August Updates- New Vegan Recipes

It's been a rough 24 hours. Frank and I lost a dear friend yesterday. Halim was an amazing person and a great friend to us. When we first came to Malaysia Haza and Halim showed us around their village in Kedah as well as other parts of Malaysia. We've spent two Hari Raya's (Eid) with them and consider them family. Yesterday, we had to say goodbye to him. It was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I can't imagine how one could lose a spouse and be able to continue on in this world. Amazing how strong Haza is.

I wasn't even sure I was going to post anything today, I didn't last week. I've been busy searching for our next adventure (aka new job) because soon our contract will expire. I'd like it to renew, but the way the govt is moving in this country we would know only after everyone has picked up and left. So, I'm not taking chances and have been looking around for a few interesting locations to go. However, I decided to post a few pics from the last two weeks anyways because I got some inquiries about a recipe I made and posted on FB. Apparently it was a hit and I'll start off with that one first.

Sorry for the short blog this week, hopefully some of these pics will inspire.

Golden Nuggets
I was watching Mary's Test Kitchen: The Homemade Vegan Pantry by Miyoko Schinner episode and she was making a new kind of soy milk. I got a bit inspired because I am always trying to make my homemade soy milk taste less like soy beans and more like anything else but that. And when I make soy milk I always have the leftover okara that I don't know what to do with. I tried making Mary's okara fish cakes, but even when it's vegan I can't stand the taste of seafood. In China when I would eat veggies sometimes they were in the same bowl as other meats. The taste never bothered me unless it was seafood. So, I looked at this okara stuff and was like the heck man! Now, the first few times okara came out, it was from the raw soy beans. Once I put them in the oven (after they were strained from the soy mixture) they ended up tasting fine (no weird beany flavor). I baked them for maybe 10 minutes- at least long enough to remove the excess moisture. This time the soy milk recipe called for the beans to boiled first, which left the okara cooked and without beany aftertaste-isms. So, now I have a lot of this not too bad tasting okara stuff and still didn't know what to do with it... UNTIL! Mary's recipe from Miyoko. Dudes, I kid you not this was the best! The patties themselves were fun to make, ingredients may be hard to find but any substitution would really work (like instead of okara just use some chopped veggies), and the flavor wasn't half bad. Now the recipe is a lot, so I halved it. I highly recommend this recipe. I think these will now be made weekly. Not only can I freeze them and pop them in the oven when I want something to eat, Frank suggested I made them into bigger patties to have as a chik burger! Awesome!

Nacho Mac N Cheese
A recipe from Vegan Junk Food on nacho cheese sauce, I've been making like crazy. However, I've modified it. Paprika is hard to find but apparently not Mexican spice, thus a swap was made. And the cheese sauce is waaaaaaaaaaaay to liquidy for my taste so I added 3 tbsp of tapioca starch and cooked it down until it was thick. This went great with my mac n cheese. I added some chopped onions, garlic, chives, and I think I threw in some flax seed flour for the added health benefits, oh, as well as broccoli and potatoes in some dishes.








Homemade Tomato Soup
Raw. Vegan. Not Gross had this recipe: Oven Roasted Tomato Soup and it looked so good I had to make it. Like all tomato soups I make there's a hint of tomato sauce taste-like-thing, which made me think mac noodles would be good in this. But I ate it as is and it was yummmmmmy!

Salads
I've used my nacho sauce on some salads this week. Added beans and potatoes, others I used a frozen veggie pattie I made a few weeks ago. Alls yum.

Chickpea Salad
In the Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen I found a recipe that calls for the two things I have a lot of: chickpeas and tahini. This recipe was amazing! Frank said it tasted like peanuts... can't please everyone. Now it does call for parsley and I don't have that, so I used whatever seasoning looked green (chives, Italian spices, etc).
Chickpeas with Parsley-Tahini SauceThis addictive appetizer—rather like an un-mashed hummus—is terrific with pita bread, crackers, or served in butter lettuce or radicchio leaves. Ready in just about five minutes using canned chickpeas, you simply can’t beat its convenience when unexpected guests drop by.

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

2 cups cooked chickpeas or 1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
½ cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped Juice of ½ large lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pita bread, crackers, or whole butter lettuce and/or radicchio leaves (optional)

In a medium bowl, toss the chickpeas, parsley, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper until well combined. Serve at room temperature, or refrigerate for at least 1 hour and serve chilled, accompanied by the pita bread, crackers, or lettuce leaves, if desired.

 Advance Preparation The mixture can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to two days.

