Fast Food Dinner
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Friday afternoon, nothing ready for dinner. Nothing even planned. So I decided to pick up some fast food on the way home. This is our version of fast food: sushi rice bowls.
Kate kept saying, “I want shee-shee! I want shee-shee!”
The Japanese grocery store is on the way back to the house, so it’s easy to swing by. And they sell everything in these neat little packages — absolutely no cooking required. Just five minutes to assemble it.
Here’s what I bought:
White sushi rice – You can buy it pre-cooked. Sure it’s not ideal, since it’s white rice and not brown. But it’s better than a Happy Meal.
Natto – Fermented soybeans. The number one source for vitamin K2. Luckily, we think it tastes great! I mix it with raw egg yolk and soy sauce. For more about natto, and the importance of vitamin K2, see my recipe for BBQ Natto and Shrimp. Oh and PS: this brand of natto (Shirakiku) is organic. It has the Japanese organic seal. JUst toss the little flavor packet that comes with it — full of MSG.
Soy sauce - I bought a brand that said “naturally fermented” on the label.
Tuna sashimi – Raw tuna. This is wild, not farmed. Not everything at this grocery store is wild. Most of the fish is farmed. I’m grateful that they label it.
Cooked shrimp - Also wild. Shrimp is also very high in vitamin D.
Salmon roe - This is probably farmed. It doesn’t say on the label. But Kate loves it, and so do I, so I got it anyway. I normally keep wild salmon roe (from Vital Choice) in my freezer, but we’re out. Salmon roe is also rich in vitamin K2, as well as A & D.
Sake – Rice wine. For Mommy.
Sorry for the crappy quality of the photos. I haven’t blogged in so long, my camera battery died!
PS: I haven’t been posting much because my web host woes are not over. I will be moving to a new host. Thank you all for your patience!
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25/09/2009 at 6:31 pm Permalink
ooo, yummy! The Elders & I love sushi!!
25/09/2009 at 6:48 pm Permalink
We had almost that exact same meal tonight for supper but for the natto which I really don’t care for. Shrimp, salmon roe (our favorite), rice, seaweed salad and hamachi. So tasty and so quick.
25/09/2009 at 11:16 pm Permalink
That is such a sweet pic of Kate!
My little guy shocked me several months ago at a Chinese Buffet (I know, I know… we tried to make healthy choices:) ), and ate 12 large cocktail shrimp. I’ve been meaning to order some shrimp and salmon roe from Vital Choice, so thanks for the reminder. We love the albacore tuna, wild salmon and scallops from them!
What an awesome dinner for WAY less money than going out to a fancy restaurant, and WAY more nutritious than SAD “fast food”! This mommy would be drinking the rice wine too.
Good luck with changing hosts. I hope your technical issues are over soon.
26/09/2009 at 6:46 am Permalink
Hi, Jen,
I agree, everything from Vital Choice is amazing. Even their sardines. So much better than the ones from the store!
26/09/2009 at 8:23 am Permalink
There is no Vital Choices here where I live(Lakeland, FL). I am not big on eating sushi but I do like Japanese food in general. I learned to like Oriental food when my uncle married a girl from Korea in the early days of the Vietnam war.
26/09/2009 at 2:39 pm Permalink
Looks yummy! Oh, how I would love to eat some sushi right now, but alas, 8 mos. pregnant! Look at that sweet little angel eating her sushi–not picky at all is she? I’m curious how old is she?
26/09/2009 at 2:58 pm Permalink
Hi!
How do you give Kate her cod liver oil? I bought some of the fermented cod liver oil from Dr. Ron and I want to give it to my 18 month old but don’t know what to mix it with or how to get him to eat it!
Also, where in Los Angeles is a good source of wild salmon?
Love you blog!!!
Thanks!
26/09/2009 at 5:59 pm Permalink
Julia
Vital Choice sells everything online:
http://www.vitalchoice.com/
26/09/2009 at 6:05 pm Permalink
Alexis -
Kate is 2.
She IS picky! She ate liver every day from the time she was 6 months to 18 months. Now she spits it out. But luckily she still loves seafood, so I feed it to her as often as I possibly can. (Minimum twice a week.) Fish, and especially shellfish, is excellent for building teeth and bones. And I’m trying to avoid cavities in Kate if at all possible.
By the way, I ate sushi when I was pregnant. And raw milk and soft cheeses, which they warn you against. I once asked a Japanese woman if the women eat raw fish when they are pregnant. She said, “Yes, the whole time.”
Another story: I read a book about a guy who moved to France with his wife and she got pregnant there. She went to a French OBGYN and he told her (paraprhasing), “Avoid salads — there are microorganisms that can hurt the baby. Drink wine for the vitamins.” I’m sure I’m misquoting him but you get the general idea.
