Vegan MoFo 5.1: Feline Adventures and Seitan Cutlets with Porcini and Brown Rice

(Pictured: Binky as he looked before surgery on one of his favorite faux furs)

I am going to start with Wednesday night to paint a picture of what has been happening here since my last post. We had to take up the food and water for the felines at 9pm. This sent Binky (aka Nicco) into full panic mode. He gets upset when he can see the bottom of his food bowl so no food bowl was completely unacceptable to him. We thought about shutting the cats out of the bedroom but since they are 9 years old and we never have done that before neither of us could do it. You can see who runs this house and they have four feet not two. ;-)

A large portion of Wednesday night was Binky bugging me to let me there was no food. He ran up and down the bed crying. When that didn’t work he grabbed my hair in his mouth and shook his head. His next move was to become the nibble monster. He uses his tiny front teeth to nibble whatever he can get to; in this case it was the bottom of my chin, my neck and ear lobes. Believe it or not this went on for hours. Needless to say I didn’t get a lot of sleep Wednesday night. Gee I wonder why? LOL

I left fairly early Thursday morning to drop Binky off at the vet while Dan got ready for work and to fly to Norfolk early afternoon. The trip to the vet is normally 45 minutes but in the rain it was an hour and half. I called Dan from the car to let him know to stay off the highway and when Binky heard his father on speaker phone he started crying. It was almost like he was calling his father to save him. I felt so incredibly guilty for taking him to the vet and leaving him there all day.

When I dropped Binky off I asked when I could pick him up and it was dependent on where he was in the surgical rotation. Of course I wanted to get him home and soon as possible but that doesn’t always work out. I get very upset when the cats need a medical procedure because we lost a cat about 15 years ago when he was having teeth cleaning. That situation didn’t help my general uneasiness with anything medical. Can you believe I worked in a hospital for almost 2 decades? I still find that amazing and I was there. I guess when you can out of the patient care areas it doesn’t really seem like a hospital. I know I am a weird girl. ;-)

I was able to bring Binky home Thursday evening at about 6pm. He was very happy to come home and put himself in his carrier at the doctor. He must not have felt good since he is never that cooperative. When we got home his sister (Luca Belle) and brother (Massimo) hissed at him in his carrier so I thought I should keep them separated at least until Dan got home from his trip late Thursday.

(Pictured: Binky after arriving home)

I scrunched up one of his faux fur throws so he could burrow in. He didn’t even feel like doing that he just curled up on top. Poor baby he really wasn’t himself. On the bright side he did drink, eat and use the litter box after being home. It is good that he has an appetite and that his GI system is working so soon after anesthesia.

I had planned to cook Thursday night when I got home from the vet but obviously that didn’t happen. It was much more important to spend some quality time with my little furry man. My baby had a very rough 24 hours. I cuddled with my baby until his human father arrived home to take over. Dan is Binky’s favorite human which means he was thrilled to see his daddy. There was lots of cooing and purring when Dan got home. We all had a good night sleep last night. Good thing too because I was running of fumes.

Cleaning Your Juicer:

This is probably going to sound a little crazy to you, because it did to me too. I read somewhere that the best way to clean the juicer screens and auger was denture cleaner. Sounds bizarre, right? I thought about it for a while and picked up denture cleaner at the drug store this week because it is very inexpensive $3.99 for 72 tablets. This morning I finally had a chance to try it. It definitely got off some of the orange film that I could not scrub off. I plan to let the parts soak overnight to see if they come completely clean. But in only 30 minutes I saw a big difference. I thought some of you that have juicers may want to give this a try. It is much easier and more effective than scrubbing. I am going to add this to my weekly routine for a while to see how it works. When I have more information I will let you know.

Salad for Lunch:

I have spent most of the day refereeing the felines. There is still plenty of hissing and posturing going on at my house. This meant I needed a quick lunch which at my house means salad. I used my new hand held shredded and a santoku knife and had lunch ready in 5 minutes. With the knife I shredded 1 kale leaf/stem, 2 ruby chard leaves/stems, ½ cucumber cut into chunks and 1 red pepper. I used the shredder to prep ½ large carrot, and 2 radishes. I added a little apple cider vinegar, a few golden raisins (maybe ½ tablespoon) and some soaked raw sunflower seeds from the frig. It was a mountain of salad but it was perfect for lunch today.

I choose these ingredients for various reasons. The kale and radish are both part of the cruciferous family which we can all use. The ruby chard adds the purple/blue food category as well as vitamins A and K. Carrot adds a touch of sweetness and carotenoids. Raw red peppers are packed with vitamin C. Sunflower seeds are a good source of vitamin E and selenium. Golden raisins were added for sweetness.

Seitan experiment:

My husband loves it when I make seitan. I can take seitan or leave it personally. I loved seitan when we were new vegans but I don’t feel the need to have “mock” meat any longer and I would never buy the commercials stuff that tends to have soy protein isolates as the first or second ingredient. However if seitan makes my hubby happy I will make it for him.

Today I thought I would make seitan using my steam/baked method but with a flavor and texture that was different from any prior version I have made before. Instead of mimicking meat I decided to go a different way completely and add mushrooms and brown rice. I wanted this seitan to have texture (from the mushrooms, rice and onions) and thought the rice would help to soften the overall texture cutlets. Here is what I did:

Mushroom and Brown Rice Seitan Cutlets/Chunks
Makes 9 cutlets, 1 per serving

Ingredients:

½ ounce dried porcini mushrooms rehydrated in 2 cups of water
2 cups cooked brown basmati rice
4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced or grated on a microplane
½ medium onion, peeled and very finely minced (should be about ½ cup)
1 teaspoon thyme, dried
1 tablespoon paprika
dash of liquid smoke (about ¼ teaspoon)
2 tablespoons no-salt seasoning
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (to brighten the flavor since there is no salt)
black pepper, to taste
2 cups vital wheat gluten (you may need a couple additional tablespoons see directions)
water necessary to form a “dough” about ½ - ¾ cup in addition to the mushroom soaking liquid
1 teaspoon canola oil for the pan

Directions:

Heat the water and the mushrooms and allow them to sit for at least 30 minutes. Remove the rehydrated mushrooms and dice finely. Strain the soaking liquid to use in the seitan.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees convection. Line a half sheet pan (11 by 17) with parchment or easy release aluminum foil.

