share some of the pictures I have of homemade meals and some from dining out in Japan.

First up, if you don't already know Kit Kats are a big deal here in Japan.  For more information on this craze, click here.  Needless to say, we do a lot of Kit Kat hunting.  Unlike those you get in America, these come wrapped in 2 bite sized pieces, not the 4 longer bars.  We have had a variety of flavors throughout our time here.  Some we can get near us, like the current passion fruit trend (by far the best kit kat I have had yet) and the chocolate orange and chocolate hazelnut variety pack (chocolate hazelnut is also awesome), but Tokyo is where it is at.  More specifically, Narita Airport.  This is the mecca of all things Kit Kat.  This time we picked up citrus and adzuki bean sandwich.  Oh yes, you read that correctly, there is an adzuki bean sandwich kit kat.  Let's just say it's, um, interesting!

When we were back in the States, Ryan's mom grilled us some veggies and salmon in foil, so we thought we would give this a try too.  We put the veggies on the bottom.

Added the salmon on next with a little olive oil and seasonings.

And there was dinner!

Now, here is something you will not see in many food courts at the mall.  I got a few pieces of tempura and udon noodles with a soft boiled egg.  It was actually really good.

Our next adventure was making sushi at home.  This was definitely an adventure.  Of course it went a little easier than last time because we live in Japan now.  Sushi rice was very easy to find.  Well easier, we still don't know what the Japanese says.

To get started we needed to make dashi, which is a broth that uses soy sauce and bonito flakes, as well as kelp.  Yeah, we were a few ingredients short, but we still gave it a try.  This needed to be cooked with sugar to create the sweetened broth used for cooking tamago, which is the Japanese omelet.

We were serious about getting the omelet just right so it is a good thing I once bought a Japanese omelet pan.  This is what it looks like.

Ryan did an excellent job making the omelet.  We used a Japanese cookbook and followed the directions.  I never knew how the omelet got a layered look inside until we made it ourselves.  You pour a little of the egg mixture in, cook it and then fold in half.  Then you pour a little more egg mixture in and once it cooks you fold it in half going back the other way, so it ends up folded over on itself.  

You repeat this a few more times and then you have a Japanese omelet!

The last time we made sushi rice we had to make the sweetened vinegar.  This time we bought what we thought was the right sushi vinegar.  We tried to look up the kanji online and see what we had, we tried to search for pictures, and then then finally we realized the website for the company was listed and information in English (very tiny) that said mirin.  That's the exact stuff we hoped it was.  Mirin is a sweet rice wine vinegar.

It gets added into the rice to make sushi rice.  It needs to be sticky.  I tried my best and I think it came out ok.  It's truly and art form and I am nowhere near an expert.

We purchased some sashimi from the grocery store.  They sell raw sliced fish pieces that are ready to eat.  In this case, we added the salmon on top of our rice.  I also bought snow crab legs.  The yen rate is really good right now (about 25 yen more per dollar than when we first moved here).  The salmon came our to $2.68.  Not bad!

Here is the rice getting ready for the toppings.

Yum!

Ryan's plate is the one with all the salmon and mine has the crab.  Yeah, it was a lot more than we expected and we ended up with leftovers.

Next up, we have started our garden.  Last year we started with plants that were already to go.  This time we started from seeds.

In about a week these were already growing like crazy.  We have 2 kinds of tomatoes, string beans and soy beans.  We also have peppers but haven't started them yet and now it may be too late.  The problem is space.  We live in a small apartment on the 9th floor and right now the plants are all inside.  All 72 of them!

Another fun dinner adventure for us has been grilling pizza.  Have you tried this yet?  It's awesome.  Our first adventure was using a pre-made crust because it was a last minute decision.  We used ricotta, mozzarella, spinach and artichokes.

The next time we did this we planned in advance and made our own dough.  Here is the pizza with garlic and olive oil, ricotta and spinach.

Next came broccoli and mozzarella.

Oh yum!  This was excellent!  The leftovers were delicious also.

The next day I went to a Japanese American pot luck.  Someone from the base (he actually moved to this base the same day as us) teaches English at a school off base and wanted to host some of the ladies to a meal with some American ladies.  I made the stuffed shells in the back left corner.  The ladies loved these and said these were very good for the Japanese because they had a mild flavor and they liked that they had vegetables in them.  Since they do not have access to American "treats" the host provided Popeye's, gatorade and various American chips.  They tried a little of everything and provided their thoughts on each flavor.  We had nice conversation and they practiced their English skills with us.  I love getting to experience things like this.  I am really looking forward to this sort of thing again.

The Japanese ladies shared these traditional Japanese confections with us.  These are known as wagashi.  They were filled with a variety of sweetened bean pastes.  Very interesting and very filling.  

