Yes, I did make a smoothie bowl with my first homemade granola.
Remember this, homemade cinnamon cocoa granola?
Okay.
Smoothie is still not my favorite, but I’m completely sold on this granola!
(I do say, however, that a smoothie bowl is pretty to look at.)
I absolutely loved this sandwich!
Homemade bun.
Soft and slightly sweet.
Homemade vegan roast beef.
In the middle you’ll find layers of roast beef slices, homemade vegan mayo, and homemade vegan blue cheese.
Definitely my kind of sandwich.
I don’t want to shock my vegan friends.
It IS vegan.
The vegan roast been recipe is from https://carlocao.com/ultimate-vegan-extra-tender-seitan-roast-beef/ .
One of the great things about travel is finding a new food.
We spent a long weekend in Boston last weekend, and I fell in love with something unexpected!
Granola!!
Well, not just any granola, but it has to be crunchy and big pieces.
I was never a granola person, but when I tried Pitaya Smoothie Bowl which had crunchy cococa granola on top at a vegan organic cafe called Cocobeet, I absolutely loved it.
We liked the bowl so much that we went back to get the exact same thing the next day.
That surprised myself because I’m not really a smoothie person.
But quickly I realized it was not that I liked smoothie (don’t get me wrong, their pitaya smoothie was delicious!!), but rather I liked their homemade granola (large pieces, which is super important) that happened to served with the smoothie.
So the first thing I made once we got home was this granola.
I made sure that it has enough cocoa flavor just like the cafe’s, but I also added cinnamon to mine.
I was patient letting it completely cool because a lot of people said that’s very important to achieve crunchiness.
Once it was completely cool, I carefully broke it into large pieces.
This turned out great!!
It’s crunchy, has a great cocoa and cinnamon flavor, and perfectly sweet (not too sweet).
By the way I found something else in Boston.
I’m a sucker for a small bowls with a design inside, and these were so cute.
I haven’t done yet, but it will be a perfect granola-yogurt breakfast bowl.
The camera always automatically focuses on me, not the food…
During the week my breakfast is typically simple and small.
But that is mostly due to the time issue.
I have a hard time getting up in the morning, and I stay in bed as long as I possibly can.
But weekends are a different story.
I made this avocado toast for today (Sunday)’s breakfast.
Yes, it doesn’t look much of a breakfast dish, but I don’t care (lol).
Homemade sourdough bread was toasted and perfectly ripe avocado was spread on it.
It was topped off with homemade vegan meatballs smothered in Lebanese seven-spice sauce, yogurt sauce, and cucumber slices.
Finished with chopped fresh cilantro and mint.
By the way, the bread used for this dish was homemade sourdough.
I make a noodle bowl like this often.
I just add whatever I have in the fridge.
Sometimes I have only a few items and other times there are multiple items.
This one is pretty close to my ideal set of toppings.
Natto.
Perfectly ripe avocado.
(I struggle with the ripeness timing of avocado. When I need it, it’s not ready, and when it’s ready, I have no plan to use it!)
Wakame seaweed.
This has been my recent favorite.
I keep a dried package in my pantry all the time.
In this bowl you’ll also find kimchi and diced tomatoes.
This was something brand new to me.
A frozen dessert called “Cassata” has been very popular among Japanese instagramers.
Apparently, one of the major convenience stores recently began selling this dessert, which became a big hit, particularly among dieters (apparently, it has relatively lower calories).
When I did a little google research, I found out that Cassata is a traditional cake from Sicily, Italy, consisting of cake sponge, ricotta cheese, candied fruit, nuts, and sometimes a layer of marzipan.
When I looked at some pictures, I realized that this is a colorful cake!
I also found some frozen Cassata online, but I’m not sure if it is considered traditional.
My version was adapted from Ms. AYA’s https://www.instagram.com/mmm_diet_160/ recipe (in Japanese).
I used her recipe for the top part but made my own bottom.
I have no idea how close this is to the “real” cassata, but it turned out great.
Doesn’t this look pretty?
I packed it with a lot of nuts and fruits.
This is light, refreshing, yet very satisfying.
It firms up in the freezer, but it never gets too hard, and it softens quickly once it’s out of the freezer.
I like it when it starts to melt and soften.
Yum!!
The amazing base recipe is from https://www.instagram.com/neruko_diet/ (in Japanese).
She posts “diet” recipes, but many of her recipes simply use simple “healthy” ingredients, which I like.
Since I wanted to make it like “Parmesan” I swapped a few ingredients.
This is how I made this.
I used about 2/3 package of soft tofu.
Mix with nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, and mash the mixture roughly.
Spread the mixture very thinly on a parchment paper lined microwave-safe plate.
The recipe said cook in the microwave oven (600w) for about 7 minutes.
My microwave is 1200w, so I cooked at the power level at 5 for 7 minutes.
But it was not crispy at all, so I cooked for another few minutes at 5 and then full (1200w) for another few minutes.
I strongly recommend that you closely watch so that it doesn’t burn.
It does go quick from not crispy to very crispy.
These are not only crispy but also delicious!
Hard to believe it’s made of tofu.
There are so many ways to enjoy these crisps.
This is Kale Caesar.
I even made croutons myself.
I actually used the GF baguette (previous post) for it.
This turned out so good too!!
This is great to serve with pasta as well.
I’m not on the gluten-free diet.
But I do enjoy experimenting with non-gluten flour.
So I’m always keeping an eye out for interesting gluten-free baking recipes.
So when I found this recipe on https://www.instagram.com/neruko_diet/ (in Japanese), I had to try it.
What attracted me was the use of a few simple ingredients, and the main ingredients were rice flour and tofu.
It looked good just out of the oven.
Looks good inside too!
The outside was nice and crunchy, and the inside was moist and slightly chewy.
I liked it!
I haven’t gone back to the Korean grocery store I recently discovered, but I’ still enjoying making Korean black bean sauce.
It goes with everything, and I usually make a big batch to keep in the fridge.
You can add anything to black bean noodles, but this time I went with tofu steak, garlic chives, and walnuts.
When I want something protein and crunchy, I like to use walnuts.
It works well not only in baked goods, but also in savory dishes.
It turned out to be such a tasty meal.
