“Sushi is my favorite food. I like making sushi with my mom. She cuts up all the food and then I can pick what goes inside,” says Indiana. “We roll it up together and I eat it. When it was time to pick which sushi I thought was best, I couldn't choose! So we used the food in all of them for the recipe. We used brown rice because it is healthy and it tastes great. I think it would be healthy for kids to eat sushi.” - Indiana Coyle, Age 8, Utah

Makes 8 sushi rolls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups brown rice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
• 8 to 10 roasted seaweed papers
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into long matchsticks
• 1 avocado, peeled, seeded, and cut into thin slices
• 1 large broccoli stem, outer layer peeled and stem cut into small matchsticks
• ¼ small pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into matchsticks
• ½ small mango, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 4 ounces softened low-fat cream cheese, cut into large matchsticks
• 8 ounces cooked shrimp, crab, or even imitation crab
• 1 small bundle watercress, washed

Equipment: Bamboo sushi mat, covered in plastic

Preparation:

1. In a large stockpot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add the rice and salt and boil, uncovered, for 35 minutes. Remove from the heat and drain the rice in a strainer set in the sink. Return the rice to the pot, place a kitchen towel over the pot opening, and cover with a lid. Let sit for 10 minutes to allow the remaining water and heat to steam the rice and cook it the rest of the way through.
2. Turn the warm rice out into a non-metal bowl. Drizzle the rice wine vinegar over the rice while gently stirring and folding the rice with a wide spoon. Continue stirring until the rice is no longer warm, about 10 minutes.
3. On your plastic-covered bamboo sushi mat, place one seaweed wrapper with the shiny surface facing down. Wet your hands and gently spread a thin, even layer of rice over the seaweed wrapper. Re-wet your hands as needed. Spread the rice to the edges of the mat.
4. On the nearest ⅓ of the wrapper, place a few matchsticks or slices of veggies and fruit horizontally across the rice. Make sure the ingredients reach both edges of the seaweed paper. Add a little cream cheese and shrimp or crab. Top with a few leaves of watercress.
5. Lift the bamboo mat with your thumbs, while gently keeping the filling in place with your fingers. Fold the wrapper over the filling and continue rolling in a jelly roll style. When the edge of bamboo mat has almost been rolled under the sushi, pull out that edge and continue rolling.
6. Unroll the bamboo mat and allow the sushi roll to sit for a few minutes before cutting. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to make more sushi rolls. Cut each roll into 8 equal pieces with a wet knife.

311 calories; 10g fat; 49g carbohydrates; 11g protein

Learn more:

• Check out highlights from the each Kids’ “State Dinner”
• View the 2015 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge & Kids’ “State Dinner” Cookbook