#vegetarian food

everythingwithwasabi:

Vegan Scallion Pancake Rolls 

More vegan yumminess here

Mediterranean Quinoa Bowl with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Vegan Carrot Jalapeno Soup 

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pasta

Picked eggplants and mini tomatoes at backyard, so made a hiyamugi noodle with it.

Microwave chopped egg plants covered with plastic wrap, then cool and squeeze water. Chop mini tomatoes. Mix them with shredded myoga, grated ginger, mentsuyu (soy-sauce-based ready-made dipping sauce for Japanese noodles), and sesame oil. I recommend to make a little bit stronger with concentrated mentsuyu and water (I had only straight one so adjusted stronger with usukuchi soy sauce, shirodashi, and mirin).

Put noodles into boiling water. Recently, I just happened to know it doesn’t boil over if you cross long chopsticks on the pan. Boil for five minutes, cool and wash with cold water, and strain well.

Put noodles in a glass bowl and add the seasoned egg plants and mini tomatoes with sauce.

Somen or Hiyamugi
http://www.mitoku.com/products/pasta/someofhiyamugi.html
The noodle diameter is somen < hiyamugi << udon. Somen and hiyamugi are mainly for summer.

Mentsuyu recipe
http://www.japanesecooking101.com/men-tsuyu-recipe/
In case if you live where you cannot obtain mentsuyu at supermarket.

Myoga (flower buds of a certain kind of ginger)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myoga
Summer herb, or fresh condiment. It’s often used as topping for tofu, miso soup, and many other dishes. It might taste peculiar for the first time, but it’s essential for Japanese summer cuisine. Though I hated when I was little, now it’s my favorite.

庭で茄子とミニトマトが採れたので、ぶっかけの冷麦にする。

切った茄子をラップをかけてチンし、冷まして水気をしぼり、刻んだ茗荷とおろし生姜、麺つゆと胡麻油で和える。麺つゆは希釈タイプで濃い目に作った方が良い（ストレートタイプしかなかったので薄口醤油・白だし・みりんで少し濃い目に調整）。茹でて冷やした冷麦と和える（鍋に菜箸を渡しておくと吹きこぼれない、ということを最近知った）。

delishytown:

Sweet Butternut Squash Lasagna

This is delicious and healthy. Well, somewhat healthy, besides the massive amounts of cheese I used. But cheese has calcium. We all need calcium for strong bones and flavor.

This delicious lasagna was made from the last of our Butternut Squash from the vine that took over the back yard. I’m amazed how colorful the inside of this one was, compared to the last one I cooked. You can see the color difference from a squash from the same vine, same harvest day, which I photographed a month ago, which was a lighter orangey yellow. This squash I used today has been sitting on the sideboard for a month. I didn’t realize it was ripening more and more each day. When I cut this one open it was an amazing, intense deep orange inside. I’m pretty sure all that color translates to sugars developing, which translates to delectable sweetness. I saved the seeds to plant again next spring.  

Here’s how to make sweet butternut squash lasagna.

Cut a butternut squash in half. Scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Save the seeds, roast some of them, plant a few next spring. Season the cut halves with salt & pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake at 350, cut side down, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Chop 1 small sweet onion and 1 shallot. Saute in 1 tsp butter and 2 tsp olive oil. Add a few cloves of fresh chopped garlic and cook for about 2 minutes more on low heat. Season with salt and pepper. 

Boil salted water for lasagna noodles. Cook noodles, rinse with cold water, drain and set aside.

Make a bechamel sauce by melting 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon flour. Cook these two together until the flour is just cooked, about a minute. Deglaze and whisk with stock or milk, about 1 cup. 

Scoop the cooked squash out of the shells. Discard shells. Chop the cooked squash. Mix in the onion, garlic and shallot, salt and pepper and a grating of fresh nutmeg. You could also season with a little smoked paprika here, if you want a bit of a smoky flavor.

Spread half of the squash mixture on the bottom of your buttered lasagna pan. Top that layer with some grated parmesan cheese and a little bit of the bechamel. Add a layer of noodles, a layer with fresh ricotta cheese mixed with a little fresh chopped parsley or basil, and some parmesan cheese. Add a little more of the bechamel, another layer of noodles, the other half of the cooked squash mixture, then for the very top layer as much cheese as you want and the last bit of the bechamel. I used a couple slices of provolone, about ½ cup of grated white cheddar and a big grating of parmesan. 

