New Breakfast Option and Yet Another Great Dinner

I had a 100% vegan day today.

Woohoo!

Half way through the day,

all I could think about was something, 

anything smothered in cheese.

But I stuck with it, 

and I have to say,

I'm very proud of myself.

Here is what I ate:

Breakfast: Shake

Snack: Savory Rice Bowel (recipe follows)

Lunch: Veggie Burger (We have a huge pack from Costco)

Snack: Miso Soup

Dinner: One - Pot Vegetables and Tofu with Sesame Rice (recipe follows)

I didn't realize I was going to be able to share 

two recipes with you all today!

Be excited.

The Savory Rice Bowl is from My Father's Daughter. 

One bummer element, I think for all vegans,

is the elimination of eggs.

I love having eggs in the morning.

I ate two eggs every morning religiously for a good 13 years.

Tofu scrabbles are a great morning egg replacer (yes! I'll share a recipe soon!),

but I try not to eat tofu more than once a week,

so I find myself very sad that I'm missing out on eggs.

This is a great alternative and I'll be using it more often.

No, it doesn't taste like eggs, but it's good!

Nice to have something different than sweets for breakfast.

I'll probably be tweaking it a lot.

Adding different veggies.

We'll see!

I'm not usually a fan of nori (the seaweed used to wrap sushi)

but I shredded it very fine so it made this dish taste great 

without having to deal with the seaweed texture.

I didn't have the rice condiment nor the kimchi.

I'm sure those make the dish taste so much better

but I still enjoyed it without them.

One major downside is that it takes about an hour and a half to cook. 

Yup, it's got to get all porridgy.

So I drank my shake,

and while it was cooking I cleaned my bathrooms,

did my laundry, picked up the house, 

spent time with my adorable daughter

and then rewarded myself with this great dish.

Once it's cooked it's pretty easy to throw together.

Savory Rice Bowl

 servings 4

Ingredients:

1 cup short-grain brown rice
6 cups water
Regular or low-sodium soy sauce, for serving
Toasted sesame oil, for serving
Sesame and seaweed rice condiment (available at Asian markets), for serving
Finely chopped scallions, for serving
Finely chopped kimchi, for serving
Finely shredded nori, for serving

Directions:

Rinse the brown rice, if desired.

Combine the rice with 5 cups of water in a large saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low; stir, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours. Ideally, the rice should have a porridgelike consistency.

Uncover; if you still see a fair amount of liquid in the saucepan, cook for 15 to 30 minutes. Alternatively, if the rice seems dry, add as much of the remaining 1 cup of water as needed; cook for 15 to 30 minutes (on low or medium-low heat) to achieve a porridgelike consistency.

To serve, divide the rice among individual bowls. Top with dashes of the soy sauce and toasted sesame oil, and with sprinkles of the sesame-seaweed condiment, scallions, kimchi and nori.

Now.....Oh my heavens, the One-Pot Veggies.

Let me tell you, I've made this before, and I really enjoy it.

It's so simple, just wash, chop, boil, done.

Seriously, love this dish.

It has very basic flavors, but the colors are stunning.

I feel like I'm eating a bit of Asia when I'm eating this.

We serve it up on top of brown rice and we always eat it with chopsticks.

The tofu helped me with the cheese craving I'd been battling.

I have to tell you, 

for a few days we've had a major battle every evening with my toddler.

She hasn't been cooperating in eating her veggies, 

or anything we put in front of her.

She ate this without complaining! Yes!!

I made it without the watercress and I didn't use the garnishes.

It was healthy and delicious enough for me without it.

Seriously, how beautiful is that?

