Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mushrooms. Show all posts

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Happy (Belated) Holiday/Christmas!

     Happy belated Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa  Christmakah, etc    veggie eaters, food lovers, and all around sexy crews!~

     Christmas ever started with a complete lack of sleep and a meek attempt at dehydrating tomatoes...which took over 12 hours!! But first...my oven got tickled hardcore this time around. I had a Christmas/Holiday party to share with a lovely group of buddies and we played a sort-of Yankee Swap/Secret Santa type of deal. I made up funky money banana bread~ chocolate chips, cinnamon, ginger, cranberries, raisins  walnut, pecans, coconut~ everything was whole wheat, organic, and I slipped in vitamin B12 drops, vitamin C drops, etc... I got a bit too excited. 
Funky Monkey Bread, before and after~ photo taken by VeganBeats
     The next day was the day before Christmas Eve, and I had a lot of dehydrating and baking to do. But I got pretty awful and heartbreaking news...so I lazed up. I had planned on baking four cakes, dehydrating tomatoes, and making a peppermint brittle. These buggers owned my oven...for about half a day!
Oven-dried tomatoes...before the 12 hour marathon~ photo taken by VeganBeats
     Christmas eve rolled up and thanks to tomatoes, cake baking happened all day Christmas eve. I spent this Christmas eve with the ever talented and wonderful Scotty Soul...where the plan was chill, make dinner, exchange gifts, listening to silly Holiday tunes, and watching far too many Christmas movies...
     I didn't get a picture of the yummy dinner we made but I'll gloat a bit. We stocked up on two massive bags of veggies and spices and made a big and beautiful pot of veggie soup.
     Menu~ Scotty Soul's favorite...Soup and toast!

     The recipe is a bit all over the place, but here's a gist:
What We Used:

  1. 1 med-large onion, chopped
  2. 2 medium sweet potatoes chopped
  3. 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, or 0.66 Kg of tomatoes chopped
  4. 1 large carrot, chopped
  5. 2 small head of baby napa cabbage, chopped
  6. 4 leaves of dinosaur kale, chopped
  7. 3 leaves of chard, chopped
  8. bag of enoke mushrooms, chopped
  9. 1/2 medium zucchini, chopped into half moons
  10. 1-2 T olive oil
  11. 1 T garlic minced
  12. 1-3 T black pepper
  13. 1 t salt
  14. 1 T Chinese pepper
  15. 1 T mixed herbs
What we Did:
  1. heat a medium/large pot to medium high heat, add the oil
  2. When the oil is hot, add the onions and sweet potatoes~ set to low heat and watch
  3. After you can smell the sweetness, add the chopped tomatoes *Let this Stew and boil down to make a broth of sorts*
  4. Add carrots and garlic.
  5. After 10 minutes, add everything else and let boil down to desired thickness!
~Toast optional~

Scotty Soul and dins~ photo taken by VeganBeats
     Scotty Soul gave me such amazing and perfect things...that soon enough I'll get to use ALL THE TIME~ Right now I've got a SICK electric blanket that keeps me super super snugly  And I got some perfume that makes me feel like a sassy lady (hell yea), and as soon as I update to an Iphone5...food will start looking sexier. But the thing I'm beyond tickled for has been chilling at Incheon International...soon...soon~
     Christmas day was a joll at Kia and Sean's!!!! I made an intense and drunky cake for the occasion! So..what is this complexity?
My Christmas cake!! photo taken by VeganBeats
     Ginger rum cranberries, blueberries, and raisins in a dark chocolate cinnamon cake with a green tea, ginger, and rum butter-cream frosting! Rich is flavor and alcohol~ whasa!
     Enough squiggling, let's see what Kia and Sean stabbed and stretched my stomach with! Get a napkin...
scalloped potatoes~ photo taken by VeganBeats
spinach and artichoke dip~ photo taken by VeganBeats
tomato, shitake mushroom, cashew cheese pizza~ photo taken by VeganBeats
stuffed mushrooms~ photo taken by VeganBeats
lentil loaf~ photo taken by VeganBeats~
     There was also olive tempanade, baguettes, babaganoush, jello (agar) shots, alcohol...lots of alcohol, and  a stupid delicious salad chalk full of pomegranate (!!!), apples (!!!!), lettuce (AHHHH!!!!!!), pecans (!!!), and a tofu based dressing. I had bowls of this....bowls....stomach stretching greens gamble~
Grasshopper pie~ photo taken by VeganBeats~
peppermint fudge~ photo taken by VeganBeats~
Grasshopper pudding cups~ photo taken by VeganBeats~
chai cake~ photo taken by VeganBeats
     I drank loads, laughed a lot, ate too much, smiled, and was full of immeasurable amounts of love...

