hijiki (seaweed) cucumber salad

Edit: I tried it this time using the frozen, salted seaweed. Not sure what kind of seaweed it was. But I just soaked it, then rinsed it, tossed it with vinegar, sesame seeds and sesame oil – and it was better than the rehydrated version.

This makes about 12 small, dense servings of seaweed salad.

1 2 oz pkg of dried hijiki seaweed
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 T ume plum vinegar (could use salt)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
2 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
sliced cucumber

Soak hijiki in cold water for 30 min-1 hr. Mix remaining ingredients (except cucumber) together in a bowl.  Toss with drained hijiki.  Pour hijiki salad over cucumber and serve cold.

easy pancakes/waffles

We always use the recipe for Classic Pancakes from How it All Vegan (pg 44) but the method is slightly different.

Makes about 16 med pancakes or about 12 waffles (in my waffle maker)

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 c soy (or other) milk
2 Tbsp oil

For cocoa pancakes, we added 1/3 cup cocoa and 1 tsp vanilla to the mix.

Mix everything together.  Batter is thick. David uses 1/4 cup batter spread into a heated pan over a medium/low flame and cooks them slowly for optimum results (I have little patience for low heat, so this is usually his arena).

Additions (blueberries, chocolate chips) are added AFTER the batter has been poured but before the pancakes have been flipped.

For waffles – our waffle maker uses 1/3 cup batter per waffle. Grease well before each time. Let them cook until done.

key lime freezer pie

I used this recipe, subbing 1 package of tofu for 1 tub of Tofutti cream cheese for ChiChi’s birthday.  Might try with just tofu, maybe with Rich Whip topping w/ lime zest.  Alyx and ChiChi liked it, I didn’t try it.