by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Leaf Vegetabes, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian

Split Pea Soup with Roasted Cabbage
ローストキャベツ入りえんどう豆スープ

My husband and I recently started watching the TV show called “90 Day Fiance” on TLC.

We found the show by accident, but now we are hooked (lol).

The show follow Americans who meet someone overseas online, go see the person in his/her home country, get engaged (often), and then bring the person to the U.S. when they obtain the fiance visa.

Apparently, you have 90 days to get married once you obtain the fiance visa, which explains the title of the show.

A lot of things that the featured couples do seem impulsive, questionable, and simply crazy (! lol) at times, but there are also some experiences they go through that we can relate to as an international couple.

When two people who grew up in different countries, with different cultures, and speak different languages fall in love and decide to get married, that can bring some unique challenges for sure.

But such challenges can be experienced so differently from one couple to another.

If you see them as something negative, well, good luck.

But differences can be experienced as something very positive if you have the right attitude or mindset.

I’m not a relationship expert or anything, but based on my experience, people who enjoy (not dread) learning new things, find something different as interesting (not nuisance), and understand that you can do things in two completely different ways and they can be equally acceptable (not which one is better or worse).

Anyway, one of the couples (seemingly less crazy than others!), an American young man and his future wife (from Russia), both quite young, in their 20’s, were featured in one episode, and the parents of the young man were cooking cabbage for the future wife’s parents who were visiting from Russia, because they thought the parents would like cabbage because they are Russians.

I don’t remember if the parents liked the meal or not, but it really doesn’t matter if they liked it or not, or even, if cabbage is something Russian people typically like to eat.

What I want to say is “thoughts count”.

This notion is understood universally, and an important one especially when verbal communication is difficult.

My husband does not speak Japanese and my parents do not speak English, so I interpret when we spend time together.

But you know what?

They seem to have the best time when I’m not there and they try to communicate with each other with the most hilarious gestures.

They may not seem to understand the details of what the other person is saying, but they certainly seem to understand each other’s intention. Kindness toward each other.

So anyway, when I watched the cabbage scene in the show, it really warmed my heart.

And made me hungry for roasted cabbage (lol).

I was lucky because I happened to have cabbage in the fridge that night.

The cabbage was served in hearty split pea soup, and it was warm and delicious.

I love the natural sweetness of the roasted cabbage.

The cabbage was so tender.

For the roasted cabbage I used this recipe minus lemons.

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bread, Family, Mushroom, Potato/Squash, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Thanksgiving
ヴィーガン感謝祭

I hope everyone had great Thanksgiving yesterday.

I wanted to post this last night, but I was too tired to do it after coming home late from our family Thanksgiving dinner and an attempt to shop (the line was too long to check out so we left without buying anything).

So here it is.

Like I said last night, this is what I made for our first vegan Thanksgiving…

– Lentil Bunapi Mushroom Stuffing
– Roasted Brussels Sprouts
– Sauteed Asparagus
– Japanese Braised Kabocha Squash
– Garlic Mashed Potatoes
– Vegan Gravy
– Herb Cloverleaf Rolls

*Check out my previous post for some of their recipes.

Lentil Bunapi Mushroom Stuffing.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Sauteed Asparagus.

Japanese Braised Kabocha Squash.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

Vegan Gravy.

Herb Cloverloaf Rolls.

These turned out great!

To be completely honest, I felt a bit uncomfortable and disappointed as I was not able to eat the food that was prepared by the host and others with whom we ate with at the table and that our family did not seem interested in the food we brought; very few tried.

But at the same time I felt good because I was able to feed myself and my husband with healthy and tasty food.

Having a husband with whom I can share the same food-health beliefs and enjoy good food is definitely one of many things I am thankful for.

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bread, Mushroom, Potato/Squash, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Thanksgiving: Prep
感謝祭の準備

This is our first 100% plant-based Thanksgiving, and I was a bit nervous but at the same time quite excited.

We were invited to my brother-in-law’s house for their 3 o’clock dinner, and I volunteered to bring a few vegetable dishes.

One of the dishes I wanted to bring was this Japanese Soy Braised Kabocha Squash.

