Spring Rolls, Chocolate & Cinnamon Cookies.

A few months ago when I started getting into blogging about food, my goal was to try making a new thing, at least, once a week. At first, it was hard to do because I never seemed to have the right ingredients for something and I found it quite troublesome to make a trip to the store just to get one item to make a dish complete.
But now I'm learning to just relax and play around with my food a little more. I've also noticed that when I follow a recipe precisely, it doesn't turn out as well as I'd like. For example, too garlicky, too sweet, too salty etc. I tend to like foods that are pretty simple. I don't need a whole lot of flavor for something to be delicious.
And with my sensitive stomach, hot/spicy foods are a no-no.
I'm now making sure I adjust every recipe to fit myself rather then getting the end result to be just as the recipe says it will be. The goal is for the food to taste good to ME. If  I don't have enough of something.....I substitute or omit completely. I'm not running a restaurant or anything and hubby isn't too picky himself.

Sorry, I got a bit side tracked there.

Back to the "Try a new recipe once a week." goal. Well, I've been LOVING my time in the kitchen that I've been making new things on almost a daily basis now. Even if its something as small as a new salad dressing, it counts as something new.  Here are some yummy eats I made this week.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

This was a huge accomplishment for me because I've been meaning to make these for a while now! I remember going to the store and getting the ingredients, but realized when I got home, that I forgot ONE ingredient, so I put it off for oh.....months. This time I decided I'm just going to swing it. Its fine if I don't have the right ingredients to make the perfect sauce. I used what I had and made it work for me.

Assembled my veggies. Carrot, Cucumber, Red Bell Pepper, Avocado, & Spinach.   

Soaked the rice paper for a minute or so and started the rolling process. You'd think veggies wrapped up wouldn't be so hard, but there's really an art (I've yet to master) in making the roll tight and beautiful looking.  In the background you can see my first wraps. The far left is my first and it was horrible, ha! But it got easier and prettier looking after I got the hang of it. 

They could have been a lot tighter, but I was pretty proud of the end result. I love spring rolls because pretty much any vegetable will work and its great way to get a variety of vegetables into a meal. I think Motozo ate more veggies then he normally would if he ate a salad. The sauce was a soy-sauce, vinegar, maple syrup and ginger mix. Nothing fancy. So simple, but very satisfying! 

A light and delicious dinner, enjoyed with some dessert wine.  

Dark Chocolate

Yesterday I had a little chocolate craving after lunch, so I made a single serving and it was perfect!

This was SOOO easy! I don't think I'm going to ever need to buy vegan chocolate again. This is way more economical, quick, and easy to adjust based on what I feel like.

For this, I melted coconut oil (yum!) in the microwave for just a minute. Added agave nectar, vanilla extract and of course, cocoa powder. Mixed everything together and froze to harden. It hardened, literally, in just minutes. I can't wait to play around with this by adding nuts and dried fruit etc. 

Raw Almond Cinnamon Cookies

I'm officially obsessed and addicted to raw cookies! You can't really go wrong making raw sweets because its pretty easy to adjust by adding something. No need to worry about anything rising or not rising. They just have to taste good. So when I accidentally dumped a lot of cinnamon into this, it was no biggy. The extra 

cinnamon flavor got these cookies its name! 

This recipe is just an approximate. I eye balled everything. 

• 2 cups almond pulp (pulp left from making almond milk)
•  1 cup of dates (plus a little more, around 12-15 dates)
• 2 Tbsp ground flaxseeds
• 1 heaping Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Mixed everything up in the food processor and wala. Wonderful cookie dough! These turned out just how I wanted them. Not too sweet or oily. I only wanted to use dates as a sweetener and it was a lovely change from agave and maple syrup. 

See the little pieces of dates? This was really delicious! I usually prefer cashews, pecans, or walnuts over almonds for raw desserts, but this was easy to eat. I'm a fan of almond pulp now! They were firm enough to eat just after mixing everything together, but I like my cookies on the harder side, so into the freezer they went. The beauty of using coconut oil is the wonderful firmness it gives to the cookies when cooled. 

mmmm, cookies! I've always preferred cookies over cakes or pies. How about everyone else? 

Namban Half Marathon,10k, and BBQ

2nd Annual Namban half marathon and 10k race took place yesterday. What a beautiful day we had! Similar to last year with clear skies and perfect temperature. This year though, we had almost double the amount of people who participated in this non official race. This year we had about 130 people show up for the BBQ and about 80-90 people who ran.

