Mariano's Snacks for 2 at the Brookfield Zoo

If you live in the Chicago area or have visited, chances are you've been to the Brookfield Zoo.  Chicago is kinda unique in that it has not one, but two zoos.  Even though the Lincoln Park Zoo always has free admission, I've always preferred going to Brookfield especially in the summer.  The variety of animals is different and there tends to be more shade beneath the trees so even a hot day can be spent walking the paths.  Not only is going to Brookfield Zoo always a blast, stopping to pick up snacks at #MyMarianos always makes for a better day.

Wednesday dawned as the perfect day to go to Brookfield Zoo, all we needed to do was stop at Mariano's on the way to pick up some healthy snacks.  Mariano's is the perfect choice as they've got all these awesome food to go options right at the front of the store.  The problem we faced was having to pick which foods we wanted.  The selection is always staggering and narrowing it down took quite some time as we decided which would be easily eaten outside. They've got everything from sushi to fresh cut fruit and you can even save more when you use your Mariano's rewards card.  I call that a win-win!  Check out the rest of our shopping trip on our Google+ album.

The reason why I love going to the Brookfield Zoo over Lincoln Park is the memories I have of being there with my grandparents.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but this is the third time I've lived in the Chicago area!  I was born here, but I've lived all over the country.  When I was little we lived here in Chicago and I split my time during the week between both sets of grandparents.  For almost four years I was an only grandchild and just an eensy, weensy bit spoiled. (By that she means completely and utterly spoiled in every possible way.)

Anyway, whenever my grandmother would take me to the zoo we'd use the Mold-a-Matic and get wax animals.  While they aren't made of wax anymore, now the machine uses plastic, kids still love them.  Even though, I don't have any children I still am tempted to get one every time I go to the zoo. Which means half our trip was spent over the selection of which figures to get.  The merits of wax animals discussed could create a very serious and tedious lecture upon whether coloring outweighs details.  Or rather if the Triceratops while white is nearly as majestic as the Dolphin with teeth in his smile.

I hate having to get food while at the Zoo.  The choices aren't all that great or healthy and I don't feel so great after eating a ton of junk food.  Stopping at Mariano's on the way enabled us to have some of our favorite foods to enjoy at the zoo.

We decided to eat lunch with the giraffes.  Late last fall there was a new baby giraffe and it was nice to get to sit and watch him for a while.  Susie decided to have some sushi.  To our surprise a little girl of about three also decided that sushi would be a delightful snack.  For the choices and variety at the zoo are not nearly as good as freshly prepared sushi.

While I went with the more classic chicken salad on a pretzel bun.  Absolutely perfect zoo fare!  Made much easier to eat with a fork which we nearly forgot to bring.   Good thing we remembered or our fruit would also have been quite an interesting snack.  We would have looked as determined as the baby giraffe we ate our food near.  He spent quite a long time attempting to reach the offering of food just out of his reach.  I'm not entirely sure our tongues could have functioned in the same fashion.  As he triumphantly snuck a few pieces here and there.  

We also saw Okapis which are related to giraffes.  The very first Okapi born in captivity was at the Brookfield Zoo back in the '50s.  They're pretty neat to look at.  I absolutely love the markings on their hindquarters.  So very distinctive.

After walking through the zoo, we decided it was time for our final snack.  Chocolate covered cannolis from Mariano's bakery.  While they tasted good, cannolis aren't meant to be carried around in a bag at the zoo all day.  :)  They were delicious despite their newly found character travelling through the continents filled with exotic creatures.    

Be sure to connect with Mariano's on Facebook and Twitter.

Shredded Beef Mole Pasilla with Guacamole for Cinco De Mayo

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Mariano’s #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

Once again it is time to share another one of my favorite foods with you.  I absolutely love mole sauces.  They are fantastic on just about every kind of meat.  Mole is the perfect combination of spicy and chocolate on your dinner plate.  Mole (pronounced mol-lay) is a Mexican sauce typically poured over chicken breasts.  Mole is incredibly addictive.  Since Cinco De Mayo is right around the corner I thought it was the perfect time to head to #MyMarianos for all the fresh and exotic ingredients needed to make this dish.

