Kristen Kreates

let the kitchen adventures begin…

Author: lilikoi09

Easy Fried Rice

By

On July 19, 2021

In Recipes, Vegan

Ever since I was little, I’ve had an obsession with fried rice and learning how to make it taste delicious. I still remember making it for the first time with my mom. We had followed a recipe and it didn’t turn out quite how we had wanted it to… I remember it didn’t have the right amount of soy sauce. Our neighbor made amazing fried rice and I was extremely curious to figure out how he did it. I am so excited to share with you my fried rice recipe! I have been making fried rice since I was 12 years old (I’m 25 now) and it has come a long way. Each time I make it, it turns out a little different, but this is my base recipe and it’s up to you to adjust the ingredients to your preference.

So here it goes, enjoy!

  • 2 cups of cooked rice (cold rice from the day before is best)
  • 2-3 tbsp. vegetable oil or sesame oil
  • half of a medium-sized onion, chopped finely
  • 4-5 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 cup of chopped broccoli or any green veggie
  • 1/4 c. Braggs amino acids
  • pepper to taste
  • 2-3 tbsp. ginger paste
  • 1 green onion, chopped
  1. Begin by chopping your onion, garlic, carrot, and broccoli
  2. Heat your pan on medium heat, add your oil, onion, and garlic
  3. Saute until the onion is soft, be careful to not burn your onion at this point
  4. Add in your carrot and broccoli and mix well. Cover your pan with a lid, turn heat low and let it steam until your broccoli is soft
  5. Add your cold rice to the pan and mix everything together well
  6. At this point, add your Braggs to the rice and once again stir completely making sure each chunk of rice is smashed and the flavor is well distributed throughout
  7. Keep your heat on low so the rice does not begin to burn. At this point, you may need to drizzle some more oil over the rice to keep it from sticking to the pan. Cover and let it warm for about five minutes, stirring occasionally
  8. Lastly, you want to add in your ginger and pepper
  9. Finish with any last-minute garnishes. I like to add chopped green onion. You can also at this point add your protein. I like to toss in some fried tofu. If you are not vegetarian, you can add cooked chicken or shrimp at this point.

Tips for the best fried rice:

  • If you don’t have cold rice leftovers, simply cook your rice and then scoop it into a container and place it in the freezer, lid off to cool quickly. I’ve done this a couple of times and it really helps to get that cold rice texture you’re looking for. Stir the rice every 5 minutes and keep it in the freezer for about 20 minutes or until it’s cool enough to use.
  • You can use any veggies you have on hand! I absolutely love fried rice because you literally can just throw all your veggies and old rice in and it still turns out delicious. I like to keep the colors bright, so I usually add carrot and at least one green veggie.
  • I love garlic and ginger, so I use generous amounts in my fried rice. If you are not as big a fan, feel free to add less.
  • I add tofu to my fried rice, but you can add any protein you like.

If you tried this recipe, let me know in the comments! Happy ‘kreating’!

Easiest Dalgona Coffee

By

On July 19, 2021

In Drinks, Recipes

Since quarantine and the world shut down, many new ideas and trends have taken over the internet. Dalgona coffee definitely was a 2020 sensation. To be honest, I only admired all the cool pictures and videos on the internet and never tried it, until today! After watching a few youtube videos, I decided I should give this drink a try. Of course, I needed to make it healthy so I used allulose as my sweetener and oat milk instead of dairy.

So here it is, the easiest way ever to make a healthy dalgona coffee…

  • 2 tbsp. instant coffee
  • 2 tbsp. allulose or your sweetener of choice
  • 2 tbsp. warm water
  1. Add all your ingredients into a blender bottle and give it a couple swirls to gently mix the ingredients. Place the metal mixer ball into the bottle and securely tighten the lid, making sure the cap is closed tightly. You don’t want to risk spilling this all over your kitchen!
  2. Start shaking the mixture vigorously and continue to do so for a few minutes. The color of the mixture will begin to change to a golden brown. Once you have a thick mixture that forms peaks, it’s ready to go!
  3. Pour some cold oat milk or your milk of choice into a glass. I filled mine about 3/4 full. Scoop the thick coffee mixture into the glass until it is completely full. Isn’t it so pretty? Stir the milk and coffee together and enjoy!

