Maggot Sliders!

Oh my gosh, who left the sliders out??  Look, they’re covered in maggots!

Ok, pick yourself up off the floor.  Throw water on your face.  Relax!  They’re not real maggots.  Just innocent little rice.  See?  Yeah, now you see it.

It’s Day 4 of the #GreatHallowTweet started by Renee at Flamingo Musings.  Please also check out my ghoulish cohorts in the pumpkin widget in the sidebar!

I can’t take credit for this ghoulishly gross idea, I found them here at Daily Munch.  That’s a great blog, by the way--lots of great food, so you should check it out!  I didn’t make mine exactly the same way, but you can see that there, Jake served them as an appetizer.  We served ours as a stuff your face with ghoulishly gross sliders dinner.  YES.  We ate ground turkey.  And we enjoyed it.  And now we’re back to being mostly vegan.   Mostly, meaning we can’t give up sushi.  And I’ve found I can’t bake right without eggs.  Which is another post altogether.  For later.

One easy recipe, coming up!

Maggot Sliders

ground turkey or beef
Weber Burger Seasoning (or use your fave!)
cooked white rice
small, slider sized buns

Mix the ground meat and seasonings, and form into small patties.
Roll the edges of the patties in a plate full of the rice.
Carefully cook so all of the rice doesn't fall off.  (Some of it will, but don’t worry too much.)
Cook to your liking--medium, medium well, etc.
Though for turkey, cook to 165 degrees.
Serve on buns with ketchup for that bloody look!

See?  SO easy!  And you can totally gross out your friends.  But these taste so good!  And if you place the ketchup right, you can also make them look bloody!  Bonus!

Sushi, are you mocking me?

As I write this, it’s 38 degrees outside and we’ve had light flurries all morning.  Feels like soup or stew weather, right?  And this Mock Sushi is neither of those--it’s cool and refreshing.  Not to mention knock your socks off awesome!

I love sushi.  L O V E it.  Anytime, any day, any month.  I could eat it every single day and never get sick of it.   There’s something about the combination of the cool, fresh ingredients, and the spicy wasabi with the soy sauce that just says “I’m sushi, and I’m the perfect food.”  Plus, I love restaurant foods that you’re just supposed to shove in your mouth all in one bite.  It’s fun!  And you get to eat with sticks--more fun!

Not only do these make a nice little dinner, but as an appetizer?  Spectacular!  Just picture these on a buffet table, next to the heavy, cheese and cream filled morsels.  Not that those aren’t amazing in their own right, because they are!  But you want a little variety, right?  Something to lighten the palate and not cover it with a greasy film…ugh.  Plus, if you’ve got vegetarians or vegans coming to holiday parties, they like to eat, too.  It’s true, we do!  These would be perfect.  And I’ll bet you’d find yourself refilling the tray often.  They’re just so damn good.  Oh, and there’s no messy dipping to do, because these have the soy sauce and wasabi built in with a Wasabi Mayo added to the mix.

I served these for us as a meal with a side salad of romaine and avocado, dressed with Carrot Ginger Dressing.  It’s the same salad we get at our local sushi joint--the dressing is bright orange from the carrots--and totally addictive.  I’ll share the dressing recipe another time, or you can email me if you really want it now.  And you might, because it’s goooood.

I found this recipe through an ad on someone’s sidebar.  Can’t remember which site, but yeah, the ad actually worked!  Sometimes I wonder how many people actually click on ads like that…  It’s from AlaskaSeafood.org.  I didn’t use the salmon that they do, though.  We had these vegan-style.  And good God, they’re addictive!  Totally easy to make, too.

Side note:  Because I can be extremely lazy, and didn’t want to mess with making sushi rice, we ordered the rice and pickled ginger from our favorite local sushi joint.  You can ask them for wasabi, too, but we already had some on hand.  Easy, right??

 

Mock Sushi
Adapted from AlaskaSeafood.org
Serves 24-36, depending on the size of your cucumber
Because, yes--size does matter.

Wasabi Mayo:

1/4 cup Soy sauce
3 Tbsp. Mayonnaise (I used Veganaise <-this one's our fave!)
2 Tbsp. Rice vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. Wasabi paste
1 Tbsp. Sugar (used agave instead)
1 Tbsp. Shallot, minced
1 1/2 tsp. Lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Fresh ginger, grated
1/4 tsp. Cracked black pepper
1/8 tsp. Garlic, minced
3/4 cup Canola oil
To taste Kosher salt (taste first--we didn't need any salt!)

For Assembly

2 orders of sushi rice, or about 3 cups cooked sushi rice
24 slices Seedless cucumber, sliced into 1/8 inch rounds (peel if you wish, I like the crunch-so I don't)
24 slices Avocado, thinly sliced
Julienned Carrot strips, about 1" long
Pickled Ginger
2 Tbsp. Black Sesame seeds

To make the Wasabi mayo, add all of the sauce ingredients, except the canola oil, to a blender.  Blend them well, then with the motor running, add the oil in in a stream to emulsify it.  Set aside, and of you’re not using it right away, refrigerate it.  It makes more than you need (1 1/2 cups), so you can serve some on the side for dipping, if you wish--though it may be a bit messy to dip these.

