SUSHI WRAP

Hi lovely readers

Now that we are slowly coming out of Winter here, I thought I'd stop a little bit with the heavy desserts and focus on more light snacks for Spring.

I was on Pinterest the other day when I saw someone has posted up a picture of a sushi burrito they had found from some amazing restaurant in the States. Sushi burrito?! Wow... that person must have died and gone to heaven!

One of my favourite things is sushi - preferrably out in the sunshine with a beer and some friends! So I decided to make my own little creation, which has turned into more of a wrap than a burrito but here we go anyway!

The best thing about this is that there is not that many calories in it. It's basically seaweed, rice, tons of veggies and a bit of fish. Of course you can chop and change whatever you would like to put into your own but the only really high calorie food here is the rice and even that is bearable! See the bottom of my post for nutritional values.

Enjoy! And please feel free to comment and let me know how it went or what you added to it! If all goes well tonight, J will like it and I can make it again differently next time!

Thanks, Tanya x

SUSHI WRAP

INGREDIENTS

170g Sushi Rice
2 sheets Sushi Nori
2 tbsp tuna, drained
1/2 carrot, peeled
1/4 cucumber, peeled
1/4 avocado, peeled
6 king prawns, cooked
ginger, peeled
sesame seeds
dark soy sauce
anything else you would like to add!

METHOD

 Before you start preparing the fish and vegetables, put on the rice as this usually takes the longest. Always follow the instructions on the packet for the rice. The Yukata brand I used, required the rice to be washed 3-4 times under cold water and then put on the stove to simmer for 10 minutes before being left for 20-25 minutes. Please make sure you check yours though as it may differ!

For the fish, I drained a can of tuna and measured out two spoonfuls. I also cooked some king prawns and then diced them up.

For the veggies, I used the vegetable peeler to slice the carrots and the ginger as I like these thin. The avocado and the cucumber, I peeled and sliced very finely.

ALL READY FOR YOU TO MAKE YOUR WRAP

Put a sheet of your seaweed on a flat surface. Spoon your rice onto the sheet and spread to each corner until the whole sheet is covered. Then add your vegetables and fish as you wish. Finally, add a little ginger and then starting from the bottom, roll the sheet away from you.

Cut your wrap in half, sprinkle some sesame seeds on for extra flavour and get a small bowl for your soy sauce. Dip your wrap into the bowl of soy sauce and ENJOY :)

FINAL SAY

Okay so, this is all the amazing ingredients I wanted in my sushi wrap but you can add whatever you want! That's the beauty of this dish (and of course the calorie count!). I have also seen that you can use brown rice instead if you don't like the stickiness of the sushi rice.

Nutritional value: for 1 wrap with the ingredients as above: 420kcal - 1785.9mg sodium - 2.8g fat - 20.9g protein

HOMEMADE CREAMY POTATO & LEEK SOUP

This is perhaps one of my all-time favourite soups. It's up there with tomato (which I haven't actually made before but my Dad has a great recipe which I'm hoping to inherit one day!). And seeing as it's been so cold lately, I thought a really wholesome hot soup would be a good idea as my first recipe.

The beauty of this dish (besides the taste!) is that you can make it in your slow cooker/crock pot in the morning and forget all about it until dinner time. The preparation is minimal and the ingredients are simple and cheap. I would gladly make this every night of the week if it was just me living at home!

NB! This dish is not great on the fat content due to the cream but you could always use low-fat instead. Alternatively, if you want to be daring, you could use double cream instead of the single I have used in my recipe, this will give the soup a much creamier and yummy taste!

I hope you enjoy this soup. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions, they are both very welcome!

Happy playing!
Tanya xx

INGREDIENTS

250g leeks, roughly sliced (about 2 leeks as shown in above picture)
500g potatoes, roughly chopped (about 5 small-medium potatoes  as shown in above picture)
2 vegetable OXO cubes
700ml hot water (or enough to cover the vegetables)
75ml single cream
1 sachet of vegetable soup

METHOD

Add your sliced leeks and chopped potatoes to your slow cooker. Crush 2 OXO cubes into a jug with a little hot water and add to the vegetables. Pour the rest of the hot water over your leeks and potatoes until they are just covered. Turn your slow cooker onto HIGH and leave for 5-6 hours. It is always a good idea to check on your soup, especially after about 4 hours or cooking, to ensure that the water hasn't all been absorbed as this could cause your vegetables to stick to the bottom. If it has, just add a little bit of water to cover the vegetables again.

When your vegetables are ready (I.e. they are soft), it's time for the next step of preparation. Now would be a good time to put your baguettes in the oven if you are going to have them with your soup. In a jug, mix your vegetable soup sachet with enough hot water to ensure all the powder is absorbed and there are no clumps. Add this to the soup.

This next step depends on how chunky you like your soup. Either use a blender to make it smooth or a masher to keep the chunkiness of the potatoes - it's entirely up to you! Once you have blended/mashed the vegetables, add the cream and give it all one final stir.

Serve with a hot baguette and some parsley sprinkled on top to make it look pretty.

FINAL SAY

If your soup is too thick, you can always add more water to it. I do this with J's soup as he believes all soup should be runny! I would recommend however adding a little bit of water at a time and then tasting it as you don't want to lose the flavour by pouring in too much!

You can also add salt and pepper to the soup but make sure you taste it before you add any seasoning as the leek and soup powder sachet contain their own salts.

Finally, you can also serve this dish chilled which is known as Vichyssoises

Makes: 2 servings (this soup is really filling and coupled with half a baguette, J and I have very rarely had any space for seconds)

Nutritional information: 411kcal - 54g carbs - 17g fat - 10g protein - 10g sugar - 275mg sodium