Sunday Brunch..coming soon.

I know, I know...I have totally and completely neglected my poor lil' blog. All alone, with no one to write it. Life in our household has been busy and crazy beyond reason, and while I have had no time to blog, I have had time to cook and do the teensiest bit of photodocumenting. Below are the tidbits of a Sunday Brunch post in the makings. Stay tuned for the continued prattling on about......

 

    Pan roasted rosemary and onion potatoes.....

    Tofu scramble.....

    and a bright fruit salad with coconut yogurt. Delish.

Yakisoba with Peanut Sauce

I'd have to say that noodles are probably one of my most favorite foods. Pairing this favorite food with my new favorite grocery store, Uwajimaya (crazy awesome Asian market in Beaverton), has led to many wonderful, one-bowl dinners. While stir fries might not be new, I've fallen in love with them recently due to their insane versatility. The right noodle bowl is a veritable cornucopia of fiber, flavor, color and crunch. With the myriad of sauce options available, both homemade and store bought, the pairings are multiplied exponentially. With the addition of broth, we then have the miracle of soup. No matter your mood or even your ailment, a dinner in a bowl can be the ultimate in convenience and nutrition. To quote Hippocrates "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be food".

Of course any of these ingredients can be subsitituted or changed in quantity, this is just what mine looked like, and it was darn tasty.

Ingredients:

1/2 package fresh Japanese spinach noodles*

(Fresh spinach noodles should be in the refrigerated section of your Asian market. Pretty much any noodle with do though, even cooked whole wheat spaghetti!!)

Peanut oil

1/2 yellow onion (optional)

2 baby bok choy, sliced crosswise into 1/2" pieces through. Set the chopped leaves aside.

1/2 bunch Chinese broccoli, sliced into 1"pieces. Set the chopped leaves aside (there will be a lot of leaves)

2 cups broccoli crowns, chopped.

1 1/2 cups purple cabbage, sliced.

1 carrot, julliened into bite size strips or grated

10 lotus root slices.

10-12 oz agedashi tofu or extra firm tofu (marinated, baked or not)

(You can find them fresh whole or sliced & packaged sometimes)

Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup hot water

1/8 cup canola oil to smooth out if needed

2 tbs Braggs or shoyu

1-2 tbs brown rice syrup or brown sugar

1 clove garlic, smashed & chopped

1/2-1" ginger, grated

Juice of 1/2 lime

Red chili flakes to taste (optional)

Start a pot of water to boil your noodles in. It only takes about 2 minutes for fresh noodles to cook, so the noddles can be added to the boiling water at the same time you add tofu to the stir-fry.

Whisk together sauce ingredients & set aside.

In a hot wok or large fry-pan, heat desired amount of peanut oil. A tsp or two should do it since you'll have a little moisture from the veggie leaves leftover from washing. Add all vegetables except the leafy greens and stir for about 3 minutes until things begin to soften. Add tofu & then greens. Heat the tofu through & wilt the greens.

Add noodles & sauce.

*It should only take about 2 minutes for fresh noodles to cook. Add them to the pan immediately after draining. Whichever kind of noodle you use, start your stir fry about 5 minutes before your noodles are about to be al dente. Do not rinse them. The starch helps the sauce to stick!

Garnish with seasame seeds.

Super Sushi Veggie Rolls

The measurements here are estimated; I was flying by the seat of my pants the evening we had this and I would imagine that whatever you have in your fridge will work great as long as you can still wrap and seal your rolls! You should have enough rice to spread an even layer across the sheets of seaweed and plenty of fillings. See here for sushi making tips. I'd say it's a trial & error process, but if you just eat the errors as you go, no one will be the wiser. Well, actually you will be the wiser because you'll then be an expert at making sushi rolls!

My daughter took leftovers ingredients and assembled her own mini-rolls at lunch the next day. Sushi is a super way to get the kids in the kitchen if you can convince them to eat seaweed!

Helpful tools:
Bamboo sushi mat
Plastic wrap
Very sharp knife
Bowl of water for dipping your fingers

Ingredients:
Nori
Sushi rice
(I seasoned mine with only rice vinegar, salt and a little umeboshi paste)
Cucumber namasu or plain cucumber, seeds removed & julienned
(Namasu is simply cucumber marinated in equal parts sugar and rice vinegar. Really easy!)
Agedashi tofu, julinned around the same size  as your cucumber. Uniformity is ideal.
(Tofu that is dusted in cornstarch and then fried, leaving a chewy outer layer, but firm marinated tofu will do. You can find it at your local Asian market, or of course make your own)
Alfalfa sprouts

Optional:
Nori Furikake
(Seaweed, sesame and salt seasoning for rice. SO tasty! Excellent with a simple bowl of brown rice)
Wasabi
Pickled ginger
Shoyu (soy sauce) or Bragg's Liquid Amino Acids

Once your rice is cooked, either let it cool on it's own, or cool it in the fridge in a metal bowl, and stir it up occasionally. If it's too hot your nori sheets will warp and fall apart. You want the rice either warm or room temperature.