As for this indecisive person, the 10k was decided on the day. This year was different from last year in that I was relaxed and didn't care very much how I ran. Last year I was training hard for Tokyo Marathon and was just doing milage, milage, and more milage. So of course, I ran the half marathon. I even took home the 2nd place prize! AND got my PB (personal best). It was a great and unexpected win. 

2009. Half marathon -  2nd place winner at 1:36

This year, I'm not training for a single thing. Instead I'm running when I want to run and I haven't been to track session in over a year. Shame on me! 

So with little expectation, but with every intent on running my very best, I started the 10k yesterday feeling great. I ended up surprising myself in the end. Its kind of all a blur now. I remember coming to the half way point and still feeling relatively fresh. So I pushed it harder for the 2nd half.  With about 4k left to go, I saw the leading 10k lady and I told myself to keep my steady pace and not get too excited about passing her. At 3k I passed her, but I still focused on keeping it steady. My legs, more then anything, were starting to feel tightness and I told myself the pain I felt was only temporary. With only 2k to go, I could handle the discomfort.  

When I saw the finish line, it finally dawned on me that I was the female winner for the 10k! Winner? no way! With the finishing time at 40:40, this is my BEST 10k time and honest to God, I never dreamed I could get that time. I haven't done a 10k race in 3 years and that time was 46 min something. To make a 5 plus improvement is more then I thought I was capable of doing. 

Before the race I told Motozo I'd be happy to just get under 45min. After the race he told me how OFF I was. 

The prize, a nice bottle of white wine = ridiculously happy Meg 

Another nice thing that day was meeting a fellow vegan runner. First time to meet a vegan runner in Tokyo!  He was so kind to share his delicious homemade hummus and I apologized for my failed cake. No, I did not try baking again the next day. I resorted to buying vegan cookies at the store for the meat eaters. Shame on me again! I will try harder next time, but I'm thinking, maybe raw desserts are more my thing. Ovens, flour, and I don't seem to mesh too well.  

Vincent (in red) has been vegan for 13 years and is raising his daughter vegan here in Tokyo. I'm looking forward to picking his mind in the future when I have to start thinking about the diet of my child. I was so distracted with all the vegan/health conversations we were having that I totally forgot to take photos of food. How unlike me! 

Our beautiful day ended with a round of some ball game. With a couple of hours drinking just prior, naturally, we had some accidents. One hurt his shoulder and another fell into a ditch full of water. But everyone was happy and smiling in the end. Great successful day! 

Special thanks to dear hubby for volunteering to help with the time keeping.  

It was great to anticipate seeing him at the finish line and of course, he kindly carried my wine bottle home :) 

With the race behind me and renewed motivation to run, I'm thinking I may show up to track session every so often now. Who knows, maybe I do have potential to be faster? 

Tomorrow I will see what my potential is for Astanga Yoga. Mysore class 6:30AM! Time for shut eye. 

Acceptance

Today, the universe wanted to teach me a valuable lesson.

This morning I started on a new chapter in my yoga book and the chapter is called "Acceptance" A little excerpt from it: (sorry its long, but it explains the whole chapter really well)

 "Temporary despair might result from the realization that even the aspects of your life  you love dearly will someday change. This feeling will pass quickly if you let it. Cars break, houses burn, people change, pets die, you'll lose your body eventually, and the only element that remains the same is your awareness of this change. Any effort you make to cling is pointless, like spitting in the wind. Despair can dissolve, resulting in an entire re orchestration of your energy, revealing abundant power and freedom, if you ride it to its natural conclusion. 

When you start coming from acceptance rather than the stand, chronic state of resistance, nonacceptance, your experience of life can't be stopped from totally changing for the better. 

Happiness is a function of acceptance." 

Of course, I thought RIGHT ON and I went about my day. Until tonight, I had 2 chances to deal with acceptance. Acceptance to my failed attempts at baking, ha! 

This weekend my running club is organizing a half marathon and 10k race. And afterward, a BBQ. I thought I'd do a good deed by baking up some vegan brownies for a nice contribution. 

So I got started. I've made these brownies before and they turned out alright, but a little on the oily side so I experimented and used less oil. The brownies tasted DELICIOUS, but one very important problem was that they STUCK to the pan. Crumbly brownies are not very appealing or portable to bring to a BBQ.  Failed attempt #1! 