To assemble:

Since I don’t have a round biscuit cutter, I had to improvise.  I used a cough syrup dosing cup like this that was just about the same size as the cuke rounds.    That’s enlarged to show detail, we didn’t have a monstrous cucumber. 
Set out your cucumber rounds.
Add a small amount, and I do mean small--about 1/8-1/4 tsp of Wasabi Mayo to each cuke slice.  Too much, and  your toppings will slide off.
Pat the prepared rice out on a non-stick surface--we used a large ziploc bag, and cut rounds out of it, then place the rice circles on the cukes.
Add an avocado slice about the same size as the rounds to each one.
Add a few carrot strips.
Next add the pickled ginger.
Top each with a bit more of the wasabi mayo, then top with black sesame seeds.

Serve immediately. 

--->And there’s no reason why you couldn’t use the salmon that’s in the original recipe, or any other fish that you’d like.  Just cut the pieces to fit. 

--->The original recipe also has nori strips placed on top as an option--you may want to try that.

--->One more thing--if you've got a local Asian Market, black sesame seeds are amazingly inexpensive there!

Chicken Quesadillas, Rice and Beans, and Iced Tea

That's a lot for one post, right? I found that I have a back up in my photo files, hehe. There are a bunch of things waiting for me to post them. We actually had these three things one night last week. (Well, we have the iced tea every day.) It's about time I get them on here, don't you think?

I don't even have recipes for these, just more like guidelines. Cooking is hardly ever an exact science...baking, yes, but throwing dinner on the table? Sometimes you just want to take an idea and wing it, and those are very often some of the best dinners!

Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas with Brown rice and Black Beans

So let's start with the quesadillas. Quite a few months ago, my sister in law, Orietta (love her! Hi Ori!) brought over her quesadilla maker on a Friday night, along with some cheeses, salsa, sour cream, tortillas, and this amazing smelling marinated chicken. Simple stuff, right? Yeah! And guess what? The chicken is ridiculously easy to get ready. Take some boneless chicken, cut it into smallish strips, not too long. Toss it in a bowl, ziptop bag, or container. Drizzle it with olive oil and cider vinegar (or rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, whatever you've got). Now this is where you personalize it. She uses (and I usually do, too) adobo powder, a bit of salt and pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and some Goya Sazon. Just sprinkle some of each over the chicken, not too much, but enough. It should just smell really good when you're done. Precise, right? hahaha.
Let it sit for at least 1/2 an hour, then just saute it in a little olive oil until done and set aside. It only takes a few minutes to cook. Next, plug in your quesadilla maker, if you're using one, and let that heat up. Do you need to use one? No. But let me tell you why I love the quesadilla maker. It heats from the top and bottom, so both sides get crispy, and the shape of the plates make six little "pockets" that are sealed, so your fillings aren't oozing out everywhere.

Just don't overfill the pockets. Put down one tortilla, then some cheese and your fillings, and a bit more cheese if you like, and for the love of God, don't forget to put the top tortilla down before closing the lid! I've learned this lesson the hard way, twice! hehe. It's truly one appliance that didn't end up in the appliance graveyard. My oldest likes to experiment with fillings, and my three other kids like plain old mozzarella inside, and they dip it in warm pizza or spaghetti sauce.

You can try anything for fillings. We've done breakfast quesadillas with scrambled egg, cheese and ham, we've done some with shrimp, and on the menu this coming week are taco quesadillas. I'll bet pizza fillings would be great, too! And don't forget that you can make dessert ones, with fruit fillings, or a bit of chocolate, etc.

The rice and beans? Couldn't be easier, and again, done on the spur of the moment. Hot cooked brown rice, stir in a can of rinsed and drained black beans, and this time, I added some adobo and Goya Sazon, just like I used on the chicken. Easy and delicious.

Iced Tea (yep, we drink ice cold iced tea, even in the winter time)

Again, this couldn't be simpler, and it's one of the few appliances I use enough to leave it out on the counter all year long. It's a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. Sure, you can brew tea other ways, but I love that this way only takes a few minutes--it takes about 5 minutes to brew a whole pot, and when it's done brewing, it's ice cold and ready to go. We don't bother with lemons and all that, and though they're really nice with tea, we're a busy family. So instead of futzing with sliced lemons and sweetener (which you could certainly do, if you like), we sweeten and add lemon flavor with sugar free lemonade, like Crystal light. Honestly, I love lemons, and usually have some on hand, but when I want iced tea, I want it 5 minutes ago, so lemme grab some lemonade for my tea and be on my way, hehehe. We like about 2/3 tea and 1/3 lemonade, on ice, of course. There's nothing more refreshing than ice cold tea, and we have it every day of the year. For one pot of tea, I use 12 small teabags, or 4 of the large teabags. I'm drinking some right now, in fact. Ahhhh, refreshing!

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