in the kitchen of a tofufreak

Why hello there!

2010-06-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

Hello to anyone(?) out there!

I have, at long last, begun to blog again.

Feel free to check it out if you like:

http://hsunamisweets.wordpress.com

Hope to see you over there!

-Stephanie

Eh. Oops...

2009-07-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

..I seem to have abandoned my blog. Again. Oh well! Sorry for the super duper long, unintentional hiatus. I'm back! With a super duper long post. Hope you make it through!

Meet Hannah:

We've basically been friends since forever, so earlier this summer, we had a week long sleepover. Woohoo!

Her dad is supercool and has a garden! Check out her broccoli:

Uhh.. That's me. With my hippie pie that we made in her thrift shop retro clothes :)

Said (Peach-berry)pie:

Random Vanilla Bean Cheezecake:

Cupcake Army! (A group of friends and I cupcaked some sad-lookin' people at school :] aren't we so nice?)

Raspberry Almond Tart

Random mini-cake:

Mini Pies! Apple, Peach, Blueberry, Cherry:

Cherry:

Blueberry:

Supercharge me cookies(!!):

Mini Apple Pie:

Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Tarts (total:200; they were for a grad party):

Plain Bagel:

Cinnamon Crunch Bagel:

Custom Cake:

Mini Dark Chocolate-Double Raspberry Cheezecakes

Custom Cake- Bridal Shower:

Summer Berry Tart!

And last but not least, Tapioca Parfaits

Hip hip hooray! So... yeah. I have a butload of stuff waiting to be uploaded still, so I'll be getting around to that soon!

Have a wonderful day! :)

Happy blogiversary to me! Let's celebrate with... a wedding?

2009-03-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

Not mine! haha.

If you've been around my blog, you'll remember Tito, the Spanish class chihuahua. Well, he met Lola, and we threw a wedding for them during lunch on Thursday, March 5th.

Here they are with the officiating pastor, groom's men and bridesmaids:

First kiss! ^.^ pictured with el pastor, la dama de honor, y el padrino de boda

And what's a wedding without cake? (albeit a sloppy one-- I didn't bake the actual cakes until 5 o'clock on Wednesday... oops)

Marzipan chihuahuas that I made for cake toppers:

El pastel con los novios:

I made their outfits, too! :) Lola is completely dressed, but Tito was missing his bow tie at the time :(

There he is with his bow tie!

And, of course, there had to be a luna de miel:

At the "beach":

In the woods:

feed the birds..tuppence a bag!

And look who's home!

Feliz Cumpleanos a mi profesora!

2009-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is actually super late, but hey! Better late than never. So here we go:

Snoopy/Valentine's Day themed 3 tier heart shaped birthday cake!

Top decor:

Front view:

Back view:

All of the Peanuts characters:

My professional photoshoot area (haha. NOT. this is actually a breezeway). As you can see, I have to use a lot of makeshift stuff.

Mi clase de espanol

...y mi profesora/blog buddy :)

Cakes!

2009-02-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

I've been baking some cakes lately (cue the happy music!) and here are two of them:

I'm in a ministry choir called Resounding Joy at my school. During January, we have J-term where there are only 2 periods a day. So to lament our last day of J-term, I made us a cake! Funfetti style to be exact :)

Side Shot #1

Side Shot #2

Behold... the box!

Mini German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Side View:

.. and the friend that ordered it.

Hey guys!

2009-01-21T17:33:00.001-08:00

I'm starting a new blog! No worries, tofufreak kitchen'll still be here; I'll just reserve this blog for special things that I make that are more noteworthy. My new blog will serve for my daily eats and daily going-ons. Weehee! See you all around hopefully :)

I'm back!

2009-01-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

Actually I've been back, but I've been really lazy about blogging recently-- oops. haha. While in TX, we visited Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. (Sorry that we weren't in Houston, Stacey! Thanks for wanting to give suggestions :D) While in TX, my diet consisted a lot of toasted bagels and chips and pico de gallo (haha). BUT! I was able to go to a few veg establishments!! Hooray!! Here we go--

Spiral Diner! (Dallas)

My dish: neatball sub! I loved the texture of the neatballs!!!! The sauce was a bit on the sour side, but other than that, it was really good! On the side is potato salad. It tasted strongly of dill which is a good thing because I love dill! :)

My mom's dish: Spring Roll? Wrap? I don't remember, but it was super good! This was my first time having seitan at a veg restaurant and it was unbelievably good. oh dear.

My dad's dish: Tofu Mitch Club. This was good beyond words!!! ohhh. My mouth waters at the thought :)

Here are my omniparents with their veg food! :)

We shared :)

After that, I was super full, but I wanted to get something for the road ( I mean, how often can I get fresh baked vegan cookies[that i haven't made]?). So cookies it was!

Chocolate Chip Cookie(!): ZOMG. I loved the chewiness factor! Totally yummy for my tummy! The amount of chocolate chips was perfect too. Hooray!! I was really sad when this ended :(

Oatmeal Raisin Cookie: yum.Yum.YUM. That pretty much sums it up :) It was less chewy than the chocolate chip one. I really enjoyed this cookie.

If I could have eaten at Spiral every day of vacation, it wouldnt have been enough. :)

Next up: Mother's Cafe (Austin)

My dish: Chili melt with the veg cheeze sub. Layered tortillas, brown rice, black beans, and nutty chipotle sauce. It was pretty good, though the cheeze got to me in the end *shudder* =/

My dad's dish: barbecue tofu, black eyed peas, and mashed potatoes. The barbecue sauce was a bit peculiar. They use peanut butter, so it tasted sort of off (to me at least). The mashed potatoes had an interesting flavor and texture. I can't really describe it, but it wasn't that great.

My mom's dish: artichoke enchiladas(veg cheeze sub), brown rice and black beans. It was alright, but I don't think I like enchiladas in general-- too mush-ish.

For dessert, we ordered the Peanut Butter Chocolate Tofu Pie to share. It was alright-- a little too (dare I say it?!?!) tofu-ey.

Overall, Mother's was pretty meh for me. Not great; not bad. Just meh.

We spent New Year's Eve in a hotel room which, very conveniently, had a kitchenette. We put it to good use by using the stove to heat up some Thai noodles. This was from some random Thai place in Austin. (Rice noodles, tofu, and mushrooms in a sweet/sourish lemongrass broth) Yum!

My last veg restaurant was New Start Veggie Garden in Dallas. It's an all vegan korean buffet.

My plate consisted of broccoli (good. not great), sweet and sour chik'n(pretty good), a pumpkin-rice noodle dumpling(YUM), brown rice nori maki(pretty good), a potato croquette(good but on the bland side), miso soup(standard), Mapo tofu(bland), and brown rice with some veggie meat dish that I don't really remember(it was good though!)

Nachos: They had these all individually 'built' at the buffet. These were comprised of veggie beef, salsa, tomatoes and a tofu "cheez" that was pretty good, albeit lacking in salt.

Pumpkin Tofu Cheesecake: This was pretty odd. To begin with, the piece was about a 3/4" square. It was also really dry and sort of bland. The pumpkin overwhelmed it and made it pasty. BLECH. Not recommended.

Citron(I think) Tofu Cheesecake: Once again, these pieces were roughly 3/4" squares. Haha. This kind tasted better than the pumpkin one. It was sweeter and more creamy.

I liked this place, and so did my parents (they enjoyed the asian food after having meals and meals of Mex and Tex Mex haha)

On a non-food related note, check out this super cute squirrel that we saw in San Antonio!

Have a great day! :)

And the theme of this year's Christmas treats is......

2008-12-26T07:58:00.000-08:00

...Chocolate and Cherries? I suppose so, considering the fact that I made 3 chocolate cherry cakes!

The first one consisted of two of the cakes as it was two tiers. This was for my friend to take to his family Christmas celebration. :)

Tada! In case you can't tell, I love taking side shots of my cakes :D

Cake #3! This one was a bit less grandiose-- but still quite delicious! teeheehee.

Moving past chocolate and cherries (on second thought, keep the chocolate!), here we have chocolate swirled cheezecakes! woohoo. I love the little chocolate cages!