I am so lucky to have a Mariano's practically in my backyard.  They almost always have every exotic or odd ingredient I'm searching for.  From this exotic wall of spices to purple potatoes or even being able to pick up small amounts of nuts and grains, they literally have everything.  The staff is also so incredibly helpful.  They go out of their way to help you find something.  They'll also make suggestions if you can't find what you're looking for.  With me this happens more often than not.  I just chalk it up to being creative.

There are a few things that come to mind when we think of Mexican foods.  Mostly it's a little bit of heat and rich spices with a topping of fresh ingredients.  We combined one of our favorite foods.  Well, at least Susie's favorite guacamole with a new recipe for tacos.  Some slowly cooked beef with a mole pasilla sauce and fresh guacamole to finish it off.  While guacamole can and often is enjoyed by itself it really tied the dish together.  The raw vegetables added a contrasting sweetness and tartness.  The mole sauce is smokey and savory with a hint of chocolate.  So, the guacamole added some fresh flavor and a little texture.   Using corn tortillas instead of flour not only saves some unnecessary calories but provides a little extra flavor and adds extra protein.  The bonus of course is that our corn tortillas were slightly larger and cooked faster meaning more room for the delicious taco fillings.

Where did we go to pick up these ingredients?  Mariano's!  Their produce section allowed us a one stop shopping trip.  They even had already ripe avocados which meant that we could make our guacamole the same day!  Instead of waiting for them to ripen on our counter as we sadly pined over the lost time between delicious tacos.  Plus with our rewards card we got a deal on some of our ingredients!  Always good to know when you scan your card you are saving money on the best produce in town!  A quick and easy way to save at our favorite store.  You can check out the rest of our shopping trip on Google+.

My recipe is a little different from other moles in that it uses dried pasilla chilies, lots of chocolate and some sugar to bring out the flavor.  This recipe is best made a day ahead.  Do not be intimidated by the huge ingredient list.  While this recipe does take a while to make, it truly is worth it.  Mole pasilla tastes even better on the second day.  Instead of making a typical meal of chicken breast smothered in mole, I went with something much tastier.  Yummy corn tortillas filled with fresh guacamole and slow cooked shredded beef drizzled with mole pasilla.  Chocolate for dinner is always a win.

Mole Pasilla

5 dried pasilla chilies, stems and seeds removed
1/2 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon oregano
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon anise seeds
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon majorjam
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sliced almonds
2 tablespoons raw peanuts
1 tablespoon raw pumpkin seeds
2 tomatoes, halved, seeded and roasted
2 tomatillos, halved and roasted
1/4 cup raisins
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
3-4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1/4 cup lard
1 corn tortilla, sliced into 8
3 slices stale baguette
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 pounds Black Angus Chuck Roast

Trim large pieces of fat from roast.  Grease crock pot and add trimmed roast.  Add 1/2 cup water and cook on high 4-6 hours until fork tender.  Remove from crock pot and cool.

Remove broiler pan from oven, grease and turn on broiler to high.  Slice tomatoes in half and remove the seeds.  Remove outer papery wrapper from tomatillos and slice in half.  Place cut side down on broiling pan.  Roast veggies on high for 8 minutes, remove from oven and flip.  Roast for 5 more minutes.  Veggie skins should be charred and peel easily away from the rest of the veggie.  Remove skins and place rest of veggies in a bowl to cool.

Stem and seed dried chilies.  To seed chilies, use a pair of kitchen shears to cut down one side to easily remove seeds.  In a dutch oven, set over medium heat add 1/4 cup lard.  When lard is hot and melted add the chilies and saute 2-3 minutes.  Remove from dutch oven with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool.

