Easy Veggie

Pay It Forward - Who's Getting a Package from Redondo Beach?

2010-03-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Thank you all so much for the kind comments you left on the Pay It Forward post, I really appreciate your time! I finally put the names of everyone who said "I'm in" in the drawing this afternoon. As soon as my son got home from school, I asked him to draw the name of the lucky recipient for me. And...the winner is:

Mary of Mitten Machen Blog! CONGRATULATIONS, Mary!!! Please email me your address and a package from Redondo Beach, California will head your way early next week.

Remember, the idea is that once you receive the package, you should find someone to 'Pay It Forward' to!

**************************

I would like to share with you some photos from my garden as I haven't had anything much to share lately. Hope you will enjoy them:)

My roses are so big and healthy, my husband has been taking very good care of them.

I forgot the name of these beautiful flowers, I have a lot of them this spring.

The only one cherry tomato I have left from last summer! Can you see the yellow buds?

All my herb plants died from the rain storm last month, this is the only one that survived.

This is my "Owari Satsuma Mandarin" tree. It's looking great, isn't it? The flowers are blooming and they smell so sweet and wonderful!

Hopefully, I will be back with more photos of my garden very soon:)

Pay It Forward!

2010-03-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday night, I was SO so happy to see a package from Scotland waiting for me when I came home from work. It was a Pay It Forward gift from Mangocheeks of Allotment 2 Kitchen, one of my most favorite blogger friends who has been sharing such amazing vegetarian recipes which most of veggies come right from her very own garden!

Thank you SO very much, Mangocheeks! It was very kind of you, I'm really really grateful for all the lovely gifts you sent me!

Mangocheeks sent me a beautiful Scottish Stirring Utensil made of beechwood and not one but two lovely tea towels made of 100% cotton for my kitchen. The first one has Scotland map and the second one has traditional Scottish Recipes on it. How wonderful! I loved my gifts so much and so did my family, we will enjoy them forever!

As told by Mangocheeks, "Pay It Forward" was started by fellow bloggers in the U.S.A. The idea is to send the lucky recipient something local. The recipient then has to Pay a gift as well.

Now it's my turn to pay it forward. Please leave a comment on this post and say "I'm in", if you'd like to receive a package from Redondo Beach, California. I will come up with a way to choose the recipient on Sunday, March 28, 2010.

Let's have fun!

479 Degree Popcorn

2010-03-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

Yay!!! I'm back blogging again! You have no idea how much I missed all of you, my dear blogger friends! I just needed some time off from blogging to get organized in the past month.

Last month, my blog was selected as the winner for the Foodie Blogroll "comment to win a 479 Popcorn-organic popcorn sampler" contest. Thank you so much, The Foodie Blogroll!

I was super excited when I received these wonderful organic popcorn samplers from 479 Degree Popcorn. To be honest with you, I am not a great fan of popcorn but my son really is! I was very happy to win this contest because I thought my son would enjoy them.

The first night, my son picked the "Black Truffle + White Cheddar" as he is a big cheese eater and he loved it so much. My husband tried some and he said it was GOOD. I tried a little and it wasn't calling my name!

The next day, I opened up the "Chipotle Caramel + Almonds". Oh My Goodness! It was delicious or what! I loved the rich flavor of organic caramel with chipotle chili, the yummiest and crunchiest toasted almonds that I wished I could have more, YUM! My son and I were fighting over this bowl... "Mom! you said this is for me only... you said you don't like popcorn... you said you wanted to try just a little....." Oops!

Later on, I started to feel greedy over these flavorful popcorn and I announced that I loved them and they were MINE! I didn't remember when I opened the third and the fourth ones which were "Madras Coconut Curry + Cashews" and "Ginger Sesame Caramel". We ate them so fast and I forgot all about taking photos, the only thing I remembered that I got to eat most of the coconut curry one because my son didn't like it that much. I think they should have put more cashews in that bag, it would have been perfect!

We saved the best for last, it was "Pimenton de la Vera" which has a wonderful aroma of smoky Spanish Paprika, organic tomatoes and onion, YUM! I still remembered the taste of smoky, sweet and salty all at once. Mmm...Mmm!!!

Believe me, you don't need to be a big fan of popcorn to enjoy this gourmet treat!

Awards And Surprise!!!

2010-02-07T22:40:00.001-08:00

I am truly honored that I was the winner of Healthy Cooking Challenge-Family Favorites co-hosted by Alicia at Vegan Epicurean and Rose at Dandelion for my submission of Brown Rice and Kale Soup with Tofu and Ginger.

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Alicia and Rose for giving me this opportunity to create healthy cooking recipes which helps maintain healthy lifestyle for me and my family. I had so much fun and I am really touched by your kindness and hard work to make this great challenge happen.

All the wonderful healthy recipes that were submitted for this challenge can be found on this post. For those who are interested in submitting your healthy cooking recipes for the next challenge, please go to Vegan Epicurean Blog-Healthy Cooking Challenge-Fast Food. The deadline is February 28, midnight your time.

I am so happy to receive this Happy 101-Sweet Friends Award from Rachana Kothari at Veggi Fare. Thank you very much, Rachana for sharing this award with me, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness!

I would like to pass this award onto all my sweet blogger friends. Please display this award on your blogs and I would really love to know what are 10 things that make each of you happy:)

Here are 10 things that make me happy:)

1) Being with my family no matter where I am:)
2) Being productive at work or at home:)
3) Taking a nap or having a good quality sleep:)
4) Flowers (especially roses and orchids) and gardening:)
5) When I read my son's progress reports:)
6) When my family enjoys the food that I cook for them:)
7) Talking on the phone with my mom, my siblings and my girl friends:)
8) Thai food, Mmm:)
9) When I don't have a Migraine headache or skin rash:)
10) Reading lovely comments about my food blog:)

I also received this Beautiful Blogger Award from Collaborative Curry Blog, one of my favorite food blogs that always shares such beautiful photos and fantastic recipes and great tips. I am so flattered that you bestowed my humble blog with this amazing award, thank you very much indeed:)

SURPRISE! SURPRISE!

These 12 bloggers who participated in Easy Veggie Recipes and continued to leave their comments on this post will receive Kitchen Collage Sticky Notes as participation prizes from me. Please email me your address by Sunday, February 14, 2010 and I will send these lovely gifts to you right away!

1) Authentic Food Delights
2) Roses r Red
3) Padhu's Kitchen
4) Nandini's Recipes
5) Veggi Fare
6) a2z Vegetarian Cuisine
7) Sara's Corner
8) My Culinary World
9) Nithu Bala Recipes
10) Vegan Epicurean
11) Ruchikacooks
12) Collaborative Curry

Thank you all once again for participating. By the way, I have been still working on experimenting with each Easy Veggie recipe. It is really tough to decide which recipe I like the best because they are all fantastic! I would love to hear what my readers think whose recipe is the best??? I would appreciate your input.

Food Blog Challenge 3-in-1

2010-01-31T20:34:00.000-08:00

I really really wanted to participate in these 3 food blog events which already ended. Unfortunately, my life has been super hectic in the past couple weeks, I have been way too behind in almost everything, so I missed the chance to win each event (which I could have won, ha ha!!!). Since I have all the photos ready to be posted so I will go ahead blogging about them my Easy Veggie way!

1) Healthy Cooking Challenge at Vegan Epicurean

Ginger Rice Soup with Tofu and Kale

I made this soup when I was sick with a bad cough and cold a couple weeks ago and

I recalled that my mom always made it for me when I wasn't feeling well. She just added cooked rice in a pot with boiling water and put whatever meat and vegetables she had on hand, then seasoned it with some soy sauce and black pepper. Wait a second!!!, the magic ingredient that I will never ever forget is... "finely chopped fresh ginger"!!!. Yes, it really is such an amazing comfort food for us all in the family and it has given us a quick recovery from illness!

4 cups water

2 cups cooked brown rice

1 package firm tofu, cut into small pieces

1 small bunch of fresh kale, chopped (or any kind of veggies you prefer)

1 small fresh ginger root, peeled and finely chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1) Put water in a pot and bring to a boil.

2) Add cooked brown rice, tofu, and kale; stir gently.

3) Cook for 5-8 minutes, add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil.

4) Lower the heat, and simmer until kale is tender, about 10 minutes.

5) Garnish with fresh finely chopped ginger and freshly ground black pepper.

6) Enjoy!

**********************

2) Home Remedies Event at A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

Raw Garlic

"Know what you eat"... as often said by A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine, I now know what to eat when I have a bad cough and cold. When I was sick a couple weeks ago, Alicia at Vegan Epicurean told me that other than drinking hot tea with lemon and honey, she also takes garlic when she is sick. This is what she suggested:

1) Smash and peel raw garlic and then cut into tiny pieces that you can swallow whole.

2) Allow the garlic to sit for 10 minutes so the allicin can develop.

3) Swallow the garlic with a big glass of water with each meal.

4) Do not try it on an empty stomach as it can give you an upset stomach.

Alicia and her husband have been doing it for over 10 years and it seems to work in a day, they always feel better. For me, after I tried raw garlic with each meal, I was feeling better in a few days. I have to say I pretty much believe in this home remedy because it usually takes me at least a week or so to get over the cough and cold but this time it was gone so fast! Believe it or not, why don't you give it a try when you feel a cold coming on!!!

****************

3) Kitchen Mishaps at Kitchen Tantra

Oh! Well! I have to confess that this event did really make me laugh like crazy when I read about it. I laughed even more when I saw the Event Round Up because all those stories and photos look and sound similar to what normally happen in my very own kitchen. This is just one out of countless mishaps from my kitchen, lol!

Topless Chocolate Cake

I have wanted to make chocolate cake with a bundt pan for the longest time. I finally did make it last December. I remembered how my old neighbor, Allison showed me how to put chocolate chips in the pan first before pouring in the cake batter.

Oh! No! I forgot to spray the bundt!!! Oopsy!!! I did it again!!!!

Easy Veggie Recipes!

2010-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank you SO much to all who participated in "Easy Veggie Recipes" during My 50th Post Giveaway!!!

I hope you will forgive me for taking so much time to come back with the fun that I promised from my last post. Please don't give up on me, I will certainly be back with some good news very soon!