And last but not least, the annual rugelach! This year's flavor is blackberry cinnamon pecan. Hooray!

I know this isn't food, but I had to post pics of these anyway because HELLO I got Christmas flowers!!!! From the same friend that now has the cake =)

I is a happy child :)

** I promise I'll get around to posting recipes for everything that you guys comment on, like the crackers from Thanksgiving (EEEOOPS.) yeah. Thanks to all my faithful friends who still visit! I'm sorry that I've taken such a long hiatus! I'm sorry to say that I'll be taking another hiatus for a little while because I'M GOING TO TEXAS!!!! woohoooo!!! :D so see you guys in a bit!**

In the meadow, er.... kitchen, we can build a snowman!

2008-12-11T14:39:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love Christmas and the extra festivities! One tradition I have is baking 3D themed cakes, be it a Christmas tree or this snowman (Don't you love how the plate says"we can build a snowman"?):

Mr. Snowman had a rather extensive photo shoot. To spare you from the bajillion pictures I took, here's a sample:

Though Mr. Snowman enjoyed his photo shoot in our high school breezeway, he really, in all actuality, longed to be outside.

Fortunately, he found friends to spare him from his loneliness and keep him company. (Tito has a new friend! Singing Snoopy and Woodstock!)

Together they longed for the outdoors.

We were all MUCH thinner before we came to dinner....

2008-11-28T19:20:00.000-08:00

.....Let's just say that after Thanksgiving, I feel quite a bit less than stellar. Hoho, whaddaya know? I have a headache, stomachache and nausea. I NEED THE GYM. ASAP. Aaand I'll prolly be detoxing until Christmas.

BUT ANYWAYS, ONTO THE FOOD! (sorry bout the horrible pics. lighting was AWFUL!)

Asparagus and White Bean Pesto Tart
Everyone loved this pastry! I used more pesto than the recipe actually called for and it was absolutely great!

Homemade Appetizer Tray: Candied Pecans, Caramelized Onion Dip, and Fall Crackers

Making fall crackers was a fun thing to do with one of my cousins. We both enjoyed the scent of the herbs and spices emanating from the crackers. :) Hannah's caramelized Onion Dip is BEYOND AMAZING! Everyone who tried some enjoyed it! I highly recommend it!

Spanakopita from VWAV

Roasted vegan curry half chicken
I found this at the health food store where I (sadly) could not find a tofurky roast. It was pretty good!

Close-up of the "drumstick"

Apple Pie
I've had this crazy insatiable craving for apple pie, so Thanksgiving was the perfect excuse!

Pumpkin Pie
Yummers is all I've got to say :)
Apple Tart
I love making apple tarts for their simplicity!!!

I'd say Thanksgiving was a success! My family and family friends all enjoyed the veg food and were quite amused to know that the dip, the pumpkin pie, and the spanakopita all had tofu! They were all open minded (with the exception of my brother lol...) and all had a great time.

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for...........

2008-11-26T11:02:00.000-08:00

...so many things that it's crazy. I will typically limit my posts to food, but I felt like I wanted to make a short, condensed list of some of the things that I am grateful for. So without further ado; the list:

I am thankful for....

...my Savior. I know it's a controversial topic, but it's part of who I am, so I won't be apologizing. Because of my relationship with Him, my life is completely whole and improved. I couldn't begin to tell you how wonderful a life with Christ is. :)

I am thankful for....

.... the Christmas season! I love everything Christmas-y, from the music to decorations to food to family gatherings to snow to Christmas break to everything in between. ^_^

I am thankful for....

.....mis perros. Tengo dos chihuahuas! Okay, my non-Spanish speaking amigos, these are my two longhaired chihuahuas! They are from the same litter; in fact they were the only two born in to their parents :)The one on the left is a girl and the one on the right is a boy. Carmel's the girl and Cookie's the boy ^_^

I am thankful for....

....my friends :) We talk about pretty much everything together. Life has dealt each of us some pretty hard blows, but through them all, we have grown stronger.

I am thankful for....

....my family! I love my Dad, my Mom, and (as you all know very well ;] ) my brother. They are my support pillar. My dad is great at cooking, my mom is great at being my friend, and my brother is someone who I can talk to pretty much any time.

I am thankful for....

And last but not least, I am thankful for all of you, blog friends!!!! I love reading each and every one of your comments. Receiving blog awards and being tagged is so much fun :D It encourages me a great deal and excites me also! So thanks to you all!

If you read my blog or have just randomly stopped by, could you leave me a comment? I'd love to visit all of your guys' blogs and add y'all to my blogroll! Thanks a bunch!!

Baking with Brother - Episode 1 - Bagels

2008-11-23T20:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not commenting on all of your blogs! School has been pretty busy. I'll find time to catch up this week though, hopefully!

It all started last week when my brother randomly flipped through a Jewish cookbook and said, "Let's make bagels!" Seeing as how I had nothing better to do, I agreed, and bagels it was!

The venerable bags of flour:

My brother is VERY meticulous when it comes to measurements-- something I'm not! He was incredibly precise in all of the weights and such haha :D

INTENSE.

Need to knead!

"Behold, I present to thee bagel dough. Or a dinosaur egg."

"...or perhaps..."

".... Mr. Doughface!"

Bagels!

After water bath, after dipping in toppings; before baking.....

Tada! Done!

Lovely, lovely, lovely(I know, they aren't perfectly shaped. But hey, there's always next time!) :D These were great with tofutti and pumpkin butter (spread on the non-everything bagels) and chipotle hummus on the everything bagels.

Be looking forward to future installments of [veg] baking with [omni] brother!

Tester!!! Cherry Macaroon Tarts!!!

2008-11-15T20:17:00.001-08:00

Second tester recipe for Hannah Kaminsky's upcoming book is cherry macaroon tarts! I made the recipe same as everyone else except for the fact that I used mini tart pans 'cause that's how I roll. And I also couldn't help but garnish them with drizzled chocolate and slivered almonds. ^_^

Close up:

Look; it's disappearing!!! haha

Oh and I've been tagged too by Becca of A vegan with a reason blog! So anyhoo if you want to know-- here's seven random facts:

1. I'm a Taiwanican!! hahaha. Taiwanese descent+American citizenship= Taiwanican.
2. One of my MAJOR pet peeves is when people ask me what I'm eating and then proceed to say in an obnoxiously ignorant tone, "GROSS!!!"
3. I'm too old for my age.
4. I'm too fat for my size.
5. I have played violin since I was 6.
6. I have played piano since I was 5-6.
7. Tofufreak is one word, please. If and when you do add my to your blogrolls, could you list me as either In the kitchen of a tofufreak or tofufreak? Thank ya much :D

oh and I'm too lazy to tag anyone. Look-- a bonus factoid! you lucky bums :P

Bakery Bread Brings Bunches of Bliss!

2008-11-10T16:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the super long hiatus! Life has been pretty crazy around here! Buuuut looky what I made! Lots of Chinese bakery-style breads!!! These were all made for a bake sale at my church. They were the fastest selling items!

If you remember from a while back, I started a tutorial on how to make this bread which is none other than my favorite-- red bean!! :D (I will finish that tutorial... eventually..)

For the very first time, I made taro bread! The kind of taro used for sweets turns this lovely shade of purple when cooked and sweetened. The taste is mildly sweet with floral undertones. This is a traditional kind enjoyed greatly by many of my Asian friends and their parents :) Yum!

This is another one of my favorites! The filling for this one was a coconut cream made with toasted coconut, sugar, and EB. Each loaf was garnished with an almond sliver. Mmm.. These had a great toasty, nutty sweet flavor.

Blurry shot of the bread at the bake sale. Anyone up for some carbs?

My Sort of Pumpkin Patch.....

2008-10-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin pumpkin round and fat.
Turn into a jack-o'Lantern
Just like that!

Once upon a time, Tofufreak was a young, happy pumpkin shaped child. As seen in this picture, she was happiest among her kind.....

JUST KIDDING!! (well, I may still be pumpkin-shaped, but that's an entirely different story haha)

But really, I DO love pumpkins and all things pumpkin-y and fall-ish. See? Look!