While your rice is cooling prepare your vegetables and slice your tofu.
When the rice is at a good temperature, season it in small increments with rice vinegar and a little salt. I used just a little bit of umeboshi paste which adds a little sweetness and a lot of tang. It's tasty, but strong and tart, so be careful! 

Place a piece of plastic wrap over the sushi mat before you lay down the nori. Spread the rice in a thin (not sparse) layer over your nori sheets leaving about an inch at one end for sealing. Your fingers will get sticky, so dip them in water from time to time to make an easy job of spreading the rice. Sprinkle with the nori furikake. In the middle of the rice layer, add cucumber, tofu and then sprouts, leaving the ruffly edges to poke out each end. Fold the rice over your vegetables, and roll it up, tightening as you go. Use a sharp knife to slice the roll. 1 sheet of nori should make 8 pieces.

Serve with wasabi, pickled ginger and Shoyu or Bragg's.

Cranberry Coconut Almond Bars

WOW! These were good. The perfect answer to a chocolate craving.

Originally these were meant to be an energizing breakfast bar, but as the mixing and blending and tasting progressed, it pretty much became dessert. Of all the vegan things I have become thankful for, dark chocolate is teetering way, way up there on my list. Not only does it contain about 8 times the antioxidants of strawberries (which by the way taste amazing when you drizzle dark chocolate over them), but it contains serotonin, a natural anti-depressant, it contains magnesium and copper which help regulate our blood pressure, and it helps the production of endorphins which are little neurotransmitters in the brain that reduce the sensation of pain. In fact, the word "endorphin" means "endogenous morphine" or "morphine from within". So, knock yourselves out, especially during times of stress! Like all things, in moderation, of course.

In addition to the wonderful health benefits of chocolate, these bars and packed with raw almonds and almond butter. They are super good for your heart, and when accompanying a meal, almonds lower the glycemic index of what you've eaten and help to keep your blood sugar from unhealthy elevation! Example, if you're going to eat white Wonderbread, which is actually vegan, eat it with some almond butter.

This recipe contains a fair amount of fat because of the nuts and oil, and while good fats are good for you in the appropriate quantities, I wouldn't necessarily recommend you eat these for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That wouldn't be very balanced, after all!

This was adapted from an Elena's Pantry recipe

2 cups raw almonds

3/4 cup flax meal

1/4 cup flax seeds ( a mixture of flax and sesame seeds would be tasty, too)

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, divided

½ cup unsalted almond butter, creamy or chunky

½ tsp Real Salt

½ cup coconut oil divided

2 tbs brown rice syrup

1/2 cup dried cranberries, cherries or blueberries

2 bars vegan dark chocolate ( I used Endangered Species Dark Chocolate. Eating chocolate AND saving the planet. Yahoo!) 

Note, my tiny little food processor was just a TAD too small for this job, so if you have a large one, I'd use it. If not, divide the ingredients in step #1 and do it in two parts. If your arm is up to it, go ahead do the remainder of the mixing by hand, just mix it well.

1. Place almonds, flax meal, 1/2 the coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor
2. Pulse briefly, about 10 seconds
3. In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil over very low heat
4. Remove coconut oil from stove, stir in brown rice syrup and vanilla into the oil
5. Add the flavored coconut oil mixture to food processor and pulse until ingredients form a coarse paste
6. Stir in cranberries and whatever other good stuff you'd like to add. (Think extra fruit or fiber)
7. Press mixture into an 8 x 8 glass baking dish into half a jelly roll pan. Whatever you've got.
8. Chill in refrigerator until mixture hardens
9. In a double boiler, (metal bowl over small saucepan with 1" boiling water; the steam heats the bowl) gently melt chocolate over very low heat, stirring continuously.
10. Spread melted chocolate over bars; return to refrigerator for 30 minutes, until chocolate hardens
11. Remove from refrigerator, cut into bars, serve & thoroughly enjoy

I wrapped ours in layers of parchment paper, placed inside air tight containers and kept ours in the garage where it was cold. I'd avoid keeping them in the fridge as chocolate will begin to sweat when brought to room temperature.

TNT Salad

 

When the husby came home for lunch and was hungry, he had come too late because my beautiful, talented, funny, smart, wonderful sporty little daughter and I had eaten all the nori sheets, so there were no TNT Wraps for him. Awe...sad. I did however, have a lot of veggies and 4 strips of Tempeh Bacon leftover. Thankfully I have a child who likes to eat seaweed and while we were out of nori sheets, we did have nice supply of Teriyaki Seaweed Strips, which are her favorite. Voila! His would-be wrap is now a salad.