PER SERVING

Calories 186 · Protein 9g · Total Fat 6g ·
Saturated Fat 1g · Cholesterol 0mg · Carbohydrate 26g .
Dietary Fiber 1g · Sodium 11mg

Groats!
You all know my groats obsession. I had to order more. Stay tuned!

Shake it Off!

Berries were in season THUS a berry delicious shake!

Dates with Almond Butter

I kept hearing people eat almond butter with dates and thought strange ('_')". I had made some almond butter with some maple syrup and thought to give it a try. Almost gave myself a tummy ache with all the dates  I ate!  (o=_=o)'

Out to eat!

Our vegetarian spot is still closed. So we subbed it with other foods. 

Japanese onigiri and friends

Indian Vegetarian Banana Leaf

Chinese Malay

At School!

There were a lot of parties last week. Some schools had what I would like to call a cookie day. So every kid brought some cookies in and the entire school just shared each others cookies. They also wore their finest new clothing and had some lunch to go with their party. I posted only one pic of the cookies below because they were adorable! Another school had a food party that I was privy to. All the food is below though I didn't eat it all.  

In Malaysia mysterious green desserts are a cultural necessity 

 

Coconut Matcha Ice Cream
I forgot to post pics of the coconut matcha ice cream I made myself, however I got the pics of the one I made my teachers. Take coconut milk, vanilla extra, probably a cup of powdered sugar, and 2 tbsp of matcha powder. Whisk it with an electric mixer until taste and consistency is desirable and freeze. If you remember, every two hours or so mix it up. However, when you use coconut milk the fat helps keep the ice cream texture creamy (so the mixing may or may not be necessary). I think the students like it more than my teachers. I wasn't trying to make it too strong even thought I like it strong.

Well, that's been the last two weeks. I'll try to get more pics and recipe up for the next few weeks, but it's getting close to the time we might have to leave Malaysia. Hoping for the best. 

Take care. 

Chased by Chickens! Welcome to Malaysia.

On Monday morning I went for a jog and decided to take another route I used to take with Frank. As I was coming up on some houses there is a house that has exceptionally strange feathered friends (not just the usual chickens or even turkeys at other houses). They have pheasants and these strange dwarf chickens (I forgot the name of them). They look like cartoon chickens in a sense their bodies are small and roundish, have small necks, but are covered in adult feathers and stuff. So, it's like a grown chicken but shrunken slightly. Anyways, on my run I came across one, who was slightly away from his house. He started running with me, like a lot of them do when we come around, but usually away from us due to fear. This one was running for with me for a while, I thought he was running towards his house, but after a few seconds and passing his house I dawned on me that we might be running partners (or I was being chased). He was very vocal about something and kept a 5 foot distance from me (we were side by side). I couldn't tell if he was for or against this jog! I started sprinting slightly because, well, I wasn't sure what was happening! I was both laughing and a bit concerned too. He stopped as I got to the street and did a final yell "gggggoolgoglalgaaaadoooo!" Which either meant "great run!" or "that's right human! run from the greatest chicken samurai of all!"  As a vegan I felt almost betrayed, "I don't even eat you!" I've decided to keep my usual route to just around the neighborhood... we have cats, not fierce samurai chickens. 

gggggoolgoglalgaaaadoooo!

Besides the chicken chase I've been on YouTube a lot. Listening to NutrionalFacts.org as well as watching the usual social media stuff happening. I won't talk too much about it, this blog is not for controversy, but yes a lion named Cecil was killed, along with thousands of other named and nameless animals this week.  Good things and bad things came from this senseless killing. The bad of course was that an animal died that people care about dearly and was important to all. Vegans also became quite vocal about their opinions on how could one life mean so much (Cecils) but no other animal (let along humans sometimes) get this kind of attention? It's weird, hypocritical, and almost socially unacceptable that some were so concerned about this one life and don't say anything else when other animals suffer or do anything daily to help prevent needless suffering.... That was one side of this. So, what could be good about this, well... a lot of large protected animals are losing their fight to survive in this world. However, long ago hunting like this was something of a norm but now so many are against this and fighting for these animals. If we all fought loudly for all animals; indited, arrested, posted on social media, and basically made a huge stink about this like we did Cecil, it may discourage a lot more from doing this kind of behavior. I want to help---aiming my pointer finger at China and will slowly point back to Africa towards that group of elephants, tigers, and hundreds of other endangered animals hanging out minding there own business. Just saying.... point point.... there.