....and Tito loves them too ;D I'm not quite sure if he's guarding them or contemplating their consumption haha :)

Yoho, yoho, a pirate's life for meeeeeeeee.

2008-10-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

That's the line that I thought of when I saw the first tester recipe for Hannah Kaminsky's new dessert book. Haha. Anyways, if you haven't already seen from other blogs, the first tester recipe was...... Rum Raisin Fudge Brownies!!!

They have sort of a cinnamon-y taste, and the flavors are impeccable. I made both variations (one with raisins, one with chocolate chips)

Here is the raisin-ed version:

Close-up of the raisin (original) recipe:

Here is the chocolate chip variation!

Close up shot!!!! Check out the chocolate chips!

Doesn't that make you drool?! :D

Musings from the Spanish room.....

2008-10-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

Out of the goodness of my heart, I made some goodies for classmates! Here we have:

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Scones!

Buttercream-frosted, Sprinkle-d Butterscotch Bars!

Buttercream-frosted, chocolate chip-ed Butterscotch Bars!

Doesn't that look great? Unfortunately, a very rude guest interfered.

Meet Tito, the [very greedy] chihuahua.

Tito quiere los dulces de los estudiantes!

Look! Tito quiere los postres tambien!

No, Tito! Those have chocolate!!!!

What?! You want a sprinkle-d butterscotch bar?

Uhh........ Okay. Fine! You win this time, Tito.

I AM TITO; HEAR ME.... squeak?

And the answer to life is......

2008-10-18T18:13:00.000-07:00

42!!!

So if any of you have seen Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you will know that the answer to life is 42!!! haha. "So what does that have to do with anything?" you ask. Well friends, this is my 42nd post! Yay! haha. This would also be my excuse for not posting yesterday. I was about to post about some treats that I had brought to school yesterday when I realized that this was THE most important-once-in-a-lifetime post! So what did I do for my 42nd post?

I MADE 42 MARGARITA CUPCAKES!!!!

The recipe is a slightly modified version of the one from VCTOTW (I used some coconut essence oil for flavoring).

Here they are, cooling.

Frosted with lime coconut cream and lightly dusted with green sugar:

I also managed to get margarita candles (these were for my mom's birthday, which happens to be today!), thus making these cupcakes super extra special!

Needless to say, these were some pretty HOT cupcakes :D

P.S. Congratulations to everyone who guessed TOFU on the last post! The hint was in the title; I am TOFUfreak, therefore my meme would include TOFU. haha. If you happen to read this and have a food related blog title, I tag YOU! to do a picture meme! Go!

My sort of meme...

2008-10-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Guess what this is!

Tell me what it is, and your favorite way to eat it!

P.S. Homecoming pics are currently MIA sadly =(

Cupcakelets!

2008-10-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

Going along with the school spirit theme, I made Cupcakelets with school color frosting! THESE ARE SO EXTREMELY RICH, FUDGY, AND DECADENT.

Vanilla Cupcakelets!

Chocolate Cupcakelets!

Woohoo! Go DC!

P.S. Sorry I've been neglecting MoFo so much. I have a good excuse/reason: HOMECOMING!!! I'm still debating whether or not I should post photos though since I have another one in 2 weeks. Anyone have a say?

Oops. I did it again.

2008-10-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

Made whoopie pies(!), that is. It was Spirit Week at school this week due to homecoming, so there were a lot of class activities and competitions; one of which was a class video. To thank all those who helped out in our class video, I made whoopie pies!!! hehehe.

Starting off with.......

Traditional whoopie pies! This comes exactly from My Sweet Vegan by Hannah Kaminsky.

Strawberry Chocolate Whoopie Pies! With strawberry buttercream! These were fun, expecially since the strawberries actually turned the frosting pink, rather than food coloring!

Mmmmint Chocolate Whoopie Pies! (yum! These were my personal favorite. they sort of reminded me of the one I got from Pattycake way back when.)

aaaand DOUBLE CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES!!!! WHOOPEEE!!!!

Oh boy. Sugar coma :D

Black Forest Cake-- Revisited

2008-10-07T02:19:00.000-07:00

Perhaps, if you have been around long enough, you remember my post on Black Forest Cake. This past weekend, I was uber bored, and decided to make a cake. Unfortunately, it turned out really bad, so I will spare you the pictures and just give you the side glimpse.

Eeeech... Sorry!

Summer? verano? Shia Tien?

2008-10-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

I love fall and all things harvest-y, but once in a while, some things show up around my kitchen (pineapple!!!) that remind me of great meals eaten in the summer.

What do all of these things have in common?

They make a great marinade for tofu steaks! and cubes! and anything else you like! Yes, friends, this is my omni-converting grilled Pineapple Teriyaki Tofu. YUM!

I've gotten several comments concerning recipes, so here is my proposition: I post all recipes after MoFo so that I can have enough time to properly perfect everything to my liking. Does that sound good to everyone? Is it fair?

D'oh! I'm late. Nuts!

2008-10-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

Soooo I decided last minute to join everyone else in Vegan Month of Food. Yes, I am a procrastinator. But hey, better late than never, no?

Besides, I'm sure you'll forgive me after this post anyways :D

TaDa! This is what days off of school call for! Parties at friends houses and from-scratch vegan doughnuts! Here are all 5 kinds together:

Chocolate Cake-y Doughnut Holes with Chocolate Ganache

Nutmeg-Spice yeast-raised Doughnut Holes

Plain Jane yeast-raised Doughnuts

Sugar-n-Spice yeast-raised Doughnuts

(My beloved) Maple Glazed yeast-raised Doughnuts

Powdered Sugar-ed yeast-raised Doughnuts

Am I forgiven?

Happy Vegetarian Day!

2008-10-01T19:23:00.001-07:00

Nothing much to post about today.
Just wanted to say Happy Vegetarian Day!
Today I packed hummus; drool as you may!

Haha, enough with the rhyming. Today's lunch was uber delicious and inspired by an omni-friend!!! It all started in geometry class when we randomly were having a discussion on good potluck foods (we had a party for getting all A's on our tests). At the mention of "hummus," a loud groan and a "YUCK!" immediately ensued. (This was also the same omni friend who curiously and dubiously tried my pineapple teriyaki tofu, much to my [and later, her] delight).

Determined to change her mind, I set about making hummus for the first time. Version 1.0 was a sun-dried tomato basil hummus. Yummus! She really took to that one, though I thought that Trader Joe's version of that flavor was better. (This was on Tuesday)

Surprise of surprises! She knew about nat'l vegetarian day (!) and even asked me to bring her more hummus for lunch! So last night I set about making version 2.0 : Chipotle Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (also Trader-Joe inspired). This one, I am proud to say, turned out exactly like the one at Trader Joe's!!!

Not Pictured (regretfully): Mint Chocolate Whoopie Pies, Cherry Chocolate Whoopie Pies, Vanilla Whoopies, and Double Chocolate Whoopie Pies.

Spread the [VEG] love!

Edit: I will be MoFo-ing this year, but will most likely post every other day at most.

Mooncakes Part II

2008-09-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has taken me this long to post! I have lots and lots of things to post about, but I felt like I owed it to you guys to finish up one project before starting another, so without further ado, I present to you Mooncakes part II

Using a bench scraper or something else of the like, divide your dough into rough 1 1/2 to 2 T increments. (using a half recipe, I got about 8)

Flatten your piece of dough into a rough circle-esque shape. It's okay if it's oblong.

Place about 1 Tablespoon of your preferred filling of choice on the flattened dough. (I used a homemade pineapple as well as adzuki bean filling) Roll into a ball to get....

.......Ta Da! Dough balls!

Flour your molds!

Dust with dough/filling balls with flour before pressing into floured molds. Here's the fun part! Ready, set, BANG!

Twice on the side.....
......aaand once on the top.

Brush any excess flour off the tops of your mooncakes with a pastry or silicon brush.

And voila! They are (almost!) ready to bake. "But wait!" you say. "I have no specialty wooden molds from Asia!" Not to worry friends.....