In a very large mixing bowl add the diced drained mushrooms, cooked brown rice, and the seasonings (everything between garlic and pepper listed above). Taste the mixture and adjust the seasonings to your taste. This mixture will be more highly spiced than the final product since the wheat gluten will dilute the overall flavor. Add the wheat gluten ½ cup at a time and knead it into the seitan dough. Alternate the wheat gluten with the wet (mushroom soaking liquid/water) until the mixture forms a ball. If it doesn’t form a reasonably cohesive mass add addition vital wheat gluten (about a tablespoon at a time) and continue to knead until most of the ingredients are contained in the ball. Form the seitan in 9 roughly even pattie/cutlet shapes.

Heat a well seasoned cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Oil the skillet with a paper towel you coated with canola oil.

Sear both the top and bottom of the cutlets in the cast iron skillet and move them to the lined sheet pan. When all the cutlets have been seared add ½ cup water to the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Flip the patties/cutlets over add another ½ cup of water and bake another 20 minutes. Flip the cutlets over, add another ½ cup of water and bake for another 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and flip over the cutlets. If they are still wet you have two options. You can either sear them in a cast iron skillet before serving, or return them to the oven for 10 minutes to dry them out a bit. Either method should work the same since it has for all my other seitan recipes. I tend to leave them a little damp and then wrap and freeze them.

To serve reheat them in your cast iron skillet with a few tablespoons of water. It should take about 10 minutes on a medium low heat in a covered skillet to heat them through and finish the cooking. Then remove the lid and cook until the water evaporates and the bottom of the cutlet is crisp.

I had initially planned to serve these as cutlets but decided to use them more like “meat chunks” this evening. I cut them into bite sized pieces and dropped them into simmering tomato sauce for about 30 minutes. They worked well that way. I may end up using the rest of the seitan like that since it cuts down on the amount of seitan we consume. Next time I may roll them into balls brown them and then cook them in the sauce. That sounds like my next seitan experiment actually. ;-)

Nutritional information (for 1/9th of the total recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 182.03
Calories From Fat (7%) - 13.53

Total Fat - 1.56g
Saturated Fat - 0.21g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 12.58mg
Potassium - 193.39mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.35g
Fiber - 2.15g
Sugar - 0.38g
Protein - 22.76g

Comment:

I really like the flavor of these cutlets the dried porcini mushrooms added a ton of flavor. The texture is not as good as my bread crumb cutlets but these are healthier and I prefer the flavor so it will work for us.  Dan is still mourning the bread crumb version, FYI. ;-)  I may have to make the less healthy version for Thanksgiving as a marital compromise.

The odd thing about this recipe is the little bit of oil that I used to sear the cutlets made them taste greasy to me. I never thought I would say that but my tastes have clearly changed since I know I didn’t use much oil. It amazes he how quickly we have adapted to a more healthful diet.

Signing out:

I hope to be back tomorrow with another recipe but whether I get into the kitchen or not is dependent on the felines. With a little luck they will stop acting out soon so I can get a few more things accomplished. Just think I get to do this all over again next week. Woo hoo? I must be nuts. *rolls eyes*

That is going to be it for me tonight. Now I need to catch up on your blogs. It is amazing how far behind I get in the blogosphere in just two days. I hope everyone had a great week and that you enjoy your weekend. Talk to you again soon.

Cabbage and Seitan Dish and Indian-spiced Lentil, Barley Soup

Vegan Mofo:

How many of you are taking part in Vegan Mofo in November? I participated last year but I don’t know that I can post every day this year so I was considering bailing out this year. However if many of you are doing it too I may give it a go again this year. I want to hear your thoughts on this.

Wednesday:

The sun finally peaked out for the first time in days. It was great to see blue sky peaking from behind the clouds for a while today. I am definitely a girl that needs her sunlight. Do you have any tricks for surviving long bouts of gray weather?

Lunch:

As you know by now I try to eat greens every day either in my smoothies or in salad, and sometimes both. I was craving salad so that is what I made myself for lunch. This one contained a head of romaine, 3 Roma tomatoes, ½ shaved cucumber, 1 shaved carrot, a tablespoon’ish of dried cranberries and a sprinkle of slivered almonds. I used my current favorite dressing of Dijon, red wine vinegar and stevia. There is just something about eating a big salad that feels right.

Snack:

Like usual I got hungry mid afternoon and had a snack. I feel as though if I get a little something to eat when I am hungry I end up eating less dinner which is always a good thing. Since most of us are doing nothing more than lounging on the sofa after dinner I feel like dinner should be a small meal. There is no science behind that I know of, it is just what I try to do and it seems to work.

My afternoon snack today was about a cup of frozen grapes and a few walnut halves.

Dinner:

I was in the mood to cook but had no idea what I wanted to make. Doesn’t that always seem to happen? Since it is apple season I decided that a dish that included them would be a good call. Here is what I made:

Sweet and Savory Red Cabbage, Apple and Onion over Quinoa
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water to cook quinoa
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced (allow to stand 10 minutes before cooking)
2 apples, cored and cut into bite sized chunks
2 vegan sausages, but into bite sized pieces (I used seitan sausage with quatre epices)
¼ cup water
½ cup apple cider
1 tablespoon apricot preserves
¼ teaspoon powdered ginger
6 cups red cabbage, thinly sliced
black pepper to taste

Directions:

Begin by starting the quinoa since it takes a few minutes more than the topping

Cook the onion, garlic, apples and sausage in water, apple cider, apricot preserves and ginger in a covered pan. Cook until the onions are beginning to get tender about 5 minutes. Give the ingredients and stir and place the cabbage on top and recover the pan. The cabbage will be cooked in less than 5 minutes. Remember to cook cabbage as quickly as possible to retain the most nutrition.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 429.69
Calories From Fat (9%) - 38.27

Total Fat - 4.3g
Saturated Fat - 0.48g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 81.55mg
Potassium - 1266.26mg
Total Carbohydrates - 73.36g
Fiber - 13.9g
Sugar - 9.36g
Protein - 29.46g

Comments:

This was a nice autumn dish more sweet than I anticipated but still good. I think it would have been enhanced by a touch or Dijon in the sauce or few nuts on top for crunch and I would make one or both of those changes the next time.

