by : Reiko Asian Food, Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables, Vegan Cheese

Shungiku-Avocado Egg Rolls
春菊とアボカドの春巻き

I haven’t made egg rolls for a long time.

One of the reasons for that is that I typically avoid frying.

I’ve been posting some dishes using this leafy veggie, Shungiku, and an Instagram friend, Ms. rose, told me that it’s good when made into egg rolls with avocado and grated garlic.

It sounded so interesting that I decided to try.

I wasn’t sure if I could find vegan egg roll wrappers, but I did!

I’m not the best roller, but I think I did okay.

They looked so good!

I actually made two kinds.

One: Shugiku, Avocado, Garlic

The other: Shungiku, Avocado, Garlic, Sun-dried Tomatoes, Homemade Vegan Cheese

They both turned out great!

They were tasty with just a sprinkle of salt or with a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar as a dipping sauce.

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by : Reiko Breakfast

Apple Sunflower Seed Whole Wheat Muffins
りんごとサンフラワーシードの全粒粉マフィン

I bought some Granny Smith apples to make smoothies.

Well, my green smoothie failed unfortunately, but I didn’t use up all the apples for the smoothie, so I decided to make good use out of them.

These muffins were filled with lots of apples and sunflower seeds.

I wanted to eat these muffins for breakfast, and I decided to use whole wheat flour 100% for the flour.

The basic Apple Muffin recipe is here ↓.

I like my apples peeled, but that’s a personal preference.

https://www.rainbownourishments.com/vegan-apple-muffins/

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by : Reiko Asian Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Meat

DanDan Noodle Soup with Sundried Tomatoes
タンタン麺、サンドライトマト入り

I was in a mood for ramen noodles with rich soup.

I happened to have cooked ground “meat”, and I thought dandan noodles would be perfect.

The vegan “meat” is made of tempeh and super firm tofu.

I like the combination of these two, as they create interesting texture.

I also added something unusual for dandan noodles, sunddried tomatoes!

I roughly chopped the tomatoes into small pieces and added them along with extra oil.

The combination seems a bit strange, as the noodle dish is Asian, and the sundried tomatoes are considered Italian.

But hey, if they taste good together, it doesn’t matter where they originated.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Sweets

Sunflower Butter Chocolate Muffins
向日葵たねバターチョコレートマフィン

I like nut butter a lot.

Peanut, almond, cashew…

I like them all.

But I also love this seed spread.

It’s creamy and delicious.

It makes beautiful swirl designs.

Ta da!

These are so pretty!

These were delicious muffins.

I’ve been obsessed with her blog.

The recipe is here ↓ .

https://www.rainbownourishments.com/chocolate-peanut-butter-muffins/

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Vegan Egg

Spiced Orange Sourdough Pancake Breakfast
スパイスのきいたオレンジパンケーキで朝食

Breakfast is probably one of my favorite meals.

I usually don’t have time to make breakfast during the week, but I do enjoy preparing something substantial for weekends.

The main was these spiced orange sourdough pancakes.

I had extra orange from the Whole Orange Cakes I made the other day (a few posts back).

So I just added it to the pancake batter.

It worked great!

I also prepared a few other things.

I love a full plate like this.

It makes me smile.

As you can see, I like to eat veggies for breakfast too.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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by : Reiko Leaf Vegetables, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Cheese

Shungiku Cheese Pasta
春菊チーズパスタ

This is a delicious but light pasta dish perfect for lunch.

I have talked about this leaf vegetables many times in this blog, but really if you’ve never tried it, you should.

It has a wonderful fresh bitterness that can be used for so many dishes like salad, soup, and pasta.

They sell it as “Tongo” here, but we call it “Shungiku” in Japan.

My pasta dish usually has other things, like veggies, more than pasta.

My homemade vegan cheese added nice creaminess and richness.

Bon Appetit!

I recently found this apron.

I bought it a long time ago thinking it would make a great gift for a dog lover.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Whole Orange Cake
丸ごとオレンジケーキ

I had a feeling that this cake was going to be great.

