Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Finding Winter Inspiration

I love the winter and the snow. It's perfect for snow-ball fights and steaming cups of tea, but it can also be rather disheartening. It's hard to find the energy to go outside for a run when it's super cold outside. It's also hard to feel cheerful when you have to stay inside because it's too icy to drive anywhere.


Because of these winter blues, I have been focusing on finding things to keep me inspired and happy during the winter months.

Here is a list of a few winter happies:

  • Dancing to music
  • Trying yoga videos
  • Following new recipes
  • Reading inspirational quotations and books
  • This amazingly delicious and lovely bowl of oatmeal: 



*Frozen blueberries are great for topping on top of oatmeal during the winter and greens really do taste great on oatmeal! 




Saturday, January 11, 2014

Vegan Omurice

At college, I used to watch Korean dramas with a group of friends. We would stay up until the wee hours of the night watching back-to back episodes on a projector in one of the classrooms of our building. One of our favorites was The Rooftop Prince, which involves time travel, romance, comedy, and jump suits.



Anywhoo, several characters in the drama were obsessed with a dish called omurice. Omurice is a very popular contemporary Korean dish. It is especially enjoyed by children.

It was created in Japan, but it's also eaten in Korea. In Korea, omurice is fried rice (usually with animal meat) wrapped in an egg omelet with ketchup artfully drizzled on top.

Ever since watching this drama, I wondered if I could re-create it, but make it vegan/plant-strong. That means it could not have any animal products and no added processed oils.

After months of dreaming of a healthy vegan omurice, here is a (loose) recipe for VEGAN omurice ( accompanied by some rather spectacular pictures).

Also, Please note that I don't actually know what non-vegan omurice tastes like, but I'm fairly certain this one is better. ;)

Serves 4

Shell:

The shell of the omurice was created from Lindsay Shay Nixon's recipe for a "Nomelet" in her book, "The Happy Herbivore" (you can purchase the book here). If you haven't heard of Lindsay, you should definitly check out her blog on her website. She is one of my all-time favorite bloggers.

You can also use Isa Moskowitz's online omelet recipe for the shell. Her recipes are amazing! She does use two tablespoons of  olive oil, but you can easily replace the oil with vegetable broth.


Filling:

1 white onion diced
3 cloves of garlic diced
Vegetable broth (for "frying")
1 cup of cubed white button mushrooms
1/2 cup of green peas
2 cups of diced carrots
1cup of dried brown rice steamed
salt and pepper to taste
Korean red pepper paste to taste (optional)
soy sauce to taste (optional)

  1. Cook  diced onion in an 8 inch frying pan in a little bit of vegetable broth until translucent. 
  2. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. 
  3. Add mushrooms, green peas, carrots, and brown rice and cook until carrots are somewhat soft. Add extra vegetable broth if the mixture looks too dry. 
  4. Add salt and pepper (and soy sauce and Korean paste if using) to the vegetable rice mixture. 
  5. Remove the pan from heat. 

Assembling the Omurice: 
  1. Gently remove the shell from the pie plate (If using Lindsay's recipe) or from Skillet (if using Isa's recipe) and place it on a serving plate. 
  2. Spoon the filling onto half of the shell. 

  1. Fold over the other half of the shell, making a burrito. 
  2. Garnish with ketchup and Wha-la!