Don't you just love SURPRISES???

Here are the links to all the wonderful recipes that I received for my Easy Veggie Recipes, as promised:

Easy Vegetable Seekh Kebabs by Ruchikacook

Easy Veggie Lasagna by Renu's Kitchen

Easy Veggie Spagehetti Squash Mexicana by Gluten Free Gidget

Easy Veggie Tava Paneer&Mushroom by Authentic Food Delights

Easy Veggie Pies by Allotment 2 Kitchen

Easy Veggie Pasta Soup by Priya Easy N Tasty Recipes

Easy Veggie Stuffed Long Capsicums by Simply Food

Easy Veggie Mediterranean Multigrain Wrap by A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

Easy Veggie Okra Curry by Sara's Corner

Easy Veggie Wraps by Veggi Fare

Easy Veggie Stir Fry by Asankhana

Easy Veggie Broccoli Quiche by New Veginnings

Easy Veggie Cream of Tomato Soup/Raw by Vegan Epicurean

Easy Veggie Sweet Potato Curry by Nithu's Kitchen

Easy Veggie Poriyal by Usha Nandini's Recipes

Easy Veggie Asparagus Stir Fry Indian by Spice Buds

Easy Veggie Dal Recipe by Padhu's Kitchen

Easy Veggie Cabbage Pizza by Roses r Red

Easy Veggie Stew by My Culinary World

Easy Veggie Masala with Cauliflower by Collaborative Curry

Enjoy and have a great week!!!

Giveaway Winners!

2010-01-15T21:44:00.000-08:00

ATTENTION, PLEASE!!!

I am very pleased to announce the two winners of My 50th Post Giveaway as generated by Random.org.

And...

The first winner is:

comment number 42

Alicia of Vegan Epicurean

has won this Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen Cookbook!

***********

The next winner is:

comment number 17

Mangocheeks of Allotment 2 Kitchen

has won this Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen Cookbook!

Big congratulations to both winners, please email me your address and I will send your cookbooks right to your door.

Thank you all very much for entering my giveaway, I had so much fun reading your comments and your recipes. I will be posting links to all Easy Veggie dish recipes next week with the announcement of the winners of "Best Easy Veggie Dish" and "Participation Prizes"!

So the fun has not ended yet.

Please stay tuned:)

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Happy Birthday To Nathan!

2010-01-14T21:17:00.000-08:00

Our son, Nathan turns 12 today! No BIG birthday party for big boy this year, he understands and just requested that mom makes vanilla birthday cake with funfetti frosting. I woke up so early this morning and baked the cake for him. You may be disappointed to hear that I just used store-bought cake mix because I had to be at work by 9:30 a.m. So I asked my husband to help me out with the frosting and this is what he did!!! I am so proud of him:)

Nathan with his birthday cake decorated by proud daddy!

Nathan and I, who wanted to show off my new scarf real bad. Sorry for all these blurry photos because my new camera ran out of battery so I had to use my old camera tonight!

Nathan also requested to go out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen so we went there just only three of us. I ordered grilled vegetable salad without looking at the menu. I know I have never had enough of this tasty salad. There were romaine lettuce, corn, eggplants, zucchini, asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, and avocado. YUM!

Nathan kept asking me how I made the heart scones so I secretly made this heart shape cake to surprise him but my husband just decorated it without flipping it over, Oops!!!

Today is one of the best day in my life to remind me that 12 years ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy who always continues to be such a wonderful son to his parents and makes us proud. Nathan, dad and mom wanted to wish you the happiest of birthdays and we love you SO very much. We love you infinitely!!!

I will be back tomorrow night to announce the winners of My 50th Post Giveaway!

Have a good night, everyone!

Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-11T21:39:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010, Everyone!
I hope it's not too late to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2010! I have so many wonderful things to share with you today. Let's start with this yummy heart scone, Mmm, Mmm GOOD!!!

I made this heart scone for my husband to celebrate our 13th Wedding Anniversary last month. I used the recipe from Vegweb but I added half a bag of frozen blueberries, dried cranberries and almond. It was really yummy! (Hope you can see the heart shape).

Good Morning, Green Smoothie!
I'm back on track with my delicious green smoothie, refreshing and delicious!

I've been using this So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Milk instead of almond milk and coconut water, I'm loving it!

Easy Veggie Noodle Soup

This is my veggie noodle soup with tofu I made last night without using any cookbook, I just used whatever kind of veggies I had in my fridge which were onion, carrots, celery, daikon and broccoli. It was very tasty and satisfying!

Soba Noodle with kale

Tonight, I used the same veggie soup I had leftover from last night. My family had the noodle with green beans and turkey meatballs. For me, I had the same flavourful tofu from last night and all the veggies plus the delicious kale.

Oh! So delicious!

Lovely Pink and Purple Scarf from Rose

The last wonderful thing I wanted to share with you is this lovely scarf I received from Rose of Roses r Red from her 50th post giveaway event. It goes so well with my pink jacket, doesn't it? Thank you so much, Rose! I can't tell you enough how much I love my new scarf!

As you all may know that My 50th Post Giveaway ended last night. I will announce the winners on January 15, 2010. Oh! So exciting!!!

I've still been VERY busy working 5 days a week but I will try to visit everyone of you as soon as I can. I will also be trying my very best to participate in these 3 wonderful events.

Kitchen Mishaps at Kitchen Tantra

Home Remedies Event at A 2 Z Vegetarian Cuisine

Healthy Cooking Challenge at Vegan Epicurean

Hope you all have a lovely week!!!

Wedding Anniversary

2009-12-28T21:22:00.000-08:00

This post will be very short but SWEET because today marks our Wedding Anniversary! My husband and I have been married for 13 years. We've been through good days and bad days together, the best thing of all is that we still love each other so much... more and more!!!

In the old days, we didn't have digital camera so I took this photo from our wedding photo album.

Tonight, we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and I had Grilled Vegetable Salad, it was really delicious! I was too busy playing with the kids so I didn't pay much attention to my food but I remembered that I kept saying to my husband: "this salad is SO good, honey". Highly recommended!!!

I can't tell you enough how excited I am about my 50th Post Giveaway . I am now thinking of adding more gifts but I can't tell you just yet. Please stay tuned until next time!!!

My 50th Post Giveaway!

2009-12-26T20:47:00.001-08:00

It seemed that it took forever for me to reach my 50th post! I cheated a little bit last night by posting my Christmas tree just to get to this exciting announcement!

I would like to give away brand new copies of these two cookbooks:

Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen

All you have to do to win my 50th post giveaway is:

1) Create an easy vegetarian dish of your own choice and name it starting with "Easy Veggie......".

2) Post the recipe and photo(s) of your "Easy Veggie Dish" on your blog between December 27, 2009 and January 10, 2010.

3) Leave a comment on this post to let me know that you will participate in this giveaway = the first chance to win.

4) Give me a link to your "Easy Veggie Dish" post on this post = the second chance to win.

5) This giveaway is open to any food blogger around the world. Only one recipe per person, please!

6) The two winners will be announced on January 15, 2010.

Wishing you all the best of luck!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T19:11:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

My Weekend!

2009-12-14T21:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very busy day for me but it was full of fun and yummy food!!! I went to Magpie's Christmas Party for breakfast at 8 a.m. Everyone brought something to share so there were a lot of food, Mmmm!!! There were Potato Frittata, Spinach & Nuts Salad, Fruit Salad, Scones, Soy Sausages, Chocolate Cake and Cookies. My camera wasn't working well so I don't have many good photos to share but I got a good shot of my plate to show you.

I was too busy to cook this time so I grabbed a couple bags of "TJ's Powerhouse Salad Kit" which is a complete salad with spinach, walnuts, dried edamame, dried blueberries and a blueberry cherry vinaigrette. It was a big hit at the party, so healthy and dee-li-cious!!!

I got "Two Thumbs up" from Pam, the manager and her daughter, Tessa!

In the evening, I went to see beautiful fireworks in Manhattan Beach with my family. Our friends who hosted the party live on the Strand which is just a couple blocks from the Manhattan Beach Pier. They served fantastic food and drinks prepared by a professional chef and a bartender. Everything was perfectly tasty, YUM! This was the only good photo of fireworks I got. I'm so sad that most of my photos that I took from both parties were blurry. I hope Santa will bring me a new camera this coming Christmas!

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Soup Time And Giveaway Winner!

2009-12-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

I've been working a LOT for the past few weeks. I LOVE working so much and love it more than anything but I am always looking forward to spending my Sundays and Mondays off by doing nothing but lounging around the house and finding something yummy to fill my tummy:)

It was raining so hard this morning. I was very cold and hungry when I came back home from my dentist. After checking my fridge, I came up with this rice soup.

Tofu & Kale Rice Soup

I started by boiling a pot of water and added about 2 cups of cooked rice. When it was boiling, I added chopped kale,diced celery and tofu, seasoned with soy sauce (or salt) and pepper. I put a half teaspoon of Marmite to add the nice brown color to the soup. Served in a bowl and sprinkled with Nutritional Yeast,...YUM! After giving a stir, it will look like the photo below, Mmmm!!! So tasty and comforting!!!

Last week, I made a huge pot of Vegetable Stock again. I was so proud of myself that I planned ahead for dinner to feed my lovely family when I've been busy working 5 days in a row so I can come home and cook easy veggie soup for them.

Last Tuesday night, I made this fantastic soup by using my vegetable stock, added some veggies (spinach, celery and baby carrots), cooked pasta and a can of cannellini beans. It took less than 20 minutes to prepare the soup (It would have been only 15 minutes if I didn't cut my finger when I was cutting the carrots plus Dr. Dad and Dr. Nathan were panicky trying to stop the bleeding, Ouch!!!).

