My friend Kristen and I have only been friends for the past 4 years and yet, I can’t imagine a time when I was without her. She is the best kind of person and I am so grateful to her friendship every day. When we are together, everything is effortless and comfortable. She motivates me, challenges me, and makes me want to be the things that self-doubt hadn’t allowed me to believe before. When I wanted to start Sprouts & Chocolate, she was so supportive and sent me messages every day with words of love. She is a writer and the editor of my eBook, Sprouts & Chocolate: Uncooked.  Kristen is not a vegan but she does enjoy big vegan bowls, especially with a spicy sauce. She and I both have a love of Korean food and she is always willing to try out new dishes at our favourite place. She has visited Korea a few times and has a little more knowledge than I do of the ingredients of our local Korean market. Once I purchased gochujang, a red chili paste, I became obsessed with it. It is spicy, sweet, salty, and pairs well with cold noodles. This is not an authentic recipe. Bibimbap is traditionally served in a hot stone bowl with meat, vegetables, and an egg over rice. It is absolutely delicious but in most restaurants, impossible to get a vegan version. This homemade version is easy and just as tasty. Even if you don’t make this bowl, I recommend to keep the sauce. It tastes great on your basic rice and vegetable bowls.

I hope you and your friends can share this bowl together. Cheers to good friends and good food! Kristen is also a writer and her site is Dark Clark, a writing blog focusing on thriller and horror fiction.  P.S. The red chili paste used for this recipe can be found at most Asian markets. If you live in Toronto, I found mine here.

14 posts down, 16 more to go! See you tomorrow for Day 15: OMG the President is coming! Missed Day 13? Check it out here. 

Stay connected on the daily by following me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.  Made a recipe from this post? I would love to see it! Use the hashtag #screcipe on your social media. 

5.0 from 1 reviews

Cold Udon Noodle w/ Spicy Bibimbap Sauce

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

45 mins

 

This is not an authentic recipe. Bibimbap is traditionally served in a hot stone bowl with meat, vegetables, and an egg over rice. It is absolutely delicious but in most restaurants, impossible to get a vegan version. This homemade version is easy and just as tasty.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: Main

Cuisine: Korean

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• For the Spicy Bibimbap Sauce:
• ½ cup gochujang paste
• 2 garlic cloves, minced finely
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds + more for garnish
• 
  
• For the Bowl:
• 8 ounces tempeh, rinsed and cut into 8 thin pieces
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon prepared bibimbap sauce
• ½ tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
• 
  
• 2 bundles of udon noodles
• 4 cups baby spinach
• 1 carrot, peeled and shaved in long ribbon
• 1 cup shredded purple cabbage
• 
  
• Optional:
• 1 sheet of nori, cut into thin strips (I use scissors to cut mine)
• Vegan kimchi

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Make the bibimbap sauce and set aside.
3. Whisk together soy sauce, vinegar, and 1 tablespoon prepared bibimbap sauce. Marinate the pieces of tempeh for 20 minutes, turning halfway through. Transfer the tempeh to the baking sheet, cover with tin foil, and cook for 15 minutes. Uncover, flip, and spoon on a little of the bibimbap sauce to each piece of tempeh. Cook for another 10 minutes, the sauce should be dry and stick the tempeh.
4. While the tempeh is cooking, cook the noodles according to the package's directions. Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are chilled.Toss with some sauce and set aside.
5. In the empty pot, add a steamer basket and a few inches of water. Steam the spinach until just wilted. Put spinach in a clean dish towel and squeeze out the excess water.
6. Divide the ingredients to each serving bowl and top with extra sauce. Garnish with extra sesame seeds if you like. Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition Information

Serving size: 2-4

3.3.3077

The post Day 14 Vegan MoFo: Cold Udon Noodle w/ Spicy Bibimbap Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

I dislike getting ready for a trip; the anxiety of forgetting something really important, making sure the fridge doesn’t have anything that will go bad while your away, snuggling my cat Barb extra tight before I go as she tries to wiggle out of my affectionate embrace, only for me to chase her around the apartment telling her to “love me!” Mark is patient as I frantically go over my checklist in the shower, at the front door, in the car and then again as we pull along side the airport drop off. He makes sure I have my essentials: passport, underpants, laptop, phone and their chargers. Yes, I really need my phone that badly. I triple check that my hotel has Wi-Fi, something I really cannot live without, for blogging and Netflix purposes (currently addicted to Human Life from BBC) and I am out the door.

