Daikon Dinner

Today, I pulled a few daikon raddishes from a community garden where I go:-) Daikon tastes like a bit of turnip, a bit bitter, but juicy.

This is our special dinner:

Tofu no mizore ae - fried tofu with grate Daikon soup

Use tip of tofu. Top part of daikon is sweet, but the tip is spicy. Some people like to use the tip (bottom) part fresh putting on chicken or beef steak with soy saucey sauce. Today, I used the part for making thick soup with tofu.

1. cut tofu, bite size

2. cover the tofu with corn starch, lightly

3. pour some oil in skillet, and fry the tofu all the sides(I fried just two sides, because there isn't enough patient;-), but it works okay). The point to make nice golden brown is not touch the tofu until the corn starch part stick to tofu, instead of the skillet.

4. in a small sauce pan, put some soy sauce, a bit of sugar, sake and mirin if you have, some water, grated ginger, and a piece of kombu(a kind of sea weed). bring to boil, gently, so the kombu makes nice flavor to the soup.

5. put the fried tofu in to the small pan, and put some green onion for garnish.

It makes you warm from inside.

Daikon Salad

Used not tip part of daikon.

1. cut daikon in strips

2. mix some mayonnaise to lightly cover the daikon

3. a bit of salt and pepper to it. I put some tuna for richness(scallops make good daikon salad too!), and edamame for color

Today's our Daikon Dinner

The left brown bowl one is stir fried Garden greens, cabbage, daikon leaf. Fried with sesame oil, salt and pepper. Garnish with sesame seeds. The greens are sweet.

Daikon contains diastase, it helps your stomach. Also My aunt told me to use for easing coughing and soar throat. Cut daikon really thin, pour some honey on to it, mix to cover the daikon with the honey, and wait a while. The daikon makes juice after a while, and drink the juice. You can get these results when you eat daikon fresh, because diastase isn't survive with heat.

Japanese eat daikon often as a pickle. Also cut thick and simmer cooked with dashi(sea weed or/and dried fish stock), fry like a steak with teriyaki style sauce is good too. I hope you enjoy this magical vegetable!

wondering.

I made them for 4-year-old boy who isn't fun of birthday cakes. I'm not into a "American" store birthday cake either, it has unnecessary thick coat of butter cream on it. It makes my teeth squealing. Even healthy teeth.
So, I tried Japanese recipe, because it's light, and uses whipped cream instead of butter cream.

Maybe too girlish or toddlerish...? I couldn't see his expression well when he saw these cakes. Maybe he just doesn't care about cake, like my husband was when he was little.

Anyway, I baked cake with egg in it, and I whipped heavy cream first time in my life.
I found a nice easy recipe from COOKPAD. When you whip, put jam instead of suger. Just a minite of whipping by hand. The cream gets a bit harder than I wanted, but taste like fruity cream cheese. I like it:-)
The link is here. The ladybug idea is also from COOKPAD.

I named them Totoro Cup Cake, because there are acorns, and kind of nature theme.
I tasted just now, and it was good the top part, but dry the bottom part... It was moist before I put it in my refrigerater, though. It's a disappointment.
Now, I'm in a journey to a recipe that is good for refrigerating, or that makes non-melt decoration for summer time.

I wonder the boy liked them...

9/3 : vegan quiche

We love this vegan quiche, especially my daughter. It's made with tofu. What I like is that the pie part is made out of brown rice. Beans and rice, and some vegetables too! It's balanced meal:-) I got this recipe from here.

I'm still getting help from fake meat for almost every meal. My friend and I were talking about how we could eat healthy yesterday, and we both were against process food. I'm inconsistent.
Last night my husband point out if I make twice much of dinner, I won't need to use fake meat so much, like this quiche. He also said I will have more time. I agree.

6/30

yesterday's left over (spinich and potato w/vegan cheese)
Earth Fare Almond Grain Burger
Kuma-san Maki (Bear roll..) from COOKPAD --this is NOT vegan...it has fish.