Crock-Pot Experiment

I thought I had such a brilliant idea!!! Last Thursday morning, I filled my crock-pot with veggie stock, baby carrots, diced celery, potato chunks and cooked chickpeas. I told my husband to add frozen corn about half an hour before serving and don't have to wait for me because I had to work late. I left home with pride:)

I got back home almost 7 pm and the soup was still in the crock-pot. Nobody touched or ate it! I was so upset and asked why they didn't eat the dinner. My husband said the potatoes weren't cooked. I said "WHAT?" and later on, I realized that I forgot to turn on my crock-pot...Ooups!!! My poor boys didn't get to eat dinner until 8 pm that night, it was still yummy though:)

Lastly, I am so excited to announce that I am the WINNER of Roses r Red Blog's Giveaway ! Thank you so very much, Rose! I hope you all are happy for me for being so lucky:) By the way, I'm planning to have a big Giveaway for my upcoming 50th Post. So please stay tuned, until next time!

Chickpea and Kale Soup

2009-11-30T21:57:00.000-08:00

Time flies! November will pass by in a couple of hours, and I am so ready to welcome my favorite month of December! It's the busiest time of the year for work and it's time for SOUP! I've been in the mood for soup and my whole family really enjoyed this tasty chickpea soup for last night's supper, so I thought I should share it with you all.

This is my bowl of chickpea and kale soup topped with saltine crackers, Mmmm!

This is Nathan's bowl, chickpea and sweet corn soup, he asked for "MORE, please"!

My husband asked for spinach instead of kale and he went to the stove for seconds, YUM!

Chickpea and Kale Soup

Adapted from "Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen"

by Deborah Madison

Ingredients for the chickpeas:

2 cups chickpeas, soaks

2 carrots, peeled (the recipe called for 1 carrot)

1 head of garlic, sliced crosswise in half

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley (the recipe called for handful of parsley sprigs, tied together with string)

Ingredients for the seasonings:

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4-5 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, finely diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch of dried thyme

3 garlic cloves, minced

Big bunch of kale (the recipe called for spinach)

Method:

1. Put chickpeas in a pot with the rest of the ingredients and 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the chickpeas are tender. Season with a teaspoon of salt and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a second soup pot. Add the onions, oregano, thyme, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat until softened, occasionally giving them a stir. Add the garlic toward the end.

3. Using a strainer, lift the cooked chickpeas into the pot with the onions and discard the rest of the aromatics. Strain the liquid and add 6 cups in the soup pot, setting the rest aside for the moment. Add another teaspoon of salt, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Puree the chickpeas and return them to the pot. If the soup seems too thick, thin it with any remaining liquid. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

4. Wilt the kale in a skillet in the water clinging to its leaves, then chop and add to the chickpeas. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then serve with your favorite crackers. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Beautiful Blogger Award!

2009-11-26T10:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful day and enjoy your Thanksgiving meals with your loved ones. I'm not cooking anything today as I've been very exhausted from working a lot lately. So I will be dining out tonight with my little family and enjoy relaxing evening together!

I've received this "Beautiful Blogger Award" from Roses r Red Blog a few weeks ago. Thank you so much, Rose for thinking of me and being such a lovely blogger friend since we met each other on this amazing blog sphere. I always enjoy reading both of your beautiful blogs and appreciate your precious time stopping by my blog to leave such positive and caring thoughts:)

I would like to pass this award onto all of YOU on My Blog List because YOU all have such beautiful blogs and I love YOU all! Please feel free to copy this award and post it on your blogs. Enjoy:)

Easy Veggie Fried Rice and Green Curry

2009-11-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've been working on a Thai food menu for my dear friend, Dee Dee who loves Thai food but has never cooked or tried Thai homemade dishes before. I let her borrow my Thai cookbooks last week and she bookmarked several recipes that she is interested in trying. I'm planning on inviting her and her lovely family for a dinner one Sunday. I don't have a complete menu yet but I'll definitely make these 2 dishes which I've experimented with for many times.

Easy Veggie Fried Rice

My son, Nathan who loves my fried rice so much has requested this dish because he wanted his friend, Kaevan (Dee Dee's son) to try it. I hope my vegan friends would understand why I used eggs in this dish. I've just become a vegetarian for less than a year because of health reasons. I'm intolerant of dairy products so I try to avoid them as much as I can. I still include eggs in my diet but I didn't eat eggs during my Vegan Food Experiment. I started to eat them again last week and I feel perfectly fine.

This is how I cook my fried rice:

1) Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic, stir until golden brown.

2) Add 2 eggs, stir and cook for few minutes, add cooked rice, soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, and a couple drops of agave syrup (secret ingredient), keep stirring.

3) Add frozen mixed vegetables, stir to mix all the ingredients together about 2 minutes and lower the heat. Cover for 5 minutes and stirring gently about 2-3 minutes more.

I've been fascinated with any kind of rice dish. I grew up eating rice all my life, I truly believe that I can't live without it. So here are some wonderful recipes that I've found and can't wait to experiment with. Hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do:

- Ginger Rice with Sesame Seeds from Authentic Food Delights Blog

- Ghee Rice from Kothiyavunu Blog

- Microwave Coconut Milk Vegetable Rice from Kothiyavunu Blog

- Sesame Fried Rice from Simply Life Blog

- Vegetable Fried Rice from Collaborative Curry Blog

- Thai Fried Rice from Vegan Dad Blog

- Tomato Onigiri Italian Style from Vegan Epicurean Blog

- Jira Rice from Mitten Machen Blog

- Green Pea Pulao Rice from Maine Food and Lifestyle Blog

- Rice Recipes from My Home Cooking Blog

- Indian Inspired Cabbage and Peas from Vegan Epicurean Blog

- Brinjal Rice from Padhu's Kitchen Blog

- Simple Vegetable Rice from Padhu's Kitchen Blog

- Mango Rice from Vazhayila Blog

- Coconut Rice from Vazhayila Blog

Note: Please send me your link if you have posted any rice dishes, I'd love to add yours to my collection. Thank you in advance:)

Easy Veggie Green Curry

I've made green curry to eat with rice or noodles countless times and I usually follow the method provided on the curry paste package. I'm not a kind of person who considers making curry paste from scratch, I hope you know why??? This time, I had green beans, green peas, baby spinach and bell peppers but I will add tofu when I cook for Dee Dee. Oh! by the way, you can find more photos of my other green curry from here

That's all for today, I'm still working on other dishes and hope I would be able to share them with you very soon. Thank you so very much for stopping by my blog and leaving such wonderful comments. I always appreciate your time, I'll visit your blogs as soon as possible.

Have a lovely week, everyone:)

Easy Veggie Noodle Soup

2009-11-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

Cool nights have arrived, we really enjoyed our veggie noodle soups for dinner 2 nights in a row. We loved it so much and it's so perfect for this kind of weather!

Would you like to know what my secret ingredient is? Yes, it's because of this "Marmite", Kmouse encouraged me to buy when we went shopping at Cost Plus. This is the first time I've heard about this awesome ingredient which helps transform my veggie stock into a great-looking broth and makes the taste of my soup incredibly delicious!!!

I'm so proud to tell you that this was the first time I made my own vegetable stock. In the past, I always used store-bought veggie broth or stock. I used the recipe from "Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen" which is truly amazing. I can't wait to try so many great soup recipes from this book!

I made it my easy veggie way:

Ingredients:
8 cups water
1 large onion, cut into chunks
2 large carrots,chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 large daikon, chopped (not an ingredient from the book)
1 cup chopped shitake mushroom (not an ingredient from the book)
6 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sea salt

Method:
Put all the ingredients in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer slowly at least 30 minutes, partially covered, then strain it.

The recipe also called for 1 bunch of scallions and 8 parsley sprigs with stems but I skipped them. I'll add these 2 ingredients when I make it again next time!

This time I used buckwheat Japanese noodles, I served cooked noodles with this super delicious veggie stock (including its veggie chunks). Oh, and I dropped a teaspoonful of miso paste in the soup bowl before serving, Mmmmm!!!!

In And Out Eats!

2009-11-15T15:45:00.000-08:00

I cooked a few yummy dishes and ate out a couple of times last week. I actually photographed too many pictures of my food and I got confused which one I wanted to share. Have you ever got confused with your photos? If not, I would love to ask for your kind advice... please, please, please!!!

Baked Acorn Squash with Apples, Cranberries and Walnuts

Inspired by Baked Acorn Squash filled with Apples and Walnuts from Vegan Epicurean Blog and Acorn Squash with Cranberry Apple from The Ordinary Vegetarian Blog . This was the first time I've ever attempted to try cooking "A Fancy Meal". My usual home cooking meals are just some stir-fried with rice or pasta with store-bought sauce or easy sushi rolls. Reading so many amazing food blogs since the New Year has improved my taste of cooking a lot, hasn't it??? Hahaha!!!

I followed the method of cooking from Vegan Epicurean and added dried cranberries and brown sugar just like The Ordinary Vegetarian did. Please visit these two fantastic blogs for the recipes and let me know which version you like or what you come up with. I would love to hear from you:)

Pad Thai Noodle

We ordered take-out from our usual Thai Restaurant last Sunday night. I had Vegan Pad Thai Noodle with Fried Tofu. It was the first time I've tried Pad Thai noodle with no eggs and no fish sauce. The noodles were a little bit too dry for me but it was pretty tasty. I'm still not sure which way I like better, I think I like them both:)

Dine-Out at Veggie Grill

I finally went to The Veggie Grill in El Segundo with my dear cousin Kmouse to celebrate her birthday last Wednesday night. I had Chipotle BBQ Sandwich (above photo), it comes with shredded veggie-steak, marinated in tangy BBQ sauce, with chipotle ranch, caramelized onion, lettuce and tomato, Mmmm.... Mmmm.... absolutely delicious = highly recommended by me and Kmouse.

Kmouse had the above Chop-Chop Chef Salad which has chopped romaine, tempeh, veggie-steak, chillin' chickin, green onion, roasted corn salsa with a chipotle ranch dressing. I didn't get to try it but Kmouse said it was so nutty and yummy! Oh, and we also ordered Sweetheart Fries (Scrumptious sweet potato fries, seasoned and served with chipotle ranch) and Chocolate Pudding to share, YUM!!!

Before saying goodbye, I would like to spread the news of "The 50th Post Giveaway" at the lovely Roses r Red Blog. The deadline is November 29th so you have plenty of time to enter to win. Good Luck, Everyone!!!

