Country "Sushi"

So this is actually simply a cleverly designed and sliced wrap. 

- Start with your favorite large-sized wrap. I used a spinach wrap. Lay it flat on a plate. 

- Spread vegan cream cheese on the top 2/3 of the wrap. This will be your "stuffing" area. 

- Lay about three slices of faux deli meat (I like oven roasted Tofurky slices) on top of the cream cheese. 

- Next, layer on several large slices of avocado, and then tomato, and then vegan cheese slices. Try to make all "stuffings" cover the cream cheese foundation.

- Finally, place a few spinach leaves on top. Grind on fresh black pepper and sea salt. 

- Start rolling! This is the tricky part. Start rolling on the stuffing side. The "naked" side is rolled up last. Your roll will be pretty fat, so don't freak out. Notice in my picture that my rolls are big, and not completely stuck together. They may look perfect, but I arranged them so that they'd look nice. :) Roll tightly, but not so much that the wrap busts open. 

- After you have the roll, carefully slice into about 1" pieces. I started my slices in the middle of the roll, rather than the ends (so as not to push out the stuffings).

- The pieces wont hold together perfectly, but feel free to eat them with chopsticks if you're a sushi expert! I did, and had a blast. :)

- For my side, I served a can of black olives and created a simple dip: 2 parts vegan mayo to 1 part Grey Poupon (original deli style mustard). 

Sushi... Hold the Rancid Marine Life

When I tell people my favorite food is sushi, I usually get a raised eyebrow, as if I'm unaware that fish are animals. What it seems many don't know is that "sushi" doesn't contain raw fish. "Sashimi" is the nasty, rotting, depressing animal carcass crap that makes you puke in the toilet five hours later. (Seriously, I've had food poisoning twice... once from mayo and once from sashimi... what an animal product coinkidink.) 

We made vegan sushi a few weeks ago, for the first time, after envying the rainbow of homemade veg sushi my sister and her fiance created and of which they posted a photo montage to Facebook. I decided heck with paying $30 for vegan sushi at Eez Fusion in Birkdale (hands-down the best place in Charlotte-metro to get vegan sushi), I'm gonna try it on my own. 

I'll say David didn't enjoy the adventure as much as I did. His sushi rolls weren't wrapping tightly, and began busting open like piñatas at the slightest movement. Realizing that it's best to learn from other people's mistakes, I rolled up my sushi rolls so tightly that I'm sure the cucumbers were gasping for air. 

Start with white or brown sushi rice. Must be sushi rice (STICKY!!!), or else your rolls will fall apart like confetti. Cook the rice, wet seaweed sheets (nori). Take a damp nori sheet, wet your fingers, pick up some cooked rice, and spread it over the nori. Wetting your fingers helps with the spreading, as the rice is like glue. After the nori is coated, start filling with strips of various vegetables. We used: tofu, vegan cream cheese, avocado, red onion, sweet pickles, cucumber, squash, jalapeño, fried crispy onions. Then, roll it all up (think "open-ended-burrito"). TIGHTLY!!! Slice carefully, into about 6-8 pieces per roll. I also made a vegan spicy sauce: a couple tablespoons of earth balance vegan mayo mixed with a couple teaspoons of Trader Joe's chili sauce.