Darn it, who was I kidding eh? I'm not a baker, never was, and probably never will be. 

But no, I wasn't going to give up. I told myself positive things and it worked! I went back into the kitchen. 

A little low on cocoa powder, I decided to use a recipe that calls for less cocoa.

Crazy Cake should be perfect! Even the instructions say its a never fail cake. 

All was going well, I had the perfect amount of cocoa powder left and I felt good I didn't give up on baking. The cake was finally finished after a patient 40mins in the oven. mmmm, house smelling deliciously like chocolate! As I was taking the cake out of the oven, you won't believe what happened! The cake fell PLOP upside down on the floor! I should have used 2 hands to take the cooking rack out or have just taken the cake pan out. The cooking rack was slippery and the cake pan slid right off of it as I was transferring it out of the oven. 

I stood there in disbelief! Half of me wanted to laugh at how ironic the situation was (I even thought I'd grab my camera) and the other side of me was screaming in frustration. After I finally came to my senses and started to worry that the hot cake and pan might discolor my kitchen floor, I scooped up the mess of a cake. 

Failed attempt #2! 

I think what kills me the most is that the cake was done! argh, still having a had time trying to accept my clumsiness! Obviously, this happened for a reason. I need to let go, take a deep breath, and laugh at the situation. Now that I'm typing this, I do find it quite humorous. I'm for sure not going to attempt to bake another cake tonight, but perhaps tomorrow. I do need to replenish my cocoa supply after all.  Oh well, life goes on. And I learned that the cooking rack can stay in the oven next time or use 2 hands! 

Some good news though, I did make some fabulous raw chocolate chip cookies last Saturday that even Motozo enjoyed and insisted I leave a few for him. He knows me too well! I would eat the whole thing if he didn't let me know he liked them.

These were so delicious! Probably the best tasting cookies I've ever had! So easy to make too. I followed a the recipe from here with some adjustments. 

What I used: cashews, oats, agave nectar, vanilla extract, coconut oil, shredded coconuts, and carob chips. 

This was my first time to use coconut oil and OH MY OH MY, I'm in love! This cookie had a real buttery soft texture and tasted divine! Carob chips, which I've grown quite fond of, were a great little add in. Funny how my taste buds have changed. I remember the first time I ate carob chips I thought they were horrible. Carob chips are quite different from chocolate, but in my opinion, better! I'm bias though because I can't have regular chocolate.

The coconut oil hardens the cookies up really well. :)

Lilia, do you and Maxim eat cashews? I remember you were saying you avoid it. But I was thinking, this is totally something I want to make for you guys when we visit! It's to die for! 

So, there we have it. Some good and some bad. In the end, it doesn't really matter all that much does it? 

Ah, this blog is so therapeutic. I almost forgot about my upside down cake that's still sitting on my kitchen counter. Its time for me to make peace with it and throw it in the trash. 

Gluten free vegan crackers.

This morning was not like the typical morning. Motozo's alarm didn't go off at the usual 5:45AM, instead my alarm went off at the usual 7AM, but we both stayed in bed. I was initially concerned that Motozo would be late for work, but then I remembered its a national holiday today. Yippy! For myself, a national holiday doesn't really change much, except for the sleeping in part. But it was particularly nice that we both got to sleep in until 9AM!
Motozo has been working so hard lately. Its earning season now so he has lots of client meetings, report deadlines and its not unusual for him to come home around 10PM.

When he has late nights he eats dinner close to his office and goes straight to bed when he comes back. Last night though, he unusually looked into the fridge and I was happy I had some munchies for him. I forced him to taste my experimental gluten free crackers and he made me so happy by saying they were good. But he probably will always say that for my cooking, because he loves me and doesn't want to hurt my feelings, ha. But seriously, these crackers are awesome!

Last night I was in the mood for something savory and I've been thinking about crackers for awhile after seeing a few vegan recipes online.

I decided to give it a go with what I had on hand and adapted this recipe:http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/06/gf-vegan-sweet-seed-crackers-happy.html

In the above link, the recipe is for a sweet cracker and she uses sunflower seeds, but I was not in the mood for sweet nor do I have any sunflower seeds. No problem! Improvise improvise!

My version: I didn't measure, I just eye balled.

