Japanese Cucumber Salad

I love love LOVE Japanese food.  Actually, I love any kind of Asian food.  One of my favorites is cucumber salad.  So I made a big bowl of it the other day to eat whenever my heart desired <3  If you like the 'Shanghai Cucumbers' at PF Changs, then you will love this salad.

Japanese Cucumber Salad


1/4 tsp salt
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
1 large daikon radish, Julienned
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp mirin
1 tsp sesame oil


In a colander, salt the cucumber, daikon and carrot and let set.  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl dissolve sugar in rice vinegar.  Once dissolved, add the mirin and sesame oil.  Add the cucumber, daikon radish and carrots and toss to coat.  Let it marinate in the fridge for at least 30 mins before serving. Serve chilled.

Nutrition Facts (Approximate) Serves 4, Per Serving:  125 Calories, 1g Protein, 1g Fat, 22g Carbs, 1g Fiber, 1g Iron

Mediterranean Veggie Cakes

When eating gluten free, you really start to miss fried food.  There are certain foods I'd like to cook but I have to find substitutes to make it work.  I had a brilliant idea to pulse rice crackers or rice cereal in a food processor to create bread crumbs and it happened to work really well!  This recipe was inspired by a recipe from VEGANOMICON called 'Greek Fritters'.  My non-vegan, non-gluten free partner gave these babies 5 stars.  Yummy!!

Mediterranean Veggie Cakes


8 to 10 oz Extra Firm Tofu
1/4 cup pecans
1 clove garlic
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 handful of fresh Basil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups ground rice crackers (or ground rice cereal)
1 large zucchini, grated (squeeze out excess water)
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced (remove excess water)
1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/3 cup kalamata olives, chopped
Peanut Oil for frying


In a food processor, blend the tofu, pecans, garlic, lemon juice, tomato paste, basil, salt and pepper until well combined.  In a large bowl, mix the tofu mixture with about 1/2 cup of the rice cracker crumbs.  If the mixture seems moist then add more crumbs.  Add the zucchini, tomatoes, artichokes, and olives.


Heat a large skillet on medium heat and pour in the oil so there is a thin layer covering the bottom of the pan.  While the oil is heating, form the veggie mixture into balls the size of ping pong balls an roll into the rice crumbs then flatten into little cakes.   Fry each cake in the oil about 5 minutes per side and cool on a wire rack with paper towels to drain.  Cool a few minutes before serving.  Serve warm!

Cinnamon Mini Muffins

I have quite a collection of gluten free flours and whole grains that I've been wanting to utilize.  One thing I purchased was the 'Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit and Baking Mix'.  I was going to give the biscuits a shot, then I decided I wanted to make mini muffins.  The man of the house was hungry for breakfast so I put these together and he ate all of them!!  I had to make a second batch to take pictures for the website.

I also took a picture of the Ener-G Egg Replacer.  You would use this mixed with water to replace eggs in baking.

Cinnamon Mini Muffins


3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed with 4 Tbsp warm water (equivalent to 2 eggs)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup gluten free flour mix
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350.

Mix egg replacer with water until dissolved and add to a medium bowl or an electric mixer.  Mix on low and add salt, vegan margarine, apple sauce, and sugars.  Mix until well combined then slowly add the gluten free baking mix.  Once the flour is mixed in, add the cinnamon and vanilla.  Grease a mini muffin pan and drop about a tablespoon of the batter in each cup.  Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 15 mins or until golden.  Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.  Muffins will be a bit spongy but that's normal.  Serve warm with Earth Balance, agave, or any other yummy topping you'd like!

Why Can't I Find What I'm Looking For??

I have tons and tons of cookbooks.  When I go to the bookstore there's a butt impression on the floor where I sit flipping through cookbooks.  I have diet cookbooks, gourmet cookbooks, vegetarian cookbooks, vegan cookbooks, subscriptions to cooking magazines, etc etc...  People give me old cookbooks they find in the attic because they know I'll use it somehow.  The one problem I find in most cookbooks is that I have to change something.  This one uses milk, that one uses eggs, this one uses whole wheat pastry flour, yadda yadda yadda!  So I ordered some new cookbooks online and each one was titled "Gluten-Free Dairy Free Cooking".  When I got them in the mail I ripped the box open and flipped through the recipes to find that the recipes all had eggs or egg whites in them!  As confused as I was, I looked up eggs online and opposed to what I thought all my life eggs are not dairy.  They are an animal byproduct.  But I don't eat eggs!!  I can substitute eggs in some recipes, but not 4 eggs in a quiche!  Or at least, not for now.  If there is a will there is a way.  So I decided I need to share my need to cook yummy food that caters to my diet and I am sure I'm not the only one...