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. 🙂

by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Reviews, Root vegetable, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian

Moroccan Chickpea Stew with Roasted Veggies
ロースト野菜のせモロッコ風ひよこ豆シチュー

Last week Terry and I took a whole week off and enjoyed a few mini trips.

The destination of one of the trips was our favorite city, Chicago.

We LOVE Chicago for so many reasons, but one of the things we really enjoy doing there is trying different restaurants because there are so many options!

People come home from their trip with souveniors, but I come home with food ideas (lol).

We are having more and more vegan friendly restaurants in the Twin Cities, but Chicago has so much more options, so consequently I find more cool vegan food ideas.

One of the restaurants we like to visit when we are in Chicago is Native Foods Cafe.

We stayed at Virgin Hotels Chicago(we had a very cool suite!), so we were only a few blocks from the restaurant.

We ended up dining at Native Foods Cafe twice during our 3-day stay in the city!

One of the meals I had there was Moroccan Bowl.

To tell the truth, I did not love the bowl because the tofu which was supposed to be marinated with Moroccan spices had little to no flavors and some of the veggies were a bit under-cooked.

But I did like some of their ideas.

One thing I really liked was their large pieces of roasted veggies.

So here is my big batch of roasted veggies.

These are some of my favorite vegetables to roast: carrots, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower.

So here is where my Moroccan bowl starts to greatly differ from the restaurant’s.

Well, it’s not fun to re-create exactly the same thing after all, right?

So the main part of my Moroccan bowl is this chickpea stew.

And I didn’t forget raisins.

I used golden raisins for my bowl because just in general I prefer golden raisin to regular darker raisins; the restaurants’s Moroccan Bowl had regular raisins.

I think the golden ones are more plump and fruity.

Voila!

This is my Moroccan Chickpea Stew with Roasted Veggies.

It was served over brown rice.

I was pretty happy with the final result.

This is why taking a trip is a good thing, and it’s okay to come home without a T-shirt or a shot glass but with food idea notes!

Moroccan Chickpea Stew with Roasted Veggies

roasted vegetables
– canola oil
– 2 carrots, cut into bite-sized pieces
– 2 cups Brussels sprouts
– 2 cups cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
– salt and pepper
Moroccan chickpea stew
– canola oil
– 4 cloves garlic, chopped
– 1 onion, chopped
– 2 celery stalks, chopped
– salt and pepper
– 1~2 tablespoons flour
– about 1 cup water
– 1 28oz can whole tomatoes, pureed with hand blender
– 2 bay leaves
– 2 cinnamon sticks
– sugar
– spices (ground ginger, ground cumin, ground cinnamon, ground cayenne, ground allspice, paprika)
– 1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
– 1/2 cup golden raisins
– 2 tablespoons toasted almond slices
– chopped cilantro

1. Roast vegetables. Preheat oven to 400F. Place vegetables on a pan lined with foil. Drizzle oil. Salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 20~30 minutes or cooked through.
2. Make stew. Sautee garlic and onion in oil. Add celery and continue to cook for a few minutes. Salt and pepper. Put flour and continue to cook while stirring for a few minutes. Add water. Boil and then turn down to low heat.
3. Add tomatoes, bay leaves, and cinnamon sticks. Boil and then turn down to low heat.
4. Add sugar, spices, chick peas, and raisins. Add salt and pepper.
5. Serve with the roasted vegetables. Sprinkle almond slices and chopped cilantro.

The best thing I had at Native Foods Cafe was their Oatmeal Cream Pie.

It was DELICIOUS, and I still dream about it (lol).

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

Matcha Toast
抹茶トースト

A homemade whole wheat toast, Matcha bean paste, melting butter, crunchy walnuts, and sweet maple syrup…

What not to love?!

This is like the king of toast for me.

The bread we eat at home is mostly homemade, simply because it tastes better.

Since we bought the Kitchenaid stand mixer, making bread has become so easy and fun.

My dough is so much smoother than before and this seems to lead to the better result at the end.

This is my 1/3 whole wheat pullman bread, which is usually my go-to flour ratio (1/3 of the flour is whole wheat and 2/3 is bread or all-purpose flour).

This is how to make my Matcha toast.

1. Toast a homemade 1/3 whole wheat bread slice.
2. Spread Matcha flavored sweet bean paste (no recipe).
3. Place pieces of homemade vegan butter and chopped walnuts on top.
4. Drizzle maple syrup (optional).
5. Sprinkle Matcha powder.

This is delicious when the butter is still cold and keeping its shape.