Bake the lasagna at 350 for an hour until it’s all bubbly and melted and  amazing. Yum!

This is my new favorite side dish for Thanksgiving, last year every bit of it was eaten, no leftovers. This is the sign of a good dish! Happy Thanksgiving everybody! 

Organic Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup 

I love this soup, it’s hearty, savory, sweet and delicious. It’s seasoned with tangy, lemony sumac, one of my favorite spices. This is vegan, gluten free, and non GMO, if you use organic ingredients to make it. I bought the organic carrots, sweet onions, and celery at our farmer’s market. The split red lentils are from my favorite company, Edison Grainery. They have a delicious taste and a wonderful texture

This is easy to make and only takes about 45 minutes of chopping and simmering until all the flavors come together. 

Chop 1 large sweet onion, 1 large organic carrot, 2 stalks organic celery, saute in 2 tbsp organic olive oil or your favorite cooking oil. Add 2 big garlic cloves, crushed, a pinch of kosher salt, a grind of fresh black pepper, and 2 tbsp tomato paste. Continue to simmer until the garlic and tomato paste become fragrant. Add 1 bay leaf, 2 cups water, ½ to 1 whole tsp soup base depending on how salty you like it, 1 small can diced tomatoes, 1 tablespoon dried parsley, 1 to 3 teaspoons sumac depending on how tangy you like your soup, and ½ tsp coriander powder. 

Simmer and stir on low until all the ingredients tenderize and become sweeter. For more sweetness, you could add a drizzle of honey, about ½ tsp. For more brightness, add a squeeze of fresh lemon.

I love to garnish this with lots of sumac, so that it’s nice and tangy. My husband doesn’t love sour flavors as much as I do, so I add the extra sumac just in my own bowl and leave his more savory / sweet. Serve with toasted croutons and a big salad. Yum!

Crispy Garlic Ginger Tofu Bun Bowl with Black Rice and Mint

This was a delicious experiment. I posted this pic on Instagram and one of my friends asked for the recipe right away. It was the first time I’ve ever made this, so I quickly wrote it out the way I did it. Sometimes when I do experimental cooking, I taste as I go along, and I might forget a step. Hopefully I remembered everything. This recipe was inspired from a picture I saw on Yelp. 

When I was looking for the rice noodles in my pantry, I found a package of black rice, and decided to add some to the dish for color, texture, flavor, and nutrition. I love black rice. It’s nutty, delicious and good for you. Cook black rice according to package directions, this takes about ½ hour of simmering. I cook it in a lot of water in a saucepan, drain and cover it at the end. 

Boil water for noodles. Pour hot water over dry rice noodles in a heat proof bowl, and let steep for 10 minutes or more until they’re cooked, but not mushy. Taste them a few times. Once you like the texture, drain, cover and set aside. They should be somewhat soft for a cold noodle salad.

For the crispy garlic tofu: Using paper towels or a kitchen towel, gently press as much water as you can out of a block of organic tofu. Cut into cubes. Heat a cast iron skillet to med, add 1 tablespoon organic canola oil. Season the tofu with salt & pepper, dust with 2 tbsp corn starch. Add tofu cubes to the hot skillet and cook on all sides until it starts to get crispy. Mince 5 large, or 10 small garlic cloves, the more garlic the better. Grate or mince ½ inch of ginger. Add the minced garlic and ginger, 1 tablespoon organic soy sauce, and a drizzle of sesame oil to the sizzling tofu. At this point I also added about 3 tablespoons of the simmering black rice water to loosen up all the garlic, and give more flavor. Stir and cook everything together to crisp up. Season with a sprinkle of Korean chili powder or any chili powder you have, add a teaspoon of organic ponzu for citrusy brightness. Continue to cook on med low, until it becomes caramelized and the garlic crisps. 

Serve with noodles, add a sprinkle of sesame oil, Korean chili powder, black rice, sliced scallions, fresh mint leaves and enjoy. You could also add fresh basil, Thai basil, or cilantro, peanuts, or any nuts, or a sprinkle of organic sesame seeds to garnish. I like the ones from Edison Grainery. Great quality, great price. I made a side salad to go with this using slivered snap peas, sliced carrots, curly kale, garlic, with lemon, & olive oil dressing. Yum!

