Green Tea Smoothie

Ingredients:
6 cubes of ice
1/2 banana
1/2 tsp matcha powder
1 to 2 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup of unsweetened soy milk

Equipment:
Measuring spoons
Liquid measuring cup
Blender

A refreshing summer smoothie to quell the afternoon heat. This recipe will satiate the most discerning of pallets while going easy on the waistline.

TOSS into a blender the ice, banana, matcha powder, honey, and soy milk.
PULSE the mixture, pausing briefly to let the heavy cubes of ice fall down to the blades.
BLEND on high until the ice has broken up to your desired consistency.

You can easily sub the honey with agave or your sweetener of choice to make this recipe vegan friendly. Add any sweetner sparingly as the ripeness of the banana will affect the overall sweetness of the beverage.

A note about matcha powder. You can find this finely milled green tea powder at your local Asian food store. Matcha powder can seem quite expensive (expect to pay $10-12 for 1 oz.), but a recipe usually calls for a very small amount. You can easily incorporate the powder into other recipes such as cakes and cookies or use it to sprinkle over a dessert as a garnish (a la powdered sugar).

Citrus Seaweed Salad

Say hello to the tastiest salad from the sea you'll ever meet! For lunch today I dressed a chopped seaweed salad with a soy citrus dressing infused with dashi from bonito shavings. The best part? It's so simple to make!

Begin by reviving dried wakame (young, dried seaweed available at asian food stores) in hot water for 5-10 minutes. Prepare chopped salad.
Saving the water in a separate bowl, drain the seaweed and set in the fridge to cool. Next add one pack of bonito shavings into the wakame water, steeping bonito shavings in hot water for 10 minutes. Remove bonito shavings into a separate dish.

Add soy sauce, Menmi (noodle sauce available in most asian food stores), lemon juice, rice vinegar, sesame seed oil, and 2 tsp of steeped bonito shavings to the wakame/bonito broth. Cool the dressing and dress the chopped salad in a bowl. Garnish with fresh bonito shavings. Serve cold.

Say Yes To Less

An apology is in order in regards to the infrequency of my posts. So sorry for the extended absence! A blog can hardly call itself that without new posts so I will attempt to be diligent from here on out :)

Breaking news: I've decided to embark on a 50 Pound Challenge from now till July. Yup, I'm planning on dropping the weight via healthy eating and exercise. What does this mean for 'Yes to Butter, you ask? Fear not, I still believe~! The heart of this vivacious foodie beats on! Look forward to enjoying new delectable morsels that pack a powerful punch for your taste buds, but go easy on the waistline.

Behold the Wonder of Myoga!

Isn't it beautiful? This little gem of a bud is harvested as it peeks up from the soil in the summer/fall season. Typically sliced thin, myoga is used in Japanese Cuisine as a garnish. Personally, I enjoy it best as a delightfully refreshing summertime addition to Miso Soup.






Simply wash, slice thin and sprinkle over hot soup. The Myoga bud is from the ginger family. Compared to the ginger root that we are more accustomed to tasting, myoga is much milder in flavor.

A Buttery Revelation

Today I discovered that there is such a thing as, "too much butter." Don't get me wrong, I LOVE BUTTER. I love it half melted on a freshly hand-torn dinner roll, still steaming. I love it cascading down the juicy kernels of corn on the cob. I love it sizzling in a pan of fawn as it begins to collect the juices of what will be the most deliciously rich and flavorful gravy.

What I discovered this morning as I bit into my grilled cheese sandwich is that the addition of butter alone cannot reinvent the stature of inferior ingredients. The bread, though crispy and golden, tasted floury and had a strange texture - not unlike the flavor and texture of undercooked roux. I accept full responsibility for substituting artisan with plain sliced white bread. What on earth possessed me to think that more butter simply meant bigger payoff? Butter - as amazing as its golden, creamy character is - cannot make bad food better. Butter, I realized, is not merely a tool in making foods richer, shinier, and tastier. It is to be honored, revered, respected.

What's your favorite way to appreciate butter?