Twitter and Foursquare:

Those of you who have been reading for a while know that I have been resisting Twitter for some reason. I can say that I finally understand the appeal. It is not intuitive, or at least it wasn’t for this technology dinosaur but it can be a lot of fun. You can follow me @VeganEpicurean.

While on Twitter I also found a few local suggestions from someone on Foursquare. Since Twitter worked out so well I also signed up for Foursquare about a week ago. If you want to follow me on Foursquare I am Vegan Epicurean there too. In only a few days I have already gotten some great tips from Foursquare you may want to check it out.

Thursday:

This morning was much nicer than it has been. It was windy overnight but by morning that had died down and temps were in the mid 50’s. By 9am we were up to 62 and it was beginning to feel like a nice fall morning.

Breakfast:

Dan opted to have a green smoothie this morning for breakfast since it was a bit warmer today. His smoothie contained: 2 frozen bananas, 4 kale leaves/stems, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, 1 handful walnuts, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger and water to process.

I asked him if he was learning to tolerate the green smoothies yet and he said, “They have always been good, but they aren’t strawberry banana soft serve.” I have to say this was a better reaction than I had expected. I am not sure why but I didn’t think he liked it I guess that was because of the fussing that I mistook for actual dislike. *rolls eyes* I will never understand men or guy humor.

Guess who actually made fresh veggie and fruit juice again this morning? Yes it was me. However the funny thing was that I forget to put it in Dan’s lunch. Can I be any less functional in the morning? LOL, I am SO not a morning person. I store his juice in the freezer after I make it and until he is ready to leave for work and completely forgot to pack it this morning. *sigh*

I even made a huge batch of juice so that Dan could have it in his lunch and I could have a couple of cups for my breakfast. For some reason I have really come to enjoy the taste of the fresh juice. I like the acidity from the lemon, the zip from the fresh ginger and the sweetness from the apple, carrot and beet.

The picture above is the prepped veggies and fruit on an 11 by 17 inch pan before being run through the juicer. This amount becomes approximately 7 ½ cups of juice. Today’s juice contained: 1 head romaine, 6 leaves kale, 5 apples, 2 lemons, 2 inches fresh ginger, 8 carrots, and one huge beet.

I try to include juice in our diet to provided additional nutrition. Fresh juice is not a substitute for whole fruits and veggies but in addition to them. It is important to also eat your veggies and fruit whole to ensure you are getting enough fiber. Since we almost always exceed 40 grams of fiber per day that isn’t an issue for us but the average American gets 12 of less grams of fiber and for those people juice may not be the best solution.

Soup for the week:

After breakfast I decided it was time to make an enormous pot of soup for Dan and I to eat for a few days. I love making soup because it gets better as it sits in the refrigerator. Today I decided to do something different and I broke out the crock pot. Here is the soup I made today:

Indian-spiced Red Lentil, Barley and Shitake Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 red onions
10 cloves garlic
2 inches fresh ginger
3 carrots, finely diced
3 stalks celery, finely diced
½ pound shitake mushrooms, but into bite sized pieces (I used shitake but any variety will work including dried)
1 cup red lentils
1 cup hulled barley
1 tablespoon turmeric
½ tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds
½ tablespoon paprika
¼ teaspoon ajowan seeds (or substitute thyme)
1 dash asafetida (not too much as this has a funky smell)
1 dash cardamom powder
1 dash cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste (add generously since the piperine has a synergistic effect with the turmeric)
¼ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
¼ teaspoon saffron threads
water to cover everything by 2 inches

Directions:

Place everything in your crock pot (I used a 6.5 quart model) and set on low. Cook for at least 8 hours. Taste for seasoning and adjust to your taste. Something happens when you cook in a crock pot that seems to mute the seasonings which typically has been tweaking then at the end of cooking.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 229.93
Calories From Fat (7%) - 15.33

Total Fat - 1.83g
Saturated Fat-  0.27g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 53.61mg
Potassium - 507.38mg
Total Carbohydrates - 45.07g
Fiber - 10.02g
Sugar - 2.88g
Protein - 10.71g

Comments:

This is a lightly spiced soup that is very healthy. The lentils and barley provided fiber to help keep cholesterol down and your GI system working properly. The mushrooms and turmeric have antiproliferative properties. In addition to being healthy it is a tasty soup. Both Dan and I enjoyed this, and it is a good thing because we have plenty of leftovers.

Dinner tonight was soup for both of us followed up with strawberry banana soft serve for Dan. Just another typical day at our house. ;-)

Lunch:

It will be no surprise that lunch was leftovers from dinner from the night. I find that making intentional leftovers works very well for me in terms of total time spent cooking. As much as I enjoy cooking I just don’t have time to spend hours in it each day. Since we eat a whole food plant-based diet if we didn’t have leftovers for lunch I would spend a lot more time in the kitchen.

Dehydrated food:

Today I spent more time drying Roma tomatoes and leeks for the pantry. I feel a bit like a squirrel putting away nuts for the winter. ;-)

Mozzarella cheese:

Today I made my version of a mozzarella recipe that my friend Courtney gave me. It is still cooling so I can’t share it yet since I haven't tasted it. However you can expect that tomorrow.