Teriyaki Tofu and Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 2 packages (14 ounces each) firm tofu, sliced crosswise into 6 rectangles
  
• 3 tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
  
• ¼ cup soy sauce
  
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  
• 8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and caps sliced ¼ inch thick (about 4 cups)
  
• 1 to 2 bunches watercress, stemmed (about 6 cups)
  

Instructions

1. Arrange tofu in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. Cover with more towels and another baking sheet; weight with a heavy skillet. Let drain until towels are soaked, about 15 minutes.
   
2. Meanwhile, make teriyaki sauce: Place ginger in a fine strainer; press to release juices into a bowl. Whisk in soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cornstarch, and 1 cup water.
   
3. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Cook half the tofu until golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining tofu.
   
4. Heat remaining tablespoon oil in same skillet over medium heat. Cook mushrooms, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes. Add teriyaki sauce; bring to a boil. Cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Return tofu to pan; toss gently to coat. Serve with watercress.
   

I ate at Follow Your Heart. Had their products before but this was my first time at their restaurant. I’ll definitely be back here . I got a stuffed and totally loaded chipotle black bean sweet potato. It was so good, the sauce under the cheese was so creamy… Also their burger was amazing. (Their cheese tastes even better the way they prepare it there) I’m usually daiya or bust. I had half of each, so now there’s only a million more things on their menu I needa go back and try.

sweetoothgirl:

Salted Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Stuffed Cookie Cups

HALLOUMI FRIES WITH HONEY, PISTACHIO AND GREEK YOGHURT

PESTO PASTA WITH SUMMER VEGGIES

INSTANT CHOCOLATE BANANA CHIA SEED PUDDING

Black Bean Burger from TooJays in Stuart, FL

Black Bean, Mushroom & Sweet Potato Quesadillas

Ingredients 

1 can black beans, rinsed 

1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes 

½ carton baby bella or white mushrooms, finely chopped (or processed) 

½ medium yellow onion, finely chopped (or processed) 

Seasoning blend: 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, ½ tsp kosher salt, ½ tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp granulated onion, 1 tsp granulated onion, ½ tsp ancho chili powder (or 1 tsp plain chili powder), ½ tsp ground oregano. 

Mexican cheese blend (or your favorite shredded cheese) 

Flour tortillas 

Toppings, optional: guacamole, sour cream, sliced tomatoes, salsa 

Fresh cilantro and lime juice for garnish 

Directions 

Preheat your oven to 380 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a microwave-safe bowl, add the sweet potato cubes and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. 

Par-cook [partially cook] your sweet potatoes for 5 minutes in the microwave.

While your sweet potatoes are in the microwave, heat a medium-large pan with a few tbsp of olive oil over medium heat. 

Once the oil has come to temperature, add in the onion and the mushrooms. 

Season with a small pinch of salt and cook until the onion begins to become translucent. 

Once the onion has become translucent, add in the black beans. 

Once the sweet potatoes have finished, carefully add them to the vegetable mixture. 

Season generously and cook until the black beans are warmed through and soft. 

To assemble your quesadilla, lay down a layer of cheese on one side of the tortilla, add filling and fold over. Repeat until you have made your desired number of quesadillas.

Cook the quesadillas in the oven until the tortillas are golden brown and the cheese has melted.

Top, garnish, and serve.

Enjoy! 

Flatbread Pizza Two Ways 

Hey friends. I know it’s been a while since my last post, but I wanted to bring you all something simple. This isn’t really a recipe, but just something quick and delicious. 

Veggie Flatbread 

Stonefire flatbread topped with Simply Balanced organic pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, spinach, mushrooms, red onions, assorted bell peppers, sliced tomatoes, and herbs. 

Chicken Flatbread 

Stonefire flatbread topped with Simply Balanced organic pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, sliced tomatoes, and spinach. 

Instructions

Both baked at 415 degrees for about 15 minutes until flatbread was toasted and cheese was completely melted. 

Kimchi and Radish Salad

Spaghetti with Arugula-Almond Pesto