In the same oil, add the onion and garlic, saute 3-4 minutes or until they start to soften.  Stir in almonds, peanuts, raisins and pumpkin seeds.  Cook stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes

Stir in spices, let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Make room in the middle and add bread, tortilla and roasted veggies.  Let cook for a few minutes.  Add chilies, 1 cup water and 2 cups chicken broth, bring to a simmer.  Let simmer 12-15 minutes and then allow everything to sit for 30 minutes.

Before pureeing, melt chocolate in saucepan with 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.  Add melted chocolate and sugar to dutch oven.  Puree everything in dutch oven in batches until smooth.  Serve immediately or store in refrigerator until ready to use.  When reheating, add chicken broth to mole pasilla to liquefy sauce.

Our guacamole recipe is adapted from a restaurant in the area.  They made their guacamole fresh to order and right at the table!  Of course, as you can see from our photograph the amounts aren't exactly precise.  Especially since we added more of some ingredients to suit our own tastes.  Even though according to some people we still didn't add enough cilantro.  The hard part is figuring out just how much jalapeno you need.  You never know exactly how much of a kick you are going to get until you try it!  So, we definitely had to add a little bit more.  Plus some extra tomato because what we had prepared got lost in the mix.

Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium tomato, diced

1/2 jalapeno, diced

3-4 sprigs of cilantro, chopped

1-2 teaspoon salt

1 lime

1/4 small onion, diced

First place the garlic and salt in your mortar.  Grind into a paste adding some lime juice about a tsp full. Continue to grind until you have a smooth paste.

Then begin adding your avocado.  Smashing with the pestle so there are no large chunks left.  Transfer avocado mixture into larger bowl.  Add in the rest of your ingredients.  Mix together and taste.  Adjust to your own taste preferences!  Eat when you're satisfied with the mixture!

To serve, heat mole pasilla with some chicken broth on the stove.  Heat shredded beef in the microwave.  Heat corn tortillas in a frying pan on the stove.  Layer on corn tortillas like in photo, fold over tortilla and serve.

You can find Mariano's on twitter, facebook and google+.

Herbert the Lamb Makes Mariano's Easter Dinner Fabulous

There is one place we go when we want to finish all of our shopping in one trip, Mariano's.  By far it is the best grocery store for when we want to get a little bit of everything, so it was the perfect place to get our Easter dinner supplies.  We celebrated early this year.  Luckily, #MyMarianos had everything that we needed for Easter already in their store.  Check out the rest of our shopping trip on Google+.

The first thing that pops into our minds when we think Easter dinner is ham.  Basically, Easter dinner is an excuse for us to satisfy our ham cravings.  We really do like ham and it allows us to have ham for an entire week.  Ham and eggs, ham snacks and of course, ham dinner.  Mariano's has a deal with their reward cards so that you can get a deal on your ham.

Sadly, ham by itself, even a delicious spiral ham is not an entire meal.  So, we stopped by the produce department and found some delightful fingerling potatoes.  We especially enjoyed the purple ones.  They added substance and color to our menu.

We also picked up a salad mix to cover our vegetable portion.  Salad is an easy way for us to include vegetables without the extra work of preparing them ourselves.

As we wandered through the store, we passed by the bakery.  Into our cart went a loaf of Challah bread which is another holiday food in our family.  Basically, Challah is one of our favorite holiday foods for any and every holiday.  Another excuse to pick out something that is delicious and fresh.

Of course, we needed the loaf of bread to go with our lamb butter.  We've always seen them around Easter but never bought one before.  This time we splurged on the lamb.  Quickly, it was named Herbert.  Sadly, Herbert was less fulfilling than we expected.  He came out of the container a bit lopsided.  Luckily, we put him out his misery on top of our fresh bread.

While we were in the bakery section we decided to pick out a dessert.  Something that we can only find at Mariano's.  The cookies and pies and cakes caught our attention.  Finally, we decided upon a colossal cupcake.  A bright blue which made our meal complete.

