CT Side-B – Page 137 – Unexpected greatness on the other side of the culinary world

by : Reiko Sweets

My Favorite Carrot Cake
自分好みのキャロットケーキ

I’m always very conscious of what I put in my body, but when it comes to sweets, I’m even more cautious.

Since I don’t like to eat a lot of sugar, if I eat something sweet, I only want to eat something I truly love.

Yes.

I admit I’m pretty picky.

And I’m super particular especially about carrot cake.

Probably because it’s one of the sweets that have a wide variation.

I like dry cranberries and walnuts in my carrot cake, and I like to be able to see and taste them in the cake.

Personally, the chunkier, the better.

For the frosting I like mine, cashew-based, creamy, and slightly tangy, like cream cheese.

And I like my carrot cake round, not rectangular.

It has nothing to do with the taste, but for some reason it’s important to me.

The decoration should be simple but elegant.

Recommended beverage: unsweetened milk tea.

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November 8, 2018

by : Reiko Noodles/Pasta

V-Meatball Pie Hotdish
Vミートボールパスタパイオーブン焼き

I’m not exactly sure if this qualifies a hotdish.

But I’m in Minnesota, and I like the sound of it

So I’m calling it a hotdish.

The V-balls are homemade, and I’m so proud of myself.

These (above) are right before going into the oven.

My very first seitan meatballs turned out great!

The texture is spot-on.

The oven-cooked V-balls were then simmered in homemade red sauce.

They kept their shape very well in the sauce.

The red sauce with V-balls with some veggies was generously poured over cooked short whole-wheat pasta.

Once it was covered with puff pastry, it was ready to go into the oven.

Doesn’t this look wonderful?

The pie was so flaky and light.

Pasta, red sauce, sautéed veggies, and V-balls make a great meal, but the addition of the pie gives it a little elegance and makes the dinner experience a bit special.

Have a great weekend!

I used this recipe for the “meatballs”. My husband and I loved them because 1) the texture is great! 2) they contain not just gluten but also some whole-food (onion, beans, nuts, etc,), and 3) they taste wonderful.

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November 1, 2018

by : Reiko Sweets

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie
パンプキンチーズケーキパイ

I like pies.

And I like cheesecake.

I just couldn’t decide if I wanted to make a pie or a cheesecake, so I decided to make a cheesecake pie!

The pie crust was ready.

I used canned pumpkin, but other than that everything was home-made.

Fill the crust with a generous amount of pumpkin cheesecake filling.

Refrigerate for a few hours.

Voila!

It was delicious as it was, but it was also tasty when served with slightly sweetened coconut cream.

The crust and the filling were perfect.

I don’t have exact measurements, but I will list the ingredients.

Crust: I used this vegan pie crust recipe; I used non-virgin coconut oil and regular sugar.

Pumpkin cheesecake filling: a half can of pumpkin puree, 1.5 cup cashew nuts (soaked in hot water for 30 minutes or so), sugar, lemon juice, homemade vegan butter,cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger powder

Happy Halloween everyone!

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October 30, 2018

by : Reiko Japanese Food, Root Vegetables, Tofu

Carrot Shiri-Shiri Roll
にんじんしりしりパン

Carrot Shiri-Shiri is a simple dish that originated in the Southern island of Japan, Okinawa.

The very basic is shredded carrots sautéed with eggs.

I used tofu in place of eggs, and I also added “shira-taki” which is a type of traditional Japanese noodles made of konjac yam; I cut them into small pieces.

This is a very simple dish, and by not adding too strong flavors, you can really enjoy the natural sweetness of the carrot.

I usually serve this with rice, but I really enjoyed my sandwich roll version, too.

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October 28, 2018

by : Reiko Sweets

Pink Galette
ピンクパイ

Things don’t always go the way you plan.

Well, that’s life, right?

But sometimes you get a nice surprise because things go better than you expected.

When I had these beautiful apples, I thought a pink apple gallate would be too good to be true.

This was before baking.

And this was out of the oven.