.....Behold! I give you the cookie cutter. It may be a bit of a hassle finding a set of cookie cutters that are congruent in size though (since you do have to bake these in their molds). If you really don't want to buy that many cookie cutters, then I'm sure you could just press them in shape before freezing (to retain shape) and baking.

Anyways, place a dough ball inside your cookie cutter.

Press! (make sure you fill all the corners if using square ones)

Brush the non cookie cutter ones with soymilk(preferably sweetened) for a better sheen.

THIS IS A CRUCIAL STEP!!!
REFRIGERATE THESE WHILE YOUR OVEN IS PREHEATING!!! I really can't overstress this, because no refrigeration causes the mooncakes to deform while baking.

SO, preheat your oven to 375 degrees and REFRIGERATE YOUR MOONCAKES!

When your oven has preheated, bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and flip the cookie cutter ones over and bake for another 3 or so minutes until nice and golden.

Remove to a rack and let them cool.

....and in true Asian fashion, package them up nicely to give away! (or if you're like me, pick the ugliest one and eat it!)

I challenge YOU to make these! Go on, my Asian food loving friends!

Lunar Festival= Mooncakes! (Recipe Part I)

2008-09-18T16:41:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the actual day of celebration for the Mid-Autumn or Moon Festival, but our town had a major power outage due to the hurricane or something, so celebration was postponed partly because of no light and partly because you simply couldn't see the moon (which is pretty much the whole point of the Moon Festival)!

Anyways, I had the honor of going to our local public school to teach the Chinese Club how to make mooncakes! Of course, I made some at home beforehand so that I would get to eat some before all of the ravaging teenagers finished them off haha.

Here are some of the ones made at the high school:

These are the molds I used for making the mooncakes. Flour them lightly, fill them with your dough-filling package and tap twice on the side and once on the front.

Here's a peek inside of mine (pineapple and sweetened mung bean fillings)!

Now, recipe time!

Vegan Mooncakes
12 1/2 - 13 T EB (in stick form, slightly softened)
2/3 C vegan powdered sugar (sifted)
2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 c plus 1 T Vanilla pudding powder (such as Simply Organics)
1 T Soymilk powder, plain (if you have the sweetened variety, sift out the sugar)
1 Ener-g egg or 3-4 T soy yogurt

Cream the EB and sugar until light and (surprise!) creamy, 2-3 minutes.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, pudding powder, and soymilk powder.
Gradually beat the flour mixture into the EB mixture in several additions. (It won't be completely compact; don't worry; it's normal for the dough to look crumbly)
Stir in your egg replacer of choice.
Knead it lightly until it comes together.
Flour lightly, wrap and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

Seven years have gone so fast.....

2008-09-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

......wake me up when September ends*. That's sort of how I felt this morning upon rolling out of bed.

Seven years ago, I was about 7 years old. At the age of 7, my young mind couldn't comprehend what was happening that fateful day. Now, as I look back in retrospect, I see that such grief is a hard thing for a country to bear, much less the individual citizens of America. God Bless the Red, White, and Blue! (with cupcakes, of course)

*it's a Green Day song that used to be popular, in case you were wondering where I got such a random quote.

Where were you on September 11th, 2001?

My Vegan Lunch Box: Stephanie's Sweet and Savory Sandwiches!

2008-09-08T16:21:00.001-07:00

In light of the new vegan lunch box book coming out, I decided to make a special lunch post! Here is my lunch box:

Heart shaped PB&J!! It doesn't get any simpler or better than this! Ezekiel bread, peanut butter, and homemade blueberry cinnamon agave preserves!

Star sandwich!! Brown rice "buns" with a filling of chinese vegetarian protein otherwise known in Chinese as "su song (with a long o)" and vegenaise wrapped in the sesame soy wrapper.

Mexi-rolls! Whole wheat tortilla encasing roasted butternut squash, avocado, roasted red peppers, homemade cashew chipotle cheddar cheese, and pureed black beans.

Sushi! This was a brown rice, tempura tempeh, roasted butternut squash, and avocado wrapped in nori type of maki. yummy :)

What's a meal without dessert? This is an American take on Dorayaki which is sort of like whoopie pies. Here I have whole wheat chocolate chip cakes with raspberry coconut creme. yummy!

Here's everybody all together!

Can you say YUM!?!

D'OH....... NUTS! and wedding cake! and cookies!

2008-09-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Sooo, what have I been doing over Labor Day weekend? Laboring of course! If you consider baking laboring, that is. Wellllll, I painted too.

My friend came from Boston this weekend for a wedding, and we have this tradition of making oatmeal raisin cookies together, so I brought my ingredients over to her house and we had a blast! (She had already changed out of her clothes by the time we got to her house)

This was the weirdest thing ever! You see the little black curly things? Well, the parchment paper actually burnt off! It was really weird! Oh well. The cookies were good, and that's all that matters.

For fun, I decided to make yeast doughnuts! There are always Krispy Kremes at Sunday School, so I wanted to make my own vegan renditions.

These are my rendition of a Krispy Kreme. Plain ol' vanilla glazed. PURE SUGAR!! and fat, too. yummmm.

Maple donuts!!! These were my personal favorite. I've loved maple donuts all my life, but I didn't know that they were maple until I made the glaze for these! I opened the bottle of maple extract and thought, "This smells familiar!" And so through my scental de ja vu, I rediscovered my old friend. :)

Here they are together. So happy together..... (they can't see each other lovin' nobody but... ok. nevermind)

Happy Heart Donuts! These I coated with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. These were my mom's favorite because they weren't too sweet.

My brother had a "singles" party this past weekend (lol) so I made them a [vegan] wedding cake so that they wouldn't go through life not even having ONE wedding cake to call their own. I know, I'm so thoughtful :) haha

Can you see why I've gained several inches all around in this past weekend? haha

Veg Hawai'i: Part III of III: Tofufreak eats KAUA'I!!!!!

2008-09-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well people, it's now the very last installment of my trip. Thanks for reading about my travels! Enjoy!

Friends, you are looking at heaven on a plate. Pan fried cheese-free risotto cakes with grilled asparagus and balsamic reduction with a drizzle of basil oil and fresh salsa!!! This was REALLY SUPER GOOD. This was probably one of the best meals that I had on all three islands.

On our last morning, I went to the Lotus Root (albeit a little bit ruefully; I was unable to make it to the Blossoming Lotus :'( ) . I got a breakfast burrito that had scrambled tofu, YUMMY seasoned potatoes, black beans, and salsa. What I really loved about the LR was the fact that they had NOOCH IN A SHAKER !!!!!! That was really exciting ;)

LOOKIE WHAT I GOT!!!!!!

RAW COCONUT FUDGE!!!! OH. MY. GOODNESS. Words cannot describe this at all. It was super rich (this was only a half-piece) . Chocolate, Coconut, (and some kind of nut that I can't remember, for the life of me) . I would go back for THIS piece of fudge. Really. Really. Good.

Brownie!!! How good does this look?!?!?! Unfortunately, that's about as good as it gets. It was moist; yes, but other than that, it lacked chocolate-ness, despite it's color and abundance of chocolate chips. :(

Mint Chocolate Cookies!!! I was a little apprehensive of these at first (I mean, mint and chocolate; sure, but mint, chocolate, and OATS?!) Needless to say(hehe I broke off a corner; couldn't resist!), they were VERY extraordinarily scrumptious!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Blondies!!! GAHHH!!! These were the best things that I bought!!!! SOOO yummy. Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Choco-Macadamia Nut- Coconut Cookie!!!!! This one was particularly rich, toothsome, and textured.

Can you see why I was in a sugar coma for about a week? lol.

For lunch on the way back home, I had a tuna-free tempeh wrap that I bought at the Lotus Root. It was light and refreshingly good, especially when compared to the EXTREMELY oily airport chinese food that everyone else was having.

Thus ends my journey to the lovely islands of Hawai'i. Hope you enjoyed!

