Rice Popsicle with Miso 五平餅

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。

 

February is the coldest month in Kanto area of Japan.

As I mentioned in my blog already a few times, it is the season that I enjoy the least in a year.

Because it’s cold, so cold !

Japanese housings are not built with the effective insulation nor well equipped with the heating devices, especially old houses like mine.

I’m waiting for the spring to come all through the winter…

Having said those negative things, there’s a wonderful thing  about the cold winter.

I love it so much, so I go out often after all.

Can you guess what it is ?

 

It is the clear blue sky!!

 

We are blessed with this awesome nature only in winter.

Whenever I see this beautiful cloudless clear sky, I cannot help thinking how fortunate I am to be here in this moment.

 

So, the winter is something precious for me after all.

Today’s recipe is Goheimochi, the Japanese local traditional sweets eaten during the cold season.

It is made from rice, miso and nuts.

The combination of the rice and the beans is considered perfect nutritionally.  On top of that, Miso is the fermented soybeans therefore it is also good for digestion, absorption, and for protecting the environment of intestine.

In addition to this fact, Goheimochi requires lots of seeds and nuts, which add more nutritional value such as protein and calcium.

What is good about the traditional Japanese sweets is that many of them are vegan and oil-free.

It is much healthier than the traditional western sweets which are often laden with eggs, butter and cream.  

The only things you need to be careful is that the ones that you might purchase from the shops often add too much refined sugar and sometimes use the artificial colorings to make the sweets look pretty.   
So the best thing is to make the sweets by yourself, adjusting to your preference.

 

 

 

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タグ：米 味噌 五平餅 落花生 ricepopsicle グルテンフリー マクロビオビーガン healthy oilfree GlutenFree Vegan macrobiovegan YUZU japanesetraditionalsweets rice MISO goheimochi 柚子 郷土料理 伝統食 くるみ wholefood

Vegan Rich Soymilk Cheese 濃厚豆乳チーズ

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。

The scene of the lake near my home

♬♪Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,

    Although you know the snow will follow,

    Deep in December, it’s nice to remember,

    The fire of September that made us mellow……,♪♫

Do you know this song?

Maybe you don’t.

One sunny morning, the scene of autumn was reflecting on the lake.

This is the old song that was popular when I was small and it was sung by Brothers Four at that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEm67QbgEGY

When I take a walk during this season when the leaves are falling, I remember this song and croon to myself.

Autumn is the short season and disappearing quickly.

I must be ready to welcome the cold winter now.
(in fact I wanted to use the word “bear” not welcome, but no matter I like it or not, it will definitely come, so I should anticipate good things that the winter brings to me.)

Christmas is coming!

The Chrismas table of the last year's Christmas cooking class

I love Christmas !!

Today, I am going to share a recipe that you may want to adopt to your Christmas cooking.

It is “Rich Vegan Cheese” and is super easy to make and all you need is two items, soy milk and lemon.

Surprisingly and amazingly, no oil nor fat are used though this cheese tastes very rich and creamy !

I already explained how Japanese people generally celebrate Christmas a few years ago.

Many families with the small kids eat the whole cake made from lots of eggs and decorated with plenty of cream, though they often do not decorate any Christmas decorations nor do anything other than eating the whole cake.

I introduced different types of “Oil-free Vegan Cream” and “Vegan Cheese” before, the first one is suitable for sweets making and the latter one is for savory dishes.

Today’s recipe can be utilized for either ways, sweet or savory.

You can add the sweetener for the sweet dessert, and the salt and herbs for the savory dishes.

Enjoy this thick and rich vegan creamy cheese for your Christmas meal.

 

 

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タグ：Vegan cheese macrobiotics Vegan GlutenFree Japanesecooking christmas Japanese Christmas 豆乳チーズ ビーガン マクロビオティック マクロビオビーガン 豆腐クリーム 豆乳クリーム グルテンフリー 料理教室 クリスマス 落ち葉 紅葉 Fallen leaves macrobiovegan

Christmas and Vegan Pumpkin Muffin クリスマス・ビーガンかぼちゃマフィン

 

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。

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.

 

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.

 

My most favorite Christmas ornament.

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

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.  

 

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

Beet Sugar Syrup

 

 

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.

 

 

 

タグ：ビーガン macrobiotics てんさい糖シロップ Vegan sweets making てんさい糖 マクロビオティック beet sugar syrup syrup

Ruby Apple ルビーアップル

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。

 

The daytime is getting shorter and shorter day by day since “Shubun-no-hi”, autumn equinox day.

 

The beautiful orchestra by the insects at night is fading away.....

 

The mantis, the cricket and the locust are visiting me at my home escaping from the chilly air.

 

Last year I had five mantises visited me and stayed at my home until their last moments.

 

 

Whenever I have the insect visitors, I converse with them.   When I squat and talk to them gently, they stop moving around and stay still moving their feelers gracefully towards me and listen to me.
I am quite sure that they like to be talked by me, if not, they like my voice at least.

It may be hard for you to believe, but the same thing happens to the cockroaches too.  

All these insects look adorable to me.

 

As for mantises, they often climb onto my arm and then to the head if I stretch out my hand closer to them. 

Last year I let them stay at my home as long as they want, but this year I am sending them back to my garden, thinking it must be better for them to go back to the nature.   After all they were born in the nature, lead their lives there, so should finish their lives there too.

 

The fall foliage is around the corner and the cold winter is waiting behind it.

I must enjoy the beautiful season of autumn wildflowers, comortable air and sunshine to the maximum now….

 

There are lots of good things about the seasonal food too.

The harvest of the rice is in its midst, and the new plump and moist grains are already available.  

 I was overjoyed when I found the Koji attached to the rice grain for the first time in my life.  Can you see the black thing in the center ?

The chestnuts are abundant this year.

The color of the persimmons is getting orangeier and orrangier on the trees. 

Today I am sharing the Kogyoku apple recipe with you.

Kogyoku 紅玉 is the small and red apple and is available only for a month.

The Japanese apples are usually big and sweet compared with the ones from the other countries, however this Kogyoku is comparatively small and sour.  Maybe it is closer to the granny smith though the color is different.

 

Today’s kogyoku recipe which I named “Ruby Apple” is my ultimate recipe.

Wanting to make Kogyoku’s pretty red color stand out, I experimented many times.  When this apple is heated, the color can be faded easily.

See what I did to solve this and follow my recipe while kogyoku is available.

 

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タグ：Vegan Japanese cooking 玄米ヨーグルト リンゴタルト 蒸しりんご ビーガン マクロビオティック ルビーアップル りんご 紅玉 ruby apple GRANNY SMITH Apple ゴキブリ カマキリ macrobiotics Kogyoku