by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Yes Please! Lasagna
イエス・プリーズ！ラザニア

This lasagna is packed with all my favorite things.

I don’t mind all veggie lasagna, but since my V Meatloaf was such a success, I thought it would be fun to add something similar (but flavored with Italian herbs) to my lasagna to give a different texture.

Lasagna pasta is ready.

What else went into my lasagna pan other than the V Italian sausage?

Well, sauteed spinach, roasted eggplant, homemade tomato sauce, and homemade cashew cream!

If a restaurant serves vegan spinach/roasted eggplant lasagna (without any store-bought processed food), I will be a regular customer for sure.

Isn’t it beautiful?!

I have to take a picture of these layers even in the leftover, because I admire them so much (lol).

Have a great week everyone!

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Rice/Grains, Soup/Stew

Ratatouille K-Style
ラタトゥイユ・Kスタイル

Ratatouille is one of my favorite go-to dishes to make at the end of the weekend.

I usually make a big batch so that I can enjoy it all through the following week.

You can basically use any vegetables, but my must-have ingredient is eggplant.

I also do not like my eggplant to become too soft, so I cook it in a separate pan and add it at the last minute.

It’s an Italian dish, but that does not stop me from adding some ethnic flair to it.

THis time I added gochujang, Korean red chili paste.

This sweet and spicy fermented paste gives a depth in the flavors.

It was perfect when served over rice.

You know me, I have to have something green on my plate, and I added chopped spinach to my rice.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Eat your veggies.

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by : Reiko Sweets

V French Silk Pie
Vフレンチ・シルク・パイ

Do you think out loud?

Well, I do.

Mostly when I’m thinking about food.

We had some friends over for dinner the other day, and I was thinking about what I should make for dessert.

Apparently I was thinking out loud, and my husband heard me saying “French silk pie” as one of the ideas.

He loved the idea and he insisted that it should be the one to make.

I like my crust thick.

As you can see.

This Vegan French silk pie turned out to be absolutely delicious!

I would have to say this is probably one of my favorite desserts.

The major ingredient of the filling is avocado, and even though you don’t taste it at all, you feel less guilty eating it.

Avocado is a vegetable, right? (lol)

I topped it off with coconut cream (sweetened with sugar).

4 small V French Silk Pies – filling: 2 avocados, melted chocolate, sugar, strong coffee, non-dairy milk

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Tofu

Hawaiian Miso BBQ Tacos
ハワイ風味噌BBQタコス

Sometimes I come up with a food idea because I want to use a certain ingredient.

I found a beautiful pineapple at a local grocery store, and it was so fresh and sweet.

This is how I eat.

I just peel the skin, and cut it up into big chunks.

Of course, I wanted to share it with my husband, but he does not like to eat big chunks like these.

So I decided to make pineapple salsa because I knew that is something he would enjoy.

Then, I had to think.

What kind of dish can I make to use this salsa for.

I did have some tofu and corn tortillas, so I decided to go for tacos.

Warm corn tortillas were loaded up with mashed avocado, miso BBQ glazed crispy tofu cubes, and of course, pineapple salsa.

This was a big hit, and my husband really enjoyed them.

Recently I was invited to an extended family’s baby shower.

Unfortunately I cannot attend the shower, but I wanted to send the future parents a card.

A little note enclosed with the baby shower invitation requested a book instead of a card, and I decided to get one of my favorite books to read as a child, “Guri and Gura”.

While googling the book, I found out that there is an English translated version, but it was so much more difficult to get (and ridiculously more expensive), so I got an original (Japanese) version, and I translated it myself.

I also thought it is kind of cool that this will be the baby’s first Japanese book to see.

It has been a long time since the last time I read this book, and I actually forgot exactly what the book was about.

So when I found out it was about the two mice who love to cook, I chuckled.

I guess I was already interested in food even as a young child…

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta

J-Style Sweet and Sour V-Balls
V団子の甘酢あんかけ

When I came to the US for college many years ago, there weren’t a lot of Asian restaurants.

My school was located in a very rural part of the country, so when I found a small Chinese restaurant that was a 30 minute drive away, I was ecstatic (lol).

Things have since changed, and now we have so many various Asian restaurants in our neighborhood; I did move to the city setting.

A Chinese dish called “Amazu-an” in Japanese was always one of my favorites, and I was hoping to find the same dish in the U.S.

Finding it was not much of a problem, because the name itself was so self-explanatory, “Sweet and Sour”.

But finding a high-quality sweet and sour dish has been somewhat more challenging.

I happened to have homemade V-meatballs, and I decided to make my own sweet sour using a Japanese recipe.

Even though there are a ton of veggies in my v-balls, I still like to have additional veggies.

Isn’t it beautiful?!

Make sure to coat the v-balls and vegetables with this scrumptious thick sauce well.

The sweet and sour is delicious over rice, but I decided to use my recent favorite, Japanese-style fried noodles.

I cooked the noodles over high heat until they were really crunchy.

This turned out to be a great lunch!

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Breakfast, Japanese Food

Ogura Toast Flight
小倉トーストよろずプレート

Ogura toast is a popular breakfast dish particularly in the area where I grew up.

Many cafes called “kissa-ten” which is an old-styled coffee shop serve breakfast (for free!) if you order a cup of coffee during the “morning” hour, and if you’re lucky, you may get ogura toast.

This time I decided to use French baguette to make mini ogura toasts.

The major ingredients are some type of bread (toasted), butter, and sweet red beans (adzuki).

I used to use store-bought sweet red beans, but now I cook my own, because homemade one tastes so much better (and cheaper).

Other than that, you can add anything you like.