Signing out:

That is going to be it for me today. It was a busy day here getting prepped for the seasonal change. I must say I am going to miss my sandals and I am not looking forward to wearing a coat. However I do like the change of seasons so I am trying to focus on that aspect of things.

Talk to you all again tomorrow after I get finished with my Friday errands. I have high hopes for the mozzarella in the refrigerator now, and this version doesn’t require agar. ;-)

A Chilly and Rainy Sunday Means Bean Soup and Homemade Seitan Sausage

Our Sunday started like most with an early morning trip to the farmers’ market. When we left it was raining fairly hard so I was nice and damp before we got to the car. It was one of those mornings where you consider turning around and going back into your nice dry house. However since we still have weeks left on our CSA we trudged through the rain to the market.

Like usual when we get to the market Rudy (one of our favorite organic farmers) wasn’t completely set up. We helped him empty the truck and get things ready. This has become a Sunday morning ritual apparently. Neither Dan nor I mind and we like helping Rudy out. Today he gave us a couple of acorn squash for our trouble which I thought was very kind. We didn’t expect anything for helping but it was sweet of him to reciprocate.

Today at the farmers’ market we came home with the following organic produce: 1 pound of shitakes, ½ pound ginger, 2 bunches kale, 1 bunch collards, 1 quart green beans 6 cucumbers, 3 bell peppers, 1 quart new potatoes, 1 quart poblano peppers, 1 box tomatoes, 2 acorn squash, 3 huge beets, 1 butternut squash and 1 watermelon. Oddly this is a little less than we normally buy but we still had a bit of produce left from last week so I wanted to go through that first.

When we got home Dan thought a nice hot bowl of oatmeal sounded better than a smoothie. I made him his usual wild blueberry, cinnamon, ginger and walnut oats. However I was craving something green so I had a smoothie which contained: 2 cups kale, 1 frozen banana, 2 tablespoons walnuts, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon powdered ginger.

After we had our breakfast we decided to make a pot of roasted barley tea. With the cold and damp weather today we wanted something coffee-like and this tea works nicely. If you are trying to give up caffeine it is a reasonably good substitute for coffee. We get ours at our local Asian grocery store.

Given that the temperatures were not predicted to exceed 72 today I felt like bean soup was a great lunch idea for my parents. When I started the beans soaking I had no idea what I was going to make exactly. Initially I only knew I wanted white beans and tomatoes the rest of the dish developed later. Dan thought some seitan sausage would be good in the soup and I had to agree with him. I don’t make seitan as often as I used to but Dan likes is, as do my parents, so it sounded like a good idea. I opted to make a simple sweet Italian seitan sausage since I can always use those leftover sausages which I immediately stored in the freezer. The seitan sausage dictated the direction for the soup. Here is the soup I made:

Southern Italian Flavored White Bean and Seitan Sausage Soup
Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 cups dried white beans, cooked until soft (cooking liquid retained to give body to the soup)
1 red onion, peeled and finely diced (allow to stand 10 minutes after chopping and before heating)
8 cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes after chopping and before heating)
4 cups peeled diced tomatoes (I pureed half and left the other half in chunks)
2 carrots, diced
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoons hot crushed peppers (wet hots), add more if you like heat
4 cups diced zucchini and or yellow squash (I used half green and half yellow zucchini)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
6 black olives, pitted and minced (yes I added this for little salty pops)
2 sweet Italian seitan sausage cut into bite sized pieces (recipe in this post)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Once the beans have been cooked add the onions, garlic, tomato puree, diced tomatoes, carrot, fennel seeds and hot crushed peppers and cook for 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Now add the zucchini, red wine vinegar and olives and cook until the squash is soft. Add the seitan sausage 15 minutes before you are ready to serve. Taste the stew and add black pepper to taste.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 331.6
Calories From Fat (6%) - 18.54

Total Fat - 2.2g
Saturated Fat - 0.39g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 94.41mg
Potassium - 1505.61mg
Total Carbohydrates - 58.45g
Fiber - 17.5g
Sugar - 7.52g
Protein - 23.39g

Comments:

If you like Southern Italian food I think you will enjoy this. It has nice flavor and little hint of the background heat. I have to tone down the heat when I am feeding my mother who thinks black pepper is spicy. *rolls eyes* If I were making this for just Dan and me it would have been hotter. Also for my parents I added a little drizzle (about ½ teaspoon) of extra virgin olive oil to the top of the soup. That gives the fatty mouth feel they are accustomed too without making the dish too unhealthy.

If you want to add extra nutrition to this soup you could add some shredded kale, collard or spinach. It would also be good with fresh minced parsley or basil. I would also like it with a dollop of cashew crème fraiche. It would also be good served over a grain (quinoa, millet, brown rice, etc.). There are many ways to modify this.

In order to make the stew today I needed to whip up a batch of seitan sausages. It is extremely easily to make seitan sausages. If you haven’t tried them yet you should they are much healthier than the commercial versions the majority of which contain soy protein isolates. I had intended to change the base formula but I ran out of the time to experiment today so I fell back on the breadcrumb version I have made for a while. Having homemade whole wheat breadcrumbs in the freezer was another factor in my decision. Here is how I made the seitan sausage today:

Sweet Italian Seitan Sausages
Makes 8 large sausages

Ingredients:

2 cups 100% whole wheat bread crumbs
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups water
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 ½ cups vital wheat gluten

Directions:

Place the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

In your blender combine the garlic, water, vinegar and paprika and process until the garlic doesn’t have any chunks. Pour this liquid over the breadcrumbs. Add the fennel seed to the bread crumb mixture and allow this mixture to stand for at least 10 minutes. You want the breadcrumbs to absorb all the flavor also you don’t want any large bits of breadcrumbs. Now taste the breadcrumb mixture and adjust the flavor to your palate. This mixture is about 50% stronger in flavor than the finished sausage. I added black pepper to taste; you may want to add salt.