This is the part I like best about the trip, getting to the airport. It seems weird but I really like being at the airport. Going through security is not great but I love finding my gate, treating myself to a fancy coffee and a food magazine, computer on my lap, headphones in my ears and a figurative “Don’t Talk To Me” stamped on my forehead. This is my “out of the apartment” paradise.

Traveling solo can be liberating and this is my second trip in my life where I have taken off by myself. I like having own agenda, doing what I want to do without anyone else’s opinion in my way. As much as I enjoy travelling with friends or Mark, there is something cathartic about travelling alone. There is no compromise on restaurants or events and I will be hogging my king size bed all to myself, I plan to sleep like a giant X in the center of the bed, taking all the pillows and blankets for myself. I also have the added luxury of not having a 14-pound cat stepping across my face to wake me up to feed her, only to go back to bed after I have fed her to snuggle up a sleeping Mark.

I booked my trip to Vida Vegan Con in March and I have been counting down the days ever since. I am looking forward to meeting my favourite cookbook authors, fellow bloggers and veg-friendly vendors, in particular the taco trucks. I plan to eat my fill and then some. I truly never thought I would ever go to Texas but I am over the moon happy that I decided to go. I will probably never see so many vegans in one room ever again and in Texas no less! So if you are headed to Vida Vegan Con this weekend and you see my face, please introduce yourself. I will be happy to meet you.

Texas has had some devastating weather recently and my sincerest sympathies go out to those families who have lost loved ones and their homes.

Cold Soba Bowl with Lemon Miso Sauce

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Recipe type: vegan, 30 minute meal, gluten free

Ingredients

• Lemon-Miso Sauce:
• ¼ cup raw cashew butter
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 1 tablespoon each extra virgin olive oil + toasted sesame seed oil
• 1 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or agave
• 5-6 tablespoons water
• Pinch of red chili flakes
• Bowl:
• Buckwheat soba noodles (or your favourite gluten free noodles)
• ½ tablespoon toasted sesame seed oil
• ½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup frozen edamame
• ½ cucumber, sliced thinly on a bias
• 1 red pepper, cut into matchsticks
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 1 green onion, cut into thin slices (the green part only)
• Spicy vegan kimchi, optional
• Optional Garnish:
• Sesame seeds, black or white
• ½ nori sheet, cut very thin
• Chili flakes if desired

Instructions

1. For the Lemon-Miso Sauce:
2. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth. The mixture will thicken as it cools so add more water a little bit at a time until desired consistency. I added a grand total of 6 tablespoons of water. I found it easiest to leave the sauce in the blend and its spout makes it easy to pour onto your bowl.
3. For the Bowl:
4. In a medium pot, add water and salt and boil on high heat. Add the noodles and cook as the package directs. Cook until al dente, drain and rinse over a coriander. Shake the coriander so most of the water is drained. Place cold noodles in a large bowl and dress with the sesame seed oil and lemon juice.
5. While the noodles are cooking, prep the vegetables.
6. Add more water to the now empty pot and place on high heat until boiling. Cook the edamame until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. They cool down quite quickly.
7. Divide the noodles and vegetables between two bowls. Top with sauce and garnish with nori and sesame seeds. Serve!

3.3.3070

The post Cold Soba Bowl with Lemon Miso Sauce appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

 I am so sorry for the delayed post and I hope you can forgive me. My memory card broke inside my camera and my recipe pictures I wanted to post before the holiday were ruined. I was less than impressed with myself for being so technologically un-savvy. Between school and getting ready to go home for the holidays I had no time to reshoot the recipe. My apologies.

 As much as I enjoyed Christmas with my family and Mark’s, I am glad to be back home sleeping in my own bed and being in my kitchen again. I find getting out of the holiday meal groove and back into a whole food balanced diet. The holiday eating seems to drag on the extra week and ninety percent of people pledge to start eating right the morning of New Year’s Day. I am not a big believer in New Years resolutions and I have been known to roll my eyes at the phrase “New Year, New You!” on the cover of women’s magazines. Alas, here we are on January 1^st and you know you need some good cleansing food. At least I do anyways…

I made a simple banana, spinach, flax and almond milk smoothie coming home from Christmas and as I was drinking it my brain was screaming HOOORAY FOR VEGETABLES! After the unpacking (still from Christmas…yikes!) I got to work on chopping and freezing bananas, soaking chickpeas, brown rice and raw nuts to make some seriously nutritious meals for the week of work ahead of me. For the next few days it is all about getting those micronutrients into my body that have been completely absent from any meal that I have had in the past week. I always think I will eat like I normally do but as soon as the treats, cookies and mashed potatoes come out I turn into an unsupervised child in a candy store. Worst part was that it never is just one day, my holiday feasting lasted four days. My tummy is quite rumbly and my skin broke out in deep pimples over the holiday. These were all signs that I needed some good healthful food to get this bod back in order.