Interesting — since we’ve had cases of death due to e coli in the past few years due to people eating spinach.
26/09/2009 at 6:12 pm Permalink
Hi, Anna!
When Kate was younger, I always gave her cod liver oil on the spoon. This was the regular Quantum CLO and she took it fine. Then I switched to the fermented CLO and it was too “spicy” for Kate so mixed it into her milk. (You could not taste it.)
Lately I’ve just been giving her a “shot” right into the mouth with the little dispenser that comes with the fermented cod liver oil from Green Pasture. She has no problems with it now. I guess she’s grown into it? I pretend like it’s a fun thing. “Time for your oil! Yummy!”
If your child won’t take it in milk, try it in a little juice. Dr. Weston Price used to give his kids (in the adoption home) cod liver oil mixed into orange guice.
26/09/2009 at 10:56 pm Permalink
This looks absolutely delicicious! It makes me want to swing by the Japanese market tomorrow myself!!! Love salmon roe, natto, etc. I would probably try it over a bowl of kelp noodles since we are grain free. Thanks for the great idea!!!
27/09/2009 at 7:37 am Permalink
This looks like fun fast food. Too bad we don’t have anything like it around here.
27/09/2009 at 1:41 pm Permalink
doesn’t that dish look pretty?!
28/09/2009 at 8:44 am Permalink
YUM. That looks like a great dinner. I saw my Japanese step-mother eating natto once and it looked horrible, but now that I know how good it is for you I may give it another go sometime.
By the way I found a good method for getting my 15 month old to eat liver. He refused to touch it when I chopped it up for him. So I ground it into a pate (with mushrooms, onions, etc for flavoring) and mixed it about 50:50 with cooked lentils. Then I refrigerated it until I could roll it into little balls, and that’s how I served it to him. He LOVED it like that. I also ate it like that as a spread on crackers. The lentils really helped to mellow out the strong livery flavor.
28/09/2009 at 10:47 am Permalink
I’ve never tried natto, but I make a sushi bowl like this whenever we have friends over for a casual night. It’s easy to put out rice and different add-ins like avocado or sesame seeds with a citrus dressing. Everyone loves it!
28/09/2009 at 11:35 am Permalink
Wow! Talk about a nutrient-dense meal! Fabulous! I will give it a go this Friday!
29/09/2009 at 1:39 pm Permalink
Oh, yum! I wish this was available where I live. My kids love sushi, and it costs me and arm and a leg to take them out for it.
30/09/2009 at 4:27 am Permalink
Oh wow, once again AM this all looks amazing! You have inspired me to look harder at the Japanese section of our Asian market. I hope we can get that Natto, as I think its high time I ate some of that
Glad to see youre back online 
30/09/2009 at 6:30 pm Permalink
Hi there! I have a question that has absolutely nothing to do with sushi.
I am 99% positive that I was perusing your blog a few months back, and came upon a link to someone else’s blog about making homemade bacon. Was that here? Apparently, I forgot to bookmark the page, and now I can’t figure out where in the world it was, and I thought for sure that I had found the link here. Please tell me if I’m nuts or not!
01/10/2009 at 10:27 am Permalink
Hi, Erica,
Sorry but I don’t remember that. I don’t think it’s hard to make bacon. Type ‘how to cure bacon’ into a search engine and see what you get.
11/10/2009 at 5:55 pm Permalink
Hi!
I have recently come upon your blog while looking for blogs dealing with the GAPS diet. I am hoping to start it soon but am trying to find answers to a couple questions I have. I’ve also just been introduced to the diet and have been reading the book and find it fascinating!
I believe I have Candida and am looking for a way to get rid of it. I have a fungus around my lips, on my foot, sometimes on my hand, etc… I always thought that the cracks and splits around my mouth were due to my recent allergy (about a year and a half ago) to wheat and oats. However, the more I research it, the more I’m beginning to think that everything is tied together. I also have adrenal problems and get tired and run down very easily. I am guessing that I have a form of the GAPS syndrome?
After reading about the GAPS diet I am very interested in trying it and would like to get some advice from someone who has been on it. Any tips and comments about starting it would be very much appreciated! I’m also trying to figure out what the best supplements are to get. There is a whole foods co-op in my area that is based around the Nourishing Traditions diet (I’m also new to that train of thought) and I know I can get cod liver oil there…
Any insight or thoughts would be wonderful! Thank you!
13/10/2009 at 1:08 am Permalink
yowsa! We spent the summer in Alaska & I have my freezer full of AK Red (Sockeye) salmon roe right now! I have never seen it in a store. is the sush kind raw, canned, salt cured? I have been using it in Nourishing Traditions fish cakes but this sounds like a fun way to use the tons of roe in my freezer. Any more recipes that use roe? Thanks!