This is what I had in mind…
… when I made the orange-cocoa bagels (previous post).
I already had homemade vegan cream cheese and orange confits prepared for this.
Spread a generous amount of cream cheese and sprinkle some cocoa powder.
Next.
Pile up the beautiful orange confits.
Pretty, isn’t it?
Scrumptious!!
One of the fun things about bagel-making is to think about what flavor(s) to add.
About a week ago for the Valentine’s Day weekend I made a orange-chocolate cake, and since I really liked the combo I decided to use it again.
I could have just mix them together, but I thought it would be interesting to have two separate colors.
Loved how they looked and tasted both!
Ramen for lunch!
To tell the truth, I couldn’t decide if I wanted Ramen or Mapo Tofu-Wood Ear.
What do you do when that happens?
Well, you have both!
This was SO GOOD!!
I found beautiful wood ear mushrooms at the local Asian grocery store today, and it was perfect for this.
After some extended winter time off, I went back to work this week.
During my time off I ate fried noodles for lunch almost every day.
Before we started the plant-based diet, I never really paid much attention to oyster sauce.
I liked it, but I always felt that had a strange name because for some reason I didn’t think there was actually any oyster in it!
So when I realized that oyster sauce was off our list, I was bummed because I liked the rich flavor.
Then I found how to make oyster sauce vegan in “The Homemade Vegan Pantry” book, and I had to try it.
The sauce turned out fantastic!
It’s thick, rich, and flavorful, and even has some “ocean” flavor.
These canned vegetables make any dish instantly “Asian”!
Turmeric is one of my favorite spices, and I use it a lot.
It always gives bread a beautiful bright yellow color, and today I decided to take advantage of it for Shokupan.
Turmeric did it again!
It’s not only pretty but also very soft!
I’m posting this a little late, but I made this for Valentine’s Day.
It was ready for Saturday, and we got to enjoy it on Saturday and Sunday,
This is not a light soft fluffy cake, but a rich, dense, and heavy cake, and that’s exactly what I wanted.
Very chocolaty and decadant.
It was delicious just like that.
But we also enjoyed it with yogurt cream.
This was a huge hit with my husband, too.
We were initially thinking about a takeout meal to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but then we decided to make a meal on our own with a little help.
I personally like to have a big meal for lunch rather than dinner so this is what we had for lunch today.
First course.
Salad with Balsamic vinaigrette (not in picture).
Second course.
White Bean Soup.
With black garlic.
Main dish.
Vegan ribs from The Herbivorous Butcher with homemade (by hubby) BBQ sauce.
Cheesy potatoes.
Sautéed broccolini.
We made everything except for the ribs.
It was a good idea to get the ribs from the HB, which made the meal-prep much easier and quicker, and that allowed us to really enjoy cooking together.
Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls.
Plain and cinnamon-cherry-walnut.
We thoroughly enjoyed the meal.
We even sat and ate the the dinner table!
And my husband gave me the cutest (and situation-sensitive) card!
This was an accident.
It was not intended for Valentine’s Day (I made it for a meal over a week before that day).
But it turned out so pretty, and I decided to wait to post it until Valentine’s Day.
Garlicky garbanzo sauce accented with beets.
Yes, the lovely pink color is from the beets.
I typically like to finish my dish with some kind of green herb, but this time I purposely stopped myself to keep it all pink and red.
(I really liked how the end result looked!)
We are planning to celebrate V-Day for lunch tomorrow.
And yes, I do have a plan for dessert too.
You are probably thinking that the title of the dish is strange.
Well, in Japan, Udon with this fried soy curd, called “A-GE” is called “Kitsune” Udon, and Kitsune means “fox”.
When Mochi is added, it’s called “Chikara” Udon, and “Chikara” means “power”.
Since my first Udon-making experience was so positive, I decided to make Udon myself again.
I only make enough for two people.
So the batch is so small, but it’s so worth it!
Homemade Udon, porcini-kombu dashi soup, fried and sweet fried soy, Mochi, Wakame seaweed (hidden underneath), and scallion.
It’s a double-carbs dish, which I typically avoid, but it was too tasty to complain!
This was not something I saw when I lived in Japan, but apparently this way to enjoy Mochi has been quite popular there recently.
I thought this would be fun to try with my homemade Mochi.
I also happened to have vegan sliced cheese.
This was such an easy and simple dish, but it was so tasty!!
If you buy pre-cooked Inari soy pouches like I did, it only takes a few minutes.