I think I need a tissue break...

Happy Late Holidays!!

New Years is around the bend!!!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Random Vegan Eats spamming...(and a guestimate recipe!)

     Not the spam that you sweep up after you mold up those hot dogs...it's been a while and this blog has been all about music, talent, photography, and kicking it...there's still some vegan nomming that happens! And there def some kitchen playing...Here's some stuff from the past week, two weeks, month?!? eiighhhh
carrot and zuke noodles~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     My genuine dislike for pasta has been solved...zucchini noodles are where it's at! Gluten free, versatile, high in fiber, high in deliciousness! I made zuke and carrot noodles and plated it up with a semi-raw cherry tomato, wine, garlic, black pepper, and balsamic redux~
     I met with a friend and slurped a morning hangover away with a wine sorbet...make sense, meh, tasty~ yes!
wine sorbet~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     One day I got all sorts of ideas in my head and wanted to make a spicy, highly flavorful, but stripped of any fat possible, tofu-based dish. I wanted crunch, heat, and variety...result~ this plate of "stir-fried" tofu, zukes, mushrooms, onion, and kale in a soy garlic and gochujang redux! 
in it's reduced glory~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     I wish I had a recipe to provide...it was a kitchen craze of octopus style hand-ingredient throwing!
Here's a guess:
What you need:
  1. tofu, slice it any way you want, and drain!
  2. 1/2 an onion sliced...I'm all about half moons!
  3. 1 small zuke, slice it the way you want!
  4. enoke mushrooms...go with what you're wanting!
  5. shitake mushrooms...see above!
  6. 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed. 
  7. as much kale as your heart desires. 
  8. low-sodium soy sauce
  9. 1 T gochujang
What to do:
  1. maybe 1 tsp of oil heated in a pan, throw int he tofu when it's hot
  2. throw in the onions and zukes when the tofu is browned
  3. throw in everything but the kale, garlic, soy sauce, and gochujang after maybe 6 minutes.
  4. add the kale, soy sauce, and garlic...mix
  5. add the gochujang sauce....if too thick, add splashes of water...
  6. cook down til it's as thick/thin as you want!
  7. plate, sprinkle sesame seeds, eat, smile!
Grand apologies for not being able to provide more directed details!!

Ahhh and another picture to throw in your face!
     Man joked about breakfast that past weekend, and I threw together everything in my fridge and made a heaping amount of 전, what was in all of this?
전party~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     Beansprouts, kimchi, scallions, zukes, kale, spinach, mushrooms, and loads of love! I made a bit too much...but hey, parties can't be too much right....right?

Anyways...promises on more food posts~ 

Veg-on!    
    

