Saturday brunch aka popping my frittata cherry^~

My roommate dared me to make a frittata with the leftover salmon from the fem dinner party the other night…and you know I love a dare.  I know, there’s nothing tough about making a frittata.  And a salmon frittata is pretty par for the course but!  I had never made a frittata before so it did seem a bit challenging to me, in a silly sort of way.  Anyway, I accepted the challenge, as you do, frittata or otherwise, and I’m glad that I did because, well, it was a hit.  I actually can’t believe I had never made one.  I didn’t use a recipe so there may be things you want to change and you may have a hard time using my measurements, but I’ll try my best to recall the recipe.  I used just what we had at the house, so you might want to try adding some scallions or different herbs or cheese if you try out this recipe.

Leftover Salmon Frittata

Leftover pan seared salmon steaks

basil

dill

12 eggs, 7 whole and 5 just whites

Pecorino Romano cheese, about 4 ounces or to taste

1 large yellow onion

1/2 bag of spinach

milk- 1/4 or more, if you like really fluffy eggs

 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Heat up a cast iron pan, add some ghee and cook the diced onions till they begin to get translucent.  Add the spinach and cook for 1 minute more.  Add the eggs, after you’ve whisked them with a tad bit of milk ( I only used like 1/4 c. but many people add more or use cream.  I just don’t think you need it.).  Before the eggs begin to set, add the herbs, cheese and salmon.  Add salt and pepper.  Once the eggs begin to set, give them about another minute or so and then put the pan in the oven.

Cook the frittata for about 15 minutes and then check on it.  Check to see how runny it is and then bake it for a few minutes, if it’s still not done.  You want it to be moist still, so don’t overcook it.  I shaved some additional cheese on top for the last 5 minutes and let it cook a bit more.  You could add cheese on top and then broil it, as well.

When it’s finished, remove it from the oven and serve immediately.

I also made a little cabbage and quinoa side salad to go with the omelet.  It’s something that you could totally tweek if you want.  I just kind of threw stuff I had together, but with a frittata being sort of rich, it’s nice to pair it with something that is crisp and fresh.

 

Cabbage and Quinoa Salad

1/2 purple cabbage head, shredded

1-2 cups quinoa

4 carrots or so shredded

handful of cilantro

couple tablespoons of sesame seeds

pickled carrots, if you have them

For the dressing, I just mixed some miso, shoyu, sesame oil, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, and minced garlic, little olive oil

Dress salad, mix and flavor to taste.

No sausage allowed…

Had a lovely dinner party with the ladies this last week.  No boys allowed ‘n veg menu.  Just more of nature coming together in fabulous ways to create absolute yum to put into our bodies.  No one was true veg there, so there was some salmon because, well, it’s super yummy.  Menu

Zucchini hummus with veggies ‘n gluten free sesame crackers

Miso marinated pan seared salmon and quinoa wraps with sprouts, pickled carrots and veggies

Grapefruit and avocado salad in a miso dressing

…and kimchi, of course!

zucchini hummus with veggies ‘n gluten free sesame crackers

zucchini hummus

2 large zucchini or 6 small

little less than a cup of tahini, i use about 3/4 c.

1 lemon, juiced

couple tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

tsp cumin

1 clove garlic

1/2 c. more sesame seeds to thicken hummus

i add a pinch of red pepper flakes, as well, but that’s just if you like it a bit spicy.  you could also add jalapeno, or some other pepper, to spice it up

Blend all ingredients in a food processor, I use a Vitamix.  Store in the refrigerator for up to a few days.

Gluten Free Sesame Crackers…so simple!

1 c. sunflower seeds

1 c. sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 325.  In a food processor, blend the sunflower seeds till they form a fine flour-like substance.  Add the sesame seeds and pulse.  Add water till the mixture forms a sort of dough, about 3 tbsp.  Add more if needed, but be careful not to add too much.

Place the ball of dough on a sheet of parchment paper and cover the ball with another sheet of parchment paper.  Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between the sheets till it’s about 1/8 in. thick.  Remove the top layer of paper and place the crackers on the parchment paper on a tray.  Score the dough into cracker-sized pieces.  Sprinkle some sea salt on top.

