Happy New Year!
This mochi made of oatmeal is absolutely delicious!!
I sprinkled Kinako (roasted soy powder) and then drizzled a mixture of soy sauce and maple syrup.
This salty-sweet syrup was so good, almost addictive.
I liked it so much that I made another batch right after I finished these!
Oatmeal Mochi recipe (in Japanese) -> https://www.instagram.com/p/Cm1AeO2BdC4/
What do you wish for 2023?
Me?
WORLD PEACE.
Making this Arare Tofu is quite easy.
You remove excess water from soft tofu.
Cook the tofu in sesame oil, and add flavor with soy sauce and sake.
I added tomato in addition to tofu, and I also used some sugar and salt to finish.
The original recipe was created by Mr. Tamori, who is a Japanese celebrity who hosted a popular daily show called “Waratte Iitomo” for many years.
In Japan it is customary to eat Soba noodles on December 31.
It’s supposed to be a good luck because the long noodles represent a long life and happiness.
We are having a quiet evening tonight.
Just me and my husband at home.
We will watch some TV.
Not sure if we can make it to 12:00…
We’ll see.
Here is another dish I did made a while ago but forgot to post.
I didn’t have all the ingredients needed, but it was the last-minute decision to make this dish, and I was happy with how it turned out even though it was put together only with what I had at hand.
The shrimp I got from Aldi was surprisingly really good.
Today, the last day of 2022, I realized that I still have pictures of dishes I made and wanted to post.
This is one of them.
A lot of vegetables as always.
It was fun to cook this dish, especially with the use of the griddle.
Rice and salmon were added.
We decided to put fish and seafood back into our diet this year, but we make sure they are “wild caught” and never been fed with dye (unfortunately many stores sell dye-fed fish).
Served with sweet miso sauce.
It was delicious!!
This is the kind of lunch plate I like to eat.
Tasty sandwiches, salad, and soup.
There are a lot of veggies, and the whole plate is plant-based.
Homemade buns.
I loe them when they are just out of the oven.
They are so soft and smell good.
Homemade tofu nuggets.
This is a basic recipe for which I only wanted to use ingredients that are easy to come by and for which I don’t need to use a knife.
I used Ao-nori (seaweed flakes) to give them umami.
These are small sized ones.
They make a great snack.
These are the larger ones that I used for the sandwiches.
I love how these mini sandwiches looked.
Gochujang veggie soup.
Who is interested in this lunch plate?
This is the time when you deep-clean your house, called “O-soji” in Japan.
I’ve been keeping the house in a good shape, by cleaning a little every day, so I don’t feel like we need to do “O-soji”.
But today I cleaned the fridge inside and out, and I felt good.
The impact of the color black is strong.
It’s unique, but I do like black food.
So when I saw this at a local specialty store, I decided to buy a package.
It really has a nice black color.
It loses the intense black color when cooked, but it’s still pretty dark.
I served it with homemade vegan cheese sauce, sage, and black walnuts.
The pasta’s texture is a bit different from the one of the wheat pasta.
It’s chewier.
I didn’t dislike it, but I couldn’t say I loved it.
Since I’m not used to this type of pasta, there is a possibility that the more I eat, the more I may come to appreciate it.
I made this sandwich shortly after Thanksgiving.
I was meaning to post it but apparently forgot until now.
It’s a simple sandwich, yet so delicious.
Sandwich bread.
Homemade vegan mayo (always better than the store-bought one; or I should say I haven’t found one I like).
Dijon mustard.
Vegan cheese slice (lately my favorite is the Whole Foods’ brand).
Vegan turkey from Aldi.
Arugula.
Nice color!
Doesn’t this look good?
So this year we tried several vegan turkey options.
Turkey breast from Aldi, Trader Joe’s turkey roast, and the Field Roast’s turkey roast.
Vegan turkey breast from Aldi (Photo from https://vegconomist.com/ )
Vegan turkey roast from Trader Joe’s. (Photo from https://www.clubtraderjoes.com/ )
Vegan turkey roast from Field Roast. ( https://fieldroast.com/product/celebration-roast/ )
We liked the Field’ Roast’s turkey roast much better than the Trader Joe’s.
(Last year Trader Joe’s had a different vegan turkey roast (small), and we LOVED it, so we were very disappointed that they did not have the same roast this year, and the one they had this year was not good.)
The vegan turkey breast from Aldi was also really tasty.
It doesn’t look as festive as the roast, so I would still choose the roast type, but this Aldi’s breast was so good, and we enjoyed it for non-Thanksgiving meals.
The one I used for this sandwich is this one.
I like vegan turkey, and I wish they sold it all year round not just for November.
Ankake or thick soup is one of my favorites.
It makes any dish a bit special.
I like this brand.
The noodles are NOT fried but “air-dried”, and the ingredients appear very good too.
Also the texture is wonderful when cooked.
Soy curls.
I get these mushrooms at the local Asian grocery store, Ha Tien Supermarket.
They are always fresh, and I like their size and how they look.
it’s currently one of my favorite mushrooms.
Today I put away our Christmas tree and all the decorations.
The spot where the tree was looks so empty now.
This one week between Christmas and New Year always feels so different.
It makes me want to be laid back and really relax in a good way.
And this drink definitely helped me do just that.
The refreshing flavor of Yuzu goes so well with green tea.
This Bûche De Noël (or Yule Log) is not made of cake but made of sandwich bread!
You need several (I used four) slices of white bread.
Take crust off.
Roll them flat with a rolling pin.
Spread your favorite jam (I used cherry jam) and roll them into a log.
Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest while you prepare Adzuki butter.
I just combined and mixed store-bought sweet Adzuki paste and vegan butter until it was creamy.
Spread it over the log.
Voila!
As you can imagine, it’s quite small.
It’s perfect for one or two (I ate the whole thing myself!).
It was absolutely delicious!
Since it’s so easy to make, it can be a make-your-own project for kids too.
If Adzuki is not your cup of tea, you can simply use chocolate whipped cream or any frosting.
Merry Christmas.