Veg Hawai'i: Part II of III: Tofufreak eats O'ahu

2008-08-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for so few pics on this island; I got lazy :P Plus, many times, my food was narrowed down to boring choices like the ubiquitous BOCA burger or (even a veggie sandwich that was just lettuce, ketchup, mustard, and onions on a bun!!!! gahhhh!) and things of that nature, so I just took whatever pics I could.

Check out this hilarious pic my brother got! It looks like their spirits are coming out, lol!

Gasp! The horrors!!

We spent a lot of time driving around, so lots of times, we had snacks on the car to satiate our hunger after the activity(ies) of the day. I used to love eating puffcorns or whatever those puffy popcorn-esque snacks are called, so I was pretty excited upon eating Veggie Booty. It is really quite delicious! It's made with spinach and kale too so that's a plus! ^_^ AND........I finally got to try Tofurky and Soy jerkies! Tofurky is DEFINITELY the better choice, as soy jerky has a weird aftertaste. I also bought some roasted edamame, 'cause that stuff is just SO GOOD. Yeah, if you haven't tried it before, I highly recommend you go and try that NOW!!!

This was a bamboo roll at some random Japanese place that we went to. It was pretty good, consisting of avocado, cucumbers, assorted roasted Japanese veggies, nori, and some other stuff wrapped up in the ever-so-chic soy wrappers that seem to be all the rage now.

You might be wondering, "Tofufreak, what IS that?!" Perhaps you remember my last post in which I spoke of the ramen-type noodles. This was a different flavor, made in the coffee pot on our last morning in O'ahu (clever, I know ^_^) This version has dried chinese mustard greens with dehydrated seitan that rehydrated once the water was added! hehe; it was very exciting!

Check out that fruit! I love Hawai'i for this reason. The pink glass in the back is ..... FRESH GUAVA JUICE! It is so amazingly good and difficult to describe. This was my breakfast everyday at the hotel we stayed at. Called "the healthy" breakfast, this plate of fruit+juice cost...... $17. Seriously. It actually would have been cheaper to go out and buy the fruit and juice, but oh well.
Sorry for the shortage of pics! Kaua'i has the Lotus Root pics which will make up for these!

Veg Hawaii: Part I of III: Tofufreak eats the Big Island

2008-08-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

Because my family went to three islands, I will do 3 separate posts on our travels/eats. Hope you guys enjoy!

Here is a picture depicting the pre-trip excitement that my brother and I both shared! haha. This was taken on the airplane on the way to Honolulu.

Au Bon Pain Mediterranean wrap, (I believe) no feta, please! Oh, and a bag of potato chips too. Nummy. There was some kind of hummus and sundried tomato spread or maybe it was a roasted red pepper spread or something. I don't know. At any rate, it was pretty good! (Dallas/FW Airport)
Lookie what I found at the airport store! ABC Company's Vegan cookies! I was super excited and wanted to buy one of each flavor, but I restrained myself and limited my selection down to this lemon poppyseed cookie. It was really really good! Too bad I can't seem to find them anywhere else other than the Health Food Store.

Pickup dinner that I ate around 10 PM upon arrival in Hawaii. Cold noodles and veggies with sauce. Good portions, good price, can't recall the place.

This is my first lunch on the Big Island. Pretty boring. Inari sushi with a seaweed salad. We bought this from a Foodland or something like that.

For our official dinner on the Big Island, we went to Huggo's. I can't remember what this was called, but it was just ok. It consisted of grilled onions, portobello mushroon, asparagus, a black bean and corn salsa stuffed tomato, and a wild rice pilaf with a balsamic reduction. Meh-ish. The view was really lovely though.

Since we lived in a condo, we were able to store things in the fridge and cook! We took advantage of that on several occasions for breakfast. Here are examples of what I had for brekky:

This was basically my breakfast most mornings on the Big Island. Plain, but good. Plus, it was lower in calories so that I could indulge later in the day!

Apparently my uncle rarely cooks, so this noodle soup was an extra special soup! My relatives brought Ramen-type noodles from Taiwan. They are completely vegan, not fried, contain no MSG, and are perfectly delicious! We added tofu blocks and bean sprouts. Mmmm!

One thing that I loved about Hawaii was the fresh fruit. It was all so good! This is (very) fresh papaya. SO DELISH(with lemon squeezed on top)!

After going hiking (I think) we stopped by Hilo to find lunch. I can't believe we came across this place by chance! This is probably the best place on the Big Island. I loved and will love Abundant Life Natural Foods for the rest of my life.

This cookie that you see here is undeniably one of the best cookies in the world! I kid you not! I literally would go back to the Big Island just to get this cookie! It was soft, moist, nutty, oaty, chewy, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar free, and YUMMY! yea. sigh... Oh yeah, the shake in the back is a carob shake. (I though of VeggieGirl when ordering) :)

This is the grilled tofu salad of some sort. I believe my uncle got it? I don't know. At any rate, it was good.

My parents ordered this East Meets West Sandwich, which consisted of tofu, sprouts, vegenaise, and some other stuff. My mom liked the tofu lots. :)

I ordered the ginger tempeh burger. This, to date, is probably THE best burger I have ever had. Really good.

On our last night, we went to Sansei Sushi. They have some veggie options, as well as karaoke, if you're interested in such things. Here's what I had:

Blah. Miso soup. Pretty Average.

HAHAHA! This cracked me up so much! My relatives are Buddhist vegetarian, so they don't eat onions/garlic/green onions. Apparently that's all this dish had on top, so they brought out a block of pure, unadulterated, naked tofu!

I finally had a chance to try natto! I thought of Kamutflake girl when I was ordering this natto maki. :) I forget what the other roll was. In the back is some veggie tempura.

This is the grilled veggie roll with grilled squash, carrots, zucchini, and shiitake mushrooms.

These were the cups that they used for tea. The same advice was printed on the back in Kanji Japanese/Chinese. Clever, no?

And here I shall leave you with these words of wisdom. Tune in next time for eats on Oahu!

Hale, Sweet Hale! Home, Sweet Home!

2008-08-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Yes I am finally back! I'm sorry to announce, however, that due to impending projects due at school (i know! it's crazy! i had one day of recovery from the 6 hour time difference and then school started!) I must take a temporary leave. I couldn't leave you without anything, so I decided to let you see the awesome drinks my family members and I got. I don't think all of them were vegan (some had cream, I think). I had a virgin ambrosia (2nd drink). Anyhoo, I'll get around to posting all about my trip ASAP (hopefully on saturday. I have a LOT of catching up on your blogs to do). See you all again soon!

Not here. Just kidding! But seriously.

2008-08-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

I had a (vegan) luau party last night, and so I absolutely had to post the pics before I left! Here we are, the fab (albeit blurry) four.

We had so much food, it was crazy. All of it was awesome though. ^_^

For dinner, we barbecued skewers. They were really good, and we all had fun stabbing veggies and tofu and chickenless strips onto them poles (can't you tell it's summer by my use of horrible english? haha).

BEFORE DINNER! This was an everything skewer. On it were zucchini, summer squash, teriyaki marinated chicken-less strips(haha, tricked the omni's with this one!) and tofu, mushrooms, and pineapple.
Oh-so-good.

I loved the tofu the way that it was marinated (random teriyaki sauce that I made with pineapple, soy sauce, brown sugar, mirin, chili, garlic, and a splash of water)! It was really, really good. In fact, when we were skewering, my VERY omni-friend said "I'll try some tofu..." (with certain hesitancy), but then after she took a bite, I asked her if she liked tofu, to which she replied, "I like tofu the way YOU make it." (*claps and cheers in her head*) Hey, I'm not tofufreak for no reason. ^_^

AFTER DINNER! haha, actually this was before I REALLY finished eating. In this picture, there are only 5 skewers. But by the time ACTUALLY finished, there were more like 8. haha.

Guess who made vegan ice cream and vegan pizzelle cookies-turned-ice cream cones! That's right! ME! ohhhhh yum! The ice cream (from V'con) flavors were chocolate and vanilla bean(I used vanilla paste so you could actually see the specks of seeds, though the picture doesn't quite show it). But anyways, both flavors are quite delicious. I think my favorite is the vanilla, though, because the chocolate used melted chocolate which didn't quite blend right which resulted in a slightly less creamy chocolate-flecked ice cream. Next time, I'll probably end up using cocoa instead of melted chocolate.

