Yoko's Dessert Sushi

Rosemary Wells makes me sit up and take notice.  (Literally.  She was a judge on a Food Network cake competition once, and I sat up and paid attention to the whole thing.)  You may know her as the creator of rabbit siblings Max and Ruby, who have tons of books and even a tv show to their name.  Or perhaps you know her McDuff series about a lovable terrier.  But no matter which of her characters you may have seen, please don't ignore this one!

Yoko is a lovely Japanese-American kitten who is really excited to start school.  Her mother has even packed her very favorite lunch... sushi! It's too bad that the other kids in class don't appreciate it.  Or her red bean ice cream.  It's SEAWEED!  It's WEIRD!  "Yuckorama!" Sure, they may not all be eating the same thing, but... who eats THAT?  Poor Yoko.  She doesn't feel happy about school anymore. 

Her teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, couldn't seem to cheer up our poor heroine.  Being a good teacher, she came up with a great idea to get a handle on the situation.  She sent home a notice announcing International Food Day; each parent was supposed to make a family recipe and bring in enough for everyone to try.  Foods from all over the world are there! Yoko's mother makes enough sushi for everyone to have some.  But will anybody try it?

I, like many of Yoko's classmates, am not a big fan of sushi.  To be honest, I don't eat any seafood at all.  But I couldn't slight Yoko and not make sushi, so I've found a way to make her favorite dish without having to... by making it out of gummy fish instead of real ones!

I used the recipe for Original Rice Krispie Treats as found on www.ricekrispies.com.  If you're adventurous, or hungry, there are a ton of awesome variations on their theme there.  I plan on making several of them when I have the time, ingredients, and people to eat them.

Yoko's Dessert Sushi
 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
3 tbsp. butter or margarine
1 10.oz bag of regular-size marshmallows OR 4 cups mini-marshmallows
Gummy worms
Gummy fish
Fruit Roll-Ups

1. Melt the butter or margarine in a large saucepan over low heat.  Add the marshmallows and stir constantly until everything is melted together.
2. Add the rice krispies to the marshmallow mixture and stir until evenly coated.
3. Wait until the mixture is cool enough to touch - don't burn yourself!  This is VERY IMPORTANT!
4.  There are two ways to do the next part.  You can either
          A) Put enough Krispie Treat mixture to cover all but a 1-inch stripe of a fruit roll-up, about half an inch thick. Add a few gummy worms, and roll up, using the un-covered inch of fruit roll-up to complete the outer covering of the roll.
                                            OR
          B) Make a cylinder of Krispie Treat around 3 or 4 gummy worms, and then cover with a fruit roll-up.
Really, the method you choose depends on your preference.  I made them both ways, and neither one was particularly easy, but neither was hair-pullingly-hard to do, either.  All in all, they looked about the same in the end, so I was happy.
5. Then, cut your log of gummies-krispies-fruit-roll-ups into slices of about an inch.  (It may be easier to do this after a brief stay in the refrigerator.)
6. Alternately, or additionally, you can make Rice Krispie sashimi by making a solid piece of the treat mixture, adding a gummy fish, and securing with a strip of fruit roll-up.  This was much simpler to do, and it still looks pretty good.  Sound confusing?  Here's a photo of the finished product:

I had also intended to add frosting wasabi, but that sadly didn't come to pass.

As a note, I feel that it's fair to mention that these were very very sweet, but they certainly were delicious. If this is too time-consuming, I have also seen people make dessert sushi by cutting snack-cakes into slices.  They also look lovely, but they don't have gummy fish.  Or a book.  So I think I'm okay.

I feel bad that I set a bad example by not eating the food that's part of the trying-different-foods lesson, but I think I'll just have to forgive myself on this one, since I have tried seafood, and I know that I dislike it.  Would it make you feel better if I tried one new food this week to make up for it?

In other news, I'm hoping to have a minimum of one blog post a week.  Please yell at me if I don't keep it up.  You can contact me at KatCooksTheBooks@gmail.com, on my Facebook fan page, or right here on the blog itself in the comments.  Thanks for reading!