Later that night we went out walking around just off base.  The little streets and alley ways are filled with restaurants and bars.  When you drive by you miss a lot of what is around.  With the weather nice, we took to the streets by foot and just explored everything.  One bar that was very noticeable as we walked around was this D-Wall.  This is so bright that you can't see anything else written here, but it was funny, whatever it said!

Here is a little alley filled with little bars.  Crazy!  We had no idea this existed just outside the gate from the base.

For dinner, we came very close to bibimbap, but at the last second decided to go to a place also right outside the gate that was an Italian restaurant and we had only been to for dessert in the past.  This place is known as Acciuga.

We started off with the caprese salad.  Oh yum!  Off to a good start.  

For dinner I ordered the fish.  I went with this mostly because all of the pasta dishes for the day had meat.  Boy am I glad I picked this.  I was nervous at first because I assumed the grilled fish of the day would be more of the fish.  Azores style if you read my blog back when we lived there.  That means head, tail and everything in between.  I was pleasantly surprised when I was served this.  I was exceptionally surprised when I bit in and realized this was some of the best fish I have had since getting to Japan.  It was cooked perfectly and the flavor was amazing.  I have no idea what kind of fish this was, but it was good.  It was served over a mixture of root veggies and had a light sauce.

Ryan ordered the pasta Genovese, with some proscuitto on top.

I was so impressed with the meal that I decided to order the dessert as well.  It was like a pound cake with raspberry sorbet and some fruit.

Absolutely fantastic meal!

Well, that's it for now.  Next up I have a Tulip Festival to share, as well as our long weekend in Sendai.

QUESTIONS:  Have you ever made sushi?  Have you ever grilled pizza?  Do you have a veggie garden this year?

Stuffed Shells 2 Ways

This past week Ryan has been working nights.  Occasionally his schedule gets switched around and he moves from days to nights.  He isn't the only one, so one thing spouses have done in the past is cook dinner.  This is especially good when they are on nights because there are limited food options on base in the middle of the night.  Plus, who doesn't love a home cooked meal?!?!

This time was no exception.  I tried to get as many spouses as possible to chip in and volunteer some cooking hours to keep our active duty military members well fed when they are working different schedules and longer than usual hours.  I was trying and trying and trying to decide what to make that would be well accepted by mostly guys (there is one girl in his shop and I have no idea what shift she is working this week) who are used to either the chow hall or fast food, although those that are married probably get home cooked meals more often.  I decided a casserole of some sort would be the easiest for Ryan to transport to work.

After looking for a few minutes, I stumbled across THIS recipe.  I haven't had stuffed shells in a very long time and this appealed to me because I could pack in those veggies and hide them in cheese and under the sauce.  Zucchini, red peppers, black olives and onions galore!  Yes, I even added a little more than what the recipe called for.  I also went with the lower fat ricotta.  I must say that for my first time making stuffed shells, these turned out pretty nicely.

Add sauce on top and melt the cheese, and voila, this was the perfect meal to send in to the guys.  The verdict?  Ryan said they all loved it.

Well, after I sent him off with those shells, I decided to experiment a little with the shells I had left over.  I decided to make mine with shrimp.  I had picked up a can of baby shrimp at the commissary because they were on sale and I was curious.  It was the perfect addition to the cheese mixture.  So I used the same basic recipe but left out the veggies, mixed the cheese with the egg and then added the can of drained shrimp.

I must say, this was awesome!  I had enough for dinner and lunch the next day.  And since I used all the veggies up from the one for Ryan, I made sure to add a veggie on the side for me.  Yum!

I am so excited that these turned out so well, but even more excited because I inspired some of my friends here to experiment with stuffed shells too.  My coworker did some with shrimp and crab and another friend was thinking about doing the veggie shells for a Friday dinner since they can't have meat.

QUESTIONS:  When was the last time you had stuffed shells?  If you could stuff anything in your shells, what would it be?

Using Up my Garden

Wow, I had time for one more post before starting with my Australia series!  Since I was getting ready to head out of town for a while (and Ryan is busy with work), I had to use up everything in the garden that was ready to be eaten for fear that it would go bad while I was away.  This meant that I needed to pick my first eggplant, even if it was small.

I was cleaning our the fridge, too, and discovered I had some corn tortillas that were still good.  So, I cut up the eggplant.

Chopped some mushrooms that were still my fridge.

And then chopped up one of the tomatoes from our garden.

I decided to cook the veggies in some olive oil and turn it into tacos.

I started with my pretty eggplant, and then added in my mushrooms.  I used a little bit of olive oil too.

When those were mostly cooked all the way, I added in the tomatoes and warmed them a little bit.