Miso Sesame Salad Dressing

2009-11-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

I haven't cooked anything much lately. Just some regular dishes that I've already posted so I don't want you to get bored with my food. But I think I would share this photo and recipe of Miso Sesame Salad Dressing with you because I really enjoyed it for lunch at work 3 days in a row. It was so quick and easy to prepare and soooo good that you could eat up within no time, YUM!!!

My cousin, Kim gave me this recipe a while ago and I've been really enjoying it and have made it countless times. I usually eyeball each ingredient and place it all in a small glass jar with lid and shake vigorously. Here is her recipe:

Miso Sesame Dressing:

3 tablespoons sesame oil

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons miso paste

1 teaspoon sugar or agave syrup

pinch of garlic powder

sesame seeds

Whisk everything together until smooth.

I just need a bag of Baby Arugula Blend, shredded carrots, diced apples (sometimes I used diced avocado), dried cranberries and/or diced dates, and walnuts. I hope you will love this tasty salad dressing as much as I do.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Blog Awards!

2009-11-03T14:17:00.000-08:00

It has been such a great honor that my humble blog has received 3 wonderful awards during the past few weeks. I hope you know how difficult it is to decide who I should pass each award onto and I will try my very best!

The first award is... "One Lovely Blog Award", comes from Gina at Simply Life Blog ,thank you so much, Gina! I've really enjoyed reading her lovely blog since I found her. She has shared simple recipes with such beautiful photos of her delicious looking meals. She also talks about daily life in general and asks questions at the end of each post that are fascinating!

I will pass this award onto 10 other deserving bloggers! I am aware that some of you have already received this award but I still want to recognize you because you definitely deserved it!

The award goes to...

1. Roses r Red
2. Rosie Sue's Closet
3. The Vegan Mouse
4. Ginger is the New Pink
5. Gluten Free Gidget
6. Vegan Epicurean
7. Heathen and Vegan
8. Allotment 2 Kitchen
9. Life of a Vegan Kid
10. Feeding Little Vegans

The next one is "Kreativ Blogger Award". I want to say thank you to Sangeetha at Kothiyavunu Blog for bestowing this fantastic award on me. Sangeetha has a great passion for cooking Indian cuisine and she loves to experiment with new recipes. She has shared truly amazing recipes with great photos, that I can't wait to try them all. It has been such a short time since I found her blog but I feel like I've known her for the longest time!

Rules of the award:

1.You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2.Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3.Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4.Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5.Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6.Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7.Leave a comment in the nominated blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Here are 7 things about myself that people might find interesting which I mostly copied from Sangeetha because we are twins, ha ha!!

1. I am very friendly and at the same time very sensitive.
2. I give respect to everyone who deserves it and dislike arrogant and selfish people.
3. I love shopping but it takes very long time to decide what I want.
4. I love cooking (but not cleaning), gardening, listening to music and watching Nick Jr and Disney Channel.
5. My family is my best gift so I love to spend every moment with them. (Sangeetha made me cry when she said "I miss my dad a lot, why GOD called him so early" because I miss my dad too, he passed away 8 years ago and I wasn't there to say good bye to him!
6. The scariest thing in the world for me is snakes and maybe losing loved ones.
7. I love travelling. I'm so scared to travel alone but I still did it so many times.

And the award goes to:

1. Bitter Sweet
2. The Vegan Mouse
3. Mitten Machen
4. Ordinary Vegetarian
5. Vegan Epicurean
6. The Voracious Vegan
7. Collaborative Curry

Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Alicia at Vegan Epicurean for bestowing this thoughtful award on me. I am absolulely impressed with her amazing blog which is full of helpful information and inspiration. I love her attention to details in every post. The best thing of all is that she responds to every single comment that she receives. I LOVE to go back to her blog to find out what her responses are.

Here are the rules of this award:

This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.

These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.

Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated.

Please give more attention to these writers.

Deliver this award to six bloggers who must choose six more and include this cleverly written text into the body of their award.

I will pass this award to some of my bloggy friends that I find exceedingly charming...

The award goes to....

1. Kmouse at The Vegan Mouse, Kim is my dearest cousin who introduced the blogworld to me and she has inspired me so much after I started reading her blog. Without her, this Easy Veggie Blog wouldn't have been here. Thank you for your inspiration and encouragement, Kim!

2. Rose at Roses r Red, you're always there for me to make me feel comfortable with my new way of eating. Your kind words make me feel like I've known you for such a long time. Thank you for sharing beautiful photos of your veggie creations and pretty things. I always adore your lovely blogs (both of them).

3. Mary at Mitten Machen, I love your writing style which make me feel like I'm reading a famous food magazine and I've always learned something new from your creative blog. Thank you for stopping by my blog as often as good old friends do.

4. Diann at Eat'n Veg'n Vegan Food & Recipes , I've always loved your blog because I know for sure that I will always find healthy and delicious recipes there. I was so impressed with your quick response when I asked you if I could use your recipe. I really appreciate your time.

5. Lauren at Ginger is the New Pink I feel wonderful every time I visit your nice blog, I love reading about your healthy diet, your garden and the lovely times you share with your husband and Ginger. Thank you so much for being such a great blogger friend for quite a while.

6. Mangocheeks at Allotment 2 kitchen My new wonderful blogger friend who grows her own beautiful organic veggies. She shares garden tips and great recipes. She always responds to every comment I leave which makes me feel welcome and want to go back to visit her again.

Thank you all again for your encouragement and support. I always appreciate every single comment from each of you, short or long; they always make my day:)

Tempeh Wrap!

2009-11-02T20:56:00.000-08:00

November is finally here and I have to say that I didn't really want October to end!! I have enjoyed experimenting with vegan food and learned so much from other vegan bloggers. It was so fascinating and inspiring to get to learn about other people's lifestyles. To be honest with you, I can't tell you just yet if I feel any better after one whole month of a vegan diet. From the bottom of my heart, I just keep telling myself: "Let's keep experimenting, it's such a wonderful thing to do".

Tempeh Wrap

This was my very quick and easy dinner from last night. If you've read my blog for a while, you should know by now that I always use what I have in my kitchen and I don't usually use too many ingredients!

I cooked tempeh strips 2 minutes a side in a pan with hot oil and set them aside. Using the same pan, sauteed chopped kale with minced garlic, set aside. Clean the pan and put flour tortillas in with low heat, put store-bought vegetarian baked beans on top of the tortillas, about 2 tablespoons. Add cooked tempeh and kale, roll up like a wrap and cut in half just like the photo above. It was super chewy and yummy!!!

What a clumsy day!!!

I didn't plan to post about green smoothie today but this morning, my smoothie needed attention and I spilled it all over my newspaper.

Later on, I dropped my measuring cup, the broken glass scattered all over the kitchen floor.

I am not only an "Easy Veggie", I am also an "Easy Clumsy"! Ha ha ha!!!

Hope you don't have a clumsy day like me!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

2009-10-31T21:16:00.001-07:00

A quick post without food tonight, I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Halloween with lots of tricks and treats!!! We usually don't send Halloween cards to anyone but my son always receives cards from these special relatives and his best friend.

This BOO came from his grandpa!

This cutie was from his best friend, Aksel!

Another Boo came from Auntie Donna!

Red Ninja, Nathan and Evil Jester, Jacob went trick-or-treating!

BOO!!!

Sushi Night!

2009-10-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

Just photos, no talking tonight (not much, actually)!!! I got home around 6 pm, I mixed rice vinegar with cooked Calrose rice that my husband prepared for me and ran upstairs to check my email. Then I started rolling my sushi dinner and served my family with imitation crab rolls at 6:30 pm. Ten minutes later, I served myself with these super yummy Tempeh/carrot rolls, dipped in wasabi and soy sauce, YUM!!!

Tempeh/Carrot Rolls

Spicy Seaweed Salad Rolls

Avocado Rolls

I used leftover sushi rice from Friday night to make avocado rolls for lunch last Monday, Mmmmm!!!

That's all for tonight folks!

Easy Veggie dinners

2009-10-27T21:54:00.000-07:00

It's VERY windy tonight and the power was out a couple of times. Since I've already uploaded all our dinner photos, I should publish this post as quick as I can before my computer goes down again. Enjoy, everyone!!!

Monday, October 26

Veggie And Herb Chowder

Inspired by Vegetable and herb chowder from Simply Life Blog . It was so filling and comforting. Of course, I have to say it was really delicious. The whole family loved it so much!

Remark: I used Rigatoni pasta, veggie broth, rice milk and green beans. Other than that, I followed every thing as per the recipe.

Sunday, October 25

Veggie And Herb Pizza (Pita)

Inspired by Zaatar Pizza from The Vegan Mouse Blog . I spread olive oil mixed with Italian herb over pita bread, put sun dried tomatoes, roasted bell peppers, diced onion, chopped tomatoes, diced zucchini and sprinkled black sesame seeds. Bake at 350 degree F for 8-10 minutes. It was incredibly tasty, YUM!

Saturday, October 24

I had a portabello mushroom Burger at Hennessy's in Manhattan Beach. It was really good but I didn't bring my camera so there is no photo for this dinner!

Monday, October 19

Easy Veggie Tofu

I've cooked this dish all the time. It's so quick and easy, I can serve my family in no time. I just use whatever kind of veggie I have in the fridge. I posted this dish before here .

Not much talking today, I'll try to be back to show you more of our dinners very soon!!!

Have a lovely week!!!

Vegan Eats!

2009-10-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

I've been dying to share with you my Vegan Eats in the past week or so. Just wanted to make sure you all know that I AM still enjoying vegan diets, hehe:)...

I was distracted by my naughty camera. All of a sudden, my camera didn't seem to work so well, sometime the pics came out too bright, sometime too blurry, but sometime perfectly clear...like this one below:

Carrot Ginger Soup

Inspired by The Life Blog . It was perfect time to enjoy this tasty soup when the weather was so cold with heavy rain last week. Creamy, spicy and delicious, Mmm.

Veggie & Tofu Drunken Noodle

We had company last Monday night, so we ordered Take-Out from Bamboo Thai Bistro. I had this spicy and delicious drunken noodle, I made sure there were no fish sauce or oyster sauce in my food.