Carolina Wren(?) made a nest in my husband's birthday present. The plant isn't well..., but the nest is getting bustling~

Art Camp

My daughter started to go to an Art Camp on Monday. She is really enjoying it:-)

onigiri with sesame seeds, carrot frikake, and bonito flake
boiled broccoli
gardein chicken nugget thing
Earth Fare Almond Grain Burger
carrot and onion kinpira

6/23

today's lunch :

today's bread
tofurky
lettuce from garden sandwich
sauteed spinach from friend's garden
burdock root salad
scrambled eggs

and blueberry:-)

This blueberries are from Co-op. One pint of local blueberry was $2!!

Our yard is getting wilder and wilder and wilder and wilder.
I need to take care of it a little bit more;-)

But it is really beautiful.

This spider made his home from this onion glass to my table cloth hangs from our clothesline. The best decoration for our house.
I better find another table cloth for tomorrow.

My husband found him(her?).

Glad to meet you.

When I walk in our yard, I discover different things every time.
I hadn't known so much things going on in my yard.
I believe I still miss a lot, but it's really wonderful to know that the nature is treasure like I was imagining.

Mushroom

Hello~

field trip

My daughter went to a field trip with her dad:-)

They learned about forest resources. They saw how paper is made from a tree. My daughter seemed enjoy the paper part a lot. She is not great fun of exploring woods in spring and summer. There are bugs all over her...

pond

This year, a lot of plants seem happier than before. My husband and I have been walking around our house to see their beauty many times a day. It's really nice.


My daughter got a cold and stayed at home two days... so, we had a craft time:-) We made hanko(stamps). They are made with eraser.

hunch of tain

They seems to feel it'll rain. In a little gloomy light, they look happy and beautiful.

fitted

Strawberry jam sandwiches
Grilled cheese with Daiya Vegan Cheese
LightLife Smartdog (vegan) and edamame
apple slices in plastic wrap

I was really satisfied how the sandwiches fitted in the container. It was so perfect:-)

my daughter made this and took this picture:

I think it's cute.

5/5

quesadilla
broccoli
carrot
apple

I made and ate quesadilla first time in my life, and I loved it:-)

This is the cheese that I used for the quesadilla. It's vegan, and it's really good. Protein 1g...

Daiya Vegan Cheese

one month

garlic rice with Morningstar Farms Crumbles
jerk tofu
vegetable stir fly
apple
dates+oats thing

I tried the jerk tofu first time, and it was delicious(for me, my husband wasn't a fan of it). I didn't put jalapeno peppers because I didn't have it, but it turned out well. The cayenne was enough for us;-)

I got the Jerk Tofu recipe from here.

One month makes a huge difference. My backyard got wild! It still growing greener.

4/7:

4/15:

today:

I pulled poison ivy today where I can reach...

husband's birthday:-)

My daughter made a lime pie for her dad's birthday.
(I helped a little bit;-))

mugi-cha(sun tea style)

Making barley tea:-)

4/20

daughter's :

I made fried soy bean with sweet and sour sauce. It is tasty for a bento box. It's hard to eat with chopsticks...

How to make fried soy bean:

1. cook soy beans (or can soy beans drain).

2. coat the soy beans nicely with corn starch.　*better not put liquid with cooked water or from can for "nice" coating.

3. fry with a generous amount of oil (doesn't need to be deep fried). *don't use anything to stir up, shake the pan instead.

4. drain excess oil on kitchen paper.

5. mix soy sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar(2:2:1 works well) in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave it until the sugar is dissolved(about 10 sec. I think...).

6. put the fried soy beans in the sauce.

I put sesami seeds, fresh green onions and fried green beans(same way with the soy beans).

Yum!

4/12

husband's :

onigiri
baked tofu
salad from garden
banana & almond better
apple

daughter's : I didn't have time to put fruit for her. . only husband, today.

onigiri
salad from garden:-)

Today, I cooked the rice with this ↓

It was OK.