1/2 cup snow pea sprouts/greens

1/4 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup grape tomatoes, quartered lengthwise

1/4 carrot, julliened

1/8 crunchy apple, sliced paper thin

4 slices tempeh bacon, sliced on the diagonal

4 strips seaweed strips (any flavor will do, teriyaki was pretty good though), cut into small pieces.

Scissors are a useful tool here.

1 1/2 - 2 tbs Asian Ginger Dressing (avoid a dressing with honey. it's made by bees!)

Avocados would be a great addition. Use any combination of light veggies.

Combine all ingredients but tempeh and seaweed strips. Toss in a bowl gently with your hands, using only enough dressing to put a sheen on the greens. Top with tempeh and garnish with seaweed.

TNT Wraps

 

The salty, sweet, creamy crunch of a BLT in combination with two crusty on the outside, soft in the middle slices of bread is a pleasure that many the omnivore enjoys. I should know. This sandwich was one of my favorites before I stopped to think about what I was actually eating. In it's place is now the TNT. A work in progress. Yummy, and soon to be yummier. TNT = Tempeh, Nori & Tomato. This snack is an uber-healthy version of it's former self with unlimited possibilities. 

Nori is simply sheets of dried red algae. 40% of this sea vegetable's dry mass is minerals. Too many to list, just know that when you eat the stuff, your body thanks you. A lot. Google it. Then wrap your favorite veggies and soy stuffs in sheets of this flat super-food and down the hatch! Try it as a TNT salad!

The most amazing part of about this vegan journey was making Tempeh Bacon. I'd heard of it, and gave it a whirl. You can most definitely buy it, but I found a recipe online and made mine from scratch.

TNT Wraps

8 oz tempeh bacon, homemade or store bought. 

2 cups sprouts or greens (I used snow pea sprouts. Yum!)

1/2 cup grape tomatoes, quartered lengthwise (heirloom tomatoes would be amazing...too bad it's winter)

1/2 crunchy apple, thinly sliced

1 carrot, julliened

Asian dressing ( I used Annie's Light Gingerly. Technically it's not vegan because it's got honey in it. Speaking of honey, I also tried one with honey mustard. It was good. Note to self; honey is not vegan. Duh.)

PS. If I'd have had some avocados, they'd have been all up in this business.

Just stuff and wrap! If your wrap wants to come unrolled because you've overstuffed it with goodness, wet the edges and seal it.

Vegan Chocolate Crunkcakes

 

Coffee liquor gives these yummy little nibbles a nice punch. Careful!

Non of these for the kiddies unless you omit the booze. But you knew that.

After family dinner night at the in-laws, my nose began to twitch as the smell of freshly baked banana bread came wafting into my nostrils. It was the first night of being a vegan dinner guest and I must admit, I was feeling the tiniest bit awkward with just a plate of the food I had brought. After passing on the delicious smelling yellow curry with Mahi Mahi and fried rice with egg and bbq pork, my third "no" was charm because when we got home, I had a serious sweet tooth.

These cupcakes are adapted from a recipe courtesy of Hannah Kaminsky's BittersweetBlog. Thank you Hannah, for introducing me to not only a fantastic chocolate cupcake, but to cake batter I can shamelessly lick off the spoon without worrying about yucky salmonella! These aren't as "natural" as I'm trying to be, but I'm going on 4 weeks vegan I was due for a splurge. Oh, and they're called Crunkcakes because I doused them in coffee liquor after them came out of the oven. Yowzer!!

1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Vegetable or Canola Oil
1 Cup Vanilla Soymilk (add a little vanilla to regular non-dairy milk if it's all you have)
2 Teaspoons Apple Cider Vinegar 

1/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup coffee or chocolate liquor, or a combo

Preheat oven to 375 F. 

Prepare a cupcake tin with 12-16 cupcake liners. 

CUPCAKES

In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients ( I used cake flour instead of all purpose) . In another bowl, combine oil and Soymilk. Add to dry ingredients and mix well. Now add the apple cider vinegar and combine well at once. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners (cupcakes puff up pretty well, so only fill the liners to a little more than half full if you like a flatter top, or fill about 3/4 and you'll get a nice, overstuffed looking goody!). 

Bake 14-18 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

While cupcakes are baking, prepare the syrup.

CRUNK SAUCE

Heat the liquor in a saucepan and add sugar. Simmer until dissolved. Set aside. Add more liquor if syrup begins to over-thicken. The more the merrier.

When cupcakes have finished baking, remove them to a cooking rack and poke multiple holes through their tops. Brush the cupcakes with the liquor syrup. About 4 layers or so should do it. Baste to taste and eat. They taste amazing with a nice cuppa' joe!

I have yet to find an fantastic vegan frosting, but we ate these plain and they were great. A chocolate glaze made with melted carob and additional liquor and little Earth Balance spread might be nice. Stay tuned....