by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Gluten Free

V/GF Tofu-Oatmeal Cinnamon Rolls with Blueberry Jam
豆腐オートミールシナモンロール、ブルーベリージャムがけ

I’ve been quite busy at work lately.

Since we came back from our long winter vacation, I’ve been really enjoying being productive.

I like the feeling, but at the same time I haven’t had a lot of time to cook or bake at home.

Finding the right balance between work and home is absolutely important, but also hard to do.

This morning I made time to make breakfast instead of just making a toast.

These cinnamon rolls’ main ingredients are tofu and oatmeal, which makes them perfect for breakfast.

Just out of the oven.

I’m not a big fan of smearing icing or frosting on my cinnamon rolls.

I mean they are good, but they will instantly turn them into a dessert instead of a breakfast food.

So this time I lightly spread some vegan butter.

Then I realized that my husband’s friend just recently gave us this beautiful homemade blueberry jam, and I thought it would be fun to drizzle it over the cinnamon rolls.

Doesn’t this look great?

It was nice to sit down and enjoy a hearty homemade breakfast like this at the end of the week.

With a cup of coffee.

I haven’t had time to make coffee in the morning all week, and I needed it!

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Noodles/Pasta

Oatmeal Gnocchi with Garlic Seaweed butter
オートミールニョッキ、にんにく海苔バター

I really liked these gnocchi made of oatmeal, and I decided to make them again.

It starts like this.

Who would think this could become gnocchi?!

There are many great things about this recipe, such as needing only a few ingredients.

And it only takes a few minutes to get to this.

Freshly cooked!

I like the rustic look and texture.

Now let’s talk about the sauce.

The star of the sauce is this.

Aosa seaweed.

It has such a rich strong “seafood”-like flavor.

Well, it is technically “sea” “food”, right?

Butter, olive oil, garlic, Aosa seaweed, grape tomatoes.

I love how it looks.

At the last minute I wanted cheese.

So I quickly put together this vegan “Parmesan” with nutritional yeast, almond meal, garlic powder, and onion powder.

This was scrumptious!

I know sage butter is a popular sauce for gnocchi, but this Japanese version was as good if not better (of course it’s a personal preference).

I will definitely make this again.

Oatmeal gnocchi recipe is here ↓ (Japanese).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CaUf1L2Ace4/

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by : Reiko Bread

Cherry Blossom Tea Boule
チェリーブロッサム茶カンパーニュ

This is my go-to crusty bread.

I use the Boule recipe from “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” I bought many years ago.

I have adjusted the recipe a little because I usually make two loaves instead of four, and now I don’t have to look at the book or my note anymore because I’ve made it so many times.

It’s such a versatile bread, and you can add any flavor you like.

It turns out great every single time.

This time I decided to add this cherry blossom tea.

I used my grinder and ground the tea before I added it to the dough.

The kitchen smelled amazing!

The tin box is so pretty!

I love Haney and Sons designs.

I smelled and tasted wonderful!

It’s a special type of bread because how often you can find “cherry blossom tea” bread at a bakery?

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by : Reiko Breakfast, Noodles/Pasta, Vegan Egg, Vegan Meat

Breakfast Pasta
朝ごはんパスタ

Noodles are probably not the most popular thing for breakfast.

I don’t know why.

If a restaurant puts pasta on their breakfast menu, I’m sure I’ll be very interested.

But until then I’ll make my own breakfast pasta.

(And it will be even harder to find one that’s plant-based!)

I prepared my usual breakfast items.

Vegan eggs, hash browns, and vegan bacon.

Since my husband has no interest in eating pasta in the morning, he will eat these without pasta, and that’s perfectly fine.

Linguine was combined with those eggs, potatoes, and bacon, and then served with tomato-garlic olive oil and Shiso leaves.

This was so good!

Restaurant owners, you have to put breakfast pasta on your menu, seriously!

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by : Reiko Sweets

Almond Jelly with Strawberry Coulis
杏仁豆腐、苺ソースのせ

Chocolate is for winter, and strawberries are for spring!

(Well, I take it back. Chocolate is for all year round. 😉

My mother-in-law is a big strawberry lover, and she is picky in a good way when it comes to strawberries.

When strawberries are in season, she goes strawberry-picking and freeze them.

She is good at it, too.

Last year I went with her one time, but she picked much more than I did!

She gave us a bag of her frozen strawberries the other day, and I decided to make coulis with them.

It was perfect on my almond jelly.