All right. Exercise picked up this week. A lot more running and a few classes of home zumba along with actual zumba. Good news is that more zumba classes will happen because the gym in which it was originally held is now fully renovated and ready to be opened! So at least two or three zumba classes a week and hopefully an aerobics class or two. This week I lost two pounds, even though I was concerned I ate a lot of carbs-- however, I ran more and tried to eat a lot of fresh veggies! This week was a fun week for food.

Breakfast Pancake Surprise!

I did make my groats a couple of times this week. However, I wanted some more oats and bran in me so I made my usual pancakes BUT I added peanut butter and jelly. The jelly I made myself. There are a lot of different ways to make jelly, but I used fresh strawberries cooked in pot with a little bit of agave. When it was a liquid I added some chia seeds for a natural thickening agent. It was all nom noms!

Sambal Heaven!

Hazza gave me some more sambal, but I didn't have tofu. I added potatoes, onions, and tomatoes to it and made brown rice with a tbsp of glutinous rice. This helped the rice to be more sticky. So sambal again is, well, what I think it is, blended peppers or tomatoes (not sure exactly) with sugar, oil, onions, and stuff. Like a spicy sauce-a bit oily too. I don't think it's the most healthy thing to eat but it does produce the most happiness! 

Vegetarian Corner!

Our little place is going to going through a renovation for two or three weeks!!! :( Nooooo!!!!! So this was the last meal for a while. Vegan zhongzi and the usual noms. Zhongzi's tend to come out during Dragon Boat season, however I wasn't sure what was going on and why we saw them. Again, they are cooked rice in a banana leave with other ingredients in them. Mine was mushrooms.






Nacho Cheese!!!!! Say what what?!
A link with BuzzFeedYellow yielded me to a website on how to make nacho cheese: Vegan Junk Food  The nacho cheese ended up being a bit watery so I did what I would do with my moxerella cheese, and placed it in a sauce pan with 2 tsbp of tapioca starch and cooked it down until it was thicker. I didn't have paprika but I had Mexican spice and it really made the house smell like Taco Bell. Frank said it even tasted like Taco Bell cheese!!! However, I'm unsure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Eating this is definitely a good thing. Cashews, spices, water, garlic, and tapioca starch are a lot more healthy for you instead of synthesized questionable cheese sauce like ingredients. I was not at all feeling guilty while eating this.
Seitan and Zucchini covered in Nacho Sauce of Dreams
I baked up some of my seitan and zucchini. Added beans and onions to my nacho sauce and was very happy.
Nacho Cheese Wrap Salad Magic!
I made a salad with the nacho cheese. Added cooked zucchini and onions. After consuming a few bites I realized it wasn't too awesome so I added a wrap to it and then all awesome magic broke loose!!! Tap Tap!

















Sweet Potato Roti
Oh this one was a good one!! From Veganlovlie Sweet Potato Flatbread (Roti) was awesome and easy and inspiring. 1 cup cooked and mashed (without skin) sweet potato with one cup all purpose flour; roll, shape, form, and pan cook. Bammmmmma!!! Deliciousness!

Seitan Sweet Potato Roti
I used up my last piece of seitan, added veggies, nacho cheese, and threw (could you imagine me throwing it....just thought how intense that would be) into my sweet potato roti.
















Leftovers
I can't remember the dish (on the right) that Hazza made for me. It's coconut and tomatoes in a curry like salsa. It taste like it sounds both coconuty and tomatoy.... so pairing it with leftover rice and my roti was odd but not a bad odd. If there is such a thing.








Falafels!
Well not exactly. I grilled some veggies (until the stupid grill broke and then ovened the rest) and made falafels from a mix. It's ingredients weren't bad at all, very natural stuff. However it was super dry and I ovened them instead of deep fried. Maybe that was the issue. Anyways used my last two tortillas and added some tahini sauce and BAAAAM! It was yummy. It's nice to taste some different flavors from time to time. Ever since becoming a vegan I've tried more new and interesting flavors I haven't run into before. So interesting.

Raspberry-Strawberry-Banana Coconut Smoothie

Just another healthy snack filled with chia seeds before we went for a walk. Nice to have raspberries... even if they are fricken $6!! Ridiculous!

Well, this week was a looong one! But now it's time to have some fun. In August I have no food plans though I was thinking of trying to make some Malaysian staples into a vegan version.... but I have food in the house I need to use up.... that reminds me... I need to figure out what to do with my quinoa! Maybe a breakfast food? Unsure yet. It's a weird taste.

Take care and love the animals around you.