Place the vital wheat gluten into the bowl with the breadcrumbs and use your hands to knead the wet and dry together. Knead until you no longer have any dry pockets remaining. Place the seitan dough on a cutting bowl and divide into 1/8th. I do this by repetitively cutting the mixture in half until I have 8 balls.

Take 8 sheets of aluminum foil and place on 1/8th of the seitan on the sheet. Form the seitan into a rough sausage shape. Roll the seitan in the foil making certain that the foil goes around the seitan at least three full times. Twist the ends closed so you have what looks like an aluminum covered tootsie roll.

Steam the seitan in your pressure cooker on high for 20 minutes. Allow the seitan to cool for at least 15 minutes before unrolling so that you don’t burn yourself. If you don’t have a pressure cooker you can steam the seitan in a covered pot for 40 – 45 minutes.

I wrap these individually in waxed paper and freeze them in a zip top. Freezing the sausages does not harm the texture or flavor. I find seitan sausages are great to have on hand in the freezer for those times when you need something “meaty”.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 172.53
Calories From Fat (7%) - 12.09

Total Fat - 1.4g
Saturated Fat - 0.11g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 34.36mg
Potassium - 105.81mg
Total Carbohydrates - 20.12g
Fiber  -3.5g
Sugar - 0.71g
Protein - 21.32g

Comments:

I use these in any recipe that calls for Italian sausage. I add breadcrumbs to make a softer texture to the sausage without adding oil. Sometimes when you make seitan it is too firm and chewy and that is what the breadcrumb prevents from happening.

The same base formula can be used to make many different flavors of seitan sausage. I will be working on a new base formula soon using something other than bread crumb. Once I perfect that I will post it.

To accompany the stew I made four small side salads which consisted of: 1 head of romaine, 6 Roma tomatoes, and 1 cucumber. I dressed this balsamic vinegar and raw sunflower seeds for us and balsamic and extra virgin olive oil for my parents. They can’t imagine why anyone would give up olive oil so I indulge them.

Because we weren’t going out in the weather this evening we decided to have another movie night. I let Dan select again with the only parameter being a comedy. Given the whole 9/11 funk I wanted something to make me laugh. Dan selected the Wedding Crashers, and it wasn’t bad. If you have teens in the house it was a little crass but otherwise it had some funny moments and cute lines.

Yes we had more air popped popcorn with the movie (sorry no picture). I wasn’t kidding when I said movie night at our house needs to include popcorn that is somewhat of a family tradition.

Between the soup for lunch and popcorn with the movie I wasn’t certain we were going to be hungry for dinner. Of course we somehow managed to find room for salad. For dinner tonight Dan and I split a salad that consisted of: 2 heads of shredded romaine, 5 Roma tomatoes, 1 cucumber, ½ cup salsa, 1 cup marinated mushrooms and approximately 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds. This is one of our standard salad combinations that we eat often but tonight in the new bowls Dan picked up yesterday. The picture doesn't accurately reflect the size of the bowls since they are fairly deep.  Two of the bowls held the entire batch of salad I make tonight with room to spare.

It is getting a little late and I still need to tidy up the kitchen and get some things ready for the morning since we will be back to the daily grind. I will talk to you all tomorrow. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

TGIF and a Mushroom Goulash

We have not had mushrooms in at least two days, can you imagine. What am I thinking? Clearly this mushroom deficiency needed to be corrected. I came across a recipe in my new book German Culinaria for beef and mushrooms. The recipe sounded very simple but also tasty. I knew I could make it with either tempeh or seitan. I opted to go with seitan sausage because I just happen to have two seitan bratwurst in the freezer. Here is what I did:

Mushroom and Seitan Goulash (Gulasch mit Pilzen)
Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 large onions, finely minced (allow to stand 10 minutes before heating)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
12 ounce bottle of beer, preferably lager
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon thyme, dried
2 cups water
2 tablespoons mustard (I used Dijon)
½ pound mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 seitan sausages cut into bite-sized pieces (bratwurst or kielbasa would be best here)
black pepper, to taste
¼ cup cashew crème fraiche, for garnish
¼ cup fresh parsley, minced. for garnish
1 pound potatoes, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces (Spätzle or another grain would also work)

Directions:

Combine the onion, tomato paste, beer, paprika, and thyme and simmer until the onions are soft and the beer has mostly evaporated. Add the water, mustard, mushrooms, and seitan and simmer until the mushrooms are cooked. You may need to add water so that you have enough “sauce” to serve. Stir occasionally to make certain it doesn’t stick.

To plate, top the potatoes with the mushroom and seitan sauce, parsley and a dollop of cashew crème fraiche.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 335.59
Calories From Fat (23%) - 75.72

Total Fat - 8.37g
Saturated Fat - 0.93g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 458.85mg
Potassium - 1009.04mg
Total Carbohydrates - 40.14g
Fiber - 8.45g
Sugar - 3.3g
Protein - 20.96g

The calories are overstated by the alcohol that burned off when I evaporated 90% of the liquid during cooking. But since I can’t measure the amount that is missing I thought it was better to overstate the calories by keeping 100% of the beer in the calculations.

Comments:

Dan was shocked to see potatoes with dinner since I very rarely make them. His first words were, “what did I want”. Nice, right? Well once he tasted it he changed his tune. He gave this recipe a very enthusiastic two thumbs up and Dan is my biggest critic. We both think this would be a great meal to serve to omnis. Yes it turned out that well. I will say it is definitely better on a cooler day like today. We would not have enjoyed this as much in the heat yesterday.

Unrelated note:

I have had the most glorious day today. The weather was in the upper 70’s this morning until almost lunch time. I was able to turn off the AC and open the windows for the first time in weeks. It is so nice to have fresh air in the house. I had forgotten how lovely it is to have the windows open. Funny how a little thing like that can make such a big difference. A few different types of birds are in one of the big oak trees near my house and are very busy chirping to each other. I love the breeze that is blowing in the window on the back of my neck. It is just a perfect day.

