Broccoli Cheddar soup is not my favorite soup.
But I do love the combination of broccoli and cheddar.
I happened to have my homemade vegan cheddar and seitan steak, and I decided to put together a rice plate for lunch.
Easy, tasty, and super satisfying!
Since Valentine’s Day lands on Thursday this year, we decided to celebrate two weekends, before and after.
So last weekend for our celebration part one I wanted to make a chocolate cake for us to enjoy.
I did a little google research to see if I could make my cake heart-shaped without buying a heart pan.
Well, who knew!
There was a way.
And a relatively easy way.
For the cake itself, I knew exactly what recipe I wanted to try.
Amy’s Vegan Dark Chocolate Red Wine Cake.
She has so many great ideas for Valentine’s day, and I had a very hard time deciding which one of her recipes to try until the very last minute.
But I just couldn’t resist the combination of red wine and chocolate.
This is a two-layered wine-chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting.
I made my own berry filling with a touch of red wine, but other than that I followed the recipe without modification.
I LOVE her whole-food approach.
For instance, the main ingredient of the frosting is such a brilliant idea (I won’t tell you what it is. You have to go to her site to find out!), and probably one of my favorite features of this cake.
Making a cake following her recipe is not just a process but a joyful and learning experience.
I served my cake with wine reduction berry syrup.
This cake was ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS!!
I’ve eaten enough delicious vegan foods by now, so I would hate to say “you can’t believe it’s vegan.”
But this cake can be enjoyed by everyone, vegans and non-vegans.
I shared it with my husband and a couple of neighbor friends (non-vegans), and everyone loved it.
Thank you, Amy, for this wonderful recipe!
It was so perfect for our (early) celebration.
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
I like to create fun unique dishes, but once in a while I do enjoy going back to basics.
I had a few bags of homemade vegan meatballs in the freezer.
I sometimes use a jar, but if I have all the right ingredients at home, I prefer making my sauce myself.
Homemade sauce is so much better than store-bought!
I asked my husband to make “nutty parm,” and his version was a bit rougher than mine, but it was still very tasty.
This rough texture was different, but I liked it.
By the way when it comes to pasta, I like mine “long” and “regular.”
(I’ve tried whole wheat and other “healthy” pasta, too, but when it comes to pasta, I’m like an ordinary Joe, and I like my ordinary pasta (lol).)
Tsuke-men is like a cousin of ramen.
It’s basically the same thing, but the noodles and the soup are separated (soup typically has a bit stronger flavors).
You scoop up a few strands of noodle, dip them in the soup, and eat. And then repeat the process.
I added a generous amount of sprouts.
I love sprouts in my ramen/tsuke-men.
Tsuke-men is becoming pretty popular, and I’ve started seeing it on the menu of some ramen shops.
But I’ve never seen vegan Tsuke-men yet.
For extra spiciness here is my trusted chili garlic paste.
My husband travels often for business.
Since I work full-time also, we don’t talk much during the day.
But he never fails to let me know when someone gives him interesting food ideas or recipes even when he is away from home.
When he told me about this recipe, I had to try it.
I was so interested in the ingredients, because the list does not include flour!
I didn’t have everything on the list, so I made mine with what I had.
I used maple syrup in place of honey, clementine for orange, jasmine-sencha tea for chamomile, and walnuts for pecans.
I decided not to use chocolate chips, because I wanted to keep it relatively “healthy” but added chopped dried persimmon.
This was SO GOOD!
Even before baking, I couldn’t stop licking the batter-covered spoon.
(I could have eaten the whole bowl of batter!)
I was worried about baking though because there was no flour in the batter.
But it came out just fine.
The texture is different from that of “regular” blondies, but I really liked it, probably better!
Such an awesome recipe.
Thank you, Liz, for sharing.
I had some wrappers left that I wanted to use up.
So I decided to make them into ravioli.
The filling is simple but tasty.
Sauteed garlic and mushrooms.