Insalata di Farro

Most of the time, I bring lunch to eat at work but one Saturday I treated myself by ordering this oh so good "Insalata di Farro" from Pasta Pomodoro Restaurant. There are farro with grilled asparagus and zucchini, marinated red onions, and olives. I enjoyed it so much with warm bread. YUM!

Oh! and I did NOTforget to tell them not to put pecorino cheese in my food.

No Seaweed Veggie Sushi Rolls

Forgot to post this photo from one Friday night that I was determined to try making veggie sushi rolls without seaweed (especially for Rose ).

Homemade Almond Milk

I've been making my own almond milk since I started drinking green smoothies. I use the recipe from CLEAN . The recipe called for 1 cup of nuts (I use raw almonds), soaked for 3 hours in purified water (I usually soak it overnight in the fridge because I tend to forget all the time), 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp agave syrup and 3 cups purified water. Blend for about 3 minutes and strain through cheesecloth. This recipe makes about 4 cups of almond milk and store in the fridge ; lasts for 2 days.

You can find more "homemade almond milk" with slightly different recipes and step by step great pictures from The Voracious Vegan and Gluten Free Gidget and if you'd like to make some yummy muffins from the leftover almond pulps (which I did), please go to Almond Pulp Recipe from Gluten Free Gidget . They are truly amazing!!!

Homegrown Cherry Tomato Smoothie

hehe...I'm so proud to show off the last batch of my cherry tomatoes from my little garden. Whenever I run out of kale, I just made cherry tomato smoothie picked freshly right from the garden.

I still have a LOT more pics to show and tell about my vegan eats but I have to go to bed now. I've been up so late almost every night reading my favorite blogs. It has been truly fascinating to read about different ways of living by my new friends in the blog world.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Lentil Salad And Veggie Sushi

2009-10-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

I'm having such a hard time deciding what I wanted to share with you today!!! My hero, Nathan stepped in and said "Mom, you should post about Lentil Salad because it's VEGAN and I LOVE it"!!! Oh, yeah! He is absolutely right and I have to say "the whole family loved it".

The story of this crunchy and yummy salad came from Nathan's Pre-Algebra class. He has to find a recipe that has at least 10 ingredients with at least 5 fractions for his project. He picked this recipe from CLEAN BOOK without thinking what the ingredients are and if he would like it or not????

So I made this Lentil Salad for our dinner last night. Below is the photo of the salad after I mixed all the ingredients. Does it look amazing??? I still can't believe that my family ate raw salad (they usually don't), I didn't even have leftovers for my lunch today!

This salad is super easy to make. The most important part is the salad dressing which contains olive oil, cumin, turmeric, freshly grated ginger, crushed garlic, lime juice, and sea salt. Put all the ingredients together in a glass jar with lid and shake vigorously. The recipe called for dried green lentils which you have to cook them until they are tender, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, pineapple (all diced), chopped cilantro and scallions. I used shredded carrots as I like to be easy and omitted the pineapple because I didn't have it. Then, I mixed the lentils, all the vegetables and the dressing together.

And....Voila! The delicious Lentil Salad...served on top of the greens!!!

I'm soooooo sad:( ....... to tell you that I burnt my pumpkin seeds last night. I had to throw them all away but I won't give up, I'll try to roast them again very soon. I just need to set a timer next time!!!!

We usually go out to dinner on Saturdays because it's my day to work and I don't feel like cooking. Last Saturday night, we went to Open Sesame Mediterranean Grill in Manhattan Beach. I had these tasty Falafel patties served with hummus, fattoush, tomato, lettuce, wild cucumber pickles, tahini sauce and pita. I noticed that the menu indicates which dishes are for Vegetarian or Vegan or Raw. There are so many Vegan choices that I would like to go back and try. Can't wait!!!

Veggie Sushi

I'd like to keep you posted about my Sushi experiment every Friday night, lol:). I hope you don't think I'm weird to come up with the above pics. YES, I had Veggie Sushi Bowl for dinner last Friday night!!!! I first started with the idea of making Sushi rice, I wet my hands with water, take about 2 tablespoons of the rice in one hand and mold into a rectangular cylinder shape. Put a tiny bit of wasabi on top and cover with a piece of avocado. Later, I got lazy so I put all the veggies on top of a bowl of sushi rice. Does it sound easy to you??? Hope you'll give this a try, ha ha!!!

Vegan Food Experiment!

2009-10-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've decided to experiment with vegan food in October, not only to support VeganMofo's awesome event but also for my own self. I learned from Vegetarian Starter Kit that vegans eat no meat, fish, poultry, eggs, or dairy products and vegan diets are the most healthful of all. That sounds so wonderful, doesn't it? I want to live a healthy life...so I am so excited to find out if I would feel healthier after one whole month of vegan diets!

Last Friday, I made veggie sushi rolls for dinner again. I had pan fried tofu, avocado, cucumber, carrots and black sesame seeds. The rolls were a little bit loose but they were so delicious as always.

I used up all my seaweed. I thought I would try to make veggie roll with out it. So Rose will know that it's possible to make veggie sushi without seaweed because she doesn't like its smell.

So I spread the sushi rice on the bamboo mat, put tofu, cucumber, carrots and avocado on top of the rice and then....I rolled.....and...rolled..... and when I tried to cut it.....

It was falling apart = I failed:(

Pan Fried Tofu with Teriyaki Glaze

This was our dinner for Monday night. It has been our all time favorite menu since I discovered the idea from The Vegan Mouse and Vegan Dad , I just keep changing the sauce and vegetable depending on what I have in the fridge. Highly recommended!

Kanom Jean and Namya Curry

Namya is an authentic Thai curry for Thai noodle which is called "Kanom Jean". The ingredients consist of Galingale, Garlic, Dried Chili, Salt, Onion, Lemon Grass, Sugar, and Spice. Growing up in the southern part of Thailand, I had a fond memory of eating "Kanom Jean" and Namya curry with a big plate of fresh green vegetables any time of the day, YUM!

The recipe called for 100 g.(3.5 oz)of Namya curry paste, 3 cups of coconut milk and 200 g. (7 oz)of fish or canned tuna... Oops! What should I do? I'm on a vegan diet! Do you see the above pic? YES, a cup of yummy chickpeas saved my hunger:) I smashed them while pretending they were fish and mixed them up with the curry paste and coconut milk. Super easy and Mmmm...Mmmm... really good!!!

I packed my Kanom Jean and Namya Curry with green beans and corns to eat for lunch at work, so delicious and satisfying:). The pic below showed how it looked when I mixed them up. YUM!

I'd like to share with you a couple of pics from Thailand when I was visiting my hometown in the south. I really enjoyed eating Kanom Jean and Curry. I ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. YES, I did:)

They always serve Kanom Jean with varieties of curry. From the left, without coconut milk; quite spicy, the second one was with coconut milk (the one I made), the next one was super spicy with pumpkin chunks (no coconut milk) and last one called "Nam Prik" which was sweet and not spicy at all (for children).

They served a gigantic platter of fresh and pickled veggies to eat along with the Kanom Jean and curry. (Please ignore the date on the pics, I messed up my camera, I had the right date but wrong year). Anyone can tell. Right??? Haha...:)

Most of the time, we ordered mixed curries depending on how we like it. I like mine with Namya and Nam Prik together. Really really goooood!!!

I've really really enjoyed experimenting with vegan food , so far so good!!! And looking forward to trying something new next week. Any suggestions for vegan easy cooking would be so much appreciated. :)

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!!!!

For the love of Pumpkins!

2009-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

Oh My! I don't know why I've been so crazy for pumpkins. I've wanted to blog about them for the longest time and I've been dreaming about this wonderful veggie a lot lately. I just dreamed last night that I was going to name my new post "For the love of Pumpkins". Hope you'll like it:)

I LOVE this pumpkin drawing so much, it's on the front cover of a vegetarian cookbook I bought in Thailand. This book inspired me to eat more pumpkins and to tell others about how great they are. We can eat almost every part of this veggie including the seeds and skin because they are full of fiber, potassium, vitamins , minerals and Beta Carotene! I found helpful info about pumpkins from NutritionExpert'sBlog. So check it out if you're interested:).

I also found so many yummy recipes for pumpkins as listed below:

- Great recipes from past years from Vegan Dad Blog.

- Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes from The Ordinary Vegetarian Blog

- Falling for Pumpkin from Bitter Sweet Blog

- Pumpkin Yumkins from Newlyweds Blog

- Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies from The Vegan Mouse

- Toasted Pumpkin Seeds from Mitten Machen

- Autumn Spice Pumpkin Cookies from The Voracious Vegan

- Pumpkin Recipes from Simply Recipes

- Pumpkin Soup from Newlyweds Blog

- Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes from Maine Food & Lifestyle

- No Ordinary Pumpkin Soup from Roses r Red

Good Morning Pumpkin Smoothie

I made this delicious pumpkin smoothie this morning (no green monster, I ran out of kale!). I got this great idea from my sister Noi and my son, Nathan keeps telling me to make it . I just need only a few ingredients for this super easy smoothie:

1 cup pumpkin puree =I used my leftovers puree from my pumpkin pie

1 1/2cups almond milk or soy milk

1 Tbsp agave syrup

1/2 cup ice

Blend together until smooth. I sprinkled ground cinnamon and nutmeg on top, Mmmmmm!!!

Pumpkin Butter I found this pumpkin butter at Trader Joe's. I spread it over sourdough bread = speechless!!! It becomes my favorite snack now:)...YUM!

Thai Red Curry with Tofu, Broccoli and PUMPKINS
I made this spicy and dee-li-cious pumpkin red curry last week. I was dying to make it after I read the comment from Mary at Mitten Machen Blog to try it in curry sometime. I'm so glad I did it. It was so tasty and I can't wait to make it again!

Mixed Vegetables Stir-Fry (with Pumpkins)

During our sight-seeing tour in the north of Thailand, we stopped at a restaurant for lunch. They served very tasty Thai food, I often noticed that they used a lot of pumpkins in different dishes such as stir-fry, curry and some desserts. This was the only picture I got.

Pumpkin Custard

A couple weeks ago, I had a nice reunion dinner with my relatives at my house. My cousin brought this oh sooo good pumpkin custard. It is a typical Thai dessert that I seldom find in the U.S. So I was so happy to get to have the leftovers, lucky me = YUM!!!