I managed to get another picture of Masi with his eyes open. It looks like I was not the only one enjoying the fresh air. ;-)

After checking on my parents and going to the store I had the afternoon to myself. I made a quick collard wrap for lunch with red cabbage, lentil walnut pate, Dijon and tomatoes. It was quite tasty, but a little messy. Next time I will slice the red cabbage into threads to make it a little easier to eat. But overall I was happy with the nutrition and flavor of this wrap. I followed the collard with a fresh mango. This exactly how I like to eat in the summer. Nothing heavy just fresh food.

A few hours later I hungry. Undoubtedly because I had eaten a small lunch. To keep my tummy full until dinner I made myself a quick dish. I grated a medium zucchini on a box grater added salsa, ground flaxseed and nutritional yeast. The flax was for omega 3 and the nutritional yeast provided a cheesy flavor. It was a filling dish just to keep my satisfied until we have dinner.

Then I decided a tomato with a drizzle of good balsamico would be nice. I know Dr. Fuhrman discourages snacking but I don’t like to eat a large volume of food at one time and without snacking I don’t get enough calories. Funny, that was never a problem in my life before adopting this very healthy eating style. ;-) I am always fascinated by just how much food I need to eat to get adequate calories since I don’t rely on grains, oil and sugar. The other thing that strikes me about eating this way is that I never feel bloated or that uncomfortable fullness in your stomach that you get from eating heavy food. I always feel “light” even after eating a huge salad or bowl of soup.

The health benefits from eating this way have been nothing short of amazing. My unmedicated blood pressure was 94/56 this afternoon. I find that remarkable for a woman of 48. It feels so good to know that I everything that I put into my body is adding to my health and not detracting from it.

Nutrition conversation from last night I wanted to share:

Last night at dinner we got into a discussion about cooking and nutrition, and I didn’t start the conversation. Shocked right? I know, so was I. ;-) The conversation centered around two ideas. How long it takes to prepare healthy food and how to know what to cook since there is so much nutrition information that seems to be contradictory.

I will admit I spend a good bit of time making healthy food but that I because I make 99% of what we eat from scratch to avoid chemicals and preservatives. Any food that seems to be resistant to rot worries me. I don’t feel comfortable putting “frankenfood” into our bodies. However, even using only fresh food I can make a healthy meal in less than 15 minutes. It may get boring after a while, but healthy cooking doesn’t have to take a long time. Much of the time I spend cooking is coming up with new recipe ideas.

As far as what to believe regarding nutrition I try to make that easy on myself as well. If it is a whole natural plant based food we eat it. If it has been processed in some way I start to think twice about consuming it. I have no problem with frozen fruit and veggies provided there is no added “mystery chemical”. After that I become a little more wary. If the product has an ingredient list that is more than three lines long I am probably not going to buy it. Also if the ingredient list reads more like a science experiment it is also not going into my cart. I firmly believe that food that contains chemicals (which is most processed food) is not healthy.

So now you are probably wondering what I buy. Typically it is whole natural produce, seeds, nuts, beans, quinoa, brown rice, bulgur, and millet. I also have a lot of spices, vinegars, and sea vegetables. These are the things that I use to make our meals and I can make hundreds of interesting healthy vegan meals with those ingredients. I will occasionally throw in a little seitan sausage here and there because my hubby really enjoys them. But seitan is not required and could be easily omitted. Of course I do make my own sausage and store them in the freezer to use later.

Time for me to clean up the kitchen and make dinner a little after dinner soft serve. I think I may try to convince him to try a different flavor tonight. If I am successful and he liked it I will share the recipe tomorrow. I hope you are having a good evening.

Lightly Sweet Walnut Ginger Miso Salad Dressing

Good morning! I hope everyone had a great night. Sorry I didn’t have time to post last night. The evening got away from me.

I ended up signing up for 6 weeks on Dr. Fuhrman’s member center so that I could watch the nutrition and cancer webcast today. So that I knew my way around the website I spent a few hours looking around to see what other information was available. I might as well get my money’s worth, right? There are some interesting articles and teleconferences that I will be reading and listening to over the next 6 weeks. I will keep you all posted and let you know if there are any tid bits I think you should know.

After spending far too much time online I decided to make some seitan lunchmeat to use on salad. I wanted to make it without any added salt since I am trying to reduce or sodium intake as much as possible. The texture of the seitan was great but I need to work in the seasonings. Without sodium it definitely needs more flavor. I will be tweaking the recipe over the coming month and will post it when I am completely happy with it. For now it is a good start, but not yet ready for prime time.

My plan was to use the seitan on salad and that is what we had last night for dinner. I made a quick salad dressing and used that with mango, apple romaine and some of the shaved seitan. It was a good dinner. Here is the salad dressing I made last night:

Lightly Sweet Walnut Ginger Miso Salad Dressing
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

½ cup walnuts
½ cup water
1 tablespoon white miso
½ tablespoon fresh ginger
1 medjool date, pitted

Directions:

Toss everything in your blender and process until smooth. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. The mixture will be thick, almost like mayo before being chilled thoroughly. It will get thicker when it is cold. It coats salad very well.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 121.42
Calories From Fat (68%) - 82.06

Total Fat - 9.81g
Saturated Fat - 0.95g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 161.47mg
Potassium - 118.69mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.77g
Fiber - 1.63g
Sugar - 4.65g
Protein - 2.85g

Comments:

This dressing is lightly sweet, a bit salty, rich from the walnuts and with a little zip from the ginger. I think it is a good flavor combination. It worked well with the fruit. You can expect to see variations of this in the future since Dan and I both enjoyed it.

Unrelated note:

Today I will be listening to the webcast on nutrition and cancer. I will be taking notes. Surprised right? I am hoping he cites some studies so I can read the source information that he talks about. I am just one of those people that need to read things for myself. ;-) I suppose I am a born skeptic.