How to make Onigiri (rice ball)

1. cook rice

2. put rice in a bowl (I put carrot leaf frikake this time)

3. put some rice on a plastic rap, so your hands don't get ricy. If you want to put some filling on the rice, this is the time.

4. hold together.

4/2

the day's bento :

fried rice (I put carrot leaf furikake too!)
broccoli and carrot
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets

I use Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets and broccoli A LOT! They are good bodies.

6:45 wake up (I'm hoping to wake up 6:30, but it doesn't happen usually...)
6:55 start to make breakfast and lunch
7:00 wake daughter up
7:15 daughter comes to table (she is hoping to wake up earlier, but it doesn't happen like me...) / let her eat and continue cooking
7:25 putting all the food in a lunch box, and take a picture of it
7:30 putting daughter's lunch bag in her backpack, and brush my teeth and tie her hair and...
7:40-45 leaving to school

My super heroes, the nuggets and broccoli, are awesome for this harebrained schedule.

4/1

I put same things for both, husband and daughter :

rice with furikake
spinach and kale from the community garden
purple potato
hijiki-ni (a kind of seeweed)
Boca -meatless chik'n nuggets

The vegetables include, hijiki(one kind of see vegetable)-ni*, are all leftover from last night. I like that they(especially I can) eat several variety of food in one meal, like buffet:-)

*"ni" means simmered(boiled).

3/31 ; Six Piece of Sand

husband's(he likes rice better) :

onigiri
stir fry with kabocha squash
LIGHTLIFE -smart dog




daughter's :

sandwiches with soy butter
same stir fry
apple

I erased a sentence from yesterday's page, because my husband told me that he had no idea what I was writing about...
That sentence was, "I have some bread but I have nothing to sand," or something like that. I thought "to sand" meant to fill the sandwiches with filling. In Japanese we use the borrowed English word "sandwich, " but we often shorten it to "sand." We also use the shortened word "sand" as a verb to mean "put something between two other things." My husband says that we use the word sandwich as a verb in English, but he doesn't think people use it as a verb to mean "put filling between bread." . . .Confusing!

I made a sandwich and cut it into six pieces, then I need to think it's one sandwich? Or six sandwiches? Six pieces of sandwich? Never ending confusion. . .

3/30 ; onigiri

husband's:

stir fry
apple
onigiri(rice ball)

daughter's:

pan fried rice ball -I imaged four leave clover which I found yesterday! First one in my life!
Junko's tukemono(Japanese style pickled vegetables)
miso-teriyaki koya tofu(dried tofu)
fried sweet potato

About Onigiri

I think a lot of people in the U.S. think that Japanese often eat sushi, but not really that happen. Sushi is for celebration or when a family get together, like Thanksgiving or Christmas here. Onigiri is more familier than sushi for me and I believe for other Japanese people.

Good part of onigiri is easy to make and carry, and ready to eat without chopsticks or utensils. Japanese eat onigiri for lunch, picnic, a snack, and etc.. Almost all the stores which you can buy food carry many kinds of onigiri. It's like sandwiches here.


Here is How to make Onigiri.

Today's bread:-)


This is going to be tomorrow's lunch~

carrot leaf furikake

You Need to Use Carrot Leaf!!!

Compare to the root part you usually eat, the leaf part has more than twice of vitamin A, third times of protein, five times of calcium, and etc.*

Don't throw it away...

I usually make furikake(sprinkle on rice) out of the leaves.

This is how:

1. cut the leaf part and wash well,and pick the leaves from the stem.

2. put the leaves on a parchment sheet and microwave it (about 3 min? It depends how much leaves you put on. Put the sheet 1 min and see how the leaves look like, put 1 min again, continue till the wetness of leaves is gone.)

Not yet. . .

This is it!

3. grind the dried leaves with your hand.

4. put it in a jar or plastic container or bag with a bit of salt.

If it get enough dry, you can store a while. I keep the carrot leaf furikake a month or so.

*information from -2njin.net- http://www.2njin.net/basic/eiyou.html