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Last night I wanted one more vegetable side dish, and I remembered I had one zucchini I waned to use up in the fridge.

You saw this dish in my previous post.

It was a part of our last night’s Japanese style dinner.

This zucchini dish is actually not really a Japanese dish.

But that’s okay.

Grilled zucchini, lemon zest, homemade vegan feta cheese, parsley, freshly squeezed lemon juice, olive oil, and salt.

Delicious.

My husband is not a big fan of zucchini (or anything that looks like cucumber), but he even liked it.

I’ve been making different kinds of vegan meat now, but this was my first time to make bratwurst.

Got some ingredients ready.

Right out of the steamer.

This is the picture when the steamed sausages were pan-sautéed.

These turned out amazing!

Loved everything from the taste, look, to the texture, but the perfect texture really blew my mind!

I loved this vegan chicken recipe so much.

You don’t need any crazy ingredients, and the whole preparation and cooking process is so easy and quick.

Remember I made fried chicken with this?

This time I decided to turn the chicken into Panko crusted Katsu.

Crispy outside and juicy inside.

Come back to see how I enjoyed this Katsu.

Sake-kasu is the solid left from the sake production.

It has the miso like paste texture and very unique flavor.

It’s been traditionally used to flavor fish, soup, and pickled vegetables for many years.

But it has become so much more in the recent years, and it’s now used to flavor many baked goods as well.

They are so good as they are.

These are slightly sweet, but more like a snack than a dessert.

These are perfect for an afternoon wine/beer time.

At the last minute, however, I decided to add a little more sweetness (who doesn’t like extra sweetness?!) and color.

Pretty and tasty!

The inspiration came from the sweet cherries I had in my fridge.

This salsa (or pico de gallo) was fruity and super refreshing!

Cherry salsa: cherries, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno peppers (pickled), cilantro, salt

I also made spicy Yuzu sauce.

This was not my initial plan, but at the last minute I decided that I wanted homemade tortillas.

Cumin and oregano homemade gluten steak, cherry salsa, and a drop of Yuzu cream on warm tortillas.

Super tasty!

I like rules, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I am a rule-follower in general.

I read furniture assembly instructions.

The best part of learning a new language for me is learning the grammar.

However, when it comes to cooking and baking, I am everything but a rule-follower!

I hate following recipes, and I’m always looking for food ideas that are unconventional.

So when this savory cookie idea came to me, I got excited.

I used one of my favorite cookie recipes as a base, and I added things that I like (olives, sun-dried tomatoes, Italian inspired dried herbs, fresh dill, black pepper).

So I was pretty confident that these would turn out good.

Well, these turned out not just good, but great!

These are salty and slightly sweet, the dangerous flavor combination that makes you want to keep eating!

Do not serve with milk. (lol)

Recommended beverage: chilled white wine.

Olive Sun-Dried Tomato Herbed Cookies– makes 24 cookies; adapted from this recipe

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup almond butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
1.5 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
sundried tomato, chopped
black olives, chopped
dried Italian herbs
fresh dill, chopped
black pepper

1. Mix all the ingredients.
2. Roll into small balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten a little.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Don’t get me wrong.

I love sauce, probably more than most people, and I tend to drench food in sauce.

But I think it’s important not to do that sometimes, to really enjoy the flavor from each ingredient.

Fresh and delicious!

As you know, I’ve been making various types of vegan cheese.

Now I have a few favorites, and I decided to make a plate to showcase them.

I had a special guest the other day, and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to make one for us to enjoy together.

Herbed Feta.

The recipe is from the Vegan Cheese book.

Cheddar.

The link to the recipe is here.

Gorgonzola.

The recipe is from the Vegan Cheese book.

This was the one I was the most excited about!

I’ve made the above three multiple times, but this one was my first time making: Fresh Mozzarella.

The recipe is from the Vegan Cheese book as well.

This was so much fun to make.

The result was wonderful.

It was so creamy and delicious!!

A few fancy things to go with the plate.

This vegan “caviar” is amazing.

It has the taste and the texture that’s very convincing.

Here is the link (Amazon) for more info if interested.

There are really endless ways to enjoy these cheeses.

This was Gorgonzola and fig jam on a cracker.

DELICIOUS!!

I had a lot of cooked broccoli and wanted to use it for my breakfast.

What I ended up with were these omelette fritters.

Love that there are a lot of chunks of broccoli and it’s flavored with Japanese Shiso basil.

I used chickpea flour instead of regular flour, so, the final result was more like “omelette” than typical fritters that tend to be a bit more dense.

My husband and I absolutely loved it.

Next time I will definitely make extra so that I can have them in the freezer.

Broccoli Shiso Omelette Fritters: cooked broccoli, chopped Shiso leaves, chickpea flour, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, sugar, water

It’s always nice that your snack is not only delicious but also healthy and colorful.

I got fresh veggies ready.

And ready to dip!

Cheddar.

Edamame Mint.

Maple Purple Potato.

Yum!