After we had picked out our dinner menu, we needed a snack.  We swung by the foods to go section, which happily has a sushi counter.  Finding our favorite spicy tuna roll, we were ready to check out and head home to start cooking.

Rosemary Garlic Pan Fried Sunset Fingerling Potatoes

1 1/4 pounds Sunset Fingerling Potatoes, washed and cut in half
water
2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
up to 1/3 cup c olive oil
1-2 tablespoons dried rosemary

Wash and slice potatoes in half.  Place in a microwave container and just cover with water.  Microwave for 8-11 minutes or until just fork tender.  This makes the pan frying process go quicker.  Drain and dry potatoes on a towel.  Once dry, toss potatoes with olive oil.  Add to large frying pan on medium heat along with garlic and rosemary.  Cook until potatoes begin to brown.  Serve warm.

You can connect with Mariano's on Twitter and Facebook.  They love to connect and talk to their shoppers.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Mariano’s #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

Do you have a Dream? Mine is Called #SoFabCon!

Have you ever had a dream?  Open spaces to roam?  And in those open spaces buildings?  And in those buildings people?  And in those people the opportunity to create and share?  A chance to become an even better version of yourself?  I have that dream.  The dream of #SoFabCon in Arkansas. 

Social Fabric is holding its very first blogging conference, #SoFabCon, this year in Arkansas.  A place where small bloggers who dream of becoming better yearn to go.  I am one of those small bloggers.  For about a year now I have been a member of Social Fabric or SoFab as you have probably heard me refer to it.  Social Fabric has really helped me grow and improve as a blogger.  Without them I doubt I would have lasted this long.

I've gotten to work with some awesome brands like Starbucks, Sears and Bigelow Tea to name a few, companies that wouldn't have any interest in a small blogger like me otherwise.  My writing has improved, my photography has definitely improved and I've learned about social media.  Oh who am I trying to kid, social media is still a mystery to me.  

SoFab is great in that they offer classes to help their bloggers grow.  One of these was a food photography class that I was oh so lucky to get enrolled in.  I'm sure you've noticed a difference in my photos.  Here's two photos from my blog.  The one on the left is from pretty early on.  While the one on the right is from last week, can you see the difference?

Arkansas may as well be on the other side of the rainbow as far as I am concerned.  Being in Chicago is great for a lot of things, but its hell and gone from #SoFabCon.  (I so wanted to say Cartagena, has anyone else seen Romancing the Stone, lately?)  Getting to attend would be one of the most awesomesauce things I would get to do this year.

But plane tickets or gas and accommodations are expensive.  That is where the awesomeness of SoFab comes into play.  Not only are they having a conference this year, but they are giving away 12 sponsored tickets to #SoFabCon.  Six are for SoFab bloggers and the other six are for non-members.  How awesome would it be to win?!?!  They wanted creative entries, but I had no time to make a #LuvSoFab cake.  If I get picked you better believe I will be bringing special treats with me to the conference.  I think cookies, everyone loves cookies right?

So why should you pick me?  Being a new blogger, it goes without saying that attending this conference would help me grow.  Do you see the big list of sessions up there?  There will be ones on SEO (which I'm completely in the dark about), Wordpress (where we're moving to shortly) and how to build your brand.

These are all things my blog desperately needs.  Every blogger needs to learn these things to thrive, flourish and grow.  I am oh so anxious to see if I get picked to attend.  This would be my very first conference and I know the things I could learn would so be worth it.  I've heard conferences are crazy/busy and oh so tiring but also a blast to attend because you get to meet all the other bloggers you've been working with online in person.  

Another somewhat silly reason I want to attend is to get away and be by myself for a while.  I don't think I've actually been by myself since attending college.  My sister and I do a lot of things together, including working on this exciting venture (Rosie Discovers).  Is this an awesome reason to attend?  Not really, but it would be a great working vacation.  I've also never, ever been to Arkansas or anywhere in that part of the country.  I've heard its pretty, but I've never seen it.

