Homemade Sushi - Easy and Delicious!

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My daughter has spring recess from school this week and we just got home yesterday from a little excursion. Today's adventure in the kitchen was declared "one of the best things we've ever made together, Mama!" Wow. 

She requested sushi in her lunchbox next week so we decided to make a test run today just for fun. We used an egg and a perfectly ripe avocado and made a go of it. The process was fun and easy for my kindergartner and the outcome is really tasty for both of us. You can put a lot of different ingredients into a sushi roll - chicken egg, veggies, even fruit I suppose. My gal is so proud of the work she has done and she is too busy gobbling it up to pose for a picture! 

Here's how you can make your own sushi for your child's lunchbox:

  • 1 package of nori (toasted seaweed)
  • 2 TB rice vinegar
  • 1 cup sushi rice
  • avocado
  • 1 egg, scrambled

Prepare the sushi rice as directed -- we brought 1 cup of raw rice with 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil. Then cover and simmer for 20 minutes. When done, we added 2 TB rice vinegar and stirred.

Lay a piece of nori on a mat and sprinkle lightly with water. spread the rice evenly on the nori, making sure to leave room on the edges (about 1/2 inch). Place the avocado slices and egg pieces along the bottom edge of the rice and roll up the nori like a burrito. Seal the edges with wet fingertips. Slice with a sharp knife and enjoy!

Note: these are best in a lunchbox when packed in tightly. 

Perfect Lunch for Popeye

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In honor of National Spinach Day, here's a great recipe for Spinach Pie that is perfect for packing in a lunchbox and super easy to make: ​

Crustless Spinach Pie​

Preheat oven to 350 degrees​

Saute one chopped yellow onion in olive oil. Combine onion with two frozen packages of chopped spinach (20 ounces), prepared as directed on package. Add  2 large eggs, 6 ounces of crumbled feta, 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped dill, a dash of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Optional: sprinkle top with grated parmesan cheese. Pour combined ingredients into an 8x8 baking dish.

Bake for approximately 35 minutes. ​Enjoy! 

 
 

"Bestest Scram" and Other Egg Adventures

We'd be lost without eggs in my house. We rarely have time for them on a weekday morning so eggs have become a terrific go-to for dinner. Need a quick dinner for two kids? Scrambled eggs are ready in just minutes. My kids call it a "Bestest Scram" and that's the protein for dinner in our house at least once a week.  

Got leftovers? Add those in and bake as a fritatta. The beauty of a fritatta is that it can work well for virtually any meal.  ​I combined last night's leftover roasted butternut squash (1/2 c cubed) with fresh chopped sage (1T), scallion (one, chopped), eggs (7 large) and a dash of milk and it will be a delicious lunch for myself and my kids. 

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String Cheese: Snack? Or Main?

String Chees​e is a funny thing. I dont think it was around when I was a kid... at least my mom never had it in our house. But everywhere I look these days, kids are having string cheese. It's funny because cheese doesn't come in logs like this and we don't typically peel back layers of cheese and eat them with our fingers. And yet you can ask some kids about string cheese (referred to lovingly by many as cheese sticks) and they'll voice opinions loudly about the "striped kind" or the "white kind" or the "splotchy kind." 

Some parents hail it as a calcium-rich, non-sugar snack. Some parents consider it part of the "main dish" as an added protein. Some hate it because some brands have a hefty amount of sodium. Some avoid it entirely because all of the packaging is detrimental to the environment. All very good points, if you ask me. 

My daughter loves cheese in all forms and always has. But when it comes to her lunchbox, she's not sure where string cheese belongs. Is it a main protein? Is it a snack? 

What do you think of string cheese? 

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