Sushi Rice Salad

I am trying to be gluten free (I may have mentioned this before) - it seems to help me with joint aches and pollen allergy (specifically grass seed pollen and since I live in the grass seed capital of the world, this is a biggie!)  A few months ago I ran across an interesting cookbook "The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen" and I finally broke down and bought it (just what I need, another cookbook).  First it turned me on to a whole lot of gluten free products that I never thought I could buy locally without going online but I can find even some of them at the "end of the Oregon Trail" (think low population levels don't bring in lots of hard-to-find/exotic foods).  I even found sweet potato noodles (but that will be another blog!)  I guess it helps that the author lives in Oregon.

We are all things fish - including sushi - lovers. The LOML and I usually find ourselves at one or another of our favorite sushi or fish restaurants on Friday evenings.  Additionally, we once lived next door to a Japanese family and they taught me how to make our own sushi (which I rarely do because it isn't as easy as it looks).  For years I have thought that sushi could be deconstructed into a rice salad but never tried experimenting.   Friends recently invited us for dinner and we rolled our own Spring Rolls with rice paper as the wrappers (delicious) and again I thought of salad without the rice paper wrappers. Guess what? My new cookbook has a recipe for the rice salad that I have been dreaming of!

A Very Different Pizza

This weekend we hosted a wine and cheese tasting party for nine guests.  It was a lot of fun to choose different cheeses to try and pair them with different wines.  We also set out thin slices of apple and pear plus honey and apricot jam to try with the cheese and crackers.  In addition to the normal cheese and cracker spread that one expects at a wine and cheese tasting party, I made this into a full fledged meal beginning with a salad topped with grated cheese, a savory cheese cake that included the usual cream cheese plus the addition of Gruyere cheese combined with spinach and mushrooms topped with a marinara tomato sauce, a savory cheese and prosciutto flan, and a pizza topped with Gorgonzola cheese.  The pizza was a favorite with all the guests (actually every dish was well received).  I have chosen to share the pizza recipe because a) it is very different from your usual pizza and b) it is the first left over that the hubby went for!  The original recipe comes from A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen by Jack Bishop  (Jack Bishop is often seen on America's Test Kitchen on PBS and his book is very interesting).  I made a few changes to the recipe but not by much.  Plus it was no problem to double this recipe and the doubled recipe served up 12 moderate-sized slices.

Zucchini Soup

Winter is a great season for hot, thick soups and this soup - a recipe from a dear aunt - is so simple and so good it continues to be a favorite of ours. This particular aunt was not a very good cook except she made excellent soup.  Of course, I have altered her recipe to make it my own.  One of the changes that I made was to add herbed Bourson cheese.  Today one of my favorite bloggers (Go Gingham) had a recipe for herbed soft cheese which will be a great alternative to a store bought, additive-rich cheese.   Here is the link to the recipe http://tinyurl.com/m82fnew

And here is my recipe for zucchini soup for two (this recipe is easily increased to serve a multitude):

1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 tsp oil
2 medium zucchini, roughly chopped
1 15-oz can low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
2-4 TBSP herbed cheese spread

Heat oil in a medium size saucepan.  Saute onion over medium heat until translucent, do not let the onion brown.  Add the chopped zucchini and the chicken broth.  Simmer over medium heat until the zucchini is soft.

Puree soup in a blender in small batches.  Return blended soup to the saucepan.  Add 2 TBSP of the herbed cheese spread and reheat until the cheese has melted.

Divide soup into two bowls and add 1 TBSP of the cheese into each dish.