The last reason I want to attend #SoFabCon is because what I learn there I will be able to pass on to other bloggers to help them grow.  Up till now I have been ever so fortunate to have SoFab in my back corner.  Think of the Social Fabric Community as being the mother of all reference librarians.  Whenever I have had a question, someone there will have the answer.  I want to be one of those bloggers that is able to answer those questions.  This desire to help and learn comes from being a librarian in my past life.  I love being able to help others find things that they need.  I just know attending this conference will allow me to do this.

I am ever so hopeful that my very un-creative entry catches the eye of someone at Social Fabric #cbias.  If you pick me I will have to create a special #LuvSoFab cookie for the conference to share with everyone.  Any flavor ideas?

This post is an entry into a contest to attend #SoFabCon in May.  All opinions are my own.

I Am Oh So Lucky to be a SoFab Member!

About a year ago, I learned about a blogger community called Social Fabric®.   Other bigger bloggers I'd heard of were SoFab members and said it was a great community.  Where bloggers get paid to work with brands.  That sounded awesome to me as I was a fairly new blogger and looking to make some money blogging.  SoFab isn't like a lot of other blogger communities out there because you have to apply and be accepted to join.  I was oh so lucky to be accepted the very first time I applied.  :)

After joining, I started to apply for shops.  I got lots and lots of rejection letters.  LOTS of them.  I still wasn't sure what this blogging community was about and predictably I was getting frustrated.

So I asked for help, something SoFab is great about as a community is offering to help each other out.  I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong with my applications, but I got some feedback and felt better about applying.  I still wasn't getting picked, but early last summer SoFabU held a food photography class.  Sign-ups were on a first-serve basis.  To say I stalked that signup is a tame description.  :)  I completely panicked when the server crashed, sure that I wouldn't get to sign up.

My stalking paid off!  I got in the class!  I was oh so excited.  :D  This was my very first time actually working with SoFab.  It was even better as Sears was sponsoring the class and they bought everyone a grill. Can you imagine being a fairly new food blogger and getting a brand spanking new grill to work with for your blog?  To say I was excited is putting it mildly.

At the time I didn't realize that most of the others in my class were either Campaign Leads or much bigger bloggers.  Then there was little old me, who was still trying to figure out this whole blogging thing.  I learned a heck of a lot about photography.  If you've been following my blog for a while, I'm sure you've noticed the improvement in my photos.

After that I got picked to attend the Illinois State Fair to check out Seattle's Best and Jeff Mauro.  It was a blast and definitely not at all like work.  This was just the first of many campaigns I've gotten to participate in.    Every time I get picked for a campaign its like Christmas!

Being an active member of Social Fabric has allowed me the freedom to work on projects I'm really interested in like my Chicago Breweries Beer Bread Project.  Doing things like this makes me proud to call myself a blogger.  Working with big brands is great, but being able to promote local small businesses totally rocks!

For all these reasons, I count myself LUCKY to be a SoFab Member.  :)

Mariano's Recipes make Impressive Meals Easy

Have I mentioned how lucky I am to have a Mariano's practically in my backyard?  Alright, maybe it's more of a skip, a hop and a jump into the car, but it's still close.  Since I'm in Arlington Heights, I live by the first Mariano's in the area.  Mine has been open over two years now and has been crazy busy since opening.  The Arlington Police still direct traffic to and from the parking lot at times.  That's how busy this store is.  I love being so close because I can always pop over to find something special for dinner.

I was on the lookout to make something new and different for Saturday night.  I decided to check Mariano's huge recipe database on their website for a dish to make.  Instead of one dish, I found an entire meal to make.  I decided to tackle the Korean-Style Oven-Browned Short Ribs, the Spinach with Roasted Sesame Seeds and Hazelnut Chocolate Decadence for dessert.  If you're ever stumped on what to make for dinner, definitely check out this database.  I guarantee you'll find something.  Another awesome feature is the ability to save recipes you like to your recipe box.  This way you'll easily be able to find your favorites whenever you want.