Next time, I'll share with you some more Thai dishes with pumpkins as I ran out of time for today.

I'll keep rocking along with VeganMoFo. YAY!!!

VeganMoFo 2009!!!

2009-10-01T21:26:00.000-07:00

Starting TODAY... for the entire month of October, vegan bloggers from all over the world will be writing about vegan food as much as they can to tell people how delicious vegan food is and it's so worth it to talk about!!!

I didn't sign up to participate in this awesomeness but I thought I would like to experiment eating and cooking vegan food in October to see how much I like it!

And...of course, I'll try to blog as much as I can:)
Oh! So exciting!!!!

More about MoFo go to here

Green Smoothie Day 4

This morning, I was so happy that I had all the ingredients the recipe called for. I loved it MORE with the fresh taste of the coconut water. I was feeling so energetic at work!...YAY!

This baby makes my green smoothie tastes...Mmmmmm GOOD!!!

Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango

I made this Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Mango from home to share with friends at work. I found the recipe from The Vegan Mouse's Blog . I used a cup of celery diced instead of scallions and extra virgin olive oil instead of grapeseed oil. I didn't have red bell pepper so I skipped it.

To be honest with you... this was my first time trying Quinoa and I thought I liked it but the taste of this salad was kinda brand to me, I had to season it with more salt & pepper. However, I was so glad that everyone at work enjoyed it very much. I heard someone said "The flavor was so fresh and bright"!...YUM!!!

Pasta Dinner

Tonight, we had pasta with mushroom and garlic sauce (Barilla brand), cooked with lots of love by Easy Veggie Dad,... so tasty! I put a LOT of sweet basil (from my garden) in my plate after I took the above pic.

I'm so grateful that easy and yummy meal like this one doesn't need any meat in it!!

Green Smoothie Day 2 And Day 3

2009-09-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Just a short post today :)...... to let you know that I am still drinking Green Smoothie in the morning and I am still LOVING it!!!

I forgot to tell you that the recipe I shared with you from the last post makes 2 servings. The book said "You may either make the full recipe, and save half for later (store in fridge and use within 24 hours), or make half the recipe". Oops!!! I have been drinking the whole thing 3 days in a row!!! And I was still hungry later on....What is wrong in my tummy????

Green Smoothie Day 2

Yesterday, I ran out of mango chunks so I subbed with frozen blueberries. The color of smoothie came out pretty yucky but I still slurped it up as fast as the day before. The taste was a little bit weird but not that bad. I think I like it with mangoes better.

Green Smoothie Day 3

This morning, I filled up this Tupperware with my green smoothie (still 2 servings..haha!!) to enjoy at work. I bought frozen mango chunks from Trader Joe's last night (24 oz for $2.49). I really love the idea of using frozen fruits. It is so quick and easy....the best part is that I don't have to worry about cleaning up!!!

It was so wonderful starting my day with this healthy and yummy breakfast!!!

Green Smoothie And Sushi Dinner!!

2009-09-28T18:16:00.000-07:00

I am definitely determined to drink "Green Smoothie" every morning starting TODAY! Please wish me luck with this!!!

.....So I picked up a bunch of fresh kale at the grocery store as planned. I had my CLEAN book ready in the kitchen so I was good to go!

The recipe called for: 1 1/2 cups of almond milk, 1/2 cup of coconut water, 2 leaves kale or Swiss chard, coarsely chopped, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 cup mango chunks, and 1/2 cup of ice.

As EASY as I am, I just poured 2 cups of almond milk into the blender and skipped the coconut water because I didn't have it. I used half avocado just because I like it so much and frozen mango chunks (I skipped the ice because I don't like it too cold). Oh, I didn't add any agave syrup though, I put it in the pic because I was at first freaking out by the warning of my husband that I was not gonna like the taste of the raw kale in this smoothie because of the bitter taste. Good thing, I tasted it before I put in the syrup!!!

You know WHY???

Because I L O V E it so very much (without the sweetener), I drank it all up with my big straw out of the blender within no time. Mmmmm, so great and refreshing!!! :)

Our Sushi Dinner on Friday Night!

We have had Sushi Rolls for dinner on Friday night 3 weeks in a row because I wanted to use up all the Sushi ingredients and my family was so okay with that as we all love Sushi. A little more work for me though, I have to make 3 different fillings for each of us. The above picture was my pan-fried tofu and veggie rolls, so yummy! I ate them right from the cutting board because I was too tired to put them in a nice plate, he he he!!! :)

This plate was for my husband, with imitation crab meat and veggies. For my son, Nathan just likes it with imitation crab meat only (No pic). To be honest with you, I don't mind eating crab meat but I thought tofu was a better choice for me. My tummy was so happy that Friday night. YUM!!!

Do you think it's too boring to eat Sushi Rolls every Friday night???

Easy Fruity Soy Smoothie!!!

2009-09-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

I started my Friday morning with this easy fruity soy smoothie. I actually used mango but I called it "Fruity" just because it sounds better, ha...ha..ha!!! :)

By the way, you can use any kind of fruit you prefer. For me, whatever I have in my fridge, it will do!

In blender, combine about a cup and a half of vanilla soy milk, 1/2 cup of mango chunks, 1/2 avocado, 2 Tbsp of agave syrup, and 1/2 cup of ice (if desired). Blend together until smooth and creamyyyyyy. Mmmmm!

What a perfect breakfast!!!

I loved my mango smoothie so much so I made another one for lunch, this time I used about 5 dates instead of agave syrup because I love dates and I have a LOT of them (3 lbs for $5.99 at Costco).

This amazing CLEAN book by Dr. Alejandro Junger is the reason why I'm craving smoothie. I bought this book at Magpie a couple weeks ago because I'm interested in the clean program. Before I finished reading it, I couldn't wait to have a peek at the clean recipes in the last chapter of the book. I found easy and healthy recipes especially for smoothies. I really wanted to make green smoothie from his recipe but I didn't have kale or Swiss chard today so I have to wait until my next grocery shopping trip.

Who is Magpie???

Magpie is a lovely gift shop, located in downtown Manhattan Beach where I have enjoyed working for over 10 years. Magpie will have a website very soon, so if you are interested in getting news from Magpie, you can send your email address to magpiecollection@verizon.net.

Last but not least, I have good news from Magpie for anyone who was born in September and October that you can enjoy 20% off your purchases during one visit at Magpie by the end of November'09 (Furniture & sale items excluded). Simply show us proof of your birth date.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! :)

Easy Veggie Pumpkin Pie

2009-09-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

Let me introduce you to my pumpkin who survived from the heat of recent summer in my garden. I was so happy when I first saw this baby but I didn't know what to do with it.

????????

So I left it in the fridge for about a month. My poor baby!!!

Meanwhile, I was doing research on pumpkin recipes from cookbooks and websites. It was so amazing how much I learned about pumpkins. These orange veggies are so good for us all which I will talk more about them later in another post.

After a long discussion with my dearest son, I decided to make "Pumpkin Pie" because that is the only thing Nathan would eat made out of pumpkins!!!

Easy Veggie Pumpkin Pie

I ended up using an easy recipe from a box of sugar based on what I have on hand!

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of pumpkin pulp puree

2/3 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 8-inch frozen ready made pie crust

Note: The recipe also called for a pinch of cloves but I didn't have it.

1) Preheat oven to 325 F.

2) In a large mixing bowl, combine and thoroughly mix all the ingredients.
3) Pour the pumpkin mixture into the unbaked pie shell.

4) Bake at 325 F for about 1 hour or until pumpkin mixture is set or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (I baked mine for 65 minutes).

5) Serve with whipped cream (if desired).

And... here is a beautiful piece of my delicious pumpkin pie. I am so proud of myself that I finally cooked this precious pumpkin. The most important thing is that my family loved it and enjoyed it very much!!!

"Your Blog Makes Us Smile" Award

2009-09-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

I am very delighted to let you all know that I have received this fantastic award from the lovely Rose at Roses r Red since the end of June. Rose has an amazing blog about her veggie creations, pretty things and fantastical experiences that always makes me smile:) Thank you so very much, Rose! I really appreciate it.

The rules of this award are to pass the award onto six other bloggers whose blogs make you smile:). I found it too hard for me to decide because all of the blogs I read always make me smile:) So I hope it would be alright if I have to break the rules. I would like to pass this award onto EVERYONE on MY BLOG LIST. Your blogs are so inspiring and always make me smile:), thank you all very much!!!

I'm Back!!!

2009-09-14T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!

I'm finally making my way back to the blog world after my 6 weeks vacation in Thailand and 5 weeks of jet lag or other excuses I made to whoever asked me why I didn't update my blog for such a long time.

Here I am...trying really hard to publish a new post with tons of pictures to share and so many stories to tell. I'm completely confused while looking at all the pictures and trying to figure out what to do with them and what to say about them.

Well, I should stop worrying about those pictures and show you what I'm cooking today!

Sweet & Sour Easy Veggies

I got this sweet & sour sauce (Roza brand) from Thailand and I was dying to make this dish for the longest time. I know that there are so many great recipes out there to make this sauce but I like to do things easy (lazy way), so I just stir-fried all the veggies with the sauce and used canned mushroom instead of meat and ate it with jusmine rice. So satisfying!

Easy Veggie Thai Red Curry with Tofu

Just wanted to share with you my easy veggie Red Curry with Tofu I cooked to satisfy my craving after I saw it on Kim's Blog the other night. I have tofu, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, yellow squash, chickpeas and cherry tomatoes. Served with brown rice, I was totally in heaven!!!!

Garden Update # 2

This was how my garden looked like during the time we were in Thailand. My dear friend, Dee Dee who helped us out with watering the plants was so kind to take pictures of our plants and emailed them to us. Thanks so very much, Dee Dee. You're the best!!!

Dee Dee described this pic as "Vine growing onto gravel". And here is the answer for the mystery plant. Please come back soon, I'll show you what I'm going to do with this lovely pumpkin!!!

Hope everyone has a lovely week! Until next time ... :)

Garden Update

2009-06-24T21:23:00.001-07:00

I hope you remembered that I posted My Magical Garden!! a while ago. Today, I would like to share with you how big they are.