At the end of the grazing period, I felt like if you poked me with a pin I would deflate like a balloon. I needed to reconnect with my daily routine and get back into the swing of things before heading back to school. Soup therapy is the answer. I love the smell of mirepoix sautéing on the stovetop. Mirepoix is just a fancy name for the mixture of carrots, celery and onions sautéed in oil as an aromatic base stops, sauces and stews. I love when simple things have beautiful elaborate names like mirepoix.

 Soup is my go-to when I am feeling less than awesome. Tired? Soup. Burnt out? Soup and tea. Something about the steamy scents of everything coming together and warming your body down to its core that is so therapeutic. When the stock is cooking I like to take a deep breath of the steam from the pot, I find this to be cleansing in its own simple way. It also helps if you have something excellent to read as well. What is it about the combination of a hot mug of tea and reading that is so blissful?

I poured this miso-seasoned broth over some ribbons of greens (or thinly sliced raw vegetables) to lightly steam them and add more minerals to the soup. I chose this as my breakfast option instead of cooked grains and bananas since it was what my body was craving. This soup does have a teeny hint of ginger to it so if you aren’t feeling those ingredients for this cleansing soup feel free to omit.

I am not a fan of the “freezer bag compost” broth since they only provide a weak ho-hum broth and the frozen scraps of vegetables do not brown as nicely as fresh vegetables. I have tried to make that version of broth a hundred times and it is never as flavourful.

I tested two ways to enjoy this stock but they do have two different yields: the hour-long cooking process gives you a great flavorful stock that can be used for soups, risotto, cooking grains or wherever you like to use stock and yields about 6 cups of stock. The other cooking time (1:15 hours- yields 4 cups of stock) is the stock I like to have poured into a mug to drink on its own. This one provides a little more concentration so it can stand up on its own without any more flavours added to it.

 All the best in the New Year from Sprouts & Chocolate! Cheers!

Other cleansing recipes from S&C (all gluten-free):

Sesame-Citrus Zoodle Bowl with Chili-Lime Tofu (#1 recipe on my site currently!)

Hearty Vegetable Winter Salad with Spicy Maple Pecans 

Green Monster Milk 

Vegan Bloody Caesar (without the hooch! Has lots of vitamins and minerals from the citrus, tomatoes and seaweed)

Cucumber Chia Mojito (this is my hangover cure…best served well chilled so can be made the night ahead.)

The post Cleansing Vegetable Miso Broth w/Greens appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.

Fall is a little early this year. Don’t get me wrong I love Fall but it is still sad to see summer go. There are definitely things to love in Fall: boots, scarfs, not shaving your legs everyday (or until Spring haha!), big cozy sweaters that you would never wear outside of your house, pumpkin spice everything and soups aplenty. Boots on, soup’s on! Thats my rule!

Soup is my most comforting food (besides something smothered in buffalo sauce) but I don’t eat it as much as I would like because Mark insists he needs to be in a soup mood. Who is this guy? Soup mood? The temperature being a single digit at night should get someone into a soup mood in my opinion so sorry Mark the weather has spoken!

Opening a can of soup is easy but canned soup is kind of expensive when you think about it. A few noodles and a couple of cubed veggies in an imbalanced stock is all you are really getting. Homemade soup is so easy and inexpensive per serving. This soup delivers on flavour, nutrients (vitamin B12 from the nutritional yeast) and makes a huge portion, 15 cups so you can freeze some for next week and enjoy some this week. As much as I love being in my kitchen, I also love not being my kitchen but still having a stocked fridge with yummy healthful meals.

I have two topper options with this soup in case you get bored of the same soup for a week. I like to serve this with either Garlicky Croutons and chives or Ultimate Nacho Cheese with an extra sprinkle of ancho powder to kick it up a notch. Hot curry powder would be a good option too!

I portion the soup into 500mL Mason jars so they are ready to go whenever my hunger strikes. Just a quick warm up with some hummus and pita and lunch is served.

The post Pureed Broccoli and Cheezy Soup appeared first on Sprouts & Chocolate.