Kid Friendly Sushi

Sushi and Spring Rolls

It is hard to find a great sushi place when you live in a small town in Idaho....I was craving sushi last week and my kids love finger foods....and foods you can eat with chopsticks.  So for Avery's biorthday I decided to make a spread of Asian food. So I made California rolls, spring rolls, egg rolls and potstickers.  So I thought I would share how to make kid friendly sushi and spring rolls.

For the sushi I opted not to use nori or the seaweed paper stuff....my kids don't like the taste and they don't like the taste of raw fish so I leaned toward the California Rolls.  So instead of the seaweed paper I used rice paper wraps....the same you use for spring rolls....it worked great and my kids loved them.  Avery even asked to take some for school lunch.  I am sure she would of been the first kid in Tetonia Elementary to bring sushi for school lunch:)

I am not a sushi expert but what really helped me was having good sticky rice.  Matt asked the guy that makes the sushi at our grocery store and he showed him what to use....the rice was found in the Asain isle at our store. 

All you need is.....
-rice paper
-rice
-avacado
-cucumber
-carrots (for color)
-crab...I use imitation crab
-rice vineger, sugar, salt
For the recipe go to this site.... http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/california-roll-recipe/index.html  For a tutorial on how to roll up your sushi you can check out this site.... http://norecipes.com/blog/california-roll-recipe/

For the spring rolls check out this site.....also serve these babies up with some yummy peanut sauce. ://www.phamfatale.com/id_1607/title_Shrimp-Spring-Rolls-Vietnamese-Roll-Recipe/.  The nice thing about these are you can put in anything you want...they are healthy and very portable:)

Meatball Sub

Meatball Marinara Sub
 This is not a great picture but these subs are awesome!!!!

Warning..these subs may cause a food induced coma along with a general feeling of complete satisfaction.

These are really easy to make.  When I am making meatballs I always double the batch and freeze half.  So I can have a quick go to meal.  So to make this sandwich just bake up some meatballs and add them to a pot of spaghetti or marinara sauce and add your favorite seasonings.  Then I take some yummy french bread add a little provolone or mozzarella cheese and melt the cheese a bit in my oven....add a nice scoopful of sauce....add some Parmesan cheese....and there you have a yummy and easy to make meatball sub.

Food for Thought

Steak topped with Herb Butter with Sauteed Green Beans and Orzo

 I was craving a yummy steak the other day and found a interesting way to season a steak.  It has to do with how you salt the steak and how long you leave the salt on.  So I gave it a try and Matt loved it.  It had good flavor...especially with the garlic and herb butter.  Here is the recipe if you want to experiment with some steak. http://steamykitchen.com/163-how-to-turn-cheap-choice-steaks-into-gucci-prime-steaks.html

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This is another favorite of mine...the flavor of the chicken is yummy and it is a lower calorie meal...which is always nice...oh and my kids call it a lettuce taco...they love it.  You can find the recipe here http://iowagirleats.com/2011/04/26/p-f-changs-lettuce-wraps-remade/

Birthday Cupcakes

Avery's birthday cupcakes for her class.  They are chocolate cupcakes with green butter cream frosting.  I wanted to make the frosting look like grass but I did not have a tip for it so...I dug through the play-dough box and found a little tip that I was able to use in my piping bag.  Then to top it Avery wanted bugs, worms and slugs with flower sprinkles.

I had Matt take the cupcakes to her class and he became the most popular dad in class.  He got swarmed by twenty three kindergarteners and hugged by all of them.  Later that day Avery had a friend over and we all played beauty shop.  Matt painted the girls nails...including sparkles and stickers...he is a good daddy:)

Big 6 year old

 Avery turned 6.  She is such a big girl and she has grown so much.  She loves school and is turning into such a smarty pants.  She loves to come home and tell me all about what she did at school...I love it...she tells me about what she learned, what she ate, who she played with, who was sick, what kids are not getting along, what is going on in her teachers lives...and of course about the boy she has a crush on.  I never thought I would learn so much from a kindergartener but I do.  Today she taught me all about bugs and I actually learned some facts.....she is pretty awesome.

Great Grandpa Erickson is always the life of the party!

Mattie at 3 months

She is so smiley and full of personality....she tries to talk and squawks when she gets upset

Hailey has learned how to feed babies...she says the baby is eating her body...I caught her multiple times with a baby shoved up her shirt and after she feeds it she burbs the baby and puts her down for a nap.  Then she makes us all be quiet so we don't wake the baby.

Matt has had two adjust a lot to living in a house full of girls.  He is now very good at piggy tails and painting nails....and the occasional dressing up.

I love the happy face she makes in her sleep after she has just eaten....you can see the milk dripping from her cheek:)

Mattie at one month...I bought these boots for her before she was born and I love them on her

Mattie at two months

My little cuties

Mattie Faye meet Betty Lou......My grandma is a baby charmer.  She is so good with babies and she knows the best songs to sing to them.  I love watching her with my kids and I am so glad my daughters get to know this amazing woman.

Hailey...not to be upstaged by her baby sister.  This is a typical Hailey outfit....she is obsessed with being a princess.

 Jenni's hipster outfit she bought Mattie....bringing a little California to this Idaho kid.

Mattie with Uncle Kurtie