I hope the blandness conveys in the picture!  I’ve come down with one of those hellacious summer chest colds and soup is all I want to eat! 

This is veggie bouillon with ramen noodles, edamame and cabbage dumplings.  Sassier than what mom used to make but just as comforting.

Yesterday for movie marathon day, I put these guys in the steamer with a bit of soy, garlic powder and Earth Balance.  They were so stinkin good!  Much better than popcorn.

These were made with cucumber, carrot and caribbean jerk tofu.  One has some Tofutti cream cheese and french fried onion (from the can).  The tofu was awesome and it’s the first time I’ve been entirely happy with making it at home.  I drained it by placing it in the bottom of the strainer.  I put a paper towel on top and then a regular cotton towel over that.  Then I placed a plastic bowl over it in the strainer and put my flour canister inside it.  I wanted them pressed well!!  I dry rubbed the drained pieces and set them in the fridge until I was ready to bake.  They went in the oven at 400 for about 25-30 minutes.

I’ve been hitting Kalamata on Monday nights for sushi, but decided this week to stay in and try some new things.  A trip to the local Asian food market yielded some pretty great new things!  I got some dried shiitake mushrooms, a huge container of toasted sesame seeds, a bag of kim chi dumplings & an assortment of soy wrappers.  I was excited to say the least! 

First course:  Steamed Kim Chi Dumplings with a Gyoza Dipping Sauce

Second Course:  Red Miso Soup

Main Course:  The sushi is made with the soy wrappers, prepared Szechuan tofu and veggies like red lettuce, avocado, shredded burdock and the rehydrated shiitake.

By far, my new most favorite restaurant in KnoxVegas.  I truly appreciate the options, atmosphere and prices.  This is the Healthy Big Roll made with spring mix, daikon, carrot, cucumber & avocado wrapped in a soy wrapper.  We also had the Tempura Veggies (my favorite!) and dessert sushi rolls.  They take sticky sweet rice and roll it with pineapple, strawberry and mango and then top it with coconut sauce.  Mmmmm….sorry no pic!  I’ll definately have it again, though!

This has Morningstar chicken strips, red cabbage, mushrooms, carrots & green onion.  I boiled the noodles while I sauteed some of the vegetables in the wok.  Tossed them all together with some soy and finished with poppy seeds.  I’m ashamed to say that Kristen and I finished the whole batch.

Monday night, Kalamata has 1/2 off sushi night.  I enjoy this place because of the split menu.  The menu is not only very extensive, but it also includes both Greek/Meditteranean and Japanese fare.  What more could you ask for?  I can have tempura veggies and japanese curry or hummus and tabbouli.  I heart it, truly.  Their sushi menu is pretty impressive, as well.  The vegetarian options stretch beyond just a simple mushroom or avocado roll.  These are the Yamagobo and the Avocado Inari rolls.  Yamagobo is pickled burdock root.  Very similar to a carrot but with more crunch!  The Avocado Inari is sweet marinated tofu with (obviously) avocado.  You can even get Umeboshi if you want it!  I wasn’t feeling that brave lastnight…

Assortment of rolls with avocado, carrot, asparagus, shiitake, panko, cream cheese and crab for my friend.  Whipped up some spicy mayo and stuffed ourselves!

I tried my hand at making vegan sausages lastnight!  They were pretty good, but before I post the recipe, I want to tweak it a little because they were just a little chewy.  This is the sausage sliced and pan sauteed over a bed of kimchi & topped with some beets.

Vegetable sushi for dinner tonight!  It’s been so long since I made it at home I nearly forgot how!  This is various combinations of asparagus, cucumber, carrot, spinach & avocado with bamboo rice wrapped in nori.  The rice is a nice twist to traditional sushi rice.