The produce at Mariano's is always crazy fresh and so well stocked.  There always seem to be 3-4 employees working in the produce department.  They have a large variety of organic and non-organic produce along with things like fresh daikon radishes.  Today I needed some spinach to make the spinach with roasted sesame seeds.

Next it was off to the butcher counter to see if they had some short ribs.  They didn't have any at the counter, but there were some pre-packaged on the shelf.  I was slightly disappointed as I love getting things from the butcher counter, but it did make my trip quicker.  :)

While in the meat department, I saw this sign advertising the ham rewards program for the holidays.  When you shop between 1/27/13 - 3/24/13 for every $10 you spend you get a point, if you rack up 85 points you can then purchase a Roundy's Select Fire Glazed Ham or Organic frozen turkey for $.99 a pound.  If you do a lot of shopping at Mariano's, this is an awesome deal!

I didn't realize that hazelnuts were a seasonal item, so I had to make a substitution in my Hazelnut Chocolate Decadence recipe.  Mariano's carries a variety of dry goods in bins by their produce department.  I thought macadamia nuts would work great instead.  They do taste awesome.  If you decide to use them in your tart, definitely place a pan underneath it.  Macadamia nuts have a higher fat content and that will leak right out of your springform pan.  Live and learn.

Korean-Style Oven-Browned Short Ribs are pretty easy to make.  You take a dutch oven and add all the ingredients except for the sesame oil.  Add enough water to cover the ribs and bring the water to a boil.  Simmer, skimming off the fat for about two hours or until the meat is tender.  Then cook them in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Easy-peasy.

The spinach with roasted sesame seeds is just as easy.  After cleaning your spinach, place it all in a large saucepan.  Cook with a cover on for 3-4 minutes until wilted.  Drain and squeeze out the moisture.  Roughly chop and toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

This meal was a little richer than something we'd normally have for dinner.  But its nice to have something special from time to time.  Mariano's is a great place to find all your favorite fresh ingredients for your family. I know its one of my favorite places to pick up everything I need for a special meal.

Seriously, it's easy to go to Mariano's for everything on my list.  With their large and fresh produce section, I can easily pick out meals and ingredients to help my family, eat well, live well and shop well.  If anyone thinks grocery shopping is a chore, then they haven't stopped by a Mariano's.

Check out the rest of my shopping trip on Google+.  You can also connect with Mariano's on Twitter and Facebook.

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Mariano’s #cbias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.

Kimbap: A Healthy Superbowl Treat! #CBias

Alison: We need to practice making our Superbowl treats.  What do you think we should make?  I think it should be something healthy.  All I ever see at parties is junk food or unhealthy choices.

Susie: Practice?  I don't think so!  Everything I make is wonderful!

Alison: Practice makes perfect!

Susie: Well, in that case we should make something already perfected!  Kimbap!  You can always use an extra excuse to make one of our favorite foods again!

Alison: Kimbap is pretty good, although I like it better freshly made.  Cold rice just doesn't do anything for me.  :(

Susie: Whatever, you're just picky and spoiled.  Not everyone gets warm food all the time.

Alison: I know that, but I still like it fresh!

Susie: For anyone wondering, kimbap is kind of like a sushi roll.  Only it's a Korean style with cooked meat in most versions.  Ours is a bit different with vegetables you'd find here easily.  Our recipe calls for bulgogi though which is yummy marinated meat.

Alison: Seriously!  So delicious that we have a hard time not eating it before we get to making the rolls.

Susie: I bet Mariano's would have everything we need to make kimbap.  I just checked the ad online and they've got Black Angus skirt steak on sale.

Alison: Lucky for me the Arlington Heights store is practically in my backyard.  The Mariano's in Arlington Heights is the very first store in the new grocery store chain.  It's been open about two and a half years now and pretty much no matter what time you go, the store is packed with customers.

