• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Penny's Portal
  • About
    • About
    • My Vegan Story
    • Privacy Policy
  • Food
    • Penny’s Recipes
    • Themed Food
    • Cooking & Baking Adventures (Trying other people’s recipes)
    • Vegan in Austin
    • Vegan Travel
  • Fandom Things
    • My Cosplay
    • Buffy the Vampire Slayer
    • Euphoria
    • Harry Potter
    • Riverdale
    • Stranger Things
    • The Love Witch
    • The Vampire Diaries
    • Twin Peaks
    • True Blood
    • Veronica Mars
    • All
  • Beauty
    • All Beauty Posts
    • My Makeup Looks
    • Novel Makeup
  • Lifestyle
    • Favorites
    • Style
    • Tidying
    • Photography
    • DIY
    • Personal
    • All
  • Travel
    • Disney World
    • Universal Studios
    • Austin
    • Houston
    • Dallas
    • San Antonio
    • Los Angeles
    • Las Vegas
    • England
    • All

What I Ate Wednesday–Veganized Benihana Edition

July 18, 2018 By Penny

Recently I got a major craving for Benihana after watching the episode of the Office when they go there, and I thought it would be fun to veganize some of my old favorites (and I might as write about it and do a what I ate post right?

For breakfast I made a quick muesli inspired by the recipe in this video from Rainbow Plant Life. To make it, I mashed a banana, mixed some oats in with it, added flax and chia seeds, raisins, walnuts, and almond milk. I like how quick and easy it is to prepare–it’s basically like overnight oats except you don’t have to remember to do it the night before. And of course I had coffee as well–I like quite a few different non-dairy creamers but this time I used Coffeemate Caramel Almond Milk creamer.

For lunch I had a protein smoothie–honestly I hadn’t used protein powder in years but have been in the mood for it again recently. I used frozen banana and blueberries, protein powder, silken tofu, and coconut water, and I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I had lighter meals for breakfast and lunch because I knew I was going to go all out for dinner, and I did–I ended up having an early dinner and then more of everything later in the evening as well.

My go-to order at Benihana was hibachi chicken and steak and veggies with ginger sauce and fried rice as well as salad with ginger dressing, so I found some copycat recipes on Pinterest and veganized them. First I tried this recipe for ginger salad dressing but used peanut butter instead of peanut oil since I didn’t have peanut oil (and didn’t want to use so much oil). It came out pretty good, but not the same–I want to try to tweak it some more. I had it on some Organic Girl Protein Greens I got at Wheatsville–I’m kind of picky about my salads/greens and this mix was actually really good.

Next I made fried rice by following this recipe, but I used brown rice, Earth Balance and Gardein Chickn Scallopini instead of dairy butter and chicken, Tamari instead of soy sauce (to keep it gluten free), and I skipped the eggs. Then I made hibachi style veggies by cooking zucchini, mushrooms, and onions in a vegan butter and garlic mix with some lemon juice and Tamari and salt and pepper. You could also make hibachi chicken and steak with vegan meats, but I wasn’t in the mood and just wanted lots of veggies. I also made a ginger sauce–I used this recipe but used less soy sauce. It was also good, but not quite like the sauce I remember, I want to tweak it a bit as well next time.

Overall everything was really delicious though–I hadn’t had those flavors in years! I want to play with all of the recipes a bit (and use less butter for the fried rice, it was almost too buttery for me), and then if it all comes out how I want, I’ll share recipes here. (Let me know if you’d be into that!)

Have you tried veganizing any of your fave non-vegan meals? Do you like what I ate posts? Let me know in the comments!

Filed Under: Cooking & Baking Adventures, Cooking Adventures, Food Tagged With: Benihana, brown rice, fried rice, ginger, gluten free, oats, salads, smoothies, stir fry, veganized

Previous Post: « Beauty products I’ve used up lately and if I’ll repurchase (Vegan & Cruelty Free Empties)
Next Post: (No) Cooking Adventures: Buffalo Chickpea Salad »

Primary Sidebar

About Penny

Hi, I'm Penny! I'm a writer & photographer in Austin, TX. I blog about vegan food, cruelty free beauty, lifestyle, & more! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube

Never miss a post!

Privacy Policy

Popular Posts

  • Riverdale inspired Milkshakes (Chocolate, Strawberry, & Vanilla)
  • How to Make Vegan Butter(free)beer
  • What I Ate at Disney World 2018 (Vegan & Gluten Free)
  • My Cassie Howard/Alabama Worley Costume (Euphoria/True Romance Cosplay)
  • Creamy Tofu Ricotta
  • Easy Baked Soy Curl Tacos (Vegan, Gluten & Oil Free)
  • Austin Vegan & Gluten Free Pizza Guide
  • How I Match My Eyebrows to my Red Hair
  • Costume/Cosplay Ideas: River Vixens at Cheer Practice
  • Baked Oil Free Tostadas
  • Trying the spicy vegan chorizo from Blaze Pizza
  • Magical Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan, Gluten free, Oil free)
  • Character Style: Cheryl Blossom

Blogs I Love

  • A Beautiful Mess
  • Cadry’s Kitchen
  • Chocolate Covered Katie
  • Fashion Veggie
  • Happiest Vegan on Earth
  • Lazy Smurf’s Guide
  • Logical Harmony
  • Nora Cooks
  • Rabbit & Wolves
  • The Spooky Vegan
  • The Vegan 8
  • Vegan Disney World
  • XO Mia
  • Zen Habits
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Cute Stuff (Affiliates)

Riverdale Cheryl Southside Serpents Faux Leather Red Girls Jacket Hot Topic Exclusive

© COPYRIGHT 2017-2021 PENNYSPORTAL.COM