It was so simple!  Then I put it in the tortillas and I was ready to go.

Well, I was ready to go until I realized that I had some cheese to get rid of too.

This were absolutely amazing!  I need to make these again and again!

QUESTIONS:  Did you have a garden this year?  If you could grow only 1 thing in your backyard, what would it be?  What do you like in your tacos?

What I Served at My Party

Well, I may have gone a little overboard, but I can say that cooking all of this food for the Pampered Chef party I hosted 2 weekends ago kept me well entertained for many hours!  I had no idea how many people to expect (12 RSVP'd), but I figured the leftovers would find themselves a place to go.  Plus, it was fun...and did I mention it kept me well entertained and busy for many hours!

While we may not have started eating with dessert, that was the first thing I started to make because it would take the longest and didn't need to be served hot.

Go figure, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies.  This was one of the last things I added to my menu.  The only other dessert I had planned to bake had peanuts, and I thought if some people did not like that (I checked on allergies in advance), then there was something sweet.  To make them a little different from what we usually do, I used the dark chocolate morsels.

The seemed like they would turn out nicely, but I was concerned that some cookies wouldn't have a whole lot of chocolate in them.  The bigger pieces made it difficult to get it spread evenly throughout and wind up with a few in each.  The smaller chips usually take over everything so I never have that concern.

You can see that it looks like some have a few chips and others only have 1 or 2.  But, they tasted awesome and the consistency was just right.  I will definitely be making these again.

Next up is one of the dips for my veggie platter.  I have the Pampered Chef chilled veggie platter try, so I thought I would make use of it and advertise it at the same time.  I am not kidding, if you love picnics with veggies and dip (or deviled eggs because it has a tray for those), this is a great investment.  The cooling tray in the bottom gets frozen the night before and then keeps your food cold for a few hours.  At least it beats leaving it out without something to help keep it cold.

My original plan, since I had so much already in the works, was to buy a premade mix packet and mix with sour cream, and be done with it.  But a few days earlier I discovered this recipe for Creamy Ranch-Style Dip in Cooking Light, and thought this was way better.  Plus, it ensured that everything for my party stay homemade.

It was pretty thin at first, but after it sat in the fridge for a few hours, it thickened up some and was just right.

Since my veggie platter has 2 compartments for dips, I decided to make this Spicy Edamame Hummus, which was a recipe in a vegetarian cookbook I purchased from Pampered Chef.  I went to my friends party a few months back (and that was when I decided to have my own), and I purchased this then.

This meant I needed to pick up 2 ingredients that I never have stocked at home (I know, I should have had tahini, but I didn't).  Thank heavens the commissary carries the tahini.  Not having sriracha would really have been surprising because our commissary has a decent sized selection of Asian products. 

I modified the recipe a little bit because I didn't see the necessity of microwaving 48 cloves of garlic and using those.  Instead, I added 4 teaspoons of minced (jarred) garlic.  Also, instead of adding salt, I added an extra tablespoon of sriracha.  Then it was just frozen edamame and the tahini.  

Next up was a recipe using my new brownie pan (AKA square muffin pan or as my sister and I call this, Sponge Bob Square Pans).  This is also a pampered chef product, so it is not surprising that the recipe for these brownies in a Pampered Chef cookbook.

I also got to use my batter bowl...which is, yes, you guessed it, also Pampered Chef.  Not gonna lie, I am a sucker for Pampered Chef and I buy something at every party I go to.

I love that this was so easy to mix right inside this batter bowl, and then I could just pour it in to the muffin pan.  The recipe directions said to use a scoop, but I don't have one (yet, I just ordered it- mostly to help keep cookie sizes in check), so I just poured using this batter bowl.

I also wanted to show another fun product I got to use, and really came in handy for almost all recipes, which is the prep bowls.  These are the one cup bowls.  They come with lids.  I love it!  I can have my ingredients ready to go, covered, and waiting in the fridge for me when I am ready.

Here you can see why using that scoop was probably recommended.  I only had enough for 11 brownies, not 12.  Oops!  I was also a little reluctant to follow the directions for getting these out.

But you can see that it worked perfectly!  Yes, a direction of put cooling rack over pan and flip over really makes me nervous (we have had an accident before) and I also worried that they would be stuck in the pans.  They can out effortlessly.  I was really impressed with this pan.  I can't wait to use it to make other things, like mini lasagnas.

While the brownies cooled, I worked on the filling and topping.  Oh yes, I said filling and topping.  You see, these aren't ordinary brownies.  These are peanut butter and jelly brownies!

I needed some chopped peanuts to garnish the top, so I used my handy dandy food chopper (yes, also Pampered Chef).  This things works perfectly.  I have also used it for onions and it is amazing how well it works.