Chia seeds (I used the same amount for all the seeds)

Flaxseeds

Sesame seeds

Dried Basil

Italian Herbs

Salt and pepper

tiny bit of maple syrup

Water as needed to get the right consistency

Processed everything together. Spread the mixture out on the oven tray(note to self, buy cooking paper) and baked for approximately 40mins on one side and 20mins on the other. They took a little longer to cook because I didn't spread the mixture out very thin. Next time I will divide the mixture in two and use two cooking trays so I get it thinner.

Cut immediately after taking them out of the oven.

These smelled SO good while baking! After taking it right out of the oven, they were soft and almost bread like. It hardened a little after cooling and I couldn't decide if I liked it soft or hard. These seriously were so delicious I had to force myself to stop eating them so there would be some left overs for Motozo.

The basil and Italian herbs flavored the cracker just perfectly and the chewiness of the flaxseeds make it very satisfying. These could be eaten just as is, used for dipping in hummus etc, or even as "bread" if I don't cut them as small.

I'm really looking forward to playing around with these crackers and changing up the flavors depending on what I feel like.

Lilia, I really think you'll like these and Maxim will appreciate the gluten free part! All the more reason to get yourself a food processor! Although this particular recipe could probably just use a blender to chop up the seeds a little then mix the liquids in by hand.

I'm definitely going to be make these regularly so I always will have it on hand in my fridge. YAY!

Eat Your Greens!

Since getting into raw food, I started drinking a green smoothie a couple times a week. That increased to a daily green smoothie. I am now totally addicted and seeing great results that I think this deserves a post!

What's a green smoothie? 
A couple handfuls of leafy greens, fresh fruit and water all blended up in a blender. Easy peasy and oh, so healthy for you!

Why is it so healthy?
Here are just a few health benefits and properties.

• Greens are powerful antioxidants that support the immune system.

• Greens contain a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which protect your cells from damage and your eyes from age-related problems

• Greens are high and nutrients and enzymes necessary for your body to function, such as iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium and vitamins, including vitamins, K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. 

• Green plant foods balance your pH. Many foods are acidic in natural and can lead to health issues, so consuming foods like greens balances your body's pH level making it more alkaline. 

• The Chlorophyll in green plants acts as a blood detoxifier. Chlorophyll is the green pigment formed in most plants when they are exposed to sunlight. 

• Some dark greens include omega-3 essential fatty acids, which are very important in the body's functions, especially for the brain.

• Greens also contain a good amount of protein. Spirulina, a blue-green algae, is  65 to 71 percent complete protein, with all essential amino acids in perfect balance. In comparison, beef is only 22 percent protein.

The list goes on and on, but I think you get the point. Green vegetables, particularly the darker, are good for you! 

Ok, now to the list of benefits I've come across from drinking a daily green smoothie. 

• I'm noticing a difference in my muscle tone. I'm finally seeing (some) abs and biceps! I'm not sure if this has to do with doing regular toning exercises along with running and yoga. But a few months ago I wasn't as defined even though I was still exercising a lot. The only thing that I have to say has changed is my diet.

• My running has improved. Again, I'm not sure if my improvement has something to do with the weather becoming cooler and that automatically makes running easier. What I have noticed though is that my stamina has increased without much effort on my part. I feel light and strong when I run.

• People have asked if I've lost weight. It doesn't feel like I've lost actual weight(haven't stepped on the scale lately), but rather lost fat and gained muscle. I guess this explains having more visible muscle tone.

• I wake up feeling energized. Even if I only had a couple hours of sleep the night before, I feel wide awake and energetic in the mornings. Gone are my late afternoon naps that I was taking a little while back. 

• My nails are not splitting as much as they used to. In fact, they've become pretty strong! 

• My hair looks healthier (in my opinion)

I always considered myself to be a high vegetable eater, so I didn't expect to see much of a change in how I felt or looked. I just was hoping to get more vitamins and minerals in my diet, so I am quite pleased with the results I'm getting from my daily dose of Shrek. 

I'm hooked! 

Other ways I've been enjoying my greens.

Green raw soup

Green raw dip

I recently tried Lilia's recommended cucumber and apple juice. It was so fresh and delicious! 

 I wish I had one of them special high speed blenders. It would take my smoothies to a totally different level. One day one day! Until then, I'm putting my cheap blender to very good use! 

Now, go make yourself a green smoothie everyone! 