Friday, December 2, 2011

Frugal Stew

     Weeks fly by, as they always do but the excitment of Friday never disappears. I work later than usual days come Fridays, I get to take advantage of the morning and stay snuggling until noon. Granted, I've been doing work in the am, so I don't stay cozied up for as much as I would like, but that's because this lady needs to make and save some dough. I recently dropped a lot for a flight so I've been kicking it VT style (is it free?) Everyday I usually nom on raw carrots, cucumbers, and some 쌈장 (ssamjang) and saving cash has left me stealing nuts for extra energy for the day. I don't get my coffee shop coffees, don't go out for drinks often...I mean it's always much more efficient to brew the joe at home, pop a cork with friends, but...that fresh acidic water is a treat. Payday, come my way so I can fill myself up a couple mugs. 
     The other day I caved, I needed to make something warm, I wanted a stew, a soup of some sort. I trucked it to a local grocery store and zipped to reduced price items...yea, I'm that one.
     I got a pound of tofu, 1.5 pounds of slightly soft cherry tomatoes, wrinkly mushrooms, some ignored kale, sad mushy bananas (I hate bananas but they have energy and potassium), and some soymilk on special. All this cost me~ 5,500W
     I had the carrot and cucumber slices and cabbage threads in my bag and was ready to whip something delicious up.

     I did.
all sorts of yum (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     I sliced, diced, seasoned, and my tiny apartment was sweating with a savory smoke that got Hamlet talking!

I call this my Frugal Stew~
What you need: (you can make a lot to a single serving, I made a lot...)
*1 cup cherry tomatoes, washed and de-stemmed
* as much kale as you want, chopped roughly
* shredded cabbage (as mush as you want)
*1 box of oyster mushrooms, chopped
*1 lb of tofu, cubed or slivered, all up to your preference
*1 small potato diced into bite-sized pieces
*1-2 T veggie powder (I brought some from Vietnam with me)
*2T chili seasoning
*1 t lemon juice
*1-2 t fresh ground pepper
*water

Directions:
1. In a medium-large pan bring several cups of water to a boil, add the potatoes, mushrooms, and tofu
2. Cook through until the potatoes are almost done, add the tomatoes, cabbage, and kale
3. At the same time add the pepper, powder, and lemon juice.
4. Add the chili powder and add more water if getting too thick.
~You can add water as you go, the starch from the potatoes naturally thickens this, you want the tomatoes to essentially split, you can crush them for more broth.

     This can be served with rice or alone. I went for it solo and it was just what my body wanted. Comforting, flavorful, the tomatoes really added lots of flavor...mushy of not, worth the price!! ^^*

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksvegan~ the binge of gastronomic proportions

     Saturday evening was all about friends, appreciation, and an abundance of delicious food at gastronomical proportions. Kia and Sean hosted another amazing party in honor of that good ol'binging holiday dubbed "Thanksgiving" but this one was (and is) Thanksvegan...a massive spread of cruelty free Homor-Simpson-drooling-sounds noms...ugh~
     Kia is a magician in the kitch, she made such a beautiful spread of visual-groans and moans. (I'm so glad that I didn't eat anything for nearly two days...I stretched my stomach by consuming jugs upon bottles upon cartons of water....ㅠㅠ). She whipped up the classics, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, biscuits, stuffed mushrooms, and some other new and funky dishes. She made honeyed-ham out of seitan, a stuffed seitan roast, squash gnocchi with a sage cream sauce, and stuffed pumpkin with a lemon lentil salad. Ugh~ feast your eyes...(I'm still digesting!)
vegan ham in a pineapple glaze (photo taken by VeganBeats)
cranberry sauce from scratch (photo taken by VeganBeats
stuffed mushrooms (photo taken by VeganBeats)
bisquits (photo taken by VeganBeats)
Sean made a spinach dip ^^*(photo taken by VeganBeats)
from left to right: green bean casserole, stuffed seitan roast, squash gnocchi with asparagus and a  sage cream sauce (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     Mipa brought over a green bean casserole!! This was my first time EVER having one...and..nom nom nom~ it's all I can say^^*
ughhh~ (photo taken by VeganBeats)
the roast and loads of veggies! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
cutting of the roast! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     For a starter, Kia whipped up a bacon-cheese potato soup and this was divine! I used it as a gravy for everything...savory, warm, comforting...amazing!
     My plate(s) were full....and there was dessert for later! ^^*
the plate..(photo taken by VeganBeats)
     Mipa, Anna, and Dan all brought some goodies over (ugh I really wish I had!!) and they were yummy as well! Dan brought over "burgers" that were kidney bean based, and so yummy! I kept nomming on this with the spinach dip and Anna's sun-dried tomato spread!
Dan's bean burgers (photo taken by VeganBeats)
Anna's sun-dried tomato spread on veggies! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     Dessert was a big spread of amazing sweets~ literally amazing~ Kia made a pumpkin cheesecake and chocolate pudding pie with coconut whip cream! Anna made an apple crisp with bitters and Mipa brought some gingerbread cookies~
pumpkin cheesecake (photo taken by VeganBeats)
pumpkin cheesecake and the chocolate pudding pie! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
Anna's applecrisp (photo taken by VeganBeats)
sliced up! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
photo taken by VeganBeats
tehe! ^^* (photo taken by VeganBeats)
photo taken by VeganBeats
     I am still in the process of digesting, I'm thoroughly stuffed, have had more than many plates of delicious noms...a great change from the daily carrots, cucumbers, and ssamjang~