Next up was the PB frosting.  I will admit that this was overkill and next time I will use just PB, but I decided to go all out and make the frosting (I will disclose that this was PB, powdered sugar and butter- not the healthiest- but this was a special treat and I have no intention of eating this all the time). 

The recipe called for seedless raspberry jam, so I was glad to see that the commissary carries this.  I was also glad that the recipe called for raspberry because one of my guests has a strawberry allergy, so I would have had to modify it anyway if that was the ingredient. 

After I sliced the brownies in half, I filled with PB frosting.

Then topped with jam and finished it with the top half of the brownie.

The finishing touch was a little drizzled melted chocolate and chopped peanuts on top.  I will not even tell you what the calorie count was listed for on this, but I will say this was amazing...amazing...amazing!  Actually, they were so well received that I am donating a dozen to an auction coming up (all proceeds go to a town that is still recovering from the tsunami and the plan is to give the kids of the town a Christmas celebration this year).  Not surprisingly, I also donated an hour of nutrition counseling services.  I have a feeling this dessert will be made again for some special functions throughout the year...but not too often!

After dessert and the dips, it was time to get to the appetizers.

Obviously I wanted to do something from the Muffin Tin Cookbook.  Why?  Because my name is on the cover!  Ok, that's just a bonus.  The real reason is because this cookbook rocks (bias aside of course).  Making things in muffin tins is not only brilliant for party food, but makes clean up easy!  There are so many fun ideas in here that would work for a party, and everything is pre-portioned, so guests have an easy time serving themselves and seeing what they are eating.

I made the presto shrimp in fillo dough.  I was so glad that our commissary carries this in the frozen section.  I have a feeling this is not the easiest to find off base.

I chopped up the (thawed) shrimp into small pieces.

I used jarred pesto because I have a slight sensitivity to basil (I am allergic to mint) and I don't do as well with homemade as I do with pre-made store bought stuff.  Lucky again for me, they carry this in the commissary.  Yes, I know, it really doesn't have the best look to it.

Then I cut up my sheets of dough into 6 equal sections.

I placed each of the 6 squares (6 sheets cut into 6 pieces so each of the 6 was also 6 layers) in a muffin tin sprayed with non-stick coating.  Then I filled with the shrimp mixture, folded over the dough on the top, and then baked them.

Wow, look at those!  These were a big hit.

Next up was a recipe that also came from a Pampered Chef cookbook.  I decided to make these sweet corn and crab poppers.  Thankfully I was able to find some crab meat in the commissary.  The kind they usually have, and that I planned to buy, was out of stock.

I chopped up red pepper and corn and mixed this with the crab meat.

Tossed in the rest of the ingredients, gave it a mix, and I was ready to go.

For this I used my mini muffin tins, which were just the right size for these poppers.

After about 15 minutes they were ready to come out.  I was really glad to see they stayed together and did not turn out as a big messy pile of corn and crab mixture.

Last up was my only entree of the evening.  My party was at 6 pm, so I told my guests to come to the party hungry.

I decided to make a vegetarian Mexican lasagna.  I made this one before when we lived in the Azores, but haven't made it since.  It was really good the first time and I loved that it was easy to take to the party (I used a party room on the first floor of my building because I have pets that shed so I try not to have food focused parties there if I don't have to) because it was in a casserole dish.

Here is the filling for lasagna.  It is tomato sauce, green peppers, onions, corn, kidney beans and spices.

For the lasagna, it is 3 corn tortillas on the bottom, then this filling, topped with fat free cottage cheese and shredded cheddar, and then repeat one more time.

That gets baked in the oven for about 20 minutes at 375F.  This was also a big hit.  

Well, with all the food ready to go, the only thing left was to set up.  Megan, my Pampered Chef consultant, met me a little before the party started so we could set up the room and get the food ready to go.

Here is what my veggie and dip platter looked like when it was all ready to go.  I think this turned out great!

Here is the final spread of all the food, just waiting for my guests to come and dig in.  You can see that I also served a fruit dish that I bought at the commissary to go with my veggie tray.

Lastly, this is the dish that Megan demoed for us that night.  It is a spinach and green olive tapenade, with goat cheese on bread.  It was supposed to be a crostini (toasted) but the kitchen in the party room was ovenless, so we made do with this.  It was tasty regardless of toasted or not. 

All my guests went home stuffed and I went home happy knowing that I made all of the dishes at my party myself, from recipes, almost entirely from scratch (only a few prepackaged/prepared items).

QUESTIONS:  Do you own anything from Pampered Chef?  Have you ever been to a Pampered Chef party? What was the last thing you made for a party?  What is your favorite party dish?