Beyond that I want to spend a little time trying to get the hang of twitter. That has been on my to-do list for far too long. I feel a little like a technology dinosaur. *shakes head* Finger crossed I take the time to figure it out this time and actually start using it regularly. That is my goal for July so we will see how this goes, LOL. Hopefully since I wrote it down I will feel like I need to actually do it. If anyone has any tips, tricks or advice on twitter please feel free to share. I can use all the help that I can get.

I need to go and knock out my lifting. I want that out of the way before the webcast. Talk to you again soon.

Smoked Seitan and Quinoa Sausage Seasoned with Quatre Epices

I made these seitan sausages last night to be used today with the remainder to go into the freezer. Dan loves my seitan so I try to keep it on hand in the freezer. If you are new to seitan you should know one of the best things about it is that freezing and thawing doesn’t hurt the texture. Recently I have been making mostly seitan sausages as we have cut back on our overall consumption of seitan. I like to use it occasionally but it is definitely a sometimes food at our house.

Last week when I made the quatre epices the idea I had in mind was seitan sausages. I have been so busy enjoying the weather that I didn’t make time for the sausages until yesterday. Since not everyone has a pressure cooker I decided to make these without it so I could share the instructions. Because I was in an experimenting mood I used whole quinoa in the sausages to see what that does to the interior texture of the sausage. Here is what I did:

Smoked Seitan and Quinoa Sausage Seasoned with Quatre Epices
Makes 8 seitan sausages

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups water
3 cloves smoked garlic (from the smoked tomato dressing recipe)
1 ½ teaspoons quatre epices (next time start with 2 teaspoons of the spice mix)
Approximately 3 cups vital wheat gluten
salt to taste, if you choose (in the past I would have probably added 1 tablespoon of salt to this much seitan)
½ cup’ish wood chips (I don’t actually measure these I am estimated it is ½ cup could be more)
2 cups water

Directions:

Place the quinoa in a large mixing bowl. Combine the water, garlic and spice mix in your blender and process until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients over the quinoa. Add the vital gluten ½ cup at a time until it is mostly combined. There will be some grains of quinoa (maybe a tablespoon) that will not be absorbed into the dough. Knead the dough for a few minutes until it is firm. Next move the dough to a cutting board and cut into 8 roughly equal portions. Tear off 8 sheets of aluminum foil to wrap the seitan into a sausage shape. Place 1/8th of the seitan dough on a sheet of the aluminum foil and form it into a rough sausage shape. It is will look lumpy and wrong but don’t worry the uneven texture will be corrected in the rolling and steaming. Now roll the seitan up like a large tootsie roll as tightly as you can. Now twist the ends to form the sausage shape.

If you have a steamer insert place that in the bottom of a pan with a lid and fill the pot with water to the bottom of the steam, add the sausages and put the heat on high and cover the pot with a lid. Check the pan every 15 minutes to make certain you don’t need to add more water. After 30 minutes move the sausages so the bottom ones come to the top. Steam for one hour.

If you don’t a stem insert you can use a wadded up aluminum foil to keep the seitan links from sitting in the water. The rest of the method is the same. This is the method I used today to test my theory and it worked fine.

If you have a pressure cooker add a steamer basket and cook the sausages for 30 minutes on high. Everything else is the same.

While the sausages are cooking soak the wood chips in plenty of water.

Now cool the sausages until you can remove the aluminum foil without burning your fingers.

Set up your smoker as I did for the smoked tomatoes here. Place the unwrapped sausages on a piece of aluminum foil (so they don’t stick to the rack). Heat the pan on high for 5 minutes then reduce to low for 40 minutes. These smoke longer than the tomatoes since they are more dense and will take longer to absorb the smoke flavor. Allow the sausages to cool in the pan until you can handle them. Wrap each sausage in aluminum or plastic cling film and freeze until needed.

Nutritional Information per link (1/8th of the recipe):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 231.9
Calories From Fat (7%) - 15.86

Total Fat - 1.77g
Saturated Fat-  0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 18.82mg
Potassium - 131.85mg
Total Carbohydrates-  16.99g
Fiber - 1.72g
Sugar - 0.01g
Protein - 37.38g

Comments:

This recipe was an experiment all the way around. I always make my sausages in the pressure cooker but it worked fine in a regular pan, I just doubled the time. Additionally I had not used whole quinoa is seitan before and that also worked. The whole quinoa gave the seitan a little bit of texture that was reminiscent of the nubby bits in real sausage. At least in these I know exactly what those bits are. *shivers* My only complaint about this sausage is that I would like it to have a little more flavor. Next time I am going to add another ½ teaspoon of the quatre epices to start. I will probably also make a tester next time to confirm the seasonings. That is something that I used to do but have been neglecting recently. I should definitely go back to that.

These sausages are huge. I gave the nutrition per sausage but ½ of one is more than enough for either Dan or me. Tonight’s dinner is going to be a bean stew using slices of these sausages. I have been simmering them for 30 minutes in the stew to make certain the texture would hold up and it has. The remaining sausages are going into my freezer for later. I tend to use seitan sausages sliced and incorporated as an enhancement to dishes. We don’t eat seitan sausage whole on a roll. That seems like too much gluten to me now. I prefer to keep our intake of gluten on the moderate side since it is a processed food. However I do like the “meaty” texture it adds to dishes.

Unrelated notes:

Last night I watched an interesting DVD on Netflix. I was called “Killer at Large” and was about the problems obesity causes for both individuals and society. I learned a few interesting bits of information from the documentary. The one thing that struck me was about the calorie content of a happy meal versus a quarter pounder meal at McDonalds. According to the documentary the happy meal contains 700 calories, and the quarter pounder meal 1,700. What child needs a 700 calorie meal from McDonalds? There are many meals where I don’t eat 700 calories as an adult. I found this information very sad and a little depressing. No wonder so many of our children are overweight and obese.

