V-day dinner and a homemade donut coconut dessert

Good day to you!  It's raining again which is lovely.  For a while there we were experiencing Spring like conditions which was wonderful for working outside.  Now it's back to being inside for a while.

For our Valentine's dinner I let my son choose the dinner  menu. 

Emerils Tofu with Mushroom Ragu

served on mashed potatoes.

This may look fancy and taste it as well but it's so easy and quick to  make.

Mine actually looks more colorful than Emeril's but it's because I used a whole carrot intead of half of one.  For the mushroom mixture I used shitake and cremini.   This also tastes wonderful using seitan, which is what I used the first time I made this meal. I'd also like to mention that not all tofu is created equal, my favorite is  Nasoya Organic Extra Firm Tofu which has a wonderful texture and taste.

Beckmen Grenache

Dave brought home a bottle of Beckmen Grenache, that I  had mentioned in a previous post, to enjoy with dinner. Beckman rose and red wines are vegan even though it doesn't say it on the bottle.  They also use biodynamic farming practices.

I was trying to come up with something different for our Valentine's dessert and donuts came to mind.   I remember using the donut recipe from Vegan Yum Yum years ago and how much Keaton and I loved them.  How the wonderful memories came back when they were baking in the oven.  The smell was incredible!

You must make these!  These are light and not too sweet.  These are even better than the ones you would buy at a donut shop.  I don't have a donut pan so I used a cupcake pan and then stuck some decorating tips in the middle to give them the hole in the middle.  Once cooled I poured melted chocolate on them then put in the refrigerator to harden.  This is also very quick to make.  To finish off the dessert...

I used a scoop of coconut bliss on top of the donut.  This is my favorite coconut frozen dessert because it's so creamy, light and slightly sweet.  As you can tell I don't like things that are too sugary sweet. 

The donut and Coconut Bliss was then drizzled with homemade chocolate and caramel sauce.

This was another way that I served up this dessert.  This looks really rich and sweet but it's acutally not.

As a Valentine for Keaton I got him 2 bars of Newman's Own Organic Chocolate.  The one bar that is open is a Dark Chocolate Orange flavor.  He loves them and me too!hee hee.

Have a wonderful day!

Vegan MoFo day 17/Better late than never

Not much in the way of food today.  We went on a new hike, Farmers Market, than picked up our dinner at Santa Ynez Burrito.  They have really good burritos, I had the grilled veggie burrito. The food is all organic which makes it even better.

So this vacation post is really long over due.  I mean it's November and we took our vacation at the end of August.  We traveled up to the Giant Redwoods in Northern California.  It was so beautiful!  Instead of posting about some of the first places we ate on our way up north I'm going to start with the best meal of our trip and the most exciting one.  Just so you know this was one vacation that there was plenty of vegan options all over the place.  A vegans dream!  Just how it should be everywhere you go.

My husband's friend's daughter(did you get that?) and her husband, bought this Japanese sushi restaurant a few years back in Eureka, CA.  When he found out we were going to vacation up that way he told us to go have dinner at their restaurant. It's called Kyoto Japanese Restaruant.  We heard that  it's best to make reservations because they are always crazy crowded.  I'm glad we did.  It's not a very big place but they are in the process of expanding...again.  So we get there and let Jenni know, the owner who is so nice, that Keaton and I are vegan.  She said it was no problem and that almost everything on the menu could be made vegan.  Keaton and I smiled.   Yippy jump for joy!

This is the miso soup for starters. Yum!

When you walk into the restaurant there is this big white board with the daily specials.  It was amazing how many daily specials there were on top of what was listed on the menu.

Mushroom Veggie Stuffed Squash Blossoms

  Jenni's recommendation was the stuffed squashed blossoms on the daily menu that were filled with crab but she spoke with the chef and he stuffed them with mushrooms and veggies and the batter was rice flour instead of egg.  I have to tell you these were absolutely exquisite!  I can't say enough about them or describe them any more but let me tell you at just one bite,  my mouth was very happy!  Seriously I could of eaten a whole plate full and would have been satisfied but I still had more food to eat.

This was a cold apple salad with a light veganaise dressing and almonds. Keaton didn't really care for it but Dave and I did.






Avocado Rolls and Tofu Tempura Rolls






Keaton ordered the tofu dinner and he said it was really good.  It came with tempura tofu rectangles(front right), rice, a savory cake like rice cake thingy(sorry I forget what it was but it's in the top right corner),  ginger salad(top left), carrot slaw and sliced ginger.

Dave had a non-vegan dinner so I didn't take a picture of that.

If you are ever up on the coast of Northern California you  must stop and eat at Kyoto Japanese Restaurant!

More vacation posts with vegan food to come.