This time, my selections were…

– Kinako (roasted soy bean powder)
– Matcha
– Cinnamon
– Black Sesame
– Cayenne

Surprisingly, the wild card (cayenne) was a winner!

Kinako was also my favorite.

Well, let’s just say they were all very good!

I intentionally made each small, so that I can enjoy all of them.

I would say, they were two-bite size.

Which one would you like to try?

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms, Noodles/Pasta

King Cauli Scampi
えりカリスカンピ

One of my Instagram friends (she may not think I’m her “friend” but I feel we’re!) had a picture of her cauliflower scampi, and I thought it was a brilliant idea.

And lucky me, I happened to have a head of cauliflower already in my fridge.

She kindly told me how she made hers, but you know me, I have a tendency to digress from any recipes.

So I decided to boil (and then sautee) my cauliflower instead of roasting it.

I also decided to add king mushroom.

The king mushroom has become one of my favorite foods, particularly since I started the plant-based diet.

Its texture and the flavor are so unique, different from anything else, and gives an interesting twist to any dish.

The texture reminds me of that of scallops, particularly used in this dish.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

My King Cali Scampi was served over freshly cooked linguine.

Is it just me that believe that scampi should be served over linguine but not other type of pasta?

I don’t even know where I got the idea.

Freshly squeezed lemon juice and chopped parsley are a must.

I remember one of the celebrity chefs (and I like her and a big fan) always says Italian parsley is more flavorful than curly parsley, and I would quietly disagree (well I don’t really talk to TV (lol)) every time she said that.

I feel that way probably because I grew up with the curly one, and I have a weird pride in using it.

I also like how they look especially when they are chopped.

(This is a completely different subject, but my mom used to deep-fry curly parsley and it was crunchy, flavorful, and delicious! You could really taste the condensed intense parsley flavor. I should make it sometime, maybe next time when I’m in a mood for deep-frying.)

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bread, Breakfast, Sweets

KYOTO Cinnamon Rolls
KYOTOシナモンロール

Any type of homemade rolls make an awesome weekend breakfast in my opinion.

Cinnamon is always a good idea.

This time I added homemade sweet red beans.

My roll does not form perfectly, but that’s okay.

A little imperfection is a charm in any homemade baked goods, right?

When they were out of the oven, I drizzled Matcha green glaze.

Or should I say I smothered the rolls.

Then sprinkle chopped walnuts.

If you ask me, this combination of cinnamon, sweet adzuki (red beans), Matcha, and walnuts is absolutely amazing!

A cup of hot coffee is definitely recommended to accompany these rolls.

Black, of course.

I am using a fork in this picture, but in reality, I used my hands.

It gets messy, but licking the mixture of sweet red beans and Matcha glaze is a fun part of this breakfast.

Have a great weekend!

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Sweets

Mini Daifuku Pouches
ミニ苺・パイン大福

Daifuku is a type of traditional Japanese sweets.

It’s usually sticky mochi stuffed with sweet bean paste inside.

Sometime people like to add fruit inside along with the bean paste, and strawberry is probably the most popular one.

I happened to have beautifu fresh pineapple, so I decided to make the pineapple version, too.

The Daifuku mochi is pretty easy to make when you use a microwave oven.

Aren’t they adorable?

They are so smooth, just like baby’s butts!

I wasn’t sure how the pineapple version would turn out, but I really liked it, as its tartness goes well with the sweet beans.

It’s really refreshing.

My pink Sashiko (Japanese traditional embroidery) cloth looks perfect in this picture.

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Groovy Pasta Bolognese
グルーヴィーVミートソースパスタ

The V meatloaf was great, and I also realized that the basis makes great bolognese sauce.

So I decided to make another batch.

The V-meat is already so flavorful that you don’t really need much to make sauce.

I basically combine the V-meat with canned whole tomatoes (I mash them with a fork; it doesn’t have to be completed mashed), and season with salt, pepper, wine, herbs, hot sauce, and a little sugar.

Keep it simple.

Now this is my little trick.

Lasagna pasta is awesome when sliced and eaten as “pasta” with sauce.

It’s slightly thicker than regular pasta (even those wide ones like fettucine), and the texture has a nice chewiness that reminds me of homemade pasta.

This was absolutely delicious!

I thought I made enough for two meals, one for lunch and the other for the next day’s lunch, but it was gone in a few minutes.

I devoured it.

You may ask what’s the thing sprinkled on top?

Well, that is my “nutty parm”.

I just recently bought How Not To Die Cookbook, and this is my second recipe I tried from this book.

I didn’t have all the spices/herbs listed as ingredients, so I just used whatever I had, and I also used different kinds of nuts, but it turned out awesome!

I think this will be great on so many different things.

I’m really close to finishing the book.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in nutrition and health.

I quit buying cookbooks many years ago, because there are so many ideas and recipes out there online today.

But when I heard about this particular cookbook that is associated with the book, I decided to buy a few copies to give out to some family members.

Since we started the 100% plant based diet, a lot of people ask us what we eat.

We do our best describing what we eat, and I sometimes tell them to check out this blog.

When we talk about food and health, it can be a bit tricky, because some people seem to feel that they are personally attacked.

The last thing I want to do is preaching people, so I never tell people what to do.

But I strongly feel that everyone should have unbiased information on food and health so that they can make their own “informed” decision.

A few of our family members have expressed a stronger interest more than others, although they don’t seem quite sure exactly what it’s like to prepare a meal without using meat, fish, or dairy.

And I thought this cookbook may be a good way to introduce them to just that.

I’m not expecting all the recipes to be fantastic, but I hope they will try and like some of the recipes, and feel that it’s not that hard to cook plant-based food.

(One of my good friends who was a recipe developer for a large food corporation once told me that it’s typically only a few recipes that people actually try in a cookbook they buy!)

 

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