Susie: They've got a phenomenal produce department.  Including lots of organic fruits and veggies.  For our recipe, we need carrots, cucumber and radishes.  But feel free to put your favorite veggies in yours.  Try to pick something you can cut thin and still has a crunch to it.

Alison: Mariano's also has an amazing butcher counter.  It's really, really big.  They have a large selection of meats, make their own sausage and will even steam your shrimp for you.

Susie: Most helpful, they immediately offered to cut us a pound when there wasn't a piece close in the case.

Alison: Mariano's also carries a good selection of local beers.  We've been checking these out more and more lately as we've been perfecting our beer bread recipes.

Susie: Another bonus, you'll notice that unlike some stores, Mariano's does tend to carry local brands like Revolution, Great Lakes, Two Brothers or Five Rabbit.

Alison: Other things you'll need for our kimbap recipe can be found in the Asian part of the International aisle.  We easily found sushi rice, seaweed sheets and mirin.

Susie: It's great that they actually have these items.  Or else we'd have to go out of our way to a specialty store.  Check out our entire shopping trip in our Google+ album.

Alison: Time to get home and get cooking.  Before heading home,  we had to pick up some beer and spent grain in Elk Grove. While on the way, we stopped to see the Elks.  They're right on Arlington Heights road not too far past the expressway.

Susie: Not a bad end to a trip.  Although, it's sad that I just figured out why it's called Elk Grove.  In my defense, I didn't grow up in the area around these elks.  Like someone I know...


Alison: I love the elks.  I used to see them when I was little too.  :)

Kimbap

Bulgogi - beef and marinade
1 pound beef, cut into thin strips (we used a natural NY strip steak)
1/4 cup low sodium sauce
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon mirin (can be substituted with cooking sherry)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, grated or finely minced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

2 carrots, peeled and julienned
2/3 cucumber, peeled and julienned
3-4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 cups sushi rice, uncooked
10 sheets of seaweed
bamboo sushi rolling mat or silicon baking mat

Place the beef in the freezer while you make the marinade.  This will make it easier to slice.  Combine all the rest of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk.   Remove the beef from the freezer and slice thinly on the diagonal against the grain.  Add sliced beef to marinade and stir to coat.  Cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the sushi rice.  Place rice in a fine mesh sieve and rinse under cold water until the water runs clear.  Place rice in large microwave safe container and add 3 cups hot water.  Cover and microwave either using the rice setting on your microwave or for 20 minutes.  We've found this the best method to make rice, it always comes out fluffy and perfect.  When rice is done cooking, remove from microwave and fluff with fork.  Set aside to cool.

After 30 minutes, remove marinated beef from the refrigerator.  Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat, add half of beef mixture.  Cook without stirring for a couple of minutes, flip beef and add rest to skillet.  Cook until nicely browned and cooked through.  Set aside to cool

To assemble your kimbap:  Place a sheet of seaweed on your rolling mat.

Scoop two fairly good spoonfuls of sticky rice onto the bottom half of the seaweed sheet.  Thoroughly wet your fingers and spread rice into an even layer.

Add your veggies all across the rice.

Add a line of bulgogi.

Holding the end of the bamboo mat, start to slowly roll up the mat readjusting your hold as needed.  When the seaweed is completely rolled up, give it a final squeeze to firm up the roll.

Here's a quick video of how to roll up the kimbap.

All that's left is to slice the kimbap roll into bite-size pieces.  Use a serrated knife to easily cut through the seaweed.  This recipe makes 10 kimbap rolls.  You can easily cut each roll into 10 slices.  That gives you a 100 piece appetizer.

Susie:  The best part of this recipe is that it doesn't need to be entirely precise.  It'll still taste great because you're using raw vegetables with a marinated meat.

Alison: Ta-da!  A healthy Superbowl snack that will disappear during your party.

*I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ #CBias #SocialFabric All opinions are my own.*