Hummus Croutons w/Lemon Vinaigrette (Whole-Wheat, Gluten-Free Option)

Croutons are so easy to make - if you have a crusty or even soft loaf of bread you can make an addicting salad topper. When it comes to "homemade" food, nothing is better than warm, well-seasoned crispy toasts. Combined with tomatoes, greens, Italian herbs and lovingly coated with a nice lemon vinaigrette, this makes an excellent snack.

(Hummus Croutons Ingredients)

• 4 Slices of Whole Wheat or GF Bread
• 5 tbl Olive Hummus
• Minced Garlic Cloves
• Garlic Powder, Italian Seasoning and Salt
• Olive Oil (optional)

(Lemon Vinaigrette Ingredients)

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• Juice from 1/2 Lemon
• 1/2 tsp Dijon or Stone-Ground Mustard
• Minced Garlic and Basil
• A pinch of Salt and Pepper

(Directions)

• Cut your bread into thick pieces.
• Coat with the above ingredients and bake at 400 degrees until crispy.
• Meanwhile whisk your vinaigrette ingredients together, making sure that everything has time to meld and that the olive oil is the first thing in the bowl.
• Allow the flavors to meld for about an hour, then combine with your favorite salad greens, croutons and enjoy.

The Ghibli Bits (It's Snack Time, Princess!)



The tree bark/jerky scene between Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke

I love seeing food in cartoons as most people do. And I absolutely love recreating the food so it looks and sounds as it does in the cartoons. Sometimes it isn't easy and requires a lot of time and sometimes it can come out within a few minutes after drawing up the idea. In this case it was just combining ingredients that I already had.

Jerky Recipe:
Soft Tofu (I only had three medium-thin slices)
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
3 tbl Agave Nectar
2 tbl Olive Oil (from Sun-Dried Tomatoes)
1 and 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
A few tbl of Paprika (enough to coat it and change the color)
Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients after you've pressed your tofu and place on a baking sheet. I used my toaster oven and cooked these for about 15 minutes or so in a toaster oven. Afterwards, simply turn on the toaster oven to toast (if you're using one) and bake it for about 10 more minutes until it is darkened to your liking.

Enjoy this and the Ghibli-bits to come!

Signed,

<3 Bou Shin <3

Vegan Chicken Parmesan

This was absolutely delicious and full of flavor - the best part is that it's quick to prepare and can be finished within an hour! Most of the items are premade as I didn't have time to do it myself, but it would probably be even tastier if everything was homemade.

(Chicken Seitan Ingredients)

• 1 Package of Vital Wheat Gluten
• 1 tbl Original Mrs. Dash
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder, Rosemary and Oregano
• 1/2 can of Sodium-Free Swanson Vegetable Broth
• 1/2 tsp of Iodized Salt
• 3 tbl Extra Virgin Olive Oil (per piece)

(Additional Ingredients)

• Vegan Cheese
• Marinara Sauce
• Oregano
• Nutritional yeast

(Directions)

• Combine the dry ingredients and carefully add the broth until it forms a loose but well-formed piece of seitan.
• Split it up into different pieces and boil them in the rest of the vegetable broth, more Mrs. Dash and a bit of water. Let them cook for about thirty minutes, drain them and then press them dry.
• Cook each piece in some extra virgin olive oil until the side has cooked and crisped to your liking.
• Place in a pan, slather it in your marinara sauce, and place on a small slice of vegan cheese.
• Place in the toaster oven(or regular oven) until sauce is heated and cheese has melted. Sprinkle the pieces with oregano and then some nutritional yeast.
• Enjoy!

Buns, Buns, Be My Buns

             *New picture will be added soon*

When I tell you that this bread recipe is delicious - it is positively delicious! The recipe doesn't take too long, is easy to make your own, and produces the fluffiest and most flavor-filled bread you will ever eat. You can use rosemary, thyme, oregano or any other herb mixes you like. The key ingredient here is a little bit of garlic powder - which hits off the parade of flavors that hit your tongue. After the wonderful shock of garlic powder being a delicious component in my bread-making (I normally use fresh), I could taste the fresh bursts of rosemary and Italian oregano that I used. There's already extra virgin olive oil in the mix, but  I decided to coat each of my breadsticks with a mixture of salt, garlic powder and more olive oil.

(The bread recipe belongs to Enjolinfam on http//www.food.com/, and is titled "Healthy Italian Breadsticks or Pizza Crust)

After I pulled those babies out from the oven, the aroma hit me with wave upon wave of flavor. I knew it smelled positively delectable - but did it taste and feel just as delicious? Normally I would have waited for them to cool down but that smell was much too tantalizing to me. I picked up one of the smaller buns for a taste test, and after one big bite I knew I was in trouble. Soon I doused it with more of the olive oil-garlic mixture that I used for the coating and had eaten a little over half of the bread on the plate (there were quite a few more before the picture was taken). I made sure to save a bit of the dough and the already baked bread for a meal for the next day, but this time I decided to kick it up a notch. I had a can of chickpeas that hadn't been used in any Middle Eastern dishes yet and I always keep some form of seaweed in the house. I felt that it was time to introduce these two ingredients in the "Not-Tuna style".

I could never stand the taste or smell of mayonnaise before becoming a vegan, meaning that even the alternative "Vegenaise" was out of the question. I decided instead to just wash, drain and mash the chickpeas, strip up about a quarter of some nori, and add in some salt, rosemary, olive oil and finely diced red onions. I tasted it - and it was most definitely to my non-fishy liking. It wasn't too strong and it would go perfectly as a protein filling for this tasty bread. I wrapped up my "Not-Tuna Salad" and stashed it in the refrigerator overnight. I let the buns cool down some more and they followed the same route.

The next morning I heated my oven to about 250 degrees and put my buns on a baking sheet to warm them up. While the oven was being preheated I took out my "Not-Tuna Salad", mixed it up with some more olive oil to keep it from being dried out and tasted it once more. I found out that it tasted even better after it had been refrigerated for a few hours, and after the rolls had been toasted I slit them in the middle and stuffed it with the cool salad. I then proceeded to stuff my face with the delicious sandwich. Perhaps it would have been even better with some cucumber slices. Alas, I didn't have any and could not see for myself, but I was most definitely pleased with what I had then.

Enjoy!

             Signed, 

<3 Bou Shin <3