The same almond jelly was served with yellow peaches the other day.

Which would you prefer?

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by : Reiko Main Dish, Vegan Meat

V-Porkchop with Pepper Jam
Vポークチョップ、ペッパージャム添え

The inspiration for this dish came from the show, “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives” again.

What can I say, the show is so entertaining.

I saw a restaurant featured on the show was serving a dish like this, and it looked so good that I wanted to make a vegan version.

This is actually my vegan meat that I usually use as “chicken”.

But a good thing about vegan meat is that the same meat can be used as chicken or pork, because it’s really not chicken or pork!

My pepper jam is an easy version with the main ingredient of roasted red pepper.

It was made quickly, but still sweet and spicy at the same time and delicious!

Vegan pork chop with pepper jam was served with sauteed green beans and creamy V-cheese pasta.

It turned out to be a hearty meal, perfect for dinner.

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Leaf Vegetables, Noodles/Pasta, Soup/Stew

Soba Noodles with Shungiku Tempura
春菊天ぷら蕎麦

Tempura is one of the dishes I recommend when I go to a Japanese restaurant with someone who has never had any Japanese food.

Battered and deep-fried?

Who wouldn’t like that?!

Well, I usually don’t order tempura at restaurants myself (I usually go for Sushi), but I do like good tempura at home.

There are so many vegetables that are delicious when made into tempura.

This leafy vegetable is not on everyone’s favorite tempura list only because not a lot of people use it to make tempura (although they should!).

People usually use it for hotpot.

I do like it in hotpot, but it’s also delicious in salad.

This was my first time (I believe) using it to make tempura, but I’m glad I did.

At the Asian grocery store where I buy these call them “Tongo”, but we call it “Shungiku” in Japan.

It’s literally translated into “spring chrysanthemum”, so I believe it is a seasonal vegetable.

It has nice unique bitterness that I love.

Don’t throw away the stalks.

They are a bit hard, but that’s where it is the most flavorful.

By the way zucchini is another one good when mad into tempura.

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by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Gluten Free

Tofu Oatmeal Bagels
豆腐オートミールベーグル

My husband and I like this bagel so much that I decided to triple the recipe this time.

I wrap each with plastic and freeze them so that we can microwave them when we want to eat.

They are good any time of the day, but they are really perfect for breakfast because you can get the nutrition like carbs (we need carbs for energy especially in the morning, everyone!) and protein.

This time I made plain and curry bagels with three toppings, black sesame, white sesame, and parsley.

I forgot to mention, but another reason why these are perfect for breakfast is because it has a nice dense texture, just like regular bagel, and it’s so satisfying.

I said that the five aprons I have had were enough and that I was refraining from buying any more, but I just recently found several more I had bought a long time ago and forgotten about!

I definitely can’t go apron-shopping for a while.

By the way this is one of the aprons I had bought and forgotten about for years.

It’s a shame, because I really liked it.

The colors suit the spring season, too.

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by : Reiko Sweets

Zebra Bundt Cake with Orange
オレンジのせゼブラ模様のクグロフケーキ

I was in a mood for a whole cake.

I don’t know if I was in a mood for making a cake or eating a cake, but my guess is both.

This is a vanilla x chocolate combo, and it looked pretty good in the pan.

I got this pan from my mother, and I really like how the cake looks when baked in this.

It’s just so pretty.

I decided to decorate it with ganache and orange.

It was so pretty inside too with the marble design.

Scrumptious!

The cake recipe is ↓

https://www.rainbownourishments.com/vegan-zebra-bundt-cake/

I will definitely make it again.

Procrastinating cleanup.

Hoping that these will magically clean themselves…

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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by : Reiko Japanese Food, Rice/Grains, Soup/Stew, Vegan Meat

V-Chicken Katsu Curry
Vチキンカツカレー

I like curry, and I like “katsu”, fried chicken.

That means Katsu Curry is a winner!

This is homemade vegan chicken, panko-fried.

When I have time, I make my own curry roux, but premade one certainly comes in handy.

There are different brands, but not all are vegan.

This is one of the vegan ones, and this is one of my favorite ones because its ingredients are simpler than others.

This bowl was sold as a “curry bowl”, and it IS perfect for curry.

Who else likes Katsu curry?

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*I also have an Instagram account. ↓　There I post some pictures and videos that you don’t see here at the blog. If you followed me there as well, I would love that! When you stop by, say “hi! I would love to hear from you. Thank you.

https://www.instagram.com/culinarytribune/

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