Vanilla Party, New Japanese Beginnings

Japanese Steamed Buns and Grilled Eggplant

My sister and I got ambitious for dinner and wanted to make those tasty steamed white buns that dim sum restaurants always have. We tried this recipe, half using substituted healthy ingredients and half normal, but both versions sort of failed for the bun part. The dough was just to dense, not light and fluffy. The inside filling we made was delicious though! We used turkey instead of pork, carrot instead of bamboo, and mirin instead of oyster sauce but no sugar.  The sweet gingery flavor was perfect with the onion. I also tried making Japanese Grilled Eggplant (Nasu Dengaku) after having such good experiences with it at Izakayas, and it turned out pretty good too. #1 It was really easy for how good it is and didn't take long at all.  Tender yet grilled texture and Sweet and salty Miso flavor is the best! Accompanied by the tried and true Cucumber salad.

-Steamed White Buns with Meat filling (see recipe)

-Grilled Eggplant with Sweet Sesame Miso Glaze and Red Onion (see recipe)

-Cucumber Salad (Mirin, Rice Wine Vinegar, Gomasio, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce)

Goma Ae, Onigiri

After spending some time on justbento.com, I really wanted to make Toasted Onigiri. It came out pretty tasty, a nice toasted crunchy rice ball, with a hint of sesame, soy sauce, and wrapped in yummy sushi nori.  It wasn't that pretty and mostly fell apart, but I will perfect the technique soon. I still had nothing in my kitchen, so used frozen spinach to make Goma Ae for the first time, and the only other vegetables I had. It turned out surprisingly sweet and tasty from the Mirin and Sesame, and the only difference from normal spinach is it's way cheaper, and less chewy even after cooking.  It went perfectly with the crunchiness from some Almonds and Tempeh. This meal was actually fairly high protein, considering all the spinach, tempeh, almonds, and brown rice.

-1 Package Frozen Spinach, Olive Oil, Ground Sesame, Mirin, Soy Sauce, Gomasio, Almonds, Tempeh

-Brown Rice, Nori, Soy Sauce, Sesame/Gomasio

Little Recovery

This was a new and epic recovery mix. I got Bee Pollen from Gathering Thyme yesterday as well and it is sooo good and incredibly good for you. Just like honey kind of. Crunchy little granules along with even more from the Kiwi seeds and it was all a sweet delicious little Froyo Bowl.
-Frozen Kiwi, 2 tbsp Vanilla Almond Milk, 1 scoop Vanilla Plant Protein (Plant Fusion brand)

-More Frozen Kiwi and Bee Pollen to top

Vanilla Almond Cherry

No oats this morning = Oatbran only for the first time. It turned out way more similar to cream of wheat, which I don't mind at all. A nice change. Not as chewy, a nice mealy texture. Then add in all my magic touches and you get a bowl of goodness! #3 I added whole Vanilla Beans to my spice drawer after visiting Gathering Thyme yesterday, and ground up a bit of one to add this morning. That combined with just a tiny bit of Vanilla Extract, and some Almond ingredients and it was a Vanilla-Almond themed bowl for the win! Partially Pumpkin flavored too, but only in half of it and so I could enjoy a bit of sweetener. I really had a solid combo of all the best textures: large apple pieces, dried cherries, chopped almonds, mealy oat bran, and creamy milk / almond butter. Accompanied by the best Vanilla Coconut Macadamia Latté ever! Some Coconut Macadamia Red Rooibos from Hawaii with Vanilla Almond Milk and a Vanilla flavored Stevia packet = sweet Vanilla-y goodness!
-1/3c Oat Bran, 1c Water, 1" Ground Vanilla Bean, Vanilla Extract, 1/2 Apple Coarsely Cut, 2 drops Almond Oil
-Almond Butter, Pumpkin Butter
-Dried Cherries, Chopped Almonds, Vanilla Almond Milk
-Coconut Macadamia Tea, Vanilla Almond Milk, Vanilla Stevia Packet