Tried and Tasted

Konichiwa!

This month's Tried & Tasted was honoring Fat Free Vegan. I love the food over at Fat Free Vegan. Even though I am not a vegan, I do like to include a couple of vegetarian or vegan meals into my meal plan each week. I do this for the health of myself and the Nerd, and for the health and well-being of the planet.

Animals, and by-products like dairy, contribute greatly to the greenhouse gas emissions (18% of all total G.H.G.E.) I know that it is important for us to cut down on our meat and animal product consumption. In my research on eating locally, and organically, to mitigate climate change I found an NPR podcast, Eating Right Can Save the Planet, in which Mark Bittman stated that if we "eat 10 meals a week containing meat...if you eat a couple of meals less of meat, each week, you’re doing yourself, and the planet,... you’re doing all of us a favor.” That's exactly what I believe. I already eat fewer than 10 meals each week that contain meat. I couldn't tell you how many, because that varies based on the leftovers we have.

I can't tell you how ecstatic I was to see that Fat Free Vegan was the Tried & Tasted blog of the month. I thought about trying out something new, but I thought it'd be better if I stuck with something I'd made in the past. I also had some ingredients that could use some tapping into that were suited for the recipe I chose.

My Tried & Tasted recipe for the month was Double Mushroom Miso Soup with Sesame Broccoli for Two. My version of this tasty, light, and healthy meal was actually a Triple Mushroom Miso Soup.

I used Hawaii island Hamakua Mushrooms in 3 varieties:

Alii Oyster (large)

(Alii means royal in Hawaiian)

Shimeji (small white)

Kea Hon Shimeji (small brown)

I used white miso paste, and homemade vegetable stock (I only had 3 cups, so I watered it down to 6 cups and added extra miso paste for more flavor). I didn't have any tofu, so I left it out and used all of the mushrooms. I also added extra wakame because I enjoy it.

Triple Mushroom Miso Soup

Over at Fat Free Vegan it was noted that the meal wasn't completely filling, so I cooked up some brown rice to go along with the broccoli. This was a really good idea as we were full, but not stuffed and completely satisfied. Brown rice is also a healthy whole grain, especially for gluten-free eaters. It was also a good idea as I only had one small head of broccoli left from the previous week's pizza.

Sesame Broccoli with Brown Rice

Together the miso soup, broccoli, and brown rice formed a delicious flavor balance and was texturally pleasing. I would definitely serve this meal again. The Nerd's verdict was, "Mmm miso." He also liked the broccoli. The only complaint he had was that we ran out of sake too soon.

Not Enough Sake Leftovers

I recommend that anyone who likes miso soup, mushrooms, and broccoli or all Japanese inspired food try this meal. I know I'll be making it again.

Triple Mushroom Miso Soup, Sesame Broccoli, Brown Rice

Sayonara!

Links related to Tried and Tasted:

Holy Cow! announcement of T and T

How to participate in T and T at Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen

Saturday Info and Contest Info

Saturday I spent the whole day out, and that meant eating every meal but breakfast out. For breakfast we had strawberry buckwheat pancakes with strawberry guava syrup made here in Hawaii. I used the recipe for blueberry buckwheat pancakes from The Gluten-Free Vegan and instead of adding blueberries, I added fresh strawberry pieces. I cut the strawberries up pretty small so they would be distributed nicely throughout the pancakes.

On top of my pancakes I also added some tsubushian(sweet red bean paste) that I had leftover from the ichigo daifuku I made on Thursday night. Oh, I didn't post about those because they were a disaster in their appearance. They tasted quite nice, but the mochi became too cold by the time I could get the strawberries semi-coated in in the tsubushian and into the mochi to be wrapped. However, everyone ate their treats happily. Thank goodness a guest brought some more strawberries and some whipped cream for dessert.

Today I am posting about a contest that is being held over at $5 dinners. You could win a fifty dollar gift card to use at Home Depot. They are promoting the spring planting season, and are giving this away for people to start their own home gardens. I wish you all, and myself, luck in winning!

Make Your Own Salad Dressing

The Center of the Home

Tonight I made my very first real salad dressing. I'd thrown oil and vinegar on a salad before, but that's not dressing. That's moisture. To me a dressing needs to be seen, and it needs to have plenty of flavor. It also needs to be able to be a marinade. Oil and vinegar alone aren't much of a marinade.

The Basic Vinaigrette Dressing from Julia's Kitchen Wisdom was the salad coverage this evening. It contains shallot, dijon-mustard, salt, lemon juice (fresh is always best, but you could cheat with bottled), wine vinegar (I went for a white wine vinegar, but I could have used rice wine vinegar, or maybe even red), olive oil, and fresh cracked pepper. The shallot, mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar are a 1:1 ratio. I doubled the recipe so I used 1 Tablespoon of all of those, with 1/2 tsp salt, and 2/3 cup of oil. Add the oil last and whisk very well as you slowly pour the oil in. Julia Child stated that you could shake it in a jar, or whisk it together. She suggested adding the ingredients one at a time, but if you're like me (a throw it all in the bowl and let's go kind of person) you just put everything but the oil and pepper in, then do your whisking. This will keep well in the fridge for almost a week, but the lemon juice and shallot will start to go funky eventually. My doubling serves 12-16.

I marinated a leftover roast chicken breast in this(see, a marinade) and then served it on top of romaine lettuce with some julienned onion (I just learned to julienne yesterday).

Oh, and we each had a salmon-mayo onigiri because the Nerd wanted some rice, and he said "How about an onigiri with it?" So, we had surf and turf.

I'm sorry, but I forgot a picture (I took a picture of my kitchen post clean up for you). It also wasn't the prettiest presentation considering I accidentally put too much dressing on each salad. We ate 6 servings each! Yikes!

But hey, olive oil is a "good" fat.