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!
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