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, Sandwich, Vegan, Vegetarian

Edamame Hummus Bagel Sandwich
枝豆ペーストベーグルサンド

When I bake bagels, I want to make sandwiches with them.

I don’t know why, because it’s not always the case with any bread.

I made this edamame hummus for a potluck lunch at work.

Since I liked it so much that I didn’t take all of it to work, and I kept some for home.

On the edamame hummus spread, I placed cucumber and radish slices and a few basil leaves.

And then I sprinkled some salt.

Keep it simple.

Drizzle a little olive salad; I like the one from Costco (I often use it as “dressing” for my salad).

It made a beautiful lunch plate!

Simple, fresh, and delicious.

This is definitely my kind of sandwich.

I don’t have many plates that feature a work of art like this.

I usually stay away from these plates, because as beautiful as they are, they are not the best when food is placed on.

After all, plates to me are the background which I expect to enhance the look of my food.

But for some reason when I saw these plates at a store I fell in love with them and I had to bring them home, even though I knew I probably would not use them much particularly for my blog photos.

They are designed by Rob Ryan, who is a British artist specializing in paper-cutting and screen-printing, according to wikipedia.

I thought this particular sandwich would look good on this plate, as the nature themes are kind of matching in a way.

I didn’t think much when I put the sandwich on the plate, but because of where the sandwich was placed, it looks almost like representing the tree top.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

by : Reiko Bread, Breakfast, Vegan, Vegetarian

Spinach Bagels
ほうれん草ベーグル

My first bagels were so successful that I couldn’t wait to make more.

This time I decided to make something green.

Yep, this is a spinach version.

I used to love bagels, but I didn’t eat bagels for many many years.

The plumpness and the chewy texture…

I feel like I’m falling in love with them all over again!

These homemade bagels are okay when frozen and re-heated, but they are definitely the best when freshly baked.

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!

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

Bagel Veggie Sandwich
ベーグル べジサンド

This was probably one of the freshest-tasting sandwiches I’ve ever had!

When I made these bagels, I knew I wanted to make a sandwich using the homemade bagel.

When we were traveling through Wisconsin we stopped at a cafe in one of the college towns, and we had an awesome bagel sandwich.

It just had a lot of fresh/raw veggies inside and that really inspired me to make this.

I happened to have these beautiful veggies (I always have a lot of veggies in our fridge, so it was not a surprise), and I either thinly sliced or julienned them.

I also made simple garlic black bean paste.

First spread the garlic black bean paste on bread.

Then veggies.

The beautiful red and white beets were from our friends’ community vegetable garden.

So thankful that they share these beautiful veggies with us.

This is what it looks like before the two parts together.

Isn’t this just beautiful or what?

With this sandwich you can really appreciate each individual vegetable’s flavor.

I only sprinkled salt and I kept it very simple.

I liked this sandwich so much that I made a similar sandwich maybe for several meals after this.

I feel food like this energizes me.

Bagel Veggie Sandwich

1 bagel
garlic black bean paste (black beans from a can; drained and rinsed, 1~2 garlic cloves cooked through in boiling water, sugar, salt, pepper, olive oil)
fresh vegetables, sliced or julienned

1. Make garlic black bean paste. Combine all the ingredients. Puree using a hand blender until smooth.
2. Spread the garlic black bean paste on bagel.
3. Sandwich vegetables. Salt on the vegetables.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Eat your veggies. 🙂