This is so easy to make and tasty.

One of my favorite squash dishes for sure.

I also decided to bring roasted Brussels sprouts and sauteed asparagus.

My initial plan was to bring just these dishes, but then I realized that we would not have anything else to eat!

Our family is NOT on the same diet as we are, and I was pretty sure all the other dishes were going to be non-vegan based on my past experience.

So I decided to cook a few more things so that we would be able to fill our plates.

This is probably my first attempt to make stuffing (or possibly the second time as I may have made it several years ago), and this dish is so foreign to someone like me who did not grow up in the U.S., and I was a bit nervous making this.

I’m pretty adventurous and cooking something new does not typically scare me, but it does make me nervous when I don’t know what I should expect for the final result, specifically the texture of the bread in this case.

So I studied several different recipes and I cooked my bread at a low temperature first to make them dry.

I wanted my stuffing hearty but I didn’t want it to be just mushy-gooey stuff.

So I decided to add a few extra ingredients to make the dish a bit more interesting taste- and texture-wise, and one of them was this Bunapi mushroom, one of my favorite kinds of mushrooms.

Also a lot of herbs went into my stuffing.

The aroma of the mixture of fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary is just so wonderful, and it instantly makes the kitchen smell like “Thanksgiving”.

This is where I was going to stop, but then, I thought, “Hmmmm, what if they only have non-vegan rolls?”

So my cooking (or baking I should say) continued…

Last night I was watching one of my favorite Foodnetwork shows, “Pioneer Woman” that had been recorded, and when I saw her making these rolls, I thought these rolls would be perfect!

I though making the dough in a pot was very cool.

And this is how you form these rolls to make them look like cloverleaves.

I really enjoyed the process of making these rolls.

So here was what I made for our Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner…

– Japanese Soy Braised Kabocha Squash
– Garlic Mashed Potato
– Roasted Brussels Sprouts
– Sauteed Asparagus
– Lentil Bunapi Mushroom Stuffing (recipe: below)
– Vegan Gravy (recipe: below)
– Herb Cloberleaf Rolls: I used this recipe as a base, but used whole wheat flour for the 1/4 of flour and added chopped fresh rosemary and thyme.

Come back to check out my next post to see the final results!

Lentil Bunapi Mushroom Stuffing

4~5 cups sourdough day old bread, torn into 1 inch pieces
olive oil for greasing a pan and cooking veggies
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
3~4 stalks celery, chopped
2 packages (about 2 cups) Bunapi mushrooms, torn into bite size pieces
salt and pepper
1~2 cups cooked lentils
a mixture of 1 tablespoon of flax seed meal and 2 and half tablespoons of water
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/3~1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1~1.5 cups vegetable broth
1. Preheat oven to 250F. Place bread pieces on a cooking sheet and cook in the oven for about 30 minutes until dried out. Put the bread in a large bowl.
2. Grease a pan with olive oil and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F.
4. Sautee garlic, onion, celery, and mushrooms with oil. Salt and pepper.
5. Add the vegetables to the bread.
6. Add cooked lentils, the flaxseed/water mixture, herbs, and broth. Salt and pepper if needed.
7. Pour into the greased pan, and cooked in the oven for 45 minutes covered with foil.
8. Turn the temperature to 400F and cook uncovered for another 10~15 minutes until the top is lightly browned.

Vegan Gravy – adapted from this recipe

canola oil
4~5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
about 1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2~4 tablespoons soy sauce
about 2 cups vegetable broth
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
a pinch sugar
salt and pepper

1. Sautee garlic and onion in oil.
2. Add flour and coo for a few minutes while stirring.
3. Add nutritional yeast, soy sauce, broth, and herbs. Whisk constantly while cooking. Boil and then turn down to low heat.
4. Add sugar, salt, and pepper.

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bento/Lunch Box, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Tofu, Vegan, Vegetarian

Soboro Bento Box
テンペそぼろ弁当

Today it is well known that Japanese people eat with chopsticks.

But did you know that they “cook” with chopsticks, too?

For cooking we use larger sized chopsticks like these.

I do cook with tongs and wooden spoons, but my go-to cooking utensil is still my old chopsticks that my mom got for me.