For breakfast, I made brownie waffles from V'con and also Hello Kitty waffles (from VWAV)!

These are the brownie ones, in case you couldn't tell. ;)

Meet My Melody, Hello Kitty's bunny friend. Aww, so cute!

Hello, Kitty! Hello Kitty! Here she is, in all of her waffle-y, carb-y glory.

Aren't they so cute? These are the teddy bear ones. I have no idea what his name is, although I have a feeling that I used too.

Okay, this really will be my last post until I get back from Hawaii. So for real this time, see you in two weeks!

I'm a carbie girl, in a carbie world: scallion pancakes, Pattycake Bakery, and homemade danishes!

2008-08-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

In preparation for my trip to Hawaii, let me show you all the foods I have been eating to help me look my best(drumroll please!):

Inspired by the King Arthur Flour blog, I followed their basic guidelines and made some of the yummiest scallion pancakes!

Guess who went to Pattycake Vegan Bakery!!! ME!!! I bought a snickerdoodle(ginormous), an everything oatmeal (also ginormous), and a mint chocolate whoopie pie! They were super good, especially the whoopie pie which was extremely moist.

I recently made my first laminated doughs, which magically (ha! yeah right) turned into awesomely delicious pastries for my ever expanding waist line and thighs and abdominals and.. well you get the point. They were fattening, and therefore; delicious.

This was the first version that I made; blueberry lemon. Like the pinwheel shape?

These are the almond pastries. The filling was an almond cream made with chopped almonds. Yum!

Acchhh! This is so not helping me get ready for my vacation (I mean,think of all the things that I haven't posted i.e. those secret chocolate chip cookies at midnight *ahem*), but whatever. See you all in two weeks!

Beans, beans. Not really magical. Not really a fruit. But tasty, nonetheless.

2008-07-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

I confess. I have a slight obsession with sweetened beans.

Mung beans are closely related to adzuki beans, I think. If not, they taste like it. They also resemble each other, so yea, I think they're probably related.

Here, I used mung beans to make a cold mung bean soup. It sounds incredibly odd, but it is a traditional dessert typically made and eaten during the summer months due to its refreshing qualities. It is also said to heal acne and bring down fevers and such.

Here are the beans before cooking.

After cooking and such, here is your final product! Simple and divine.

So go try it! Now!

3 cups mung beans
3 cups water

1 3/4-2 cups water
1 cup sugar (brown is preferred)

Cover the mung beans with water (at least one inch above) and soak overnight. Pour off the soaking water and add 3 cups of new water. Cook over med-high heat until the beans are tender.

In a separate pot, combine the water and sugar over med-low heat, stirring until dissolved. Once it has dissolved, set it aside.

Combine the sugar water and the beans and stir until homogeneous. Refrigerate and serve when icy cold. yum!

Mini vacation- and first farmer's market!

2008-07-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

We went to Columbus (OH) this past weekend to send my brother off to an international leadership camp sort of thing in D.C., spend some time with my dad who was taking seminary classes there, and celebrate my parents' 24th anniversary. While we were there, my dad suggested that we go to a Japanese restaurant. Apparently, it's the oldest Japanese restaurant in Columbus. It's located in an old building and honestly doesn't look like much. The food is better than it's environment, I believe. Here is the vegetarian delight from Otani.
While looking up veg-friendly places on vegohio.com, I came across the North Market. It seemed intriguing enough, so I decided that, if we had enough time, I would try to convince my mom to make a stop. Fortunately, we did, and with our handy dandy GPS, we made it!

This was the first time that I had ever seen a lavender eggplant, so for novelty's sake, I had to buy some. Ironically, I never really liked eggplant until yesterday. Perhaps it's because the last time I had it, I was an ignorant 6 year old omni saying "yuck" to every vegetable alive. Oh, how I've spent these past 8 years in depravity! Not really, but you get my point. I like eggplant.

Awesome looking okra, no? Having never really liked the way okra looks in my grocery store(brown and shriveled-ish), I was rather excited when my mom picked up these fellas at a stand. Unfortunately, when we cooked them, we found that the outside was much too hard, almost woodsy, to eat. boohoo. So anyways, we all had a great time on our mini vacation, and I had a fabulous weekend of mom-daughter time.

P.S. On a vacation related note, does anyone know of any good vegan/vegan-friendly restaurants in Hawaii? We will be leaving soon, and I am super excited! I have found a couple already; the Blossoming Lotus for one, but other than that, I haven't. Any suggestions? We will be going to all islands sans Maui .

Method to the Madness: How to make Taiwanese Bread, part one

2008-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

*I must say something about the filling of this bread. Though it may sound slightly repulsive, it really is quite sumptuous. If you can find a high quality brand at your local asian grocery, it will be well worth it. The taste? Sweet, smooth, and delectable; and if you're making it yourself (using brown sugar), there are caramel-y undertones. yum! Anyways, onto the directions.

While I haven't quite perfected the dough recipe to my liking, I thought that I would post pictures of several of the steps. Sorry about some missing pictures; my friend was helping me with the shots and several were too blurry to be used. Now, without further ado (please excuse the name; it really is much better than it sounds).....

Taiwanese Red Bean Bread
What you need:
vegan sweet yeast dough
preferred filling of choice (sweetened adzuki bean paste)
sesame seeds

Roll out a slightly-smaller-than-a-tennis-ball size of dough into a circle. Dollop on about 1-2 tablespoons of your preferred filling. (Traditionally, this is filled with sweet red bean[adzuki] paste which can be found at an asian grocery. If you either don't like it or can't find it, you could also try some not-ella or something like that.)

Enclose the filling in the dough and then form it into a ball.

Roll each dough "ball" into an oval shape.

Run a pizza cutter or sharp knife through the dough, making 3 slashes. Don't cut through the ends; the dough should still be connected.

Twist with your fingers and sort of tuck it in a coil shape. Sprinkle with sesame and let rise. After letting it rise for an hour, bake in a 375 oven for about 15-20 minutes.

..... and voila! Here is your finished product!

Lions-Head Cabbage Rolls. Really. They. Are. Good. RAWR! haha

2008-07-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I felt like splurging. I typically try to avoid processed, prepared foods, but today was a binge day. woohoo! so yea. I decided to go with Gimme Lean! ground round (beef style). At first, my dad was like, "Hmm.... will you make me my own with real meat?" Fortunately, I couldn't have anyways, seeing as how we were short on cabbage.

So where did I get this wacky idea? Mi Abuelo. Wo de Ah Gong. My Grandpa. You see, this used to be one of those foods that he would always make when we visited him. They are typically superhuge meat balls, hence the name "lions head" or "se tze to." So I did my own take on this traditional family classic and voila! here we are.....

Here we have our ingredients: napa cabbage, rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, green onions, water chestnuts and Gimme Lean! beef style ground round. Not pictured: soy sauce, sesame oil, white pepper. Those little "meat" balls were made out of leftover roll filling.

Add the lion's heads and lion head rolls into the veggie stock/soy sauce/mirin/sesame oil mixture and cover.

Here we are, simmering for about 20 ish minutes.

TaDa! the final product. (i know, i said better pictures, but i was hungry!)

So on an unrelated note, I am still testing the recipe for the Taiwanese bread in case you were wondering about that. I'll get around to posting sometime in the near future. So stay tuned!

My Resolutions....

2008-07-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Okay. I have some new half-year resolutions. (i know, the second half of this year has already started, but oh well. better late than never!)

1. i resolve to take better pictures!
2. i resolve not to blog so infrequently!
3. yea, that's about it.....

so here we go! onto the food......

.......not bad ehh?

1. almond raspberry tarts
2. raspberry pecan rugelach
3. taiwanese bread (hong do mien bao)
4. chocolate cheEZcakes hehe

so what do YOU think?

Finally! A recipe!

