Lettuce Wrap

This is my new favorite thing to make. It's fast and it's pretty good. It's inspired by P.F. Chang's Lettuce wrap, which I found online, here . Take out the meat, add the meat substitute and some extra veggies and viola, you got yummy vegetarian lettuce wrap.

Lettuce Wrap
Main ingredient:
Filling:
2 Tablespoons of vegetable oil
1 Teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 Cup chopped water chestnuts
3 Tablespoon chopped onions
2/3 cup chopped mushrooms
2/3 cup of ground vegetarian/vegan beef
2/3 cup of chopped wheat glutten
1 stalk chopped green onions
A few iceberg lettuce leaves
Some bean sprouts
Some cucumber (cut into matchsticks)

Special Sauce:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon hot mustard
2 teaspoons water
1-2 teaspoon garlic red chili paste

Stir-fry Sauce:
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Directions:
Making the Special Sauce: Dissolve the sugar in 1/2 cup of water, then add the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, ketchup, lemon juice, and sesame oil. Stir well. Add hot mustard and chili paste and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Making the Stir fry Sauce: Mix the soy sauce and brown sugar together in a small bowl and add then rice wine vinegar.

Making the filling:
1) Heat up the wok using high heat, when hot, add the garlic, stir it around and then add the onion follow by the mushroom.
2) When onion is slightly translucent, add everything else except for the green onion, bean sprouts, and cucumbers. Stir-fry for a few minutes.
3) Add 1/2 to all of the stir-fry sauce depending on preference.
4) Add the green onions.

How to eat it:
First, find a piece of sizable lettuce leave, add the fillings and topped with some bean sprouts and some cucumber. Pour on some of the special sauce. Wrap it up! Eat it up! Chomp chomp! mmm...yummy!

Audrey's Specialty Fried Rice (Vegan)

A lot of people think that a day old (refrigerated) rice are the best rice for fried rice. I disagree. I like fried rice to be made from fresh steamed rice. I also prefer to use Japanese rice. And, it is against my belief to use whole grain rice for fried rice regardless of how much more nutrient it has. Boo hoo to fried whole grain rice. That is so wrong!

Have you noticed that mushrooms, when stir-fried, smell like eggs? OK, maybe I'm saying it cuz I like eggs and I'm boycotting eggs. Deprivation leads to hallucination? hahaha

Ingredients:
2 cups uncooked rice (remember to cook it!)
6 oz firm tofu (cut into cubes)
1 cup of mushrooms (sliced)
1 cup of broccoli (cut into bite size pieces)
1 cup onion (chopped)
1 stalk of green onion (chopped)
1/4 cup of cashews
Vegetable oil
Garlic
Low-sodium Soy Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

1) Cook the 2 cups of rice in a rice cooker. Follow the directions from the rice manufacturer.
2) Stir-fry the broccoli and set aside. (Add 2 tsp of vegetable oil on high heat. When the wok is hot, add 1/2 tsp of garlic followed by broccoli. Add about 2 pinches of salt and set aside. Cook until it's soft but not too soft, about 2 to 3 minutes.)
3) Add 2 tbsp of vegetable oil to the wok and when it's hot, add the onion and stir until it's lightly browned, and then add the mushroom and the tofu. Continue stirring until the mushroom and tofu is lightly browned. Add a pinch or 2 of salt.
4) Add the rice follow by 2 tbsp of soy sauce and stir. Make sure the soy sauce is evenly mixed into the rice. If it's soggy, continue stirring until the liquid evaporates. (If you did something wrong and your rice is too soggy, not enough of it will evaporate, you should give up after 5 min.)
5) Shake in some pepper. (I put a lot of pepper cuz i like it spicy!) Add some salt if needed. Stir the rice to mix in the seasonings.
6) Stir in the broccoli.
7) Add the cashews.
8) Add the green onion.

Winter Minestrone

This Winter Minestrone recipe is my favorite recipe from Sunset Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. It might be a bit hard to find as it's pretty old. You'll probably find it a used bookstore. Or, you can call me up and I'll let you borrow it! It's my all time favorite Minestrone soup recipe. I think it tastes better than Olive Garden's Minestrone soup.

