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

Pot Sticker Combo Meal
食堂餃子ランチセット

Combo meals are nothing new in the U.S.

But typical combo meals you get in Japan look a bit different.

Instead of fries and soda, you typically get rice and soup (and maybe some kind of small veggie dish) that accompany the main dish.

And this is the kind of lunch option I often wish we had here.

My pot stickers were cooked beautifully.

Love the nonstick griddle.

It’s big and cooks a lot of pot stickers at once.

Garlic black pepper scallion soup.

Pea and corn fried rice.

Having a lot of plates on the table always makes me happy.

But it also usually means that you get a balanced meal.

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms

Morel Galette
あみがさたけガレット

Galette is one of my favorite things to make.

I think I like the “free-style” type of crust.

I got these beautiful morel mushrooms the other day.

Interestingly, there is this pizzeria in our neighborhood which sells pints of morels this time every year.

And I never miss the opportunity.

I was already loving this even before putting it in the oven.

The galette turned out great!

We devoured it.

My husband liked it so much that he has been asking me to make this again already.

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by : Reiko Main Dish

Red and Green JF Enchiladas
JF赤緑エンチラーダ

When you see enchiladas featured in recorded cooking shows twice in a row, that pretty much becomes a message.

Enchiladas for dinner!

Then I realized that I’ve never ordered or made enchiladas, and it became a fun project for me.

I happened to have cooked jackfruit, and I thought it would be a perfect filling when combined with cooked garlic and onion.

I used Trder Joe’s cans of jackfruit for the first time, and I really liked it.

I think my shredded jackfruit turned out the best this time.

When I asked my husband if he wanted green or red sauce, he said “both” as I expected.

A good thing about home cooking is that you can do that!

No problem.

I used a can of store-brand (aka, cheapest) red enchilada sauce for the red, but I doctored it up by adding a few things, including spices and a little sugar.

For the green I used this green salsa; I chose this because I liked their straight-forward ingredients.

I poured it after cooking, and it really added freshness and brightened up the whole thing.

The drop of sour cream-like cream on the top was homemade, and this really added the tangy creaminess to the dish and complemented the dish very well.

Happy Saturday evening everyone!

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

Wasabi Shiso Salad Soba
冷やし蕎麦はじめました。

We had a beautiful day today.

It was warm, but not too hot like the last few days.

So I took advantage of it and went for a long walk..

I mean, a really long walk!

I was out for over two hours, and when I got home I was tired and sweaty.

Walking in the city is my choice of workout, and I really enjoy it.

There are a lot of good things about working out, but one of the best things I think is that after a workout I want to eat something healthy.

When I’m hungry, I’m often tempted to have rich foods like something deep-fried or sugary.

But after a workout even when I’m hungry, I want something light and fresh.

So after a bath (I was too tired to stand in a shower, so sitting in the tub was more appealing to me), I began chopping vegetables.

You can really use any vegetables, but one of my favorites is “shiso” or Japanese basil which you see in the middle of the bowl.

This really gives great refreshing favors to the dish.

Another “must” for me is wasabi.

Wasabi adds a clean spiciness, and it’s too good to be served only with sushi.

The dressing was simply made with soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, and salt.

So yum!

This is something I bought at the Japanese grocery store, Mitsuwa, in Chicago when we visited the city a few weeks ago.

It’s dried roasted sweet potato, and it’s absolutely delicious!

It has been my go-to snack the last few days, and I’m sad that it’s almost gone…

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Mushrooms, Sandwiches, Tofu

Truly Awesome Blue Cheese Burger
凄いヨ！ブルーチーズバーガー

Blue cheese burger has always been one of my husband’s favorite burgers.

Remember?

I just made plant-based blue cheese using the recipe from this book.

Well, there was a reason my husband asked me to make the blue cheese first.

 

Since I couldn’t decide if I wanted to use tofu or portabella mushrooms for the “burger”, I decided to go with both.

Can you tell how beautifully the blue cheese melted?

Onion slices were placed first, and then teriyaki-balsamic glaze was generously drizzled over everything.

I mean, really, how awesome does this look?!

These burgers were prepared for the Memorial Day Weekend, and it was a perfect main dish.

Happy Thursday everyone.

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by : Reiko Other

Vegan Blue Cheese
乳製品を使わない手作りブルーチーズ

Can you believe this beautiful Blue Cheese does not contain dairy?!

Who knew you can make vegan cheese this easily?

It was such a fun project for me to work on.

It all started when my husband found this book at a local bookstore.

 

As you can see, it has blue veins just like the regular blue cheese does.

I wore my brand-new apron I just found during my recent trip with a friend to a vintage-antique store in St. Cloud.

This looked hand-made, and I loved the country look as well as the colors.

If you ever visit St. Cloud in Minnesota, check out this store.

Okay, back to cheese.

This is how it looked after rested for a day.

You may ask if it tastes like blue cheese?

My answer would be “Not exactly”.

But it does taste good as something different.

I’m probably a bit more critical, because my husband says it’s “dead-on”.

I do agree with him that this is definitely a good plant-based alternative.

And it looks pretty similar to the regular blue cheese.

It’s supposed to “age” with time, so I’m interested how the taste changes over time.

These stitches are so pretty.

I wonder if you can do this by hand or by using a sewing machine?!