2008-06-10T05:21:00.000-07:00

I love summer! any guesses why? Well, i get to sleep in till 630, eat gimme lean hot dogs, bake me some fries, and NOT GO TO SCHOOL! haha. yep, i loves summer.
Here we have some of the ingredients for a Chinese sticky rice dish. On the far left are rehydrated shittake mushrooms. In the middle bowl is a pile of fried onion and garlic. Underneath it is some sliced ginger. To the far right, we have some TVP strips that we bought at a Buddhist vegetarian store in Taiwan. I tell you, that place has SO MUCH STUFF!!!!! It really is a vegan's paradise.
Alright, anyways, here is the finished product. Yummy, no? this is topped with a sweet chili sauce and a couple of fresh sprigs of cilantro. Sometimes, it is also eaten with chopped peanuts. Whatever floats your boat, i guess.

I'm actually going to post a recipe!

Taiwanese Sticky Rice:

4 cups brown sweet rice
4 dried shittake mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced
1 Tbsp. Fried onion and garlic (optional; this can be found at asian groceries)
1/2- 3/4 c TVP strips, soy curls, or chik'n strips
1 t-T thinly sliced ginger
soy sauce
sesame oil
salt (can be omitted if you are watching your sodium intake)
1/2-1 tsp. sucanat or rock sugar
white pepper
Store bought Chili Sauce
cilantro

What to do:
1. At least 5 hours prior to mealtime, start soaking the rice. Simply place the sweet rice in a rice cooker and cover with water. At this point, the amount of water is not important, so long as the rice is covered.

2. Rehydrate the mushrooms by microwaving them in hot water for about 2-4 minutes. The water will be extremely hot, so be careful when removing the mushrooms from the water to slice thinly. Rehydrate the TVP strips by placing them in the leftover mushroom water (no need to microwave). They should be done in about 1-2 minutes.

3. Marinate the TVP strips in a simple 1:1 ratio of soy sauce and sesame oil. (2 T of each should suffice.)

4. After your rice has soaked, dump out the soaking water and replace with 4 cups of fresh water. Cook in your rice cooker.

5. When the above 4 steps are completed, and your rice is cooked, prepare your pan by pouring in about 1 T of sesame oil over med-high heat.

6. When the oil is hot, add in the ginger, garlic, and onion, being careful not to burn any of the aromatics. Add in the mushrooms and TVP strips, stirring constantly. Add in the rice at this point, making sure that the other ingredients are evenly distributed throughout the rice.

7. The rice is basically done now; add more soy sauce or salt to taste if desired. If you find that it is too salty, sprinkle on the sucanat. Sprinkle on the white pepper at the last moment.

8. In Taiwan, this dish is traditionally plated by packing cylindrical bamboo or metal containers with the rice mixture and then dumping them out on plates, as i have done above. If, however, you do not possess these containers, feel free to eat this "free form." Either way, it's delicious!

Graduation Cupcakes!

2008-05-23T13:50:00.001-07:00

Check it out! I made 100 of these for a graduation party last Saturday. The colors, though they look like blue/indigo and yellow, were actually purple and yellow. It was for the daughter of my study hall teacher haha. How much is a reasonable price? I asked for $42, but i dont know what a reasonable price really is. Anyhow, half are chocolate and half are vanilla. The frosting is tinted with some weird food coloring. Is food coloring vegan? just wondering.

randomness. but yummy randomness. ^_^

2008-05-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

I went to state science fair this past Saturday (and I got a superior woohoo!). These cookies were made for all of those from my school. Everyone loved them and I have been redubbed "best chef"! (recipe for chocolate creme pies comes from the PPK and VCTOTW)

French Toast that i made for mi madre on Mother's Day! (random recipe from vegweb)

Here is the best omelet in the world! Susan V from Fatfree Vegan's omelet recipe + FYH mozzarella and spinach :)

McDonald's Asian Chicken Salad without the chicken please! I was so excited when i found out that they give you that option! hehe. topped with mori-nu Chinese spice tofu. MMMM! haha i just realized that this is my first posting of tofu. and what a lame post. (i do eat tofu every day though, in the form of some random stir-fry at dinner XP)

Here is one of my recent lunches. Ezekiel 4:9 bread with Trader Joe's Chipotle Pepper Hummus (super yummy!) FYH mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, cucumbers (i know, they're cut funny) and spinach.

Tempeh wingz!!!! i've had this package of tempeh forever and i didn't know what to do with it until i found a recipe for tempeh wingz. and now i am hooked. ^_^ this was my first tempeh recipe (fakin bacon doesn't count) and i am LOVING TEMPEH VERY MUCH!!!!!

okay. this is a replica of the best pasta at BRAVO'S or BRIO. Penne Mediterranean without the feta cheese, please. No, no shrimp or chicken. No, no allergies. I just don't eat them. thank you. (my conversation with the befuddled waitresses haha) anyhow, it's a mixture of whole wheat penne, spinach, sundried tomatoes (love those things), and spinach. oh and pine nuts. SUPERYUM!

okay. that's all today. i just wanted to post stuff so that i can prove that i don't just eat desserts or make them; i can cook real food too! haha

Oh and by the way, Happy Early National Chocolate Chip Day! (It's tomorrow) ^_^

Happy (belated) Birthday to me! and French Baguettes!

2008-05-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Monday was my birthday, so i made Fauxstess Cupcakes from VWaV! i liked them, but i think the cupcake recipe in VCTOTW is better.

This picture was taken after i made vanilla versions of the fauxstess cupcakes. Yes, there is chocolate in the middle!

Here are the apple empanadas that i made for my spanish class' cinco de mayo fiesta. yum!

This was my second batch of baguettes after i was unsatisfied with my first batch, pictured below.

After reading the blog on baguette making at the king arthur baker's banter blog, i felt very much inspired and headed promptly to the kitchen where i made these baguettes. i think i did something wrong though, because the slashes did not open as much as i thought they would. i think that i didn't slash them deep enough but maybe not. anyone know?

what i've been up to (MORE FOOD!!!)

2008-05-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

first off! mini cupcakes! it's funny how no one gets sick of them BUT ME. yea they're good and all, but how much can u take before you break? (i guess ppl can take a lot because my friend paid me $1 per cupcake! and these are MINI cupcakes(!)

yummy vegan goldfish that i made! (recipe is from schmooed food website) hehe. they are addictive.

teddy bear cakes!!

MORE MINI CUPCAKES!!!

FRENCH APPLE TART!!!!

WHO SAID VEGANS WERE DEPRIVED?!?!?!?!?! lol

Birthday Party!!!! (which means birthday cake!!!) and other random stuff...

2008-04-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

So here is my birthday cake!!! i wanted more polka dots, but i ran out of black, so my cake looks like it has black chicken pox lol.

here it is with the candle... make a wish!

here it is cut open.

This is one of the five batches of mini cupcakes that i made this weekend. XD

and lastly i made Tiramisu cupcakes!!! in a record time (1 hr) from start to finish, scratch to fridge!

yea so after all of the cupcakes and vegetarian burritos from chipotle, i am stuffed and sick of food .... ugh. haha i will be eating less processed foods this week, thats for sure.

Super long post. Fortune Cookies, Dinners, Gluten Free Marshmallow Brownies, Earth Day (cake)!

2008-04-22T15:46:00.001-07:00

How to make fortune cookies:
1. After placing fortune in cookie, fold over.

2. Using thumb, push center of cookie inwards.

3. Voila!

Here is a very yummy meat analogue: soy chik'n. it comes in a package from the asian grocery. i guess its like bean curd thats been rolled tightly to form many layers that are meant to represent chicken meat.

YUMMY PASTA!! This was a random pasta sauce that i made with onions, tomatoes, garlic, spices, and what have you. it was really good with the simmered chickpeas.

These are gluten free marshmallow brownies! my friend's little brother is a celiac who is also allergic to eggs, nuts, and dairy products (just think, if he went vegetarian, he would automatically be vegan!) So anyways, i made him vegan gluten free brownies with a rosette of ricemellow creme on top. when i gave it to him, his eyes lit up and he was like "i've never had a real brownie before! mmmmm!" and then his friends were like "ooohh can i have some?" so he shared with his friends and then this one kid says "they're just like my mom's brownies!" i have gotten vegan foods into omni kids!!

