VeganMofo #5: "Fried" rice cooked in rice cooker

Did you know you could cook a whole meal in the rice cooker? For the longest time, I've only cooked rice in it. But now I throw veggies in and voila, I've got "fried" rice!

Rice cooker "fried" rice

Just dice any veggies you've got in the fridge and throw it in with the rice and water, add a bit of soy sauce or your choice of seasoning, push the cook button and relax while the machine does the cooking for you. Here I've used cauliflower, onion, corn, and cabbage. When it was ready to serve, I garnished it with cut up nori sheets and a sprinkle of roasted pine nuts. I love that there's no oil needed like in regular fried rice.

VeganMofo #4: Tempeh Burger

DH made this quick tempeh burger for dinner a few nights ago. He simply fried the tempeh in some Braggs and vegetable seasoning. Easy peasy!

Tempeh Burger

While we ate, Benny practiced his yoga poses.

VeganMofo #3: Loving Hut Portland

Passing through Portland last week, we had a chance to stop by the local Loving Hut after a fun day visiting the waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge.

Upon being seated, we were served a complimentary bowl of soup. It was a simple soup - cabbage, celery, carrot, tofu - but it was a welcoming touch and greatly appreciated after a chilly and wet outing.

Chow Mein

Say Yes Mapo

Guru Fried Rice and Paradise Salad

Their menu is heavy on the mock meat but it's easy to request that they leave it out. For my salad, they offered to substitute the mock meat with tofu and it was yummy!

If you ever visit Portland, Multnomah Falls is a must see. And hike all the way to the top; I nearly passed out from being so out of shape but it was worth it!

Multnomah Falls

VeganMofo #2: 2-for-1 meals - Prata Pizza & Quinoa Stir Fry

Vegetarian Times had a feature in their recent issue where the recipe of one meal made for a great leftover dish the next day. It got me thinking on how I could turn one dish into two. So I present to you Prata Pizza and Quinoa "Stir Fry" using a veggie medley as the main shared ingredient.

Veggie Medley ingredients:
1 2.25oz can of sliced olives
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 onion, diced
handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
(add any other veggies you like)
vegetable seasoning

Instructions:
Cook the ingredients in a pan, adding oil or water as needed, until slightly softened (5-10 min). Split into two portions for the two dishes.

Dish #1: Prata Pizza
Roti prata or paratha is a flour-based pancake, sort of like puff pastry, that we buy frozen in a package of five at the Asian market. DH likes eating it with curry so we always have some in the freezer. My sister showed me it makes for a great pizza base when you don't have time to make regular dough. This is the brand we usually get:

For the Prata Pizza, take 2 frozen roti pratas and bake in the oven for 5 minutes until it poofs up but isn't browned. Take out and spread on pizza sauce or tomato paste. Top with the veggie medley and put it back in the oven to bake for another 5 minutes. And you've got instant pizza!

Dish #2: Quinoa "Stir Fry"
For lunch the next day, I cooked up quinoa in the rice cooker, heated up the veggie medley on a pan, and mixed it with the quinoa when done. Feel free to add more seasoning or a salad to it.

Dish #3: Pita Sandwich
As a bonus recipe, when I brought the quinoa stir fry to work for lunch, my coworker used some to add bulk to his pita bread sandwich. Add salad, avocado, tomato, and we've got a third dish! (Sorry, no pics.)

VeganMofo #1: Soba Noodle Salad

My co-worker shared with us a tasty soba salad for lunch. It's topped with pesto Gardein Chick'n Strips.

Belle said to wake her when the salad minus the soba was ready.

New Family Member - Introducing Benny the Bunny!

We went to the shelter to visit a pair of guinea pigs. Two days later, we came home with a rabbit. Today, I still smile to DH and whisper, "Guess what? There's a bunny in the house!"

Benny the Bunny

Introducing Benny, a brindle short hair rabbit that won us over with his friendliness. I like to tell people that he chose us because adopting a rabbit was never on our mind - another guinea pig, yes, but a rabbit? Yet, after meeting Benny, we couldn't forget him. We visited him again the second day where he further charmed us and that night, I did some heavy thinking about whether we were ready for such a big change and responsibility. Only after the third day when DH said he was open to the idea that I knew he was coming home with us that evening.

