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Christmas and Vegan Pumpkin Muffin クリスマス・ビーガンかぼちゃマフィン [Recipes Sweets スウィーツレシピ]

 


日本語のレシピは ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の Hachidory から ご覧下さい。


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Christmas is here!


The festive season creates the excitment in our hearts.
Though it may not be so exciting this year for many of us, it is a very good opportunity for us to be humble and think what the true meaning of Christmas is.


 


Most of the Japanese people do not have any particular religion, and may be because of that, Japanese people tend to be generous to all the religions.


 


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My most favorite Christmas tree made of wood, has music box in it which makes Christmas music.

 


I am not a Christian, but I love Christmas.


I waited for Santa on Christmas Eve when I was small.


I went to the Catholic boarding high school, and during those days, my day started with the prayer and I read the bible.


 


I used to love midnight mass on Christmas eve. 


We walked to the bigger church on a snowy day and I was so impressed by the quiet beautiful night of white and dark blue.


When we arrived at church, I was totally fascinated by the solemn and beautiful atmosphere there.


 


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My most favorite Christmas ornament.



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The electrical piano converted to a display shelf for tiny Christmas decorations.



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My student gave me this.  She got it from Denmark some time ago.   I like her too.

 


But I never thought to be a Christian.


Now I am interested in learning about all the religions, and I sometimes think of myself fortunate not having any particular religion as I can see each of them without bias. 


 


Today’s recipe is pumpkin muffin decorated with vegan cream.


If you decorate it with false holly, it would be perfect for a  Christmas table.


 


I am writing the same recipe in Japanese in vegan information site “Hachidory”. 


If you can read Japanese, please visit there too. 


I pasted some links to learn about the farmed animals who are suffering especially during Christmas season as many Japanese like to enjoy chickens and cakes rich in cream and butter.  


 


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Vegan gingerbread house made by me and my kid students. 

 


Christmas is the day to share our joy and happiness, and show our compassion to all people and to all the living creatures in this world.


That is the true meaning of Christmas.


 


 


 


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Beet sugar syrup てんさい糖シロップ [Recipes Sweets スウィーツレシピ]

Beet Sugar Syrup

 

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Ingredients

 

2 cups beet sugar

1 cup water

1/2 tsp lemon juice

 

 

Procedure

 

1.     Put beet sugar and water in a pot and heat up gradually. 

2.     Once it reached the boiling point, reduce the heat to low and      simmer for 5~10min.   Cool down.

3.     Add lemon juice and mix.  Transfer to a jar and keep it in the fridge.

 

 

 


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Yuzu Cake Vegan Japanese School Lunch  柚子餅 学校給食 [Recipes, Winter 冬レシピ]


日本語のレシピは ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の Hachidory から ご覧下さい。

 

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It’s the midst of yuzu season in my town now.

 

Yuzu is the yellow color citron which has a unique fragrance.
It might be most appropriate to translate to “Japanese lemon” as like lemon, it is also too sour to eat just as it is, and usually its juice and peels are used for cooking. 

 

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I use yuzu for almost every meal during this season.

 

When I drink herb tea, I squeeze the juice from the halved yuzu to the cup.

 

When I make the vegetable pickles, I add the peels and juice. 

 

The morning miso soup also has some peels of yuzu.

 

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It is absolutely refreshing taste and aroma for many adults, but I heard from many children and young people that they do not enjoy Yuzu. 

 

The young lady whom I came to know recently told me that the school lunch during this season was always not a pleasant one for her because Yuzu was added to the dishes and that experience made her away from Yuzu even after she finished schooling.

 

I wonder if you have ever seen the scenes of Japanese public-school lunch time.   It is often praised by people around the world as the meals are nutritionally balanced consisting of variety kinds of vegetables and ingredients, and those menus are prepared by professional dietitians who belong to each school.

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 Typical school lunch

 

Lunchtime is not only to eat the nutritious meals, but it is the time to learn the disciplines such as cooperation and manners.  (Lunchtime includes the preparation and tiding up process. )

As the lunch sometimes introduces the menus of other countries, children learn other countries’ culture as well as Japan’s different regions' culture during lunchtime.

 

Wow!  wonderful, isn’t it ?

 

But actually it is not so.

 

 

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 This is the picture that I took when my son was in primary school 12~13 years ago.

 



Like her, there are kids who don’t enjoy the school meals.
For some kids it can be even a challenging time.

 

The biggest disadvantage of school lunch is “milk”, which is provided everyday.  (You can see the milk package is on the tray in all the pictures above.)  
There is a strong belief that milk is very nutritious and good for children, providing sufficient calcium and other nutrients.

 

I have heard from the school dietitian that their pivotal work for making school lunch menu is the calculation.  Calculation  of nutrients. 

It is not easy to create the menus which provide sufficient nutrients especially calcium when they follow the guidelines. 

But if they add a package of milk to it, the figures easily tally with the chart. 

 

Another reason is that the government needs to support milk industry.

 

The custom of providing milk to children in primary schools was initiated by the government after the world war.  It was meant to give nutritional food to children, but it was also to utilize the powdered milk in mass scale.  Those powdered milk was imported to Japan from the US as US had too much excess milk at that time and needed to export. 

 

I heard it is not a must nowadays to drink milk as long as the parents provide the letter to school to state that the child is allergic to it.

 

But it was a must until decades ago so it was a hell for those children who detest it.  I still remember my schoolmate’s sad face when he was scolded by the teacher for not drinking milk. 

I know even now some children drink it reluctantly. 

 

More and more I research on cow’s milk, it is revealed that it has more disadvantages than advantages for our health and it is also creating huge problems environmentally and ethically.

 

May be I got off track from today’s topic ?

Let me come back to the introduction of my yuzu recipe now.


Of course, if you do not enjoy Yuzu, don’t dare to follow the recipe exactly and replace it with other citron fruit!



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