Winter Minestrone
Serving: 6 to 8
Preparation Time: ~45 min.
Cooking Time: ~1 1/4 hours

Per Serving: 362 calories (37% from fat), 14g protein, 45g carbohydrates, 15 g total fat (0.9 g saturated fat), 21 mg cholesterol, 1,615 mg sodium.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 large stalk celery, finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 teaspoon dry basil
1/2 teaspoon each dry rosemary, dry oregano, and dry thyme
1/4 cup pearl barley, rinsed and drained
2 medium-sized thin-skinned potatoes (about 12 oz total), diced
2 large carrots, diced
2 quarts homemade or canned vegetable broth
1 large turnips, peeled and diced (I always skip this cuz umm..I don't like turnips!)
1 can (15 oz) red kidney beans or white kidney beans (cannellini)
2/3 cup small dry shell or elbow macaroni
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups finely shredded green cabbage
1 1/2 cup of shredded jack cheese (I always skip this too hehe.)
Salt and Pepper (to your liking, I always skip the salt when using Swanson's vegetable broth cuz it's already plenty salty)

1) Heat oil in a 5 to 6 quart pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano, and thyme. Cook, stirring often, until onion is soft (~8 to 10 min).
2) Add barley, potatoes, carrots, and broth. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 20 mins. (If you're not adding turnips like me, skip step 3 and just simmer for another 20 min.)
3) Add the turnip, cover and continue to cook for 20 more min.
4) Stir in beans and their liquid, macaroni, tomato paste. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover, and boil gently until macaroni is tender to bite (~12 to 15 min).
5) Add cabbage and cook, uncovered, until cabbage is tender-crisp (~5 min).
6) Add salt and pepper to taste.
7) Add cheese (or skip it hehe).

Vegetarian West Lake Soup

The West Lake Soup is one of my all time favorite soup. I've adapted it to my new diet, substituting tofu & mushroom for beef. mmmm.....yummy!

Vegetarian West Lake Soup
(about 4 to 6 servings)
- 2 cups of homemade vegetable broth (or 1 can of swanson's vegetable broth)
- 2 cups of water
- a package of soft tofu (12 oz, cut into small cubes)
- 1 cup of frozen peas and carrots
- 1/2 a cup of straw mushrooms
- 1 egg white (optional)
- a stalk of green onion (chopped)
- a bunch of cilantro (chopped)

1) In a small to medium pot, add 2 cups of vegetable broth, 2 cups of water, and 1 cup of frozen peas and carrot. Bring it to a boil.
2) Add the straw mushroom and tofu.
3) When it starts boiling again, pour in the egg white. (You need to pour and stir the soup at the same times so that the egg white won't clump together. For a thicker consistency, you can dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch in a little bit of water and pour the mixture into the soup.)
4) Add the green onion and cilantro.
5) Add pepper and salt to taste.

Vegetarian Egg Roll

I found this egg roll online somewhere but since I didn't save the site address, I can't find it anymore. :( But the good news is, I remember how to make it. I made some modifications to it and it turned out pretty good and thought I'll share it with my friends.


Vegetarian Egg Roll
(makes about 9 to 10 egg rolls)
- a package of egg roll wrappers (you can find this in an Asian grocery store in the freezer section)
- a cup of fresh shiitake mushroom (julienned)
- a cup of bean sprouts
- a cup of cabbage (julienned)
- 1/2 a cup of carrot (julienned)
- 1/2 a cup of green onion (chopped)
- 1/2 a cup of bamboo shoot (cut to thin strip) - you can find this in the canned vegetable section
- a teaspoon of garlic (minced)
- a teaspoon of ginger (grated)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon of soy sauce
- salt and pepper to taste.

1) In a small bow, beat the egg and add 2 teaspoon of soy sauce and set aside.
2)Fire up a wok, add some oil, when hot enough, add the garlic and ginger.
3) Add the cabbage, bean sprouts, mushrooms, carrot, and bamboo shoot and stir fry for a few minutes until the cabbage are soft.
4) Add the egg mixture, stir fry for about a min to a minute and a half.
5) Sprinkle some salt and pepper.
6) Remove from wok, put in a bowl.
7) Wrap them up and deep fry them until they are golden brown in color.

Serve with sweet and sour sauce. It can be an appetizer or a main dish when eaten with rice. oh it's so yummy! And you don't have to worry if anything is under cooked cuz it's all veggies so no food poisoning.

How to wrap egg roll.
1) Scoop about 2 tablespoons of fillings into the center of the egg roll wrap. Spread the filling out along the middle of the wrap in an elongated fashion.
2) Fold in the sides then roll them up.
3) Seal it w/ some water.

Vegetarian Ma-Po Tofu

Ma-Po Tofu
a package of 12 ounce soft tofu (cut into cubes)
a package of Ma-Po sauce
6-8 fresh shiitake mushrooms (cut into thin slices)
chopped green onion
minced garlic (about 1 teaspoons)

1) Add some oil onto a wok.
2) When hot enough, add the garlic, followed by the mushrooms.
3) Add the package of Ma-Po sauce.
4) When the sauce starts boiling, add the tofu cubes.
5) It's done when the sauce starts boiling again.
6) Garnish with green onion.