Wow! My tomato plants are growing out of control, aren't they?

The chili plant is full of chilies, who wants to help me eat them???

One more chili plant, Thai basil and garlic scapes which I didn't get to cook them so I gave it to kmouse.

This giant plant popped out from the ground and keeps growing... and growing... way too big. I'm not sure it's a pumpkin or watermelon because I like to throw their seeds over that area. We'll see!!!

More tomatoes!

My first ripe tomatoes!

I just picked the red tomatoes yesterday and ate them all by myself, so fresh, so sweet and so juicy! I'm loving it!!!

Proud Easy Veggie Mom!

2009-06-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

My son, Nathan graduated from Madison Elementary School in Redondo Beach today. My husband and I went to his 5th Grade Promotion this morning. It was the most memorable event in my life. They served fantastic continental breakfast before the ceremony, I was too overjoyed to think about photographing any food (Sorry no food pics this time!!! :).

I can't believe it, my baby is going to middle school this fall!

He received the President's award for Educational Excellence at the awards ceremony. This award is given to exiting elementary school students who have earned an A- average on report cards in grades four and five and a score of advanced on the reading and mathematics section of the CST (California Standards Test). It represents the highest academic honor a student can receive. He received a certificate signed by the President Barack Obama and a pin.

He also received Good Attendance Award and Physical Fitness Award from the school. We just couldn't stop smiling! Please don't blame us to be too proud!!!

*****************

Madison 2009 Chess Tournament

Last Saturday, Nathan won Grand Second Prize of Madison 2009 Chess Tournament. Nobody would be more proud than Easy Veggie Dad, I'm sure!!!

****************

"Water is Life" Art Contest

On April 27, Nathan received an Honorable Mention Award for the annual "Water is Life" Art Contest sponsored by the West Basin Municipal Water District. This Art Contest encouraged students to create and illustrate water-smart conservation messages. Over 400 students entered artwork into 3 categories: elementary, middle, and high school. He received a $100- gift card to Michael's Arts & Crafts Store. I loved it!

Congratulations, Nathan!

x0x0x0

Oh! So exciting!!!

2009-06-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

Oh! So exciting!!! I'll be leaving for Thailand in 3 weeks! I've so many things to do other than going to work 3 days a week, my hours have been cut because of the bad economy but I always keep myself busy with life... which is good, isn't it??? So I thought I would stop blogging for a while until I come back from my vacation in early August. Just to read and give comments to other bloggers would be really such a pleasure for me!

But after I got a lot of compliments from my family how delicious the dinner was. I think I need to post my lovely dinner tonight because it was an unforgettable dish for me!!!

Easy Veggie Lasagna

I really wanted to make Lasagna when I saw this recipe from Heathen Vegan Blog. At that time, my husband was out of town so I thought I should wait until he's back home. And later, I saw Winter Perfect Veggie Lasagne from Roses r Red Blog which also looked so good. I still didn't get to make it until...I found It's-So-Easy Lasagna from Just the food Blog. So I decided to make my lasagna based on this recipe because I have almost all the ingredients.

The recipe called for dried basil but I don't have it so it's a good time for me to use the sweet basil from my very own garden. Look..., how pretty!!

I added yellow squash on top of my side after I realized that I didn't have any veggies in my lasagna. My husband and my son wanted steamed broccoli. Good for them!!!

Here is my left-over. Yay! I will have it for lunch at work tomorrow.

Purple Smoothie

I have been making smoothie a lot lately. I have to thank all my favorite bloggers who have inspired me to eat and drink healthy. I made this purple smoothie my easy way by using whatever I have on hand which are frozen blueberries, red grapes, gala apples, dates and orange juice, blend all together until smooth. Such a sweet treat for me, I love it!

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

My Dream Garden!!!

2009-05-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

At last, I have found "My Dream Garden", not too far away from my home.

I know...I know...that there are so many beautiful garden out there. But this garden is very special to me. It belongs to Kim's lovely aunt whom I know for so long. I went to her house so many times but mostly at night so I had never paid attention to her back yard.

I was so amazed by the varieties of plants and trees her husband grew with his own hands, lots of love and care. The healthy look of green leaves and colorful flowers all over.I love these orange flowers. I don't know its name but I was told that this plant brings wealth to your home. I have one at my house too...Ha ha..I'm gonna be rich soon.

Look at this wonderful lotus pool and succulents. I am a succulents lover so this is my favorite spot. She gave me a bag full of succulents to grow at home. Yay! Lucky me!!!

Other than beautiful flowers, they have many kinds of fruit trees such as white peach, persimmon, tangerine, guava, mango, lemon (or lime??) and kitchen plants like tomato, sweet pea, chili and herbs. How wonderful!!

Coconut & Almond Cookies

I'm very pleased to share with you my secret recipe of Coconut & Almond Cookies. Every time, we have family potluck party, I'm always requested to bring these yummy coconut cookies.

This is really easy to make. I just used Pillsbury Ready To Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (24- piece package). Cover each cookie dough up with sweetened coconut flake and almond slices. Then bake in the oven at 350 degree F for 15 minutes. I believe everyone loves them because they were gone so fast just like a tornado!!!

Tasty Veggie Pie & Dessert

2009-05-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

It may sound unbelievable to say that this is the first time of my life I make "Pie". But it's true, I've never made pie before...never...ever!!!

And.....Ta...Da...I finally made this incredibly tasty Veggie Pie last night. I got this amazing recipe from Roses r Red Blog.

I don't have pie dishes so I used 3 oven proof bowls and I used Pillsbury Crescent as a pie crust.

They look pretty good, don't they?

This is how my pie mixture looks like. I have diced carrots, diced sweet potatoes, diced pumpkin and frozen sweet corn, peas and green beans plus the yummy polenta. I highly recommend everyone to give it a try. It's really satisfying and filling. Of course, it's so quick and easy to make. If I can do it, so can you!!!

Pumpkin With Sweet Coconut Milk

I have some diced pumpkin leftover from the veggie pie so I made this simple Thai style dessert. Growing up in Thailand, I'm always fond of any kind of desserts that have sweet coconut milk. This is super easy to make. You just boil diced pumpkin in coconut milk, sugar and a dash of salt until they are soft, about 10-15 minutes. You can eat it hot or cold with ice. I believe those who are big fans of coconut milk will love this delicious dessert.

My Magical Garden & My Favorite Eats!!!

2009-05-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here they are, as promised.....My Cherry Tomato Plants!!!! They are growing soooo....bigggg...., just like magic!!

If you look at them closely, you'll see that they have been already producing green tomatoes. I know, each of them is different in size even though I give them the same amount of love and care. Oh, I love them all sooooo much!!!

Let's look closely at my baby #1.

Do you see that tiny green worm?

Soooooo cute!!!

This is my magical garden!!!

The lovely comments I received from my viewers made me feel so lucky that I have such a wonderful garden. I can't be any happier than this. Thank you all so very much, I really appreciate your feedback.

This is the tray of my Mother's Day Breakfast that my son made for me. He made my coffee with vanilla soy milk and a teaspoon of raw sugar, apple cinnamon oatmeal and my favorite Tomato Smoothie. I am so proud of him, he even did the clean up nicely!!! Nathan...You're the best and I love you so much!!!

Note: Nathan made a "Strawberry Milk Shake Oreo Smoothie" for himself. He's crazy for this smoothie and asked me to tell everyone to try to make it. I found this recipe from For The Love of Food .

Chickpea Blondies

I can't say good-bye without sharing with you my favorite dessert. I made this healthy and tasty dessert last week but I just photographed the last 2 pieces of my left-over after I got my camera back. If you want to know why Diann said she loves these chickpea blondies soo much, you should try to make it. Here is recipe. I used whole wheat flour instead of brown rice flour and I add crushed cashew nuts on top. Mine came out just perfect, I love it so much and I'll definitely make it again and again and again!!!!

An Inspiration!!!

2009-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

My husband has been out of town since last week. I miss him so much and can't wait for him to come back home. WHY??? Because I really NEED the camera he took with him, hahaha!!!

Well, without my favorite camera, I can't have great pics of what I have been cooking!!!

While I'm looking through "My Pics" and thinking what I should post on my blog today. I then recalled that this inspired me so much when I saw her beautiful garden. Now I know why I have tons of pics of plants from my tiny garden.

Do you see the tomato plants at the right corner of the above pic? I planted them on 4/12 in different spots. #1 in a very large planter, #2 in a smaller one and #3 & #4 in the ground.

On 4/23, they were growing bigger. Do you see the yellow buds? Next week, I will show you how big they are when I have my camera back, I promise!!
Last but not least, these are my lovely kitchen plants: parsley, sweet basil, Thai basil (under the white stool), chili, mint and my sweet tangerine. Oh, almost forgot!! Look at the right corner ~ do you recognize that plant? What is that? I believe it is garlic scape!! You can get a recipe for garlic scapes from She Ate What???.

Broccoli and Corn Pudding

2009-05-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to share with you what I'm cooking today.
I don't know why I really wanted to make this yummy pudding after I saw the photo and the recipe from eat'n veg'n blog. Maybe because I love coconut milk. YES! That's right!!!
I LOVE everything that has coconut milk in it. The best thing of all, the recipe is so simple which is perfect for easy veggie gal like me! Please go to "here" for the recipe.

I used 8x8 square pan and 1 lb bag of each frozen broccoli and corn, as you may know by now that I'm not good at using measuring cups so you can see that my pudding doesn't have enough of coconut milk and flour mixture.

The pictures didn't come out that great because I used my very old camera. But the taste of this beautiful pudding was so......
creamy ........ and........really ......really......gooooood!!!

Carrot & Chickpea Soup

2009-04-30T20:12:00.000-07:00

Please don't call me "A Copy Cat"!!!
I made this soup based on what I read from those food blogs I've been so inspired by. Last Friday, I didn't feel like eating anything at all after seeing my dentist. When I was hungry, all I wanted was only SOUP, SOUP, SOUP!!!

