Spread the cooled sushi rice onto a piece of nori (seaweed – you can buy the dried nori at most grocery stores) about a quarter of an inch thick. Be careful not to tear the nori.

Along one short edge of the nori, place your ingredients. These can vary by preference. Some common sushi fillings are shrimp, salmon, tuna, albacore – actually, any sort of fish, crab, avocado, cucumber, cream cheese, green onions, Chinese hot sauce, eel and really anything you think might go well with sushi rice and nori. Sashimi, raw fish, is often served in sushi, but many sushi ingredients are cooked (I won’t eat sashimi, but I love sushi).

Once you have all of your ingredients lined up on the flat nori, along one side, take your sushi roller. I suggest putting it in a ziploc baggie of the same size and squeezing the air out – to keep it clean. Roll the sushi from the end with the ingredients on it using the sushi roller. It’s a lot like rolling a cigarette, and if you think you’ll do better without the roller, go ahead.

Sushi is fine by itself, but I suggest side dishes. You can find many recipes online, or you can buy premade ones. I suggest my Japanese pickled cucumber dish, and a packaged miso soup (available from most grocers), plain with chopped green onions and shitake mushrooms. Serve sushi with a drink – either Jasmine or green tea, or sake. For desserts, you can have a fruit dish or a Japanese ice cream. Either way, I suggest making a whole meal of it – meals are almost a ceremony in Japan, and it’s fun to recreate them in America (or anywhere else).

Ball the melon using a melon-baller.

Cut up the strawberries – chop off the top and then cut lengthwise.

Take the strawberry syrup and water it down so that it is thin but still flavorful. Drizzle over the fruit. You can serve this with sweetened whole cream.

Heat the vinegar, sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar and salt are dissolved. Do not boil. Set aside to cool.

Rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. This can take several times.

Steam the rice in equal parts water – 2 cups rice to 2 cups water. You can do this over a stove or in a rice cooker. After the rice is cooked, cool for 10 minutes.

Use a wooden spoon and transfer some of the rice into a separate (non-metal) bowl, and pour some of the rice wine mixture over it. Use the wooden spoon to spread the rice out and mix the liquid into the rice. Continue this process until all of the rice has been seasoned. The rice should be at room temperature when you spread it on the  nori.

Never refrigerate sushi rice. If you have some left over, it will have to be thrown away.

Chop cucumbers into small, cube-shaped pieces about a half an inch on all sides (approximate).

Place the chopped cucumbers in a bowl and sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons of salt. Toss to cover the cucumbers with the salt and let them sit for about 15 minutes.

After they’ve sat in the salt, rinse the cucumbers out in a collander under very cold water. Put them back in the bowl when they’re clean (rinse the bowl out too).

Mix together the rice wine vinegar, sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl, stirring until the solid elements dissolve.

Pour the rice vinegar concoction over the cucumbers and marinate them in the refrigerator, covered with saran wrap or in Tupperware, overnight.

When serving, take the cucumbers out of the marinade and sprinkle with your choice of sesame seeds.

Mix the hot water and green tea powder together and set aside.

Lightly whisk the egg yolks together in a pan. Add sugar to the yolks and mix well.

Gradually add milk to the pan and mix well. Put the pan on low heat and heat the mixture while stirring often.

When the mixture has thickened slightly, add the green tea mixture, and remove the pan from heat.

Soak the bottom of the pan in ice water. Once the mixture has cooled, add the heavy cream and stir.

Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When the ice cream maker is finished, you will have a soft-serve consistancy ice cream; you can serve it this way, or you can harden it by packing the ice cream in an airtight container and freezing for three hours or so.

Makes 10-12 servings.

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* Maccha is a powdered version of green tea, most famous for being used in the Japanese Tea Ceremony. It’s very good, but sometimes it can be hard to come by if you’re  not in an area that has a lot of Asian immigrants. If you can’t find Maccha, I’ve found an acceptable alternative in Lipton’s Instant Green Tea. Increase the amount by a half a tablespoon and everything should be fine. Ice cream made with Lipton’s mix will be slightly sweeter, as the Lipton mix is essentially Maccha with sugar added.