Isn’t it interesting that you use a whole orange, skin, rind, and everything!

I used an organic orange for this.

Wash, cook, and puree it.

Just looking at this already made me excited.

I scraped every bits of the batter off the container and licked the spatula.

If the batter is so good, then the final result should be great, right?

I initially thought of making one big cake, but I decided to go with this mini Bundt pan.

I love this pan, but I don’t have a lot of chances to use it.

The cake turned out great!

I was so relieved that the cake came out of the pan okay.

(I took out the first one too quickly when it was still warm, and it did not come out cleanly. Note to myself: wait until they are cool. I waited for the rest, and they came out fine.)

This cake is so good that you really don’t need anything.

Do not even think about frosting.

Trust me.

You don’t need it.

It has a wonderful texture and great orange flavor.

And it’s perfectly sweet.

Not too sweet and not not-sweet-enough.

The recipe is ↓

https://www.rainbownourishments.com/vegan-whole-orange-cake/

I’m already thinking about making Whole Grapefruit Cale using this recipe.

I bet that will be great too.

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by : Reiko Pizza/Flatbread

Ham and Olive Pizza
ハムとオリーブのピザ

Pizza puts a smile on a lot of people’s face, including my husband.

Pizza is not on the top of my list, but it’s an easy way to see a smile on his face, and I make one as often as we can.

It was the last-minute decision, so I didn’t specifically go grocery shopping for pizza, but I always find something to use as toppings.

Veggies.

Always.

We got this at Whole Foods for the first time, and I thought it would be fun to try it on the pizza.

It turned out great.

We enjoyed it very much.

I used one of my favorite pizza dough recipe. ↓

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/6776/pizza-dough-i/

A little note for myself…

Cook crust first without sauce and toppings first.

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Gluten Free

Carrot Cake Scones
キャロットケーキスコーン

Tomorrow is Easter.

It’s one of the holidays I have a hard time coming up with ideas of food to make for.

Especially as a plant-eater, ham and eggs are out, and there aren’t too many options left.

But I like carrot cake, and it’s an acceptable dish for Easter, I believe.

Since I wanted something for breakfast, I decided to make carrot-cake inspired scones, instead of a carrot cake itself.

In the batter you’ll see shredded carrot, dry cranberries, almond slices, sunflower seeds, and spices.

They turned out great!

It’s made of rice flour, so it’s gluten-free.

This is one of my favorite mugs.

Details are amazing.

Even on the bottom!

I usually buy small inexpensive decoration for holidays.

They are easy to store, and if my taste changes, I won’t feel too bad switching to something different.

I found this pair of bunnies at Target for $3, and I absolutely love them.

Their details are amazing, they look like they are about to jump (love their facial expressions too!), and they have nice heavy weight.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg

Hiyashi-Chuka Cold Noodles with Gochujang Sauce
きつね冷やし中華、コチュジャンだれ

Some parts of the world are probably enjoying a nice warm weather, but in Minnesota spring weather does not really come until May.

I know I should have waited a bit longer for this, but I was in a mood for this Japanese style cold noodles, called Hiyashi-Chuka.

It’s basically Chinese style noodles served cold with various meat, vegetables, and a drizzle of sweet soy-based sauce.

You can use any meat and vegetables, but a few things are a must, such as julienned omelet, cucumber, and ham.

I made this vegan omelet with chickpea flour, and it turned out great.

I used marinated soy curd instead of ham.

Pickled red ginger is also popular, but I used pickled beets instead.

The sauce is usually made of soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and sesame oil.

I added a little gochujang for a kick.

It’s such a nutritious and tasty dish.

Isn’t it beautiful with all the bright colors?

Now, this is controversial topic.

Should you eat Hiyashi-Chuka with mayo or without?

I grew up with mayo, but apparently it’s a regional thing, which I didn’t realize until not long ago.

It was sweet and spicy, and so good!

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