Last, but most certainly not least is this lovely earth cake. i used a betty crocker bake and fill pan so that it would be domed. under the very super messy facade lies a white cake with a chocolate pudding filling. yumm!

HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!

Good news. Bad news. evil brother has tricked me.

2008-04-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

So here's the good news. i discovered my new favorite place in the world!!! it is called HEALTH FOODS UNLIMITED!!! i've known about for who knows how long (because of their really obnoxious commercials that i heard pre-vegan days) but yesterday was my first time in there! and now im wondering " WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?!" haha. but that's not all! they even have an organic coffee and pastries cafe in the middle of the store! WITH VEGAN PASTRIES!!! i would have totally gotten a pic except for i didn't think of bringing my camera with me. among their selections were chocolate babycakes (which were definitely not baby-sized; i would say 6 oz., vanilla babycakes, raspberry bars of some sort, and a plethora of other goodies. so yea! moving on to the bad news.....

yesterday i was enjoying my meal of vegan chili with House Tofu Shirataki Noodles when my brother, who was eating wendy's c****** nuggets says, "you know there's meat in that, right?" and i'm thinking "uhhh no there's not!" and he smiles devilishly as he says " i put a piece of c****** in there!" so i get really mad and don't eat the rest of my dinner. but don't worry! i made up the calories later when i dug into my new carton of SO DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE VELVET!!! it was pretty good.

end of vent.

MUAHAHA! evil me has tricked her brother!

2008-04-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

So this morning I woke up at 6 just because I couldn't sleep. i hate not being able to sleep later than 6. dumb biological clock. -_- oh well. I guess it's alright, because I MADE FRENCH TOAST! AND SCRAMBLED TOFU! and then i presented it on a pretty plate for my mother :) and my brother :) (my dad is out of town and out of luck hehe)

my mom didn't know that the scramble was tofu until she tasted it. haha. but i guess my brother is less of a food snob. read on.....

I waited till my brother was done eating before I asked him if there was anything wrong with breakfast. he said no. AND THEN I SAID HIS BREAKFAST WAS VEGAN!!! and he was like "so were those fake eggs?" i had to laugh before telling him to guess what it was. he couldn't tell what it was so I was kind and told him that it was tofu, to his bewilderment :)

lol. so in the tofu scramble, there were onions and tofu. i used cumin, cayenne pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary, black pepper, salt and curry powder for the seasonings (curry powder was mostly for color) . mom's breakfast included a side of fresh strawberries and soymilk. she liked it a lot as did my brother :)

Mission accomplished.

Veganized fruit tarts, Vegan baby shower, Vegan Cupcakes take over my Classmates!!

2008-04-08T15:19:00.001-07:00

Here is my fruit tart before veganism:

Here they are after! they are every bit as delicious, if not better.

Vegan rubber ducky cake for the baby shower! I used the basic vanilla cupcake recipe from VCTOTW.

My Vegan potato bread!!

These are vegan bao tze that i made. basically a steamed bun with a filling of shiitake mushrooms, rice vermicelli, green onions, bamboo, and sesame oil.

This was a really yummy salad made by the hostess. Salad greens with assorted fruits (strawberries, mandarin oranges, blackberries, etc) dressed in a light, tangy balsamic vinaigrette.

These were vegan sugar cookies, made in the form of treble clefs and eighth notes because the mommy-to-be is very musically talented (she plays harp for the local orchestra)

This is a confection made from sweet rice flour combined with sweet potato and powdered sugar, rolled into little balls, and fried. they kinda remind me of mochi.

This is the inside of a mantou that i made with the leftover bao dough. i used white whole wheat to make these.

These are mini cupcakes that i made with the leftover cake batter. my friends were like "Oh, they are sooooo gooood!! u have to make these again!! they are my favorite!!! etc." haha. then i let one of my vegetarian friends try one. she instinctively asked me "and these are vegan? wow." haha...

So i'm glad that i have one non-ignorant friend. yesterday in history class, my other friends were like "don't you need milk to survive?" or like "you're vegan?? what do you eat?" "Oh yeah, i've heard of veganism; it's really dangerous" "yea, i went vegan for a day. (what did u have?) i just had fruit and vegetables. i think i would die if i went vegan!" ARGHHHH!!!! o well. i guess i must still love them. they are my friends after all.

Oh yeah, at the baby shower, no one had negative comments about the food. in fact, i got marriage proposals! haha. only one was actually from a guy; the rest were from their parents or what have you. one lady, who has a son that is 3 years younger than me was like, "oh if only my son were older i would tell him to go after you" (creepy much?) and then this other lady, who has a son roughly 10 years older than me was like, "oh if only you were a bit older, i would tell my son to go after you. but it doesn't matter because in 10 years, age won't make a difference" (hmmmmm.. i don't even know this guy!!! T_T ) and then another lady was like "if only i had a son...... (you finish the sentence)" so yea . and then later, after i told him, my longtime friend was like "will u marry me?" so yea. all in all an interesting experience to say the least :)

Almost disaster.

2008-04-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

so yesterday i was at a friends house. and she is. so. not. vegan. or even close to being vegetarian or even pescatarian. so i was a bit worried and brought along some seitan jerky and snack bars. I DIDN'T NEED THEM!!!! YAY!!!! although i was looking forward to trying some of that LUNA bar...
o well.
so i was going to have dinner at home but then my friend calls and tells me that we are going to be eating out. (insert mild heart attack) so i got to my friend's house to have her inform me that we were going to a mongolian grill which definitely did not sound veg - friendly. so i went (what am i supposed to do?) and discovered........... TOFU!!!! and i was like MY LIFE IS SAVED!!! so yea and they even had brown rice!!! (besides tofu, my bowl also contained edamame, bean sprouts, mushrooms, onions, broccoli, green onions, garlic, jalapeños, soy sauce, and a shiitake mushroom sauce. it was better than i thought it would be.
hohum. on to the next food dilemma: breakfast. so i asked my friend what we were having for breakfast and she says bacon, eggs, milk, and fruit. AHHHHH!!!! are you kidding!!!!! so i whipped out my handy-dandy VWaV and made pancakes (fewf) . o btw do u guys find it weird that i brought soy milk in a thermos and didn't tell my friends that it was the "secret ingredient" to the pancakes? and that i had Earth Balance with me? just wondering because i felt kind of stupid getting the EB out of my bag, lol.

don't forget. tomorrow is the baby shower!

VEGANIZED POTATO BREAD!!!

2008-04-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

here we go!
before

.....AFTER!!!

appearance: i think it looks pretty similar, don't you? i know, i know. my vegan ones are whole wheat. i just can't bring myself to eat white bread when i know it could be whole wheat!

texture: both similar (from what i remember), whole wheat has the "grainy" feel (not a bad thing though! i like it)

flavor: whole wheat has "wheaty" taste but its not lacking anything.

overall: PASS!! so excited that i can make my bread and eat it too!

P.S. i'm catering for a baby shower Sunday; stay tuned! this isn't the first baby shower that i've catered for but most definitely the first vegan one!

Veganize me!

2008-03-31T13:16:00.000-07:00

Contestant #1: fruit tart
traditional pie pastry filled with custard and topped with fruits

Contestant #2: Potato Bread
adding mashed potatoes to bread will make it softer

Contestant #3: 3D Snowman Cake!
used a cake pan from Williams Sonoma for this one

Contestant #4: Black Forest Cake with raspberries instead of cherries
chocolate cake sandwiched with cream and covered in chocolate shavings

i started baking in about 4th grade (not vegan though :( ) , so i decided that i am going to go on a quest to veganize all of my past specialties (keep in mind that i am in school and only have weekends off) so i shall veganize these asap!

woohoo. hello world

2008-03-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

hmmm. so this is interesting. ive been checking out like all vegan foodie blogs and am quite fascinated. ive decided to go vegan, not like it's that much of a change for me anyways. to be ironic, my first picture will be one of seitan instead of tofu :) it is a stir fry that i made with seitan, rehydrated wood ear and shittake mushrooms, lily flowers, ginger/garlic and spices. YUM! more later...