by : Reiko Mushroom, Root vegetable, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian

Hot and Sour Soup
酸辛スープ

November in Minnesota is probably my least favorite month.

It’s not only cold but also gloomy.

I recently heard a local meteorologist confirm that we get the least amount of sun in November in Minnesota.

What do I want to eat on a gloomy day?

Well, soup is one of my favorite go-to food.

I found something interesting at the farmers market and I thought it would be fun to try it.

Jerusalem Artichoke.

I’ve never heard or seen it before, and you know me, when I find something new I want to try it.

The vendor recommended using it for soup, so I thought it would be perfect.

The beautiful Napa cabbage was from the same farmers market too.

I added whole lots of other veggies too, including Shitake mushrooms.

A bowl of soup really seems to make everything okay, even a long period of dark old days…

Stay warm everyone!

Oh, I also made chips with the jerusalem artichoke, and they were tasty, too.

by : Reiko Leaf Vegetabes, Mushroom, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Vegan, Vegetarian

Mushroom Spinach Lasagna
きのことほうれん草のラザニア

I like noodles and I make pasta a lot, but lasagna is a different story.

For some reason, it’s something I only make for a special occasion.

Well, for one thing, it includes multiple steps, a lot more than a simple pasta dish.

So I made lasagna for dinner, but of course it took longer than I expected, and it was too dark for me to take pictures when it was finally ready.

So the pictures had to be wait until the next morning.

With a few pieces missing (lol).

But actually the lasagna tastes better the next day, if you ask me.

The layers are beautiful!

You take a piece, microwave it, and it’s ready to go.

No wait!

We have to get the table ready first.

This is one of my favorite retro plates.

I like the color and the design, but I like to use this plate for blog pictures because of its unique size, not too big and not too small.

I found these cool glasses at a restaurant that we had dinner at in Door County, WI, a few years ago.

The food was not that memorable unfortunately, but I loved these glasses, and luckily I was able to buy them at their little souvenir shop.

To me this carbs x carbs is a “no-no”, but I understand some people like to have a slice of bread with lasagna (or any dish).

We use these glasses mostly for drinking wine.

For some reason we hardly ever use an actual wine glass with a long stem.

Oh, I know why “I” stay away from those glasses; I’m always afraid that they tip over easily.

Mushroom Spinach Lasagna

red sauce
-olive oil
-5 cloves garlic, chopped
-1 onion, chopped
-2 cans tomato sauce
-2 cans tomato paste
-1 large can crushed tomatoes
-sugar
-2 bay leaves
-Italian seasoning
-onion powder
-salt and pepper

homemade vegan cheese x 2

olive oil
3~4 cups chopped mushrooms
1 large bag spinach
salt and pepper

no boil lasagna noodles

chopped fresh basil

1. Make red sauce. Sautee garlic and onion in olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients. Boil and then simmer.
2. Make vegan “cheese”.
3. Sautee mushrooms and spinach in olive oil. Salt and pepper.
4. Preheat oven to 475F.
5. Assemble in a 13×9 lasagna pan. A little red sauce at the bottom, lasagna sheets (1/3), red sauce, mushrooms, spinach, “cheese”, lasagna sheets (1/3), red sauce, mushrooms, spinach, “cheese”, lasagna sheets (1/3), red sauce, cheese.
6. Cover and bake for about 1 hour (or follow the instructions on the lasagna box; mine said 45 minutes, but it needed to cook a bit longer for the lasagna noodles to be fully cooked). Uncover and cook for another 15 minutes.
7. Serve with fresh basil.

2 Comments
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 Bread, Leaf Vegetabes, Mushroom, Potato/Squash, Tofu, Vegan, Vegetarian

Deep Dish Pizza
ディープディッシュピザ

Deep dish pizza, y’all.

During our recent trip to Chicago, we had fabulous deep dish pizza at Kitchen17.

So since then we’ve been making deep dish pizza more often at our house.

This deep dish pizza oven was gifted to Terry by his dad.

We press the dough on the dish.

Spread homemade cheese, then red sauce.

And then place vegetables.

It’s hard to see what’s all on there because the spinach leaves are covering them up.

This time I used Kabocha squash, onion, mushroom, spinach, and vegan sausage (for half for Terry).

It turned out great!

This deep dish pizza oven does such a great job and gives a beautiful crunchy texture to the outside of the crust.

Isn’t it beautiful or what?!

I always thought I was a thin crust kind of girl, but deep dish pizza has been quickly becoming my another favorite.

One of the keys to good vegan pizza is using good vegan cheese.

I’ve been experimenting for a while, and this is what I’ve been happy with.

Vegan Cheese– revised (9.30.2017)

1 cup cashew, soaked in hot water for about 30 minutes
200g silk tofu, drained, excess water removed
1~2 tablespoon apple cider
1 tablespoon “refined” coconut oil
1 tablespoon canola oil
1~2 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
salt

1. Combine all ingredients. Puree until smooth using a hand blender.

Have a great week everyone!!

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Dessert, Mushroom, Vegan, Vegetarian

Stuffed Corn Cakes: Mushroom and Apple
コーンお焼き：きのこ＆りんご

Since I liked these corn cakes so much that I decided to make more.

These corn cakes are so versatile, and you can’t go wrong with any filling, but this time I made two versions: mushroom and apple.

I also made two different apple versions.

One was (↑）a combination of apples, dried cranberries, and cinnamon.

The other is a combination of apples, golden raisins, walnuts, and cinnamon.

When you stuff them, you won’t be able to distinguish which was which, so I stamped with “A” for apple/cranberry, and “AW” for apple/raisin/walnuts.

They turned out great!!

This time I used corn meal as well as corn flour, which created a little more interesting texture.

I like this one a bit better, but Terry said he liked the previous one (corn flour only) better because they were a bit more moist inside.

So I guess it’s a personal preference.

These are just wonderful for any time of the day.

They freeze well, and I make extra and keep them in the freezer; they are my perfect to-go breakfast.

I bet you want to see what it looks like inside.

This is the mushroom version.

I try to stuff the filling as much as I can.

Can you see “A”?

And this one is “AW”.

I’m so glad I stamped them because we found out that I preferred “AW” and Terry preferred “A”.

I eat one of these when I want something sweet, and it’s satisfying.

These are a healthier choice when compared to other “dessert” type food, like cakes, pies, and cookies.

Stuffed Corn Cakes: Mushroom and Apple – makes about 5 each

filling
-mushroom version (chopped garlic and mushrooms were sauteed in olive oil. Chopped parsley was added at the end. Salt and pepper)
-apple version (A: apples (chopped and cooked with a little sugar), dry cranberries, cinnamon; AW: apples (chopped and cooked with a little sugar), golden raisins, walnuts, cinnamon)
cake
– 2 cups Maseca corn flour
– 2 cups corn meal
– salt
– water
canola oil for flying

1. Prepare filling.
2. Make corn cakes. Preheat oven to 400F. Combine corn flour, corn meal, and salt. Add water slowly while mixing well, until the dough achieves your preferred consistency.
4. Divide the dough into 200. Make balls and then flatten them to make a disk. On 10 disks place the filling, and then cover them with another disk.
5. Fry both sides in a pan until golden brown.
6. Finish cooking them in the oven for 15 minutes or so until cooked through.

Bon Appetit!