Bunnies and Sugar

Here is one of my fave recipes. Sugar Cookies. So easy, few ingredients, a total no-brainer.
I've received several compliments about them, because they taste just good! And also because you can decorate them as you wish with a simple Royal Icing recipe.
This bunnies may be great for Eastern. Even though here in Mexico we don't celebrate it, I'm used to see a lot of bunnies and colored eggs in April (:
I remember making this and wrapping them in baskets whenever I needed a gift for someone, even one of my cousins who went to Canada for a year asked if I could bake her a basket before she went away.

Sugar Cookies
Yields ~ 40 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups sifted flour

Directions

• Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour.
• Chill dough until firm. Roll to 1/4" thickness on a floured surface. Cut the shapes you want with cookie cutters.
• Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 F (190°C) for 8-10 minutes.
• Let cool and decorate.

I'll also share with you my fave Royal Icing recipe, so you can decorate this delicious cookies with this equally yummy icing.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 2 tbsp. meringue powder (substitute w/ 3 egg whites)
• 5 tbsp warm water

Directions

• Beat the egg whites and add sugar slowly, finally add water depending in its texture and how you want it for your cookies.
• If it's too thick add more water, until you have the right consistency for piping.

Note: I normally cut this recipe in half as it makes lots of icing, though its not easy to measure 1.5 egg whites, I do my best and it always ends up great.

As you can see this recipes are real easy, and you can whip a batch of decorated cookies in no time. Fabulous, don't you think?

Share with me how you did. Any suggestion or question, leave it on the comments, down there. :D

OXO

Val

How 'bout some sushi?

Lately I've been in a killer sushi mood. Since I found this place at Col. Roma, I can't stop thinking about breaded california rolls, how amazing does that sound? It tastes better, I can assure!

So with all this, Mr. Universe said- let's get this gal sushi-sick- But, hey Universe, that didn't happen. I tell you this because I recently had to cook some sushi @ school, it tasted real nice, and they allowed me to be creative with a few ingredients, salmon, surimi, avocado and cream cheese... infinite combinations, right?

So, back to a serious topic...

I'm going to share with you our sushi recipe. That recipe said 6 portions... yeah right, if you're like me, 2 makis are just for you, so where the heck do we get 5 more portions? I don't know. But even with those details, it came real good. So let's get rice cookin' and some sushi rollin' (:

Salmon / Crab sushi

Ingredients:

• 185 g sushi rice
• 125 ml vinegar (really? I used waaay less)
• 10 g sugar
• 5 g ajinomoto (optional) it is MSG
• 100 g crab surimi*
• 250 g avocado (1 piece is enough)*
• 5 sheets seaweed (nori)
• 100 ml soy sauce
• lime juice (1 piece)
• 100 g smoked salmon*
• 190 g cream cheese*

Note: The last two ingredients are for salmon sushi, but you can make the combinations your cravings shout for. * these ingredients must be cut into sticks (:

Method:

1. Soak rice in cold water, until water comes clear. Cook in a pressure cooker for 8 minutes, with water covering rice 1 cm top of it.

2. Mix vinegar, sugar and MSG.

3. Spread cooked rice onto a tray and sprinkle with vinegar mix. Let cool.

4. Put a seaweed sheet over your sushi mat with bright side facing it. Put some rice on top and cover all the surface (except for borders) pressing for making a flat surface. Fix your favorite ingredients on top, in the side that's closer to you.

5. Start rolling the sushi pressing so it sticks together. When you first start rolling, you should wrap the sticks of whatever so that it stays in the center. Press well and keep rolling in the deep...

6. Cut your maki in half and the resulting parts in half, then in half again... until you have the number of sushi slices (nigiris) you like (:

7. Mix soy sauce with lime juice. Dip your sushi and enjoy!

Lots o' love

V

First Steps to Clean Eating - Broccoli and White Bean Mac 'n' Cheese

Who says clean eating is about starving, eating things without flavor or just veggies? I'm sure many people do, so as the little voice in my head (:

Well, I've got news- IT ISN'T!!!!! All week I've been trying (successfully..) to eat clean, you may be asking, what is clean eating? For me is a new lifestyle. I have eliminated from my diet all things processed, with trans fats, everything that has "hydrogenated" in its label, processed sugars, etc. I drink more water, more lean protein, less carbs and as always, I exercise, why? Because its better for my body and it  makes me feel good. 

Alright, this is no easy task, I have to admit that I've cheated a bit. I had a big package of chocolate chip cookies, so I've been eating them, no  more than 2 a day, I don't know if it's a good number, but I do it anyway. Also the last time I went to fill my refrigerator I found Cinnamon Pop.Tarts at half its prize, so I bought them, but really... I've been sharing them. 

Let me tell you it has been a long way to get here. At my 19 years I'm starting with this, you know? I was vegan as a kid, but something happened that I turned into a complete carnivore & sugar freak. Yes, I'm still eating meat, and as a future pastry chef, I'm still eating sugar, but not the processed kind, I try to be as natural as possible.

So... let's get to what we want: recipe!!! Today I did my first clean meal, from scratch. Cutting pieces of pineapple and making oats in the morning are not considered fancy cooking, right? Not even with sliced strawberries? Okay, this recipe isn't fancy cooking either. Actually it's very simple, quick and tasty.

my styling is not as good, I know, but isn't mine cute?

I have to say some things first: I made a lot of changes to the original recipe, didn't follow quantities or times. I used coliflower and broccoli, yellow bell peppers instead of red, refried beans, Oaxaca cheese, etc. Sorry, I'm in college student's budget = really limited. Feel free to make the recipe and follow instructions to a T, so I may know if it is as good as I thought in the first place (;
Here is what inspired me to do it Clean Eating Magazine, this mag is great, even with the clean eating stuff the pics will keep you drooling page after page.

Broccoli and White Bean Mac 'n' Cheese. The recipe is as .jpg so you just click it and save it (: [It has nutrition facts, awesome, right?]