I was in a mood for a Japanese Bento lunch.

This Bento is called “Soboro” Bento in Japan.

Typically ground meat is cooked with soy based sweet sauce and then placed on top of rice along with eggs and vegetables.

My version is 100% plant-based, so what you see here are tempeh “soboro”, sugar peas, cumin tofu, and carrots.

This is how you use the big chopsticks (called “Sai-Bashi” in Japanese).

I can’t think of using any other utensils to do this.

Voila!

The colors are so appetizing.

If you take it to work, school, or a picnic, you want to wrap it like this.

The best part of having a Bento is this moment.

It’s always exciting to open it (especially when someone else made it and you don’t know what’s in it).

Well even when I know exactly what’s in it, it’s still a fun moment (lol).

This Soboro Bento is relatively easy to make, as you can prepare some of the toppings the day before.

And it’s nutritious enough as it is, so you just need some fruit or soup to bring with.

Have a great weekend everyone!

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Bread, Mushroom, Vegan, Vegetarian

Vegan Lunch with Non-Vegan Guests
ヴィーガンじゃないお客にヴィーガン料理を出す

Now we are on a 100% plant-based diet.

Since we switched from 95% to 100% a few months ago, there really haven’t been any major problems.

We’ve attended some family gatherings, and we’ve learned to bring a dish (or dishes) that we can eat to such occasions.

No problem.

But yesterday we had a new situation.

We had some company over at our house and we volunteered to prepare lunch.

After having some discussion Terry and I decided to serve food that we eat.

That means no dishes would contain meat, seafood, or dairy.

We initially thought about having a meat option for the guests, but it just didn’t seem right, especially when we knew we would probably talk about our new diet and we would tell them that we made the decision for health reasons.

And I came up with this menu…

– Mushroom Lentil Chili
– Salad with Mustard Dressing
– Corn Bread with Vegan Butter

I got my red dishes out.

The real color is a bit darker than how it looks in the picture (at least on my computer screen).

I like to use this set of dishes when we have people over, not only because we have 8 of everything, but also the color red is supposed to help stimulate appetite, and more than anything any food seems to look better on this plate or in this bowl.

I didn’t have time to take pictures yesterday, so this is a plate I re-created this morning.

I thought I made too big of a batch of chili, but this was all left!

This corn bread is moist and flavorful, but not too sweet, and accompanies chili very well.

This was served with my my homemade vegan butter.

All the guests tried it, and they told us that they would have not known it was not the real butter if we had not told them.

The guests told us that they liked the food.

Some of them went for the second helping, asked me for the recipe, and we had a fun conversation about food in general.

I was grateful for their open-mindedness and their willingness to try new things.

Now I relax and enjoy my morning green tea.

Happy Sunday everyone.

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lemon Herb Tempeh
レモンハーブテンペ

I usually flavor my tempeh with Teriyaki sauce, but this time I wanted to try something different.

I marinated tempeh cubes overnight.

This is how it looked when cooked the next day.

It turned out to be DELICIOUS!!

It’s funny that I say this, but it was so much better than I had hoped for (lol).

I know some people would name this “vegan lemon herb chicken”, but I’m sticking with my decision to honor tempeh as what it is and not treating it as a fake meat.

Actually, this is better than chicken, in my opinion!

I made this beautiful bowl with my lemon herb tempeh along with rice and vegetables.

Doesn’t it look great?

Super flavorful, and I liked its texture too.

For this particular tempeh dish, I like to use the Lightlife brand (Original).

I’ve just recently started trying out different brands, and I realized that not all the tempeh are the same.

I didn’t measure the ingredients, but I’ll list the ingredients here for my own note.

Lemon Herb Tempeh
-Lightlife Original tempeh cut into small cubes
-1st marinade: olive oil, nutritional yeast, sugar, salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, a bay leaf
-2nd marinade: olive oil, white vinegar, lemon juice, lemon zest, Italian seasoning, sugar, salt and pepper (if needed)

Marinate tempeh overnight. Cook on a frying pan until browned. Pour the 2nd marinade over the cooked tempeh and coat it well.