A great thing about ravioli is that it cooks so fast.
It was a great lunch.
Exactly what I needed on this cold snowy day.
I had frozen puff pastry sheet in my freezer I wanted to use up.
My neighbor just gave me ripe strawberries that needed to be eaten fast.
And I recently got to make vegan custard cream successfully.
Why not putting all together?
First, the puff pastry.
Perfectly light and flaky.
Thick custard cream first.
And then fresh berries and mint leaves.
The ratio of everything was just perfect!
Simple, fresh, and elegant.
This will be a good dessert option when we have our non-vegan family over for dinner.
I think my father-in-law will like this.
I’m not a huge Super Bowl fan (unless the Vikings get to play), but it gives me an excuse to make fun snacks!
These are a few things I prepared for the game today.
Walnut and Blue Cheese Grapes.
I saw Ms. Giada making this on TV, and I immediately knew I wanted to try them.
These are DELICIOUS!!!
The flavor combination is amazing.
Here is a link to Ms. Giada’s recipe.
I used my homemade vegan gorgonzola cheese (recipe from this book) to replace cream cheese, blue cheese, and heavy cream.
Meatballs covered in Asian BBQ sauce.
I used my favorite recipe for the meatballs.
Flat Samosas.
I like samosas, but often times the wrappers are thick and too heavy for me.
I simply used wonton wrappers, flatten, and pan-fried them.
Yum!
In the filling you’ll find potatoes, carrots, peas, and corn.
Are you watching the game?
I was pretty set on having savory breakfast this morning.
But once I get some idea, I have a hard time not trying it right away.
I had these beautiful mint leaves in the fridge, and I thought it would be fun to make pancakes with this fresh mint.
And what would be better than chocolate chips to complement it?
So I decided to try this all-time favorite flavor combination, “mint chocolate chip” in pancakes.
No extract.
Just fresh mint.
I pureed it in soy milk in order to get extra mintiness and the smoother texture.
They turned out perfect!
So glad that I had just freshly made a new batch of vegan butter.
They kept the lovely green color.
The mint flavor is there refreshing, but not too overpowering.
Packed with chocolate chips!
This is like dessert for breakfast, and I loved it.
(Okay, not everyday, but it’s appropriate for Sunday!)
Recommended beverage: black coffee.
My husband had just made a fresh batch of home-brewed coffee as well.
Happy Sunday everyone!
Mint Chocolate Chip Pancakes:
1 cup all purpose flour
2-3 teaspoons baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon flax meal
2 tablespoons water
1 cup milk
2/3-1 cup fresh mint leaves (add to milk, use hand blender, and puree)
1/4 cup oil
1/2-2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1. Mix all ingredients.
2. Cook on a greased pan or griddle, both sides, until cooked through and slightly brown.
I was in the mood for something sweet this morning.
But at the same time I had this thought that I wanted something relatively healthy and not too heavy.
So this is how this meal was born.
Carrot Cake Oatmeal!
All the carrot cake flavors, but no heaviness or no over-sweetness.
This was a good hearty meal with a little fun twist.
First get all the “carrot cake” ingredients ready for the toppings.
Finely shredded carrots, pineapple, golden raisins, walnuts, date jam/syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
I was initially planning to sweeten my oatmeal with brown sugar, but I decided to use dates as a sweetner.
I simply pureed dates (I used five pitted dates in 1/2-1 cup water) to make syrup.
It turned out to be a little thicker than I initially anticipated, but it was perfectly okay.
I eat oatmeal a lot during the week as a quick breakfast at work.
Just oatmeal and hot water, salt, and cinnamon.
Well, weekend oatmeal should be a bit more fun.
And this was fun.
It was so tasty.
Hearty and fresh at the same time.
Loved the date syrup/jam, as its caramel-like rich sweetness goes well with the rest of the ingredients.
Don’t forget to sprinkle a little salt, which brings out all the flavors and brighten them up.