Thank you and again, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!~

Go to Mipa's shop to get vegan goodies!!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Food Processor fun^^*!~

     The point'n'shoot camera I have really does no justice for the presentation of my food, my adventures, or really anything!!! I'm in the position where I need to consider where my next pay check is going to...Vietnam, the Philippines, a new camera, or a new apartment...Officially living paycheck to paycheck and, hell I'm smiling!
     Anyways...my 이모 is amazing, biggest heart in the world and she surprised me with a food processor, a teeny one but, since then I've whipped up some yummy jazz!! (Most of it is in my freezer though!!)
vegan 만두!!! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     I'll admit...I wander the grocery stores and see what the sample ladies whip up. While at Kim's club (desperate search for guinea pig food) I saw a crowd swelling around the mushrooms. A little curious and easily preoccupied I discovered that the sample worker was handing out little mushroom 전, so...I grabbed a bunch and using the nifty processor of mine, sliced them up SUPER tiny, mixed a 1:1 ratio of water to my flour mixture (that's 1:1 whole wheat and unbleached flour, a a teeny bit of sweet potato flour) and added a small amount of sea salt...here's the result!
my mushroom 전 (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     I anticipate a super lazy morning...mmm recovery meal may be a lightly pan-fried 전.     >.<#

     There are a few things from the states I miss...I won't get too into it but nut-butters! Affordable quality nut butters. They have skippy, peter pan, corn-syrup marinated "peanut butter" here...I brought and bought lots of organic almonds and my school provides me with celery, let's put two and two together! 
organic almond butter!!! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     The best thing I made (and worst quality photo) was an organic mango and strawberry sorbet! I always add strawberry at the end because I like some of it to be a bit chunky! It keep the sorbet colder for longer! No sugar, no additives, just straight up fruit! I have a feeling my summer is going to be lovely!!
mango strawberry sorbet! (photo taken by VeganBeats)
     I am more than thankful and excited about all the things I (hope) will be making!

I just had my first puer, and am going to snuggle up with my writing partners (^-^) and read my new book!!
I wish they had thumbs so they could have little mugs of puer with me...photo taken by VeganBeats


An exciting weekend awaits!!

Thursday, December 2, 2010

김치찌개 and baby oyster mushroom yumminess*!~

Been cooking a bit at my place...it's getting cold, and this woman needs something warm...

First, my mom recently visited Seoul and she was super thoughtful and more than kind and whipped up some 김치찌개 for me, and froze it up for me (thanks ^_^). I've always LOVED 김치찌개 but everywhere around here it's made with fish stock and slabs of finely cut pork/beef/ fish/ meats...so I was more than happy to spoil myself with a big bowl of this!! Plus...it brought me home and reminded me of my family in the states for a bit....(strangely Korean food reminds me of my time in the states as a child...always Korean)

김치찌개
photo taken by VeganBeats
       A new produce market has opened up near my 학원 and I've been checking it out after teaching. Because it just opened there are some GREAT sales, a HUGE bag of oyster mushrooms was 2,000W, 3 cucumbers for 1,000W, and a big bag or onions for 3,000W...c'mon, I was on top of that.
     I came home with a bounty of new fresh produce and my mind started working...I don't really remmeber what my process was, or what I did but twenty minutes later I made this, and...yumm*!~

photo taken by VeganBeats
Obviously a bunch of the baby oyster mushrooms, onion, freshly ground Cambodian pepper, a splash of soy sauce, and red pepper. It was warm, full of flavor, and I felt so spoiled. It didn't have too much soy sauce or pepper (which is great), you could really taste the earthiness of the mushrooms...I have to say I like the baby ones more. They're cute and not to overwhelming in size. I always feel like I'm going to choke on the king oyster...

Not too much cooking fun, I really do wish I had an oven....ah, the fun I would have*!~ ^_^

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Wandering, cooking, and Dongdaemun*!~

This week has been AWESOME*!~
I've been wandering a LOT while on break and been seeing some pretty spectacular things SUPER close to my area, check this mountain out!!! 

photo taken by VeganBeats
 I am definitely hiking this guy sometime soon. I'm sure the view will be more than beautiful*!~  
photo taken by VeganBeats
  And super close to my school is some completely appropriate statues...
photo taken by VeganBeats
  Also did some flash cooking...was super hungry and forgot about the POUNDS of tofu in my fridge...so attempted to make what my halmuni perfects everytime. Garlic, tofu, oyster mushrooms and a light kimchi broth!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
Some noodles I whipped up. Kimchi spicey broth, simmered carrots, oyster mushrooms, spinach and chinese broccoli..hiding in there somewhere. I don't usually eat noodles, but yumm!!! 
photo taken by VeganBeats
 Can't forget Ddeok!!

This weekend I went to Dongdaemun Market with Amy!! My coworker and it was a blast!!! Here's a whole round of pics from the adventure!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
First we kicked it in Chungbu market...also known as dried fish market! I found flax seeds here!! And macadamia nuts, cashews in bulk...There is so much you can find here!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
 Some ajumas with chesnuts....tons of them!
photo taken by VeganBeats
 lots of beans and grains of all sorts..Get ready for the fishes....I know I'm vegan and jazz, but there is something pretty spectacular about all of this stuff...
photo taken by VeganBeats
 eel
Fish eggs (photo taken by VeganBeats)
Garlic Ajashi (photo taken by VeganBeats)
 fish...photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
  These donuts from Krispy Creme are too cute!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
I am not sure the correct name for this but there is this candy like ocnfection that's literally just sugar. All these ajumas were squating at tables and etching designs into boiled sugar...the kid above is choosing which one he wants...mmm sweetness!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
This is Amy!!! My coworker and my shopping adventure partner for the day! She showed me/guided me around Dongdaemun, sososo much fun!! She's AWESOME!!! 
photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
Ajuma with promoting the various foods her restuarant serves!


photo taken by VeganBeats
photo taken by VeganBeats
 Plastic menu options!! One of my many favorite things about Korea, you can see what you want...AND the food looks like what you order. When I was in China, I'd order things that NEVER looked like their picture.

photo taken by VeganBeats
A really spicey fish stew/soup, Amy said it's amazing. So omnivores...go for it!!
photo taken by VeganBeats
 Cute baby shoes!!!

photo taken by VeganBeats
This was super good, a rice bun with sweet red beans inside. It was only 1500W ($1.00 US) and filling, sweet, and served warm!!
photo taken by VeganBeats

Amy and I split one!!
Dondaemun and Nangdaemun was so much fun, and I have a lot to credit Amy for that. Saw a lot of things, spent a lot of money (eeep) and left with some great buys!!