by : Reiko Dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian

Biscotti: Orange Cranberry Pistachio / Chocolate Walnut
ビスコッティ二種：オレンジクランベリーピスタチオ＆胡桃チョコレート

Yesterday we had company at our house for lunch, and I didn’t forget about dessert.

My initial plan was making something different whose main ingredient was avocado.

I did get avocados a few days before, but they were not ripe enough at the time I needed to make the dessert.

Avocados are difficult in that way.

It takes time for them to ripe and when they are ripe, they don’t stay long at their best condition.

I could almost hear them saying “I’m not ready, not yet, not yet, not yet, not yet…. Now I’m ready! Now!”.

So the plan was changed, and I decided to make biscotti instead.

Don’t ask me why.

I guess I was simply in the mood for it.

I baked two versions.

One was Orange Cranberry Pistachio, and the other one was Chocolate Walnut.

They turned out great.

This was my first time making biscotti vegan, but I don’t think anyone noticed any difference.

Terry and I liked them, and our guests seemed to enjoy them, too.

The biscotti is crunchy, and very different from the typical American cookies, but it’s nice to have something different once in a while.

This biscotti has little fat and not much sugar, which I liked, too.

I’ve had this cup for many years, and I no longer remember where I bought it, but it’s still one of my favorite cups.

I think it’s elegant and whimsical at the same time.

The biscotti is a nice after-meal dessert or it can be an anytime snack.

Vegan Biscotti – adopted from this recipe

260g all-purpose flour
50g almond flour
2 tbsp flax seed meal
180g soy milk
90g sugar
20g coconut oil, melted
1 tsp baking powder

Orange Cranberry Pistachio version: 8~10 dashes orange bitter; dried cranberries; pistachio nuts
Chocolate Walnut version: semi-sweet chocolate chips; walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all the ingredients well.
2. Make two rectangular-shaped flat logs.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven. Let them cool for 5 minutes or so.
5. Slice the dough into about 1/2 inch thick slices. Place them with the sliced side up.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Flip the biscotti over and bake for another 10 minutes or so until they are crunchy.

We went to the farmers market to get some fresh flowers yesterday morning.

The excuse was that we should make the house look good for the guests, but I always love having fresh flowers in the house.

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 Bread, Mushroom, Vegan, Vegetarian

Pizza Toast
ピザトースト

Growing up in Japan, pizza was not a big part of our diet, particularly a few decades ago.

I don’t even think there were any restaurants that served pizza in our little town when I was a child; now pizza has become a lot more popular and there is even an awesome Italian restaurant a few blocks from my parents’ house that specializes in pizza.

However, what I remember is a pizza toast that my mom sometimes made us for a snack.

The other day I was in a mood for pizza but I didn’t want to spend the time to make dough, so I thought about making a pizza toast.

I happened to have homemade whole-wheat bread in the freezer.

I got my veggies ready.

And lucky me, I had frozen homemade vegan pepperoni.

Doesn’t it look good already?!

But it looks even better with my homemade vegan cheese.

When it was cooked in the toaster oven, I added more cheese and pepperoni, and then sprinkled chopped fresh basil.

It was such a great snack!

And it definitely satisfied my craving for pizza.

 

Go-chi-so-sa-ma-de-shi-ta.

Have a great weekend 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.

by : Reiko Breakfast, Vegan, Vegetarian

Matcha Oatmeal
抹茶オートミール

I’m new to the oatmeal scene.

It was not something on my breakfast list for many many years, even after I came to the U.S.

But I started eating oatmeal more, mostly because I realized it’s an easy to prepare “hot” meal.

I mostly like my food/drinks hot rather than cold.

I go for hot coffee vs. iced coffee (even in summer), I’m not a big fan of ice cream or sorbet, and I rather “eat” my fruits than drink them (smoothies).

So now I pour oatmeal in a tall container, sprinkle some dried cranberries, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt, put the lid on, and take it to work, where I pour water and cook it in the microwave oven.

When I went shopping for oatmeal, however, it was a nightmare!

There were so many different kinds, like “steel cut” “old-fashioned”, “quick oats”…

I decided to start with “old-fashioned”.

My plan is to try all different kinds and find out which one is my favorite.

So far I like this “old-fashioned”.

Another reason I started eating oatmeal is that I like the idea of eating something “whole”.

I’ve started eating more brown rice (vs. white rice) and whole wheat pasta (vs. regular pasta) and using whole wheat flour (vs. white flour).

So this fits in my new eating habit well.

It’s Sunday, so I had a little more time to think about toppings.

Since I made my oatmeal Matcha flavored today, I thought dates and toasted almond slices as well as banana slices would be a good match.

Medjool dates have been my recent favorite as well.

I like to keep a few in my purse as they make a wonderful snack when I need something sweet.

Breakfast is ready!

I cooked the oatmeal in the water with Matcha, and then I also sprinkled more Matcha later on top.

I usually don’t have a lot of time to eat breakfast in the office, so it was nice to be able to take my time and really enjoy this hearty meal today.

When I think about it, there is also a major reason I should like oatmeal.

I love Japanese porridge made of rice, and the texture of oatmeal is similar to that of the Japanese porridge.

This is an over-sized mug and it was perfect for oatmeal.

It’s great for soup, too.

I like its organic textured look.

Happy Sunday everyone!

by : Reiko Tofu, Vegan, Vegetarian

Avocado Toast with Ginger Marinated Tofu
生姜マリネ豆腐のせアボカドトースト

I haven’t had an avocado toast for a while, and I was definitely in a mood for one today.

I wanted to make my avo-toast a bit different as I had time (Saturday!), so I decided to pair it up with ginger-marinated tofu.

So first I marinated my silken tofu.

While waiting my tofu to be marinated, I enjoyed my coffee time.

Terry’s cold-brewed coffee with almond milk is so good.

I honestly think his cold-brewed coffee is the best coffee ever, and now I hesitate to go to a coffee shop (sad, in a way (lol)).

I used sourdough bread I bought from the local co-op.

I liked it because it’s very thinly sliced and when it’s toasted, it’s so light and crunchy.

The tofu is ready.

Doesn’t it look beautiful?

It almost looks like ricotta cheese.

I love the colors.

The simple green x white combination is so pretty.

In the U.S. people often view tofu as a “healthy” food, but to me tofu is just one of the things I eat because I like how it tastes.

Apparently tofu was a big part of my diet when I grew up in Japan, and I continue to enjoy it for its natural taste.

So once in a while I eat my tofu with very minimum seasonings, like soy sauce and wasabi, or olive and sail, etc.

As I imagined, this avocado toast turned out to be delicious!!

The spiciness from the ginger was just the right amount of kick it needed, too.

Rainy morning is not so bad on a weekend.

Ginger-marinated Tofu

silken tofu
olive oil
salt and pepper
ginger, chopped
scallion

1. Scoop bite sized tofu with a spoon and place on a plate.
2. Drizzle olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper, chopped ginger, and chopped scallion.
3. Let it marinated for a half hour to a few hours.