Bake the crackers for about 12 minutes and check them out.  They should take about 15-20 minutes.  Take them out when they are beginning to brown slightly.  Break on the lines and serve.

Pickled Carrots recipe here

These carrots were a great addition to the wraps and go well as a side dish to a grain and fish.  I would make them a bit less sweet next time and, actually, might try a new easy pickled carrot next time, even though these are great.

Giner Miso Salmon Wraps with Quinoa ‘n Veggies

Adapted my recipe from the one found here, which is an adaption of Bobby Flay’s.  I didn’t use mirin because I didn’t have it, but I followed most of the rest of the recipe other than that.

After your salmon is done, plate it with some quinoa and your veggie options.  You could use sprouts, cucumber, carrot sticks…really anything you want to include in your wrap is fine.  It’s also great with kimchi^^  We used nori to wrap our salmon, but you could use anything.  The nori is great, though.  Cut it into triangles to make wrapping easy.

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad with Miso Dressing

Couple grapefruits, segmented and peeled

1 avocado cut into cubes

any mix of lettuce, I used spring greens and spinach

For the dressing:

white miso

agave

dijon mustard

rice vinegar

lemon juice

tiny soy

sesame oil

I honestly don’t know the measurements…

Let me know if you find a good pickled carrot recipe.  Had the best pickled carrots with our bloody marys the other day for brunch at Bar Agricole…they were heavenly, and I would love to know how to make something like that.

Happy Tuesday^^ xo

Hemp milk! Cucumber juice! Ghee! Oh my!

So, first things first.  The blog has taken a turn.  I’ve taken a turn, I guess, rather.

Yes, I’m now cooking with ghee which means, no, this blog is no longer strictly vegan.  That doesn’t mean there won’t still be vegan and meat-free centered meals featured on the blog.  Vegan recipes will be-a-plenty, I promise.  It’s just, I’ve done some thinking and some reading over the past few months and have decided that, as important as a cruelty-free diet is,  (and I still believe it’s quite important) a diet consisting of natural, whole foods, preferably local and organic, is of even greater importance.

In Seoul, that’s tough.  Next to impossible.  But in San Francisco?  Don’t even get me started!  I’m like DYING over all the possibilities here!  It’s so encouraging and invigorating and fire-starting to meet so many people and shop so many places that are whole-food centered.  Fresh food with a local label and someone around to tell me about its origins is so very refreshing.  My lovely new roommate/best friend and I have been binge cooking.  Like everyday, all day.  And the best part?  I get to share my love and excitement with others because, well, we’ve been having a lot of dinner parties, as well.  I mean, share the wealth, right?  From raw to vegetarian to vegan, we’ve served everything, and it’s all gone over incredibly well, I might add…even with boys who swear by meat and potatoes.

Being vegan can be a very important step in one’s life and can definitely be the source of some positive change in one’s health.  While vegan meals will still be featured here, they will not be the main focus of my blog now.  I want to celebrate a whole foods diet.  Lots of fresh, local, seasonal produce.  Raw, vegan, veg.  Food that makes you glow.  Food that makes you strong.  Real food.  Cause you are what you eat, right?  And right now I wanna be a big ol’ bunch of carrots…to the kitchen!

Some pics below of some recent meals (not even the tip of the iceberg^^).  We’ve made a lot over the last couple weeks, so I didn’t include any recipes, but if you want any, just ask!

Barely scratching the surface of our chard wraps…

 

Open-faced portabello sandwiches with garlic roasted tomatoes, balsamic-reduced red onions, gruyere and mango and avocado relish with a jalapeno-lime marinated kale slaw

Cu-Tinis from my new!!! favorite cookbook (or uncook book) Living Raw Food, recipes from Pure Food and Wine.  Best.  Cocktail.  Ever.  Juiced 10 cucumbers for these!  Went great with the Korean dinner party we had…that I didn’t take pictures of T.T

Dinner party in Truckee~Grilled Chicken/Portabello make-your-own paninis, green salad with miso-basil and miso-cilantro dressings, carrot and ginger soup with apple and pear relish.  To drink, wine.  Lots of wine.  And cu-tinis again!  Also, komcucha ‘n sauvignon blanc cocktails…must try if you haven’t.  Delish!

