A bowl of soba noodle soup always makes me smile.
First soba noodles.
And then soup.
But after that you can just add whatever you like.
Lucky me, I had some homemade sunflower seed tofu.
I hope everyone had a good start of the week.
Black Forest Pizza
ブラックフォレストピザ
Sunday, July 21, 2019
Black forest cake is such a beautiful cake.
I wasn’t in the mood for making a whole cake (it takes some mental preparation to do so (lol)), but I thought it would be fun to make something with the black forest cake “theme.”
Chocolate (with a little coffee) pizza crust, with vanilla cream, chocolate ganache, and fresh cherries.
This was absolutely delicious, and I LOVEd it!
Vanilla cream: extra firm tofu, almond flour, soy milk, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract
chocolate ganache: cocoa powder, sugar, soy milk, coffee, coconut oil.
Turmeric Bread
ターメリックブレッド
Saturday, July 20, 2019
I’m still not 100%, but since we are out of bread, I decided to make some for tomorrow’s breakfast.
Turmeric is one of the spices I buy in a big container because I use it a lot.
Interestingly, I’ve never made this type of crusty bread with turmeric, and I was excited to make one.
The color and the smell are both amazing!
Exactly what I hoped for.
For one of the loaves I added Kasuri Methi which always makes everything taste better.
I can’t wait to eat them tomorrow.
I might even try to make a sandwich with this bread.
The color will be awesome!
Panini
パニーニ
Saturday, July 20, 2019
I don’t have many opportunities to cook for a large group of people.
But when I do, it is usually for non-vegan people.
A while ago we participated in an open-house style event.
It was a casual event, and bringing food was optional.
But I decided to bring panini for snack.
Panini is easy to make, and it doesn’t take too long to make a large amount.
I usually use my homemade crusty bread and add greens (spinach, arugula, etc.), homemade seitan steak, whatever the vegan cheese we have, and one flavor-burst ingredient: I usually like to use chopped sundried tomatoes, lingonberry mustard, chipotle mayo, etc.
My husband helped me with the cooking, so I put together the sandwich, and he grilled them.
We make a good team.
We just left this large platter of panini and a pile of napkins next to it.
It was a hit!
Nobody questioned if there was any meat or real cheese (lol), and many people came back for seconds!
Cheddar Scallion Scones
チェダー小ネギスコーン
Friday, July 19, 2019
I’m a bit under the weather the past few days.
What bothers me the most is that I can’t do much in the kitchen.
These are the scones I made about a month ago.
I just realized that I never posted these pictures.
Since I haven’t done grocery shopping for this week yet, I’ve been eating things in the freezer.
I’m almost panicked because my freezer is now out of baked goods!
I really wish I had some of these scones for tomorrow morning.
Or I should feel much better so that I could make some first thing in the morning.
Spicy Mango Pad Thai Spaghetti
スパイシーマンゴーパッタイスパゲッティ
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
Happy Wednesday!
I started doing meal-prep a few weekends ago, and I’m loving it.
It makes it so much easier to prepare weekday meals.
Healthier.
And less stress.
However, it usually becomes challenging to create dinner that doesn’t make you feel like you are eating the same things over and over.
I got to come home from work a bit earlier tonight.
So I decided to spend a little more time than usual to make dinner using what has been prepped and also adding something new.
I happened to have a lot of foods already that would be perfect for pad thai, but I didn’t have rice noodles.
So I decided to go with spaghetti!
Lots of veggies.
And scrambled tofu flavored with fermented mango sauce (from Trader Joe’s).
As you can see this “pad thai” was not prepared the traditional way at all.
But who cares!
It’s a home-cooked and home-served meal, and as long as it’s tasty, it goes on our dining table.
Lemon Melon Bread
レモンメロンパン
Monday, July 15, 2019
Okay.
This is my third time making melon bread.
My first melon bread was this, and the second one was this.
When I read what I had written about them, I realized that both times I said they were good but not the same as my mother’s.
Guess what?
This time I finally got my mother’s recipe, and I created a totally new vegan cookie top by incorporating my mother’s recipe.
This bread turned out AWESOME!
Creating the perfect vegan cookie top has been challenging, but I think this is it!
It has the right softness, moistness, and crunchiness, and it has the thickness that I prefer.
This time I added lemon zest to the cookie top, and put lemon curd inside the buns.
This is a must-try for any lemon-lovers, and it became my husband (who loves anything citrus)’s favorite instantly.
I wish I could share this with my mother.
I think she would approve!
Sunflower Tofu
ひまわり豆腐
Monday, July 15, 2019
The tofu we typically think of is made of soy beans.
But in Japan many other types of tofu exist.
Some popular ones are sesame tofu and peanut tofu.
I was going to make one of them, but I just didn’t have the ingredients for either one of them.
But I did have sunflower seed butter, and I decided to use it to make tofu.
So, here is my Sunflower Tofu.
It’s so smooth, just like tofu, but it’s creamier.
I’ve never made tofu like this (or any tofu!), and I was pleasantly surprised by how delicious it turned out.
When something tastes this good, you don’t want to mess it up, and it’s best when it’s enjoyed simply.
So I decided to serve it with just wasabi and soy sauce.
So good!
I don’t know why I didn’t try sooner.
I used a glass container to make the flat one (above) and cut it into individual pieces, but I also made an individual pouch, just for fun.
This one is pretty, too.
Fried “Fish” Onigirazu Rice Sandwich
V”魚”フライおにぎらず
Sunday, July 14, 2019
Remember I made Onigirazu rice sandwich the other day?
It was such a big hit at our house, I decided to make another one.
I thought the vegan fried “fish” would perfect to put in this rice sandwich.
This time I put too much inside the Nori seaweed sheet, and I was afraid that it wouldn’t close.
I had to add an additional small piece of Nori sheet, but I was relieved when it finally closed (well barely!).
In this Onigirazu rice sandwich, you will find the vegan fried “fish” arugula-spinach mix, tomato slices, and Yuzu coleslaw.
This was absolutely delicious!
You can see how substantial the vegan “fish” is.
Extremely happy with the result!
Vegan “Fish” Sandwich
V”魚”のフライサンドイッチ
Saturday, July 13, 2019
My first and best vegan “fish” sandwich!!
Remember I made this awesome fried fish a few days ago?
It was so good that I decided to make a sandwich with it.
Homemade crusty bread, arugula-spinach mix, tomato slices, and vegan fried “fish.”
Doesn’t this look great?
The sandwich was served with homemade tartar sauce.
Yum!!
