Dessert

by : Reiko Breakfast, Dessert, Nuts, Vegan, Vegetarian

Cardamom Banana Bread with Walnuts
胡桃たっぷりカルダモンバナナブレッド

Buying bananas can be tricky.

I used to buy a bunch of 5 or 6 bananas at a time.

I would wait for a few days for them to ripe.

But then they would ripen at the same time and I would end up with six bananas that need to be eaten fairly quickly.

So now I buy a small bunch, typically two or three, so they are more manageable.

But things don’t always go as planned, and this weekend I ended up with two overripe bananas.

I tend to like my bananas to be young and slightly underripe to eat as they are to begin with, so these were way over beyond being my perfect bananas.

What do you do?

Well, I felt that making a banana bread was the only solution to this situation.

A good thing about banana bread is that it’s so easy to make.

I don’t know about others, but I just combine all the ingredients in one bowl, so it doesn’t take much time before it goes into the oven.

The bread turned out awesome!

The outside is nice and crunchy and the inside is perfectly dense and moist.

I should have waited for a little longer to let it cool down a little bit, but I was so ready to taste it.

It was so delicious!!

The only downside is that Terry doesn’t care for anything banana, so it was all for me (did I say it’s a downside?! lol).

I enjoyed my first slice with cafe au lait, and that was a great snack.

The cardamom flavor is definitely there and as it always does, it adds some exotic and sophisticated flavor.

My banana bread is full of chunky walnut pieces.

Cardamom Banana Bread with Walnuts

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
cardamom
2 overripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon rum
about 1 cup walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Combine all the ingredients.
3. Pour the batter to a parchment paper lined loaf pan (3x3x7.5 inch pan).
4. Bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, or a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Have a great rest of the weekend, everyone!

It’s a cloudy Sunday here in MN.

August 27, 2017

by : Reiko Dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lemon Lime Avo Ice Cream
レモンライム・アボアイスクリーム

I made this ice cream a few weeks ago and forgot to post it.

It’s getting a bit cooler here in Minnesota, and I thought I should post it before fall arrives!

The motivation for making this ice cream came from a large bag of lemons I bought.

I needed a lemon for something, but when I saw a large bag of a half dozen lemons priced for less than the double the price of ONE lemon at another store, I had to pick the large bag.

So I needed to make something to use them.

The problem was that I used avocado as a base, so it’s naturally green colored.

I quickly realized that I couldn’t call it “lemon” ice cream when it was so green like Green Giant!

So I decided to call “lime lemon ice cream”, and if I called it that, I had to add lime juice, so I did (no picture, but trust me there is fresh lime juice in this).

Like the other avo ice cream I made, the texture is absolutely amazing!

Super creamy and very satisfying.

Lime Lemon Avo Ice Cream: 2 avocados, lemon juice, lime juice, sugar

August 17, 2017

by : Reiko Dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian

Lemon Blueberry Mille Crepe Cake
レモンブルーベリークレープ

I found a large package of beautiful blueberries on sale at the store, and I had to have it.

I enjoyed snacking on it, but then I also wanted to make something to really showcase the blueberries.

First make crepes.

Lots of them!

I actually enjoy this kind of work.

It’s kind of like a zen moment for me.

Here is how to assemble this beautiful cake.

Layer the crepes.

On each layer spread lemon cream.

Then on top of the layer, spread more lemon cream and place fresh blueberries.

Garnish with lemon slices.

This is the final result.

If you like you can sprinkle powdered sugar on top too.

How beautiful is the cut side?

Who would like a piece?

The cake is great as it is, but I thought this would make it even better.

Coconut cream!

Coconut cream was drizzled over the cake.

It adds an additional layer of flavors, and it goes so well with lemon and blueberries.

Each bite is so perfect.

This cake tastes the best when freshly made. I would NOT recommend making ahead of the time.

Lemon Blueberry Mille Crepe Cake

crepes
– 1 cup all purpose flour
– 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
– a pinch of salt
– 1 cup and about 3 tablespoons soy milk
– 1/4 cup sugar
– 1/4 cup canola oil plus some more for cooking
– 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
lemon cream
-4 tablespoons all purpose flour
– 6~8 tablespoons sugar
– 1/4 cup lemon juice
– 1 teaspoon canola oil
– 300cc soy milk
– vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
lemon slices (for garnish:optional)
coconut cream
– 1/2 cup coconut cream (from a can)
– about 1 tablespoon sugar

1. Make lemon cream. Combine all the ingredients except for milk and vanilla extract. Mix well. Over medium heat slowly add milk while constantly stirring. Continue to stir and cook until it achieves the thickness you prefer. Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract. Mix well. Cool. Put in a glass container. Cover with plastic. Refrigerate.
2. Make crepes. Combine all the ingredients until smooth. Pour the batter onto a preheated and oiled pan. Move the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes on medium heat, until the bottom is light brown. Turn and cook the other side for another minute or so. Cool.
3. Layer the crepes. Spread lemon cream between the layers. Spread more lemon cream on top. Place blueberries and lemon slices (garnish: optional).
4. Make coconut cream. Mix well coconut cream and sugar.
5. Serve the cake with coconut cream on the side.

Have a great weekend everyone!

August 11, 2017

by : Reiko Dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian

Strawberry Tofu Ice Cream
苺豆腐アイスクリーム

After making some non-dairy ice cream (like this and this), I felt a bit more adventurous, and I wanted to experiment with different ingredients.

One of the main ingredients of this strawberry ice cream was of course strawberries.

But the main ingredient of this ice cream was this, tofu!

The texture is very different from nice cream or avo ice cream, and it may be somewhat borderline to call this “ice cream” because this does not have the “creaminess” you expect from ice cream.

Nonetheless, this was tasty, and it’s worth posting here as a starting point.

I’m planning to tweak it by adding something to improve its texture.

But here is what I used to make this strawberry (tofu) ice cream:
– 1/2 package soft tofu, microwaved and excess water was removed
– 3/4 cup strawberries for completing pureeing with tofu
– about 1 cup sugar
– fresh lemon juice from 1/4 lemon
– about 1/4 teaspoon agar agar
– 1/4 cup strawberries (added at the end, roughly pureed)

August 9, 2017

by : Reiko Dessert, Vegan, Vegetarian

Rich Chocolate Ice Cream
濃厚チョコレートアイスクリーム

This chocolate ice cream was super creamy, rich, and delicious.

And there is no dairy in it!

The nice cream was good, and I really enjoyed it, but Terry was not a big fan.

Well, it makes sense, because he is not a big fan of banana to begin with.

So I wanted to come up with a different way to make plant-based ice cream, because he does like ice cream, much more than I do.

So this is what I used.

I remembered one of the vegan ice cream we had tried in the past and really liked was made of avocado (this brand), and I thought I would try that myself.