I will be back later with the white bean and seitan sausage stew I made for us for the weekend. I have not had a chance to photograph it yet for the post but it tastes and smells really good.

I am off to run my errands now. I will be back later with the stew recipe.

Mushroom Seitan Cutlets topped with Lemony Mushroom Gravy

Today wasn’t my best day in terms of planning. It started with me asking my husband what he wanted for dinner. Of course he said seitan cutlets. That is the answer I get quite often. He knew I would want to test seitan with quinoa so he knew what to expect today, much to his chagrin. He really likes the cutlets with breadcrumb but quinoa is healthier so I am trying to make that substitution work in the recipe. We decided that a mushroom cutlet would be good so I made some dried mushroom powder earlier today to flavor the cutlet without leaving bits in the finished product. Here is what I did.

Mushroom Seitan Cutlet with Quinoa

Makes 11 medium cutlets

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked quinoa
2 cups water
4 tablespoons mushroom powder (more would yield a stronger flavor which would work)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vital wheat gluten

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees convection (or 375 regular) and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper or spray it with oil.

In your blender combine the quinoa, water, mushroom powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire, and pepper and process until combined. Pour the resulting thick liquid into a bowl. Add the gluten a little at a time until it has all been absorbed. If you are make the seitan with bread crumb you will notice this texture is softer, more sticky and wet. I think this is due to the quinoa since it is so different from the bread crumb version. Just wet your hands before making the cutlets and you won’t have any problems.

Heat a lightly greased cast iron pan until hot and sear a few cutlets at a time on the top and bottom. Move the seared and crispy cutlets to the prepared half sheet pan. Continue until all the cutlets are seared and crispy on both sides.

Add ½ cup of water to the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the pan from the oven and rotate the pan (in case your oven has a hot spot), add another ½ cup of water. Bake the cutlets for another 20 minutes. After the second half of baking all the water will have evaporated and the cutlets will be cooked through. The bottom of the cutlets may be a little wet from the water. To recrisp the bottom you can return the pan to the oven until it dries out, or sear the cutlets in the cast iron pan before serving (which is what I do).

If you have made the cutlets ahead of time (which I always do), recrisp them in the cast iron skillet and then add them to the simmering mushroom sauce below 5 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 206.16
Calories From Fat (10%) - 20.83

Total Fat - 2.32g
Saturated Fat - 0.28g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 251.45mg
Potassium - 251.04mg
Total Carbohydrates - 25.05g
Fiber - 2.54g
Sugar - 0.41g
Protein - 21.65g

Comments:

The seitan has a nice subtle mushroom flavor. I like that there is no wheat taste from the bread crumb. The texture is almost too soft. Any softer and these cutlets would definitely be too soft. This texture is most like veal that will cut with the side of a fork (depending on how crispy the exterior is). If you want something that is closer to beef in texture you may want to add a little more gluten (maybe a ¼ cup). My husband would like this to be a little chewier so I will be increasing the gluten just a little to get more chew in the next batch. I was surprised that the quinoa works so well to make a tender seitan. It is more difficult to work with when it is raw but I think the taste and nutrition is worth it. My parents, who came over for dinner, both liked the seitan and each ate a full serving. Since it passed the omnivore test it must have been at least fairly good.

Mushroom topping for cutlets
Makes enough for half the cutlets above – assumes 5 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup yellow onion, finely diced
½ cup water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups Crimini mushrooms, cut into quarters or eighths
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon salt
Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon cornstarch (dissolved in water above)

Directions:

Water sauté the onion until tender. Add the Worcestershire, Crimini mushrooms, paprika, thyme, salt and lemon juice and cook until the mushrooms have given up their liquid. Now dissolve the cornstarch in the water and add it to the pan and cook to create the sauce.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 33.08
Calories From Fat (2%)-  0.8

Total Fat-  0.09g
Saturated Fat - 0.02g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 154.75mg
Potassium - 223.76mg
Total Carbohydrates - 7.48g
Fiber - 0.88g
Sugar - 2.5g
Protein - 1.16g

Comments:

The mushroom sauce was a big hit tonight. Everyone really liked this. My parents even asked what was in the sauce and if I would show them how I made it. I am certain they plan to use it on meat, but at least it isn’t packed with fat, sugar and salt so it is still better from them on that count. If I had vermouth in the house I would have used that for half of the water in the sautéing process to add flavor. However, these mushrooms actually had more than enough flavor as they were.

Unrelated note:

I am going to call it a night and finish posting our Valentine’s Day recipes tomorrow so that I can spend time with my Valentine. I hope you are all having a nice holiday.

Seitan Cutlets and Millet topped with Green Beans and Walnuts

As usual when 6pm came I had no idea what I was making for dinner. This is meal that came together based on what I had in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry. Their entire meal was ready in 25 minutes, the time it took to make the millet. Reheating the cutlets took 5 minutes. The green beans were ready in about 7 minutes. This is definitely one of my quick dinners. Here is what we had tonight.

Seitan Cutlets and Millet topped with Green Beans and Walnuts
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup millet, dry
2 cups water
1 pinch salt
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 tablespoon water
6 cups green beans, frozen
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1 cup walnuts
salt and pepper to taste
4 seitan cutlets

Directions:

Combine the millet, water and salt and bring the water to a boil. When boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, covered. Allow the millet to stand covered for at least 5 minutes after all the water has been absorbed.

While the millet is standing covered, start the green bean dish and reheating the cutlets.

Water sauté the onion and garlic until tender. Add the green beans, wine vinegar and cook until the green beans are hot but still vibrant green. Add the walnuts and cook a minute to heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

While the onions are softening heat the cutlets in a heavy bottomed skillet lightly coated with oil.

To serve, top the millet with the green beans and place the cutlet on the side. If desired top the cutlet with a little barbeque sauce.

Nutritional information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 647.51
Calories From Fat (30