Breaking up is sooo much easier to do when you’ve got a rebound lover.

It’s over, Seoul.  It’s not you, it’s me.  We’ve had our fun.  And I’ll miss you.  I’ll likely catch myself crying into my American-made kimchi once or twice, I’m sure.  I’ll crave your steaming broths when I’m hungover and looking for comfort.  I’ll think of you fondly when I find myself downwind of some rank sewage.  But it’s time.  You know it, as well as, I…

Who’s she?

Oh…um, this is awkward.  Her name is San Francisco. She’s kind of, well, you know.  I wanted to tell you earlier, but…you understand, right?  I mean, she can just give me things that you can’t.  She’s not better, just…different.  No, honestly, she’s kind of better.

But seriously.  You understand, right?

Good talk.

Kimchi better wear some flowers in her hair…

The blog is moving to San Francisco!  Stay tuned for an even SEXIER look at kimchi and all things Korean and healthy and green and yum! yum! yum!!!

 

Pretty deok

If you’ve never had Korean rice cakes, or deok, you really should.  I actually do not like the way most Korean cakes and pastries taste.  Just not my style, but, deok, I love.  It’s kind of its own taste.  Deok is not too sweet but not, at all, bland.  It comes in small little bites, usually, so you can enjoy it in small amounts.  And because there are many different kinds of deok, you can choose how sweet or how chewy you like it.  Like I said, deok can be prepared in lots of different ways, shapes and tastes.  It can be eaten on a daily basis, but it is customary to eat it on certain holidays.  Some rice cake is made for soups.  Some is a cakier consistency.  My favorite is pounded rice cake full of nuts and dried fruit-little bit sweet and a little bit savory.  This particular deok is not usually my taste with the jelly on top and all, but it was pretty enough to buy^^  This type of deok is usually filled with sweet red bean paste.  Happy spring!

Sneaky little cupcakes

 

If you’re wondering if by sneaky I mean to say that these cupcakes did a little breaking and entering in the night, you might be slightly disappointed to know that they did not.  I mean, as much as I do NOT condone trespassing or stealing, it would be quite interesting to find out that some cupcakes were capable of such things.  It is not the case, however, so for those of you that already were under the assumption that cupcakes are truly inanimate objects this must come as no surprise, but for those of us that wished that maybe it were even partially true, I assure you (unfortunately), that’s not where I was going with the selected title..Though it looks like I HAVE in fact “gone there,” seeing as I’m a paragraph in and still discussing little masked cupcakes with affinities for nice, shiny things. 

To say these cupcakes were sneaky is just to say that their vegan-ness went undetected at a recent birthday bash.  It’s no surprise to me when this happens.  I’ve never known many people to take a bite of cake and say, “Wow!  The eggs in here are great!”  It’s no surprise because there are literally thousands of great dessert recipes out there nowadays that directly compete and, sometimes, surpass their animal-based competitors.  Thanks to all those home and professional chefs that have taken the time to make desserts so, so yummy AND cruelty free. 

The pictures aren’t that great, so if you can’t tell, one cupcake is chocolate and the other is apple.  Both recipes are from my favorite…VegWeb.  The apple one turned out more like a muffin, though it was fluffier.  Both were great and icing-less.  I did make some chocolate icing, but I only used it on a few cupcakes because it wasn’t that great.  I don’t have Tofutti or any margarine replacements over here in Seoul, so I’m left with powdered sugar and cocoa based icings, which can be hard to perfect.  I could’ve made a tofu based icing, but I didn’t have any tofu at the time. 

For the KIller Chocolate Cake recipe look here.  You can follow the recipe if you choose, but I made a lot of changes and it came out great!  Check out my changes by scrolling down the page till you see yoimonfire’s comments. 

The Fresh Apple Cupcake recipe is here.  I also made changes here, so just scroll down (again) and look for yoimonfire’s comments if you want to see my changes. 

My almost- favorite part of the cupcakes was, honestly, the packaging.  Turns out, foil and seran-wrap boxes make perfect containers for transporting cupcakes.  Nothing like cute, eco-friendly and efficient packaging to make a birthday dessert taste even sweeter.