Please let me know if you tried this out… happy ‘kreating’!

Tofu Musubi

By

On July 15, 2021

In Vegan

Aloha from sunny Hawaii!

If you have ever been to Hawaii, you probably tried a musubi once or twice. A musubi is a form of sushi made with white rice, a thin piece of spam, and wrapped in nori. It has soft rice, savory seaweed, and a salty piece of spam. I use to eat these and really loved them! Since I started eating vegetarian, I tried making a tofu musubi, imagining it would turn out gross. But to the surprise of my family and myself, these tofu musubis do not taste much different than an actual spam musubi!

Recipe:

  • 1 block of firm or extra firm tofu
  • 2 cups of cooked white sticky rice (brown rice may also be used – see note below)
  • Dried sushi seaweed
  • 1/2 cup Braggs liquid aminos
  • 2 tsp. maple syrup
  • 1 tsp. liquid smoke
  • 1 tsp. ground ginger puree
  • 1 tsp. minced garlic
  1. Press your tofu for 15-30 minutes to get all the unwanted liquid drained from the tofu
  2. Mix all the remaining ingredients in a shallow container to marinate your tofu slices
  3. Begin by slicing the tofu into thin rectangular pieces that resemble a piece of spam
  4. Marinate your tofu for 15 minutes
  5. Preheat a skillet on medium high and grease it before adding your slices of tofu
  6. Cook each piece until it begins to brown and get slightly crispy. Depending on how thin or thick you cut your tofu, it may take slightly longer to cook.
  7. While your tofu is cooking begin prepping to assemble your musubis
  8. Lay out a cut piece of seaweed (about 2-3 inches in width, 6-7 inches in length) and place your musubi press on top of it
  9. Begin by filling the press with your warm cooked rice and press. You will want at least an inch of evenly pressed rice
  10. Next, add your piece of cooked tofu and repeat with a layer of rice and press all together
  11. Once you have successfully filled your press with rice and tofu, wrap the seaweed around and seal with small dabs of water
  12. Continue this process until you have the amount of musubis you want. I used half a block of tofu and saved the other half.

How I make my brown rice:

Two cups of brown rice, rinse it well, add three cups of water and 1/4 cup of rice vinegar. Cook in a rice pot or on stove.

This recipe is really simple and easy to throw together for a lunch or a snack to take to the beach! I hope you try it out and let me know what you think.

Notes:

  • Brown rice is an alternative to white rice. To use brown rice, simply add rice vinegar to the rice before cooking. This method will make the rice stickier and easier to press.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Bread

By

On May 4, 2021

In Breakfast

Nobody likes to read long intros…. you know it’s the truth. So here’s my recipe:

Recipe

  • 2 cups gluten-free flour
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup vegetable or flavorless oil
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/2 cup puree pumpkin
  • 3/4 cup nondairy milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a bread pan, set aside.

In a medium size bowl combine gf flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, and sugar.

In a separate bowl combine eggs, oil, vanilla, pumpkin, and milk. Mix wet ingredients well and then pour into dry ingredients. Mix completely and it will be a thick batter. Pour into greased bread pan.

Bake your bread for 60 minutes. Allow bread to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Do not cut into the bread for at least 10-15 minutes.

Tips:

  • Your choice of gluten-free flour will determine the end product. For this recipe, I used gluten-free flour from my local health store, Down to Earth. The flour is mainly garbanzo bean flour and little starch. I have found that flour high in starch yields a mochi-like texture.
  • I used egg replacer in this recipe, but you may substitute for a flax egg or egg.
  • I use almond milk for bread, but oat milk or any other non-dairy milk should be fine.
  • As for a sweetener, you may use any sugar you like. I used Lankato monk fruit blend. Unrefined cane sugar or coconut sugar will also work great.

I truly hope you enjoy this recipe!

Shepherd’s Bread

By

On April 16, 2020

In Recipes

A few years ago I began experimenting with different diets. Although I tried several diets, I stuck to a vegan diet the longest. I no longer follow the vegan diet now but I will probably do it in the future. Well anyway, the reason I say all this is because this bread recipe was developed during this time. I loved my mom’s shepherd’s bread, but it had butter, and milk, and eggs and everything you can’t have on a vegan diet. So I created this recipe completely vegan and yet still delicious! I still love making this recipe and sharing it with my family and friends. I am so proud of this recipe and so excited to share it with you!

