Swedish Fish

Today, I made a quick run to the store to get rubbing alcohol for a craft I will be posting tomorrow.  I left the store with a couple of bags of candy and cookies in addition to the rubbing alcohol.  Every once in a while I crave Swedish Fish.  Love those chewy little guys!  Especially when they are just a bit stale.  

Making Mochi

Making mochi is a Christmas tradition in my family.  My mom taught me how to make it.  It is a sticky process, but well worth it in the end.

Ingredients:

2 cups sweet rice flour

1 1/3 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 water

1/2 cup potato starch (exact amount may vary)

3/4 cup sweet red bean paste 

(amount will vary depending on how much you love bean paste)

 Mix together the sweet rice flour and 1 1/3 cup water.  I added a tiny bit more water to make the dough into a playdough consistency.  

 Place the dough in a damp towel and steam for 30 minutes.  

 Use a fork to check for doneness.  The dough should be moist and gummy throughout.  If it's dry and crumbly inside, it may need some more time steaming.  

 Heat the sugar and 1/4 cup water until the sugar is dissolved.  Place the dough into a mixer and add the sugar water a little bit at a time to combine.  

 Now you are ready to form the mochi.  (Warning: It can be VERY hot!) Put the potato starch and red bean paste into two bowls within reach.  The potato starch is used to help prevent the mochi from sticking to your hands (too much).  Dust your hand with it and scoop a spoonful of mochi dough onto your hand.

 Work the dough a little bit to make a flat surface.  I like to use potato starch to help me.

 Add about 1 Tbsp of bean paste to the mochi.

 Pull up the edges of the mochi and pinch together to encase the bean paste.

 It may take some practice to get even, smooth mochi.  There's nothing like fresh mochi.  So good!

Mac Daddy (Vegan)

This recipe from the book, Veganomicon, was tasty!  The authors say it's also great to freeze and heat up in the oven anytime.  

Serves 8-10

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

3/4 pound elbow macaroni

1 pound extra firm tofu

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Cheezy Sauce ingredients:

4 cups veggie broth or water

1/2 cup flour

2 Tbsp. olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch dried thyme (crumbled in fingers)

1/2 tsp. salt

Several pinches freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

2 Tbsp. mustard

Boil the macaroni.  In the meantime, make the cheezy sauce.  Combine broth and flour in bowl and whisk until flour is mostly dissolved.  Gently heat the garlic in the oil in a pan.  Add thyme, salt and pepper.  Then add the flour/broth mixture, turmeric and nutritional yeast.  Stir constantly over medium heat.  It will begin to thicken after about 3 minutes.  Continue to cook and stir for a couple more minutes.  Add the lemon juice and mustard.  The mixture will resemble a creamy cheese sauce.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Drain the pasta.  Crumble tofu into a 11 x 13 inch baking dish until it resembles ricotta cheese.  Stir in salt, olive oil and lemon juice.  Add part of the cheesy sauce and mix together.  Add the noodles and more of the cheesy sauce and mix together.  Smooth out in the pan.  Add the rest of the cheesy sauce to the top and smooth out.  Bake for 30 min.  The top will be slightly browned.  Wait 20 min before serving to allow it to set up.  

This recipe is directly from the book, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook. Written by, Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  

Vegan Dinner Party

 Tonight we had a delicious vegan dinner with friends.  The food was amazing!  Tofu steaks, lemony delicious potatoes, macaroni and (no)cheese, and roasted vegetables.  I made the macaroni and the recipe will follow in a later post.

 Below is little Noodles.  What a sweetie.

 This was the smallest, cutest Le Creuset dish I have ever seen.

 On the way home we stopped at Yogurtland because we just couldn't resist. 

I love Seattle

Wedding Quilt

 Bright, colorful fabrics were a major decorative element of our backyard BBQ wedding reception this past summer.  After the festivities, I made several quilts from the fabrics.  Here is the one I made for us.  Of course, it is my favorite log cabin style pattern.

 I machine pieced and machine quilted it.  

Art Assistant

Daniel is working on amazing artwork for a show at Street Bean Espresso in May.  Today, I was his assistant, covering one of the large prints with these contact paper triangles.  It creates a very cool effect. It is a bit stressful because once that sticky side hits the print, it stays there.