After searching my fridge and cupboard, I came up with an easy and delicious soup. This was how I made it:

~ Saute diced onion and garlic in olive oil until soft.
~ Add grated carrots (1 cup) and chickpeas (15 oz can), cook for 4-5 minutes.
~ Stir in about 3 cups of unsweetened rice milk and bring to a boil.
~ Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 10-15 minutes.
~ Transfer soup mixture to a blender and puree until smooth.
~ Return the mixture to the pan and cook until steaming hot.
~ Season to taste with salt and pepper.

And voila ~ very delightful carrot & chickpea soup!

I had this bowl of great tasting soup for lunch at work the next day. It was "Sweet Potato Bisque" from Trader Joe's, Kim's favorite store!

Short but sweet ending with this Thai style dessert.

Just mix vanilla rice milk(we usually use coconut milk), sugar and a little salt in a sauce pan and bring to a boil, add a can each of white beans and black beans (drained and rinsed)and cook for 10-15 minutes. I served mine over sweet cooked tapioca, mostly we eat this kind of dessert with sweet sticky rice.

I hope you will enjoy this lovely dessert!!!

Spicy Tofu Salad

2009-04-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

This one is for those who love spicy food. It's an authentic Thai dish called "Laab", you can easily find this menu at any Thai restaurants but mostly they cook with your choice of meats. I got Laab Seasoning Mix from Thai market. Its taste is tangy and spicy.

I started by squeezing liquid out of tofu with paper towel and crumble it into small pieces, heat 1/4 cup of water in a pan, add tofu and stir for 4-5 minutes, stir in the seasoning mix and diced shallots, add soy sauce to taste, mix well. Garnish with mint leaves and serve with fresh veggies.

How easy is that!!

Note: You can make your own mix by using 2 tbsp roasted ground rice, 2 tsp chili powder, 3 tbs soy sauce and 2-3 tbs lime juice.

Ginger Tofu

2009-04-24T16:34:00.000-07:00

I made this simple dish for the tofu lovers (including me) on my "Tofu Day". I L-O-V-E tofu and ginger so much. It's such a great combination of healthy food for me. As you can see from the above picture, you just need only 4 ingredients excluding oil and sauces to taste.

Here is the easiest way to make it:

Saute minced garlic in olive oil until soft. Put tofu into the pan, cook tofu about 5 minutes until lightly brown. Stir in carrots, ginger, water as needed, vegetarian oyster sauce, mushroom soy sauce. Carefully stir all ingredients together and you're all set!

I hope you will love this dish as much as I do!!!

Easy Veggie Tofu

2009-04-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

Oh dear! I think I'm running out of ideas what to cook for my family. I only have a package of soft tofu, fresh carrots and a bag of frozen green beans. What should I cook for them?

I came up with this quick & easy idea:

Saute minced garlic in olive oil until soft, cut tofu into 9 pieces and put into the pan. Add vegetarian oyster sauce, mushroom soy sauce and black pepper to taste, pour in 1/4 cup of water and bring it to a boil. Cover the pan, turn the stove down and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes. (The longer you simmer, the tastier tofu you will get). Add carrots and green beans, cover for another 5 minutes and done!!

I served it over steamed rice. It's very healthy and delicious!!

Tofu Day!

2009-04-24T14:18:00.000-07:00

Pan Fried Tofu With BBQ Sauce

I made this dish as requested by my son about a week ago.

I didn't post it as I thought it was similar to
Pan Fried Tofu with Orange Marmalade Glaze I posted before.

I changed my mind because today is my "Tofu Day".

After cooking tofu with oil about 4-5 minutes each side until golden brown, add BBQ sauce to the pan and bring to bubbling. Cook about 5 more minutes until sauce coats the tofu well.

I had this tasty tofu with calrose rice, steamed broccoli & mushroom. It was soooooo yummy in my tummy!!!

Mushroom & Onion Salad # 2

2009-04-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

This is how it looks the next day after I add some red bell pepper and parsley. The color of mushroom is a little bit darker but the best thing of all is ...." IT TASTES EVEN BETTER ". I love it!!!!

Mushroom & Onion Salad

2009-04-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

As you can tell, I still don't have enough of mushrooms. After I read "eat'n veg'n blog" last night, I told myself "THIS IS IT". I just love quick and easy recipe.

I asked Diann (aTxVegn) for permission to post this recipe and she kindly gave the okay. Yeah!!!

This salad is SUPER easy to make. Please go to
eat'n veg'n vegan food and recipes for the recipe.

I took this picture before I put it in the fridge. And after 4 hours of chilling, I just couldn't stop eating it. I had to pinch my arm to make sure that I was not dreaming. Wow! I thought I was in heaven!! It's not gonna get any better than this. Believe me!!!

Mushroom Noodle Miso Soup

2009-04-19T19:56:00.000-07:00

I created this noodle soup last Thursday for lunch. I knew that I wanted to eat some more mushrooms. After searching my fridge, I came up with this quick & easy idea.

Heat a pot of 2-3 cups water to a boil. Stir in 1 tbsp white miso paste, mix well and then add portabella mushrooms, white button mushrooms, green cabbage and baby spinach, cook for 5 minutes. Add soy sauce or salt & pepper to taste. Serve over cooked rice noodle, drizzle some Sriracha Chili Sauce if you like it spicy. I loved it so much, I wished I could have made more.

Mushroom Time!

2009-04-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

"Thai Style Vegetable Soup

I have been so much in love with "mushrooms" lately. I read from a Thai book that "eating mushrooms can help detoxify the body".Especially cooking together at least 3 kinds of mushroom at a time will give the body more protein than eating meats.

I found an authentic Thai soup mix called "Kaang Lieng" at an Asian market. This soup is a versatile soup for budget-conscious family, you can use any kind of vegetables you have.

The mix contains of salt, dried shrimp (sorry for those who don't eat shrimp), shallot powder, wild ginger powder, pepper powder, sugar, shrimp paste powder (sorry again)and chili powder.

It is very easy to make. You just boil 3 cups of water, add the soup mix and then the vegetables. For me, I put portabella mushroom, white button mushroom, abalone mushroom (canned), dried mushroom, carrots and green papaya. That's all. I don't really need to add anything else, the soup was soooo good. I thought I was eating it in Thailand!!

Cashew Dip

2009-04-16T20:58:00.000-07:00

I made this easy and delightful Cashew Dip a couple days ago. My cousin gave me this recipe, she calls it "Black pepper cheeze". I love it so much and have made it so many times until I can remember the recipe by heart.

Ingredients: 2 cups raw cashews

4 tbsp lemon juice

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp sea salt & black pepper

1/4 cup water

Process cashews, lemon juice, garlic, salt & pepper until smooth, adding only enough water as needed. Will keep 4 days in fridge.

Isn't it so quick and easy to make? I love to have this yummy dip with crackers or fresh vegetables. This time I had it with Wheat Thins and top with grape tomatoes and sprinkled with olive oil and fresh parsley. How beautiful!!

Gluten Free Birthday Cake

2009-04-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

This heart shape cake was beautifully decorated with lovely pink frosting and raspberry sauce on top. It was gluten free!!! YES, gluten free and so delicious. It was the first time I have ever tasted gluten free cake, it was moist and amazingly tasty. Anyone interested in the recipe, let me know, I can get it for you. I was really touched by this nice birthday surprise from the wonderful Musante family . Bless their hearts!!!

Roasted Veggies Wrap

2009-04-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday night, I was in a mood of "Roasted Veggies" while my family enjoyed pizza for dinner. I had asparagus, red bell pepper and grape tomatoes (cut in half), seasoned them with salt & pepper and drizzled with olive oil. Put in the oven at 400 degree F for 20 minutes. Spread "lemon cilantro hummus" over a whole wheat flour tortillas, put roasted veggies on top, add some fresh parsley and carefully roll up. Cut in half just like in the picture and enjoy! This is so easy to make and of course, very delicious.

Pan Fried Tofu with Orange Marmalade Glaze

2009-04-13T21:09:00.000-07:00

I got the idea of making this easy and tasty Pan Fried Tofu from The Vegan Mouse which is based on the recipe from V e g a n D a d.

Instead of plum sauce, I used 2 tbsp of orange marmalade mix well with 1/4 cup water. It came out really good. I served it with steamed rice and green beans. My husband and my son loved it so much and asked for some more. Sorry, that's all I have!! My son suggested that next time I make this dish again but with BBQ sauce.

First Time Vegetarian!

2009-04-10T18:14:00.000-07:00

I have been so inspired by many vegetarian food blogs since the New Year. Deciding to become a vegetarian is such a pleasure that I did not need to think twice. I am really excited to present my first post with my easy veggie comfort food. ~~~ I looove to have boiled rice and veggie stir fry for breakfast. It is so easy and delicious. What you need to do is:Saute diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil until soft. Throw in whatever kinds of vegetables you have in the fridge (I use asparagus, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, mushroom and ginger), stir in cornstarch+ water mixture. Add vegetarian oyster sauce, soy sauce, and black pepper to taste.

Tomato Smoothie

2009-04-10T18:10:00.001-07:00

I started my morning with this refreshing tomato smoothie. I just need 1 cup of sliced tomatoes; I love cherry tomatoes the best but I have only beef steak tomatoes, 1 cup of vanilla yogurt, 1 cup of vanilla soy milk and some honey to taste. Mix all ingredients in blender until smooth and... voila ~ a super easy and tasty smoothie!!

Tofu & Veggie Stir Fry Noodles

2009-04-07T22:11:00.000-07:00

This stir fry noodle dish is my all time favorite quick and easy dinner. I just need a package of rice noodle and a package of firm tofu and I can use any kind of vegetables I have on hand. This time, I have asparagus, broccoli, shredded carrots and green cabbage.

Heat a pot of water to a boil. Add rice noodle and cook for few minutes, then drain and rinse well. Heat a pan over medium high with a little oil , cut tofu into small pieces; season with Season All and fry for 5 minutes each side, set aside. Add 1 tbsp oil into the same pan, stir in minced garlic and all veggie ingredients. Add mushroom soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce and pepper to taste. Stir in cooked noodles, mix well with other ingredients and top with the fried tofu.

This is how it looks in my plate. I also drizzled some Sriracha Chili Sauce on top. It was absolutely easy and yummy!!!