I have much to learn. Aside from their diet, rabbits and guinea pigs have rather different needs. I needed to learn Benny's body language, his likes and dislikes, and observe his normal behavior so I know when he's not well. And since he doesn't have a bunny friend, we have to spend extra time with him to ensure he's emotionally content. We also have much to do to bunny-proof the house. That's for another post!

Benny enjoying some petting

So far we know he's very affectionate. He'd come to us in the morning for some head scratches. He is nearly impossible to hold. Even the vet and nurse had trouble holding him down during his examination and had to do it sitting on the floor. I have not tried picking him up yet and don't know how I'll do so after seeing how much trouble the professionals had. You have to do it right or else they'll kick hard and break their back. Yikes!

And what might Bert and Belle think of him? We've introduced them several times. Bert is a little wary of the new guy. Belle doesn't mind and is happy so long as her share of the veggies remains the same. :-)

*****

In other news, we've hit the jackpot with our zucchini plants and I'm now in a bit of conundrum of how to use them all aside from roasting them. I've tried two recipes:

Savory Zucchini Cakes by Happy-Vegan.com
These were a hit with DH. I realized after the first few cakes that you didn't need much oil to cook them. They really were just like pancakes.

Low-Fat Zucchini Bread by Holy Cow!
These turned out dry and dense the bread machine. I'm starting to learn the bread machine isn't the way to go to bake most of the recipes I find but I'm too darn lazy to do it the normal way!  ;-)

Other recipes I've tried were:
Cornbread Biscuits from Vegan Brunch by Isa Chandra Moskowitz
These went well with tofu scrambles.

Mango Muffins by Holy Cow!
This was the first time I baked without using a soymilk/apple cider vinegar mix. It turned out nice and fluffy but no one could tell it was mango. Go figure.

Chickpea "Tuna" Salad by Robin Robertson
I didn't have the sea vegetable flakes and I guess that's what made my version just okay.  It made for a nice light lunch though.

What have you been cooking lately? What do you do with zucchinis?

Vegan Brunch: Lemon Muffins

Happy Easter, everyone!

I'm trying to get my blogging mojo back. I was on a roll last month with Appetite for Reduction until the Japan earthquake hit. The horrifying images of the tsunami shocked me to the core. We even had our own tsunami alert for the California coast the following morning. For the next several weeks, I was glued to the news about the nuclear reactor problems and recovery efforts, then stocked up on emergency supplies. What happened in Japan could very well happen in California!

In April I fought a really bad cold/cough and at the same time, Bert developed a severe head tilt all of a sudden. It caused him to lose balance and topple over when he ran (which he always is, from one safety place to another). The vet said it's either an inner ear infection or brain tumor. "Say what?!" She prescribed antibiotics and we crossed our fingers hoping that would fix him. After a week, his head began to tilt the other way a little. We were flabbergasted. Fortunately, one week later, he was straight as a button and all was right with the guinea pig world for a sweet period...

...until Belle's vet visit next week for her tooth trim. :-)

*****

We noticed that a neighbor whom we've never met has a beautiful big lemon tree just dripping with ripe lemons in his yard. It seemed so wasteful seeing the fruits drop and rot on the ground. This morning we saw the neighbor tending to his garden so I wondered out loud half-jokingly to hubby if he thought the neighbor would sell the lemon to us. Hubby then proceeded to walk over and asked! The neighbor was really nice and invited us to pluck what we wanted for free. Yay! Of course we didn't feel good taking it without giving anything in return, so the moment we returned with our small bucket of lemons, I pulled out Isa's Vegan Brunch to make lemon muffins for him.

Lemon Muffins from "Vegan Brunch"

 The original recipes called for poppy seeds, which I didn't have. No matter, the end result was still so good! I don't know if it's the freshly plucked lemons or what, but the muffins were so deliciously fragrant and melt-in-your mouth yummy! (Of course I had to taste test one before giving it to the neighbor. ;-) I love how quick I was able to put it together; the recipe is really very simple and easy. There will definitely be more lemon muffins in my near future!