One-Pot Vegetables and Tofu with Sesame Rice

from Vegan Family Meals

1 medium onion

2 cups bite-size broccoli florets

½ butternut squash, peeled and cubed

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced

¼ head green cabbage, cored and sliced

½ pound sugar snap peas, trimmed

3 ounces fresh shiitake or other mushrooms, stemmed

About 1 cup water

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 piece (5 inches) ginger, peeled

⅔ cup mirin (Japanese cooking wine) or dry sherry or sweet marsala

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

1 container (14 ounces) firm tofu, drained and cut into ¾-inch cubes

½ bunch watercress, stems removed

Garnish

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 sheet nori (seaweed) cut into thin strips (optional)

Quarter the onion through the stem end, leaving the quarters connected. Remove the peel. Place in the middle of a large skillet. Arrange the broccoli, squash, carrots, cabbage, sugar snap peas and mushrooms in clusters around the onion, keeping each vegetable separate from the other and arranging so that the colors are balanced and attractive. 

Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the skillet. Sprinkle the salt evenly over the pan. Cover and turn heat to high. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the squash is crisp-tender, about 12 minutes

Meanwhile, finely grate the ginger over a paper towel or sheet of cheesecloth, and then squeeze the pulp to extract 2 teaspoons of ginger juice. Place in a bowl with the mirin and tamari. Add the tofu, and toss to coat.

Spoon the tofu mixture over the vegetables, and simmer uncovered until the tofu is hot, about 5 minutes. Add the watercress and simmer until it wilts, about 2 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat, and set it on a trivet in the middle of the table.

 Pass the scallions and nori strips for garnish.

Serves four.

I had a very satisfying day!

Hope you all try one of these recipes soon.

Especially the one - pot veggies.

Holy cow, that's going to be a staple here.

How I Get Through My Day

Breakfast

When I gave birth to my first daughter 

I had little time in the kitchen.

This was my favorite quick breakfast to whip up.

Ezekiel toast with almond butter, 

chopped strawberries and honey drizzled on top. 

Yum!!

I had this today and it filled me for hours. 

If you know me, you know that's a huge deal 

because I'm constantly hungry!

Between the fiber from the bread, 

the protein from the almond butter 

and the serving of fruit, 

this turns out to be a pretty complete breakfast. 

Exercise

I haven't been exercising lately

and my body is really kicking me for it. 

When I feel unmotivated to exercise

I put on Mary Tyler Moore on Hulu Plus.

My favorite episode is 'Put on a Happy Face'.

It's nice to know that even Mary Richards 

can have a bad day, or several. 

Indoor Games

It's hot where we live. 

It really is too hot to venture outside 

unless you are headed straight for the pool.

So we have to be creative inside otherwise we all get stir crazy.

Hide and Seek is one of our favorite games.

Check out the great hiding spot my toddler picked for herself.

She's waiting for Daniel to find her.

I love my baby's little hand creeping into the picture. 

Eat Your Greens

I'm going a little crazy because I can't find this 

beautiful picture I have of steamed greens with udon noodles. 

You good people are just going to have to take my word for it,

this is the only way to eat greens.

Here is how you do it:

1) Get water to boil in a pot with a steamer.

2) Place your greens in the steamer.

By greens I mean kale, watercress, bok choy, 

all those greens I didn't touch for the first 23 years of my life.

3) Let them steam for 2 minutes. 

2 minutes people!! That's it, till wilted.

4) Drizzle with a tablespoon EVOO or sesame oil 

and a teaspoon ume plum vinegar.

(Play with these measurements 

to get this dish just where you want it)

You just need a touch of this to make your boring plate 

of steamed greens turn in to a party!

You can find it at your Asian Market, Health Food Store, 

or in the International Food Isle. 

I'm so sad I can't find a picture for you all. 

This plate is really beautiful.

Here is the best I can do.

From The Kind Life.

After I gave birth to my sweet second baby, 

I ate this dish every night for months.

It was crazy delicious every time. 

Bring on the week!

How I Get Through My Day

Stretch. I'm usually pretty stiff when I wake up in the morning. Especially if I wasn't able to exercise the day before. One of my favorite stretches to do is the Sun Salutation. 

I love this because all the poses flow into each other, it stretches my whole body and it only takes a couple minutes. I like to do the whole thing a couple times to really get a good stretch out.