Recipe

  • 1 cup room temperature water (I use tap water)
  • 3/4 cup boiling water
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit once your dough is almost done rising. You will bake your bread on a greased cookie sheet or shallow pan is also fine.

Begin by combining your room temperature water and boiling water together, mix in your sugar, salt, olive oil and vanilla in a small bowl. Lastly, add the yeast and set aside to allow growth.

You can mix your dough either by hand or in a bread mixer. Once your yeast has grown slightly add it to your mixing bowl along with one cup of flour. Begin mixing and wait until completely mixed before adding more flour. You may need to stop the mixer and scrape the sides or your bowl to ensure all the flour is mixing into the dough.

Continue by slowly adding your next cup of flour and so on until you have dumped in all four cups of flour. You should now have a firm ball of dough.

Detach your bowl from the mixer and use your hands to slightly knead it and form a smooth round sphere. Lightly dust with flour so it isn’t too sticky.

Now place your dough into a clean bowl and cover with a tea towel. Allow your dough to rise in a warm place for an hour. Once your dough has risen, place it gently on your greased pan. Smooth out any bumps that may be in the dough. Allow the dough to rest for an additional ten minutes. Place your pan in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until your bread is a golden brown. Once out of the oven, brush melted butter over the warm bread. Allow to cool before cutting.

Enjoy this bread with butter, jam, and a cup of tea!

A few notes:

  • This bread can be mixed by hand or in a bread mixer. I use a bread mixer, but also enjoy mixing by hand to remember the good ol’ days of not having an electric bread mixer.
  • If you have never made bread before, then please feel free to ask me any questions about the process! I’d be happy to help you along.
  • This recipe only makes one loaf of bread. You can also double the recipe if you need more than one loaf.

If you made this bread and enjoyed it please let me know! I’d love to hear all about it.

Easy Baked Oatmeal

By

On April 13, 2020

In Breakfast

Baked oatmeal is one of my family’s favorite breakfasts. I still remember my mom making it when I was younger and I’d always be so excited for it to come out of the oven. Now that I’m older, I’ve re-created baked oatmeal in my own personal way. I don’t add as much sugar, but it still has all the love! I truly hope you enjoy this recipe.

Enjoy warm baked oatmeal on a cool Fall day or any day!

Recipe

  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats (not quick oats)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons sugar of your choice (I used coconut sugar)
    • (2021 edit: I recommend adding 1/4 c. sugar if you are not following a sugar-free or keto diet)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil or butter
  • 1 1/2 cups almond milk or dairy milk
  • 2 eggs (2 flax eggs also will work in this recipe)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2/3 cups unsweetened apple sauce

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a glass pie pan or an 8×8 will also work. Set aside.

Begin by combining your rolled oats, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Mix well before adding your wet ingredients.

In a separate bowl combine your vegetable oil, almond milk, eggs, vanilla, and apple sauce. Mix your wet and dry ingredients until completely combined and your oats are no longer dry.

Pour your mixture into the greased pan and smooth out. Make sure the mixture is completely even across the surface.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (2021 edit: it takes longer to bake when using flax eggs). Your baked oatmeal should be golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy warm.

I love having this in the morning with a cup of hot tea.

A few notes:

  • You can adjust the sweetness of this recipe by simply adding more or less sugar. You can also choose your own sweetener. Cane sugar, coconut sugar, and turbinado sugar all work well with this recipe.
  • If you are vegan, you can simply replace the eggs with an egg replacer although I have not tried it with this recipe. (2021 edit: flax eggs work well for this recipe!)
  • Add toppings! Get creative by adding some of your favorite toppings. I added raisins to mine. You could also add coconut, nuts, or various fruits.
  • Be creative with this recipe! All of my recipes are very versatile. You can replace certain ingredients or add a little extra of this and that. Although I will say, it won’t be my recipe anymore and taste will change.

If you made this or enjoyed it, please let me know! I’d love to hear all about it.

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