Place rice and liquid in a microwave proof bowl cover with plastic wrap or just place in a large resealable plastic bag.

Microwave on high for 5 minutes, open microwave door and close. Continue microwave for 8 minutes at medium. Check rice make sure all the liquid was absorbed. If rice is moist and not all the water is absorbed microwave for 2 more minutes.

Allow rice to stand in the plastic for 1-2 minutes.

Fold salsa and cilantro into rice. Let stand 1 minute and then mix in cheese.

Cover and microwave for 1 minute.

Let stand a few minutes to cool and serve.

Boil the eggs. Once they’re done, cut each one in half lengthwise – take all of the yolks and put them in a gallon-sized Ziploc baggie. Crumble them and add the mayo, vinegar, mustard, worschestershire sause, salt, pepper and paprika to the yolks. Close the ziploc.

Mix everything together by massaging the closed bag until there’s just a yellowish pudding-consistency mixture. Push the mix away from one non-zipper corner of the baggie, and cut the very tip off. Use this open tip to squeeze the mixture into the eggs.

Top with more paprika, chives and bacon bits (if desired).

Fry bread:
–1 package of dry yeast
–3 cups of warm water
–1 tablespoon salt
–1 tablespoon sugar
–6 cups of flour, white
–2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
–1/2 cup cornmeal
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and add the salt and sugar. Let this stand for five minutes, covered with a towel. Add the flour slowly to dissolve and then the oil. Mix well and knead on a floured bread board until smooth. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for 1 and 1/2 hours.

While that’s rising you can prep the rest of the taco stuff. Cut the carne asada into small strips or pieces and season any way you like (I like using adobo, dried garlic chips, and fresh onion and cilantro). Set aside.

Open the cans of beans and put them into a large pot and season them any way you like (I use pico de gallo seasoning, dried garlic chips, seasoned salt, fresh onion and cilantro and a bit of chili powder). Set aside.

This is also a really good time to prep all of your taco toppings. Chop up your onions and tomatoes. Shred your lettuce. Chop up your cilantro. Put everything in ziploc baggies or into Tupperware containers and put it in the fridge for now.

Once the bread mixture is done rising, remove it from the bowl and knead in the cornmeal. Make two balls out of the dough and roll them into 12-inch circles about a quarter of an inch to a half an inch thick, and cut into 2-inch squares (or if you’re adept at making pizza just take fistfuls of the dough and roll them out that way). I recommend preparing everything ahead of time and separating the pieces with foil or wax paper.

Now is a good time to make everything. Heat up a skillet (no oil) and put the large pot of beans on. The beans should be on a low-medium heat and the skillet on medium-high. Put the seasoned carne asada in the skillet and fry it up. Once it’s done, take it off the heat and cover it. Keep the beans on warm and stir them occasionally until serving.

Once you’ve got a bunch of prepped dough, and the meat and beans are about ready, heat up oil in a skillet, preferably cast iron, on medium-high. When it’s up to frying temperatures, drop the dough, one or two pieces at a time depending on how big your skillet is, and fry about a minute per side, or until the fry bread is golden brown.

On each piece of fry bread, put meat and beans, and then add toppings as you desire. This recipe will make between 8 – 12 tacos, depending on serving sizes.

Prepare by cutting your chicken breasts into thin, short strips. Set aside.

Prepare your spring vegetable soup mix and add in a little bit of the olive oil and 3-4 tbsp of flour. Either whisk the
ingredients really well or make a roux with the mix and some evoo and then add your water, up to you.

Once that’s up to cook, brown your chicken breasts in a bit of the olive oil, medium high heat, shouldn’t take long, 5-7 minutes- at this point place the chicken in the veggie sauce, lid, simmer on medium low, and put your fettucine up to cook- fettucine is a 12 minute pasta. For those who’ve never tried, add some olive oil and sea salt to your pasta water. Simmer the chicken in the sauce for 10 minutes as the pasta cooks, and then add sour cream (o taste) and stir in, continue simmering as you proceed to drain, oil, and season your fettucine. Remove chicken and
sauce from heat, serve over pasta.

Submitted by Hannah!