But it’s also delicious when the butter starts melting.

Happy Tuesday evening everyone!

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

Bean and Veggie Stuffed Corn Cakes
豆べジ詰めコーンおやき

I liked Eureka Compass Vegan Food’s Corn Masa Cake so much that I decided to make something similar myself.

First I cooked black beans and all different veggies (cabbage, kale, onion, garlic, and green peppers) to make the filling.

I just wanted to take a picture of this black bean can.

Isn’t it cute?

Trader Joe’s often has cool cans but this one is from Fresh Thyme.

I only made five, so our new Breville toaster oven was perfect to bake them.

Although the dough is apparently very different from Eureka Compass’, but mine turned out really good too.

These are perfect for breakfast or a snack.

I like to take these with me to work and I usually eat one in my car.

I also like to grab one when I know we will be out for a while so that I know I’ll have a good healthy snack if I need one.

Veggie Stuffed Corn Cakes – makes about 5

filling
– canola oil
– 2 garlic cloves, chopped
– 1 small onion, chopped
– 1 cup jullienned cabbage
– 1 cup kale
– 1/2 green pepper, chopped
– salt and pepper
– 1 tablespoon sugar
– 1 tablespoon molasses
– Louisiana hot sauce
– Japanese vegetable and fruit sauce (semi-sweet)
cake
– 2 cups Maseca corn flour
– salt
– water
canola oil for flying1. Make filling. Sautee vegetables with oil.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Combine well.
3. Make corn cakes. Preheat oven to 400F. Combine corn flour and salt. Add water slowly while mixing well, until the dough achieves your preferred consistency.
4. Divide the dough into 10. Make balls and then flatten them to make a disk. On five 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.

These corn cakes can be so versatile.

I already have some other filling ideas including sweet versions!

2 Comments
by : Reiko Beans/Lentils, Pasta/Noodle/Rice, Vegan, Vegetarian

Natto Radish Soba
納豆ラディッシュ蕎麦

This was my quick meal.

I always enjoy a soba bowl like this.

Easy to make and very satisfying.

I happened to have natto beans and fresh radishes, and they always make a great addition to my soba bowl.

Drizzle soy maple sauce (dressing).

Set the table.

Bon Appetit.

Natto Radish Soba

100g cooked soba noodles
1 package natto beans
2 radishes, grated
2 tablespoons chopped scallion
3 tablespoons chopped tomato
1 tablespoon pickled eggplant (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped Shiso Japanese basil
soy maple sauce
– 1 tablespoon soy sauce
– 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
– 1 tablespoon maple syrup
– 2 drops sesame oil
– salt

1. Serve soba noodles with the vegetables.
2. Make soy maple sauce. Mix all the ingredients well.
3. Serve the soba bowl with the sauce.

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

Seitan Chili with Blackened Corn
焦がしコーン入りチリシチュー

Chili is a quick and easy dish I can put together with what I have in the fridge.

I recently bought seitan and I wanted to use it for something, and I thought chili would be a good idea.

I’ve had an interesting relationship with seitan.

Seitan probably has the texture the closest to real meat, compared to other vegan options.

But I was never sure about eating “gluten”.

I recently did a little more research and found out exactly how you make seitan, which made me feel relaxed.

I also learned that some very traditional Japanese ingredients that I always liked were actually “gluten” as well.

The other star of this chili is blackened corn.

The corn is so sweet right now!

It’s like eating candy, and I absolutely love it.

Doesn’t it look good?

I like my chili thick, and I use tomato paste.

Although my relationship with seitan has improved, I would have to say I’ll see how it goes.

I think it’s a great option for people who crave for the meat texture, but personally, it’s not that important.

Various textures from various vegetables are simply satisfying to me.

But again, it’s a fun option to have, and I’m sure you’ll see more dishes with seitan on my blog in the future.

For instance, this blackened corn.

Love the texture as well as its sweetness.

Seitan Chili with Blackened Corn

canola oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 package or about 1 cup seitan, finely torn with hands or chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed
water
2 bay leaves
1 6oz can tomato paste
chili powder
1~2 teaspoons diced chipotle peppers from jar
cane sugar
salt and pepper
1 ear corn, blackened
cilantro, chopped

1. Sautee garlic, onion, and green peppers with oil.
2. Add seitan and black beans. Continue to cook. Salt and pepper.
3. Add water to cover the vegetables and seitan. Add bay leaves. Boil and then turn down to low heat.
4. Add tomato paste, chili powder, chipotle peppers, sugar, salt, and pepper.
5. Serve with blackened corn and cilantro.