I couldn’t believe how well the apple kept the beautiful color.

Served with vanilla ice cream.

This was probably the pretties galette I’ve ever made.

The beauty of nature is just amazing.

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October 24, 2018

by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Tofu

Tofu Miso Katsu Rice Bowl
トーフ味噌カツ丼

When you don’t know what to make for lunch, a rice bowl is always a good idea, if you ask me.

Tofu Katsu or deep-fried crispy tofu is one of my favorites to use for a rice bowl.

Brown rice, tofu katsu, and sweet miso glaze in a bowl.

Served with miso soup and fresh veggies.

Love this kind of meal.

It’s not only a delicious meal, but also a pretty well-balanced one.

Have a great weekend!

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October 19, 2018

by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

Delux Veggie Ramen
デラックス・ベジラーメン

If you are on the plant-based diet, you may have a similar experience to mine.

You go to a restaurant, find a vegetable dish on the menu, ask if they can make it 100% plant-based, and then end up with a dish that is exactly like what the menu described, MINUS this, this, this, this, this, and that.

And you end up with something… well, what’s the word?

Boring?

So when I was in the mood for ramen for lunch today, I initially thought about trying to find a ramen restaurant that serves vegan ramen.

And then I changed my mind.

Well, I had so many great veggies at home.

So when I asked myself, do I really want to go get ramen with a few pieces of veggies?

My answer was NO!

Making ramen at home is not that difficult.

Especially now I have this noodles that I like to use for my ramen, it has become really fun to make it myself.

So happy with the result.

Love all the veggies.

No subtraction.

Only addition at home.

Today we had our first snow this season.

Well, this is officially the beginning of the Minnesota winter, y’all.

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October 14, 2018

by : Reiko Breakfast

Sunshine Plant Quiche
サンシャインキッシュ

There are many awesome dishes for a weekend brunch.

But quiche makes every brunch a bit special.

Well, when you have a cool French name like quiche, you get treated a bit special, right? (lol)

I don’t make quiche a lot, but I just recently bought a pan that’s perfect for quiche.

I found it at a Polish pottery store, and I fell in love with it.

It was my first time to visit the store, but the place was like a paradise for a blue-white pottery lover like me (lol).

(I’m sure I’ll go back to the store many many times.)

I like my quiche full of veggies.

This time I decided to go with onions, mushrooms, and broccoli.

The main ingredients of the filling are tofu and some chickpea flour.

Last time I made vegan quiche, I made my filling mostly with chickpea flour.

We liked it, but I wanted to experiment a little this time.

This turned out amazing!

I like my crust thick and flaky.

I hope you can tell the texture of the wonderful filling from this picture.

It was perfectly set, but still nice and creamy, just the way I liked it.

I served the quiche with roasted red pepper mayo and salad.

Roasted red pepper mayo.

Arugula, Pink Pearl apple, walnut salad.

I’m still in love with this apple.

This was so tasty!

We both had a second piece.

We finally had a little sunshine today, and we took advantage of it and went for a long walk.

We even visited some artists’ studios today, as a local art crawl was happening.

It was a good day.

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October 13, 2018

by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains

Mother Earth Sushi Plate
母なる大地寿司プレート

This lovely sushi plate was our lunch today.

Ideas for food come from various places, but this one came from a very unexpected place.

It all started with these apples.

These apples don’t look that special outside.

But look!

The inside has this lovely pink color.

I found these apples at the grocery store inside the Midtown Global Market.

I’m so glad that they were sampling them, because otherwise I would have had no idea how special they were.

They were being sold as Pink Pearl Apples.

I wanted to make something to really showcase the beautiful color of these apples.

And this is what I came up with.

Nigiri Sushi!

Forming rice into a certain shape sounds easy, but once you try, you quickly realize why sushi chefs have years of training, just to master this skill.

So I use my little tool.

This is definitely not approved by any sushi chefs, but they are perfectly okay at our house(lol).

This tool does a good job at making these rice balls uniformly like little soldiers.