Treat Yourself to a Sweet Breakfast. When I was eight, one of the first recipes I started baking regularly were blueberry muffins. What I learned from that experience was that the only way to make blueberry muffins is with fresh blueberries. Since I found this Blueberry Muffin recipe I've been anxious to get some fresh blueberries into this house. I finally got my hands of some! 

These muffins are made from spelt, a distant cousin to wheat, and don't have any sugar! I asked my brother-in-law to rate them based on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the lowest) and he gave them a 4! Yup, these are delicious! 

Bring out your Beauty. I've always had bags under my eyes. Lately they have been turning into a lovely shade of veiny blue. Nothing has been working to get them covered and then I found this!

Bobbie Brown Creamy Concealer Kit. This stuff is awesome! It's the first concealer I've tried that really covers up my bags. Yeah, my bags are still there, but they blend in my face now! Imagine that. This stuff really stays put. Even when my mascara has smeared and I've smudged it off, the concealer doesn't budge. With four steps it better not! 

Ten-Minute-Meals. When you think, "Vegan Meal", what most likely comes to your mind is, labor some, tedious, involved, well planned, tofu. But thankfully it doesn't have to be any of these things. Here is a ten-minute-meal I whipped up the other day when I was super tired and my fridge was on empty.

No Bake Enchiladas

Based off authentic style enchiladas, these are simple and pan fried. 

The main difference is I opened cans.

I found this canned enchilada sauce at our grocery store. I had to get no spicy to make it toddler friendly. This sauce is really yummy. You can use whatever you have on hand but let me just say, get a good one cause the sauce is the main contributer to the flavor of this dish. 

Fry a corn tortilla in some olive oil and a couple tablespoons of enchilada sauce until the tortilla bubbles. Flip tortilla and repeat.

I usually have some left over beans in the fridge. This time I had to open a can of black beans and warmed them in a pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. 

Authentic Mexican Enchiladas are served with cabbage, but I just had lettuce on hand. 

Wrap the beans in the enchiladas 

 Top it with lettuce. Quick and yummy.

When I served these to Daniel, he got a little sad that we didn't have any Tofutti sour cream on hand. Pretty terrible name, but this stuff is legitimate.  

You could also top this with tomatoes, avocados or onions. 

Have a great Monday everyone! Am I allowed to say that? Or does everyone hate Mondays too much to enjoy them? 

French Toast

Tofu. How weird is tofu? It's spongy, bland and not appetizing. When I became, vegan I was determined to do so without tofu and it's weird personality. So over rated, I didn't need it. But as it turns out, tofu's quirky characteristics is what makes it great. It's spongy texture absorbs all the flavors of a dish and contributes a creamy texture. Why thank you, tofu. 

Here is my absolutely favorite French Toast recipe. The first time I made this recipe, I made it a few days after trying a traditional French Toast from a new cookbook. It had all the normal ingredients, eggs, and milk. It was good, but to my surprise, the vegan one tasted better! Holy cow, The Brown Rice Syrup in this dish makes it perfectly sweet. Oh my goodness it is so so good! I even make it with Ezekiel Bread and it manages to make the hearty bread taste delicious. I couldn't ask for anything more from a french toast. 

Blend all the ingredients. Since it calls for firm tofu, I use a blender to get the batter just right.

Super creamy and simple. Love it! 

I put way more maple syrup than this, but I was kind of in a hurry to dig in so I didn't get that picture! I made Daniel some french toast with white bread since he isn't big on Ezekiel. But he later told me he actually preferred the Ezekiel with his french toast now! Alright! 

This is a great breakfast to serve your daddy on Father's Day if he's trying to watch his cholesterol. My mother-in-law taught me a trick: Don't tell them it's vegan till after they have finished the dish. Chances are, they won't notice! 

When working with tofu, try and get organic whenever possible to ensure no GMO's. 

Happy Eating!