What I use most regularly:

lots of spinach

banana

tangerine (みかん）

ginger

spirulina

maca

You can't really go wrong with smoothies. If it taste too green, add more fruit or a date. If its too sweet, add more greens. :) Experiment and have fun! 

Vegan Raisin Cookies

What defines a foodie?
Can you call yourself a foodie when you lay in bed thinking about what sort of ingredients would taste good together or how you can improve a recent recipe or better yet.... thinking about how to get your mill to work!

I seriously was so perplexed last night after my mill just would not grind up the whole wheat! 

I had HIGH hopes of experimenting with different grains, but I don't want to put my coffee grinder under more abuse, so I was determined this morning to figure out how to get my mill to do what I wanted. 

First thing in the morning, I went online, found a youtube clip that showed the ins and out of my mill, and then went to work  immediately on the thing. I realized that I wasn't turning the 'knob' far enough to the 'fine' setting, so the mill stone (whatever its called) wasn't tight enough to press the wheat into flour.

Turning the "knob" was quite some work. My forearms got a little sore in the process of turning and readjusting. 

And then it happened! I finally found the right setting and the grains started turning into flour! 

It didn't turn as 'fine' as I was hoping it would, but I knew it would work if I just shifted my flour before using it. I was so excited that I had to try some brown rice. Yes, I now have brown rice flour! 

I was so happy with myself that I promptly emailed Motozo to tell him the wonderful news. I know he doesn't really give a damn about mills or even about muffins for that matter (he still hasn't tried the muffins I made last night! HUMP!). But being the kind husband that he is, he humored me and said "good babe!" :)

Enthusiastic husband or not, I was thrilled! 

Of course, I had to use the flour when it was fresh, so I used a tried and tested Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, taken from EveryDayDish

I don't have chocolate chips other then cacao nibs, but I really want to save those for raw desserts, so I substituted with raisins instead. 

Don't they look yummy! So easy to whip up and only 11mins of baking time! The problem was they turned out too salty. I'm still learning this whole measuring thing. I wasn't looking at my measuring spoons properly and I put way too much salt in. So far my sweets seem to be either too sweet or too salty. One of these days I'll find the right balance. Until then, I have a big tupperware of muffins and cookies that should last me for a good while! YAY!     

Vegan Banana Muffins

I'm totally addicted to this women's site Oh She Glows !
She has absolutely amazing recipes and photography of her vegan creations! Although I'm trying to stay towards raw food, seeing her delicious foods, especially desserts, has made me want to turn on the oven and make some sweets. 

And today I finally did! I had 3 over ripped bananas that I thought would be lovely in a cake or muffin. So I went to Oh She Glows site and found the perfect recipe http://ohsheglows.com/2009/08/22/vegan-peanut-butter-banana-bomb-muffins/

If you actually do go to the site, please don't compare my muffin with hers. Of course, hers look better! ha

I didn't go all the way and make the filling that she made for her muffins and I had to make a few ingredient adjustments, but they still turned out very fluffy and delicious! 

 I started off with whole grain which I wanted/needed to grind up. My wonderful mill, which I got as a wedding gift, unfortunately was not doing the job! 

Very frustrated that the mill was just spitting out the grains whole (not a single dent in the grains!), I gave up after 15mins of trying to get it to work and pulled out my never failing tiny coffee mill. 

Now that's more like it! 

It took a while for the grains to turn into flour and my poor coffee mill got so over heated that it started making a strange noise. The recipe called for 1 and 3/4 cups whole wheat flour, but I only managed to grind up a cup of whole wheat and used regular white flour for the 3/4 cup since I didn't want to kill my coffee mill. 

My 100% freshly ground whole wheat. Very proud of myself for spending 30mins just on flour! 

I made quite a huge mess in the process of putting together the wet/dry ingredients and then mixing them together. But the final result didn't look bad after putting them into the muffin tin

I planned on sprinkling some cacao nibs on top, but I totally forgot about it because I was busy licking the bowl and mixing spoon. The batter was delicious! 

20mins later.....TADA! 

I forced myself to have a large salad (dinner) before eating a muffin. The taste: very fluffy, moist, light, and not too sweet! The original recipe calls for 1 cup of mashed bananas, but I only got 1/2 cup out of my 3 small bananas, so the flavor of banana was a little weak. Next time I want to definitely making sure I have a full cup of mashed bananas. But still very yum! 

I really want to try making gluten free desserts, so I'm going to play around with Amaranth in the next couple of weeks. 

FUN FUN!