Spam Musubi Diagonals

A creative beautifully cut Spam musubi.  Take it up a notch with this beautiful diagonal slice through the middle and you can create artwork!  Chef Azuki, you know just the way to make a statement with your food.  She took this to an event this weekend and these were a hit!

Spam Musubi Diagonals

Ingredients:
2 cans of Spam
12 pieces of sushi nori
8 cups of cooked rice
teriyaki sauce or furikake

Directions:
1.  Cook the rice in a rice cooker
2.  Let the rice cool
3.  Cut the nori in half
4.  Wet and shake off a plastic musubi maker and place on top of nori
5.  Fill halfway with rice
6.  Add Spam that has been heated with teriyaki or just heat the spam in oil

7.  Add furikake to Spam if you desire
8.  Add more rice
9.  Press with plastic top
10.  Remove remove plastic top and form
11.  Wrap nori around square rice
12.  Cut through in a diagonal
13.  Then decorate on a platter

Fun times are ahead when you bring this dish to the party!  Fancy Spam Musubi for everyone to enjoy!

BeaNspirations:  Share beauty and see delight!  

Berry Good French Toast

The lazy days of summer have hit me, just when I need to punch it into gear and get the kids ready for the upcoming school year.  Here's a quick easy way to jazz up french toast and energize us all to get us going for back to school shopping.

 Good French Toast

Ingredients:
1.  5 slices of country potato bread
2.  Butter Pam
3.  2-3 eggs
4.  Mixed berries
5.  Powdered sugar
6.  1-2 sprigs of mint
7.  lemon juice (optional)
8.  maple syrup (optional)
9.  brown sugar (optional)

Directions:
1.  Scramble eggs in a flat pie pan or other pan that fits bread flat
2.  Heat pan
3.  Spray on Pam
4.  Dip bread into eggs
5.  Place in pan and heat until both sides are golden brown
6.  Add mixed berries and dust with powdered sugar with a sprig of mint to garnish
7.  (optional endings)  If your berries are not that sweet you can make a glaze with lemon juice and      powdered sugar or use maple syrup on top of berries.  Another good way to top this is to mix berries and brown sugar in a microwave safe bowl and heat on high in thirty seconds intervals mixing gently, about 1 1/2 minutes.

Anyway you top it, it's delicious!  My mint plant that I bought in the beginning of the summer is still alive.  So I add a sprig to the french toast and make berry infused water with berries and mint.  All summer long I've been putting fruit and mint into my lemonade and water.  A delicious touch to a delicious meal.  If you make bacon in the microwave you can save time and mess also.  Breakfast is ready in minutes.

BeaNspirations:  Enjoy beautiful simplicity!

Funnel Cake

Chef Azuki and her little BeaNs went to the Fair!  They had fun and enjoyed the funnel cake so much that they decided they would try to make some at home.  The older brother likes Almond Milk so they tweaked out a recipe using almond milk for flavoring.  Try it, you'll like it!!!!!!

Funnel Cake

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vanilla flavored almond milk
3 T sugar
1 1/4 cup pancake mix
vegetable oil

Direction:
1.  Whisk together all the ingredients
2.  Heat oil to medium in large pan.  About 1" of oil but not more than half up pan.
3.  Put in round circular open ended metal pan into oil
     (Chef Azuki used a pie edge protector that she had)
4.  Drizzle into the metal tube pan in oil
     (If not using a funnel it's best to pour from measuring cup or something with a spout)
5.  Pour in around the edge then lattice it inside the circle
5.  Let it fry
6.  When it's golden brown turn it over and fry the other side.
7.  Take out and cool a little then top with your favorite topping.  Whip cream, powdered sugar, or fruit.

Now it's ready to eat.  Delicious!

BeaNspirations:  Find inspiration wherever you go!

Asian Yellowtail Ceviche

Our husbands went fishing and brought us back some yellowtail tuna.  Yummy!  Here's a new recipe that Chef Azuki created to enjoy the fresh tuna!

Asian Yellowtail Ceviche

1 package of small pastry shells
1 cup yellowtail cut into cubes
1 1/2 cups thinly slice cucumber
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 of an avocado cut into cubes
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions:
1.  Heat pastry shells according to directions and cool
2.  Cut yellowtail into cubes
3.  Use a mandolin and slice cucumbers very thin
4.  Mix together soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, lemon juice, red pepper flakes together.
5.  Squeeze out water from cucumber then combine it with the sauce
6.  Add avocado, cilantro and sea salt and gently toss together
7.  Spoon into cool pastry shells and serve immediately

This delightfully light and refreshing appetizer is such a treat.   If you're serving it raw you need to eat it immediately.  But it's so good there won't be any left over.

BeaNspirations:  What a miraculous world we live in!   Everything we need is right here.