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Sandwiches

Memorial Day Lunch
メモリアルデー・ランチ

I slept in this morning.

I went for a looooong bike ride in the late afternoon yesterday.

I didn’t think I was that tired, but apparently my body needed the extra sleep to recover.

So I’m very proud of myself because this morning I got up and then went for another bike ride!

This time it was not as long as the yesterday’s but I had a nice sweaty workout.

After a quick shower and a big glass of ice water, I began preparing lunch.

Menu:

-Portabella Tofu Gorgonzola Burger
-Mustard Potato Celery Salad
-Green Salad
-Corn on the cob
-Watermelon
-No Layer Trifle

Mustard Potato Celery Salad.

For my potato salad, a must ingredient is celery.

Since I put so much celery, I don’t know if I should call it “potato salad” or “celery salad”!

LOVE watermelon!

Only problems are 1) I can only buy one when my husband is with me (too heavy to carry with other groceries); 2) It’s often too much for myself (my husband is not a big watermelon fan, so usually I end up eating the whole melon myself).

Dessert was a no-layer trifle.

Cubed sponge cake was served with almond flavored cream and fresh berries.

I do own a lot of gingham clothes, don’t I?!

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by : Reiko Sweets

Peach Raspberry Kind Cake
ピーチラズベリー優しいケーキ

KIND (yes, the company that makes bars) says there is a difference between “nice” and “kind”.

According to them, “nice” is polite, but “kind” is honest.

A few days ago my husband spent an afternoon with his father.

They had lunch, worked on his computers, and then went shopping together.

When they went to Costco for shopping because each needed something there, my father-in-law, without telling my husband, bought an extra large jar of peaches for my husband to bring home.

He used to get us meat or homemade ice cream.

It makes me appreciate that he still tries to get us something even after our diet changed.

That really warms my heart.

He always does things to make you feel that you matter.

My father-in-law is truly a kind man.

When my husband came home with a jar of peaches, I happened to have just baked a sponge cake.

We looked at each other and said “peach cake!”

We even had the same idea of adding raspberries to our peach cake.

Instead of using whipped cream, I decided to make vanilla cashew cream.

The Peaches were generously used for this cake.

They were placed on the top and also between the cake layers.

This cake tasted delicious and “kind”.

I truly believe that this no-egg no-dairy cake is “kind” to our body.

I’m anxious to finish this post and send a picture of the cake to my father-in-law.

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by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Soup/Stew

T’s White Bean Soup
お気に入り白豆スープ

I like bean soup, but this white bean soup is my husband’s absolute favorite.

We haven’t had it for a while, so when I received a formal request, I was happy to make it.

I usually don’t add too much to my white bean soup, but this time I had this idea of putting a few things.

And one of them was my V-sausage.

Other than sausage, in this soup are potatoes, corn, and kale.

Oh, and a little crushed red pepper on top.

I made a big batch, and I can take a little break from cooking for a few days (or not).

Usually the problem is the opposite, because I come up with too many ideas and make too many things for just the two of us!

This soup was delicious!!

I absolutely loved it.

I’m so glad that my husband suggested bean soup, because I really liked using beans to thicken the soup instead of using flour-fat based roux.

By the way, the lovely soup bowl you see in this post is one of my recent purchases.

This is Ms. Ree’s brand, and I fell in love with their colorful and rustic look.

Her TV cooking show, The Pioneer Woman, has been one of my favorite cooking shows for a few years.

Although I no longer eat meat, I still enjoy the show; well, she is married to a cattle rancher, so her food is definitely NOT vegan (lol).

I watch her show because I like her food “ideas” for sure, but mostly I’m really interested in the country life she lives.

I’m definitely a city girl, and I will probably never live in country, but I always like “imagining” a country life.

I guess I enjoy vicariously experiencing a country life through her show.

Happy Saturday everyone!

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by : Reiko Sweets

Lady W’s Jar Cake
レディーWのジャーケーキ

A lot of good things come in a jar, if you ask me.

And this is definitely one of them.

Since I’m more confident in making vegan sponge cake, I don’t get stressed out much anymore.

I found this recipe a few months ago, and I’ve made cake using this recipe so many times already.

I trust this recipe, because every time it comes out of the oven perfect.

I wasn’t sure if these jars I already have would work for jar cakes, but I decided to go with them.

I Thought smaller but taller ones would be better, but these actually worked just fine.

You can see the layers well, and since they are not too tall, it’s easy to get to the bottom with a regular spoon.

I guess I haven’t told you exactly what kind of cake it is that I made.

Well, this is basically a red wine dark chocolate cake.

Rich dark chocolate mousse was sandwiched with delicious moist cake soaked in heavenly red wine syrup.

(And extra wine syrup was drizzled later as well!)

This is definitely a dessert for adults.

Or specifically the adults who can handle the decadent flavor combination of dark chocolate and red wine.

You may ask “How did you come up with the idea?!”

Well, it all started with our leisure stroll to the specialty food store, Golden Fig.

When I saw this chocolate covered wine grapes, I knew I wanted to make a cake that would combine dark chocolate and wine flavors together.

This jar cake was absolutely wonderful.

Moist yet light cake, sweet yet slightly tart red wine, and rich yet not-overly sweet dark chocolate…

Each component was great, but when they were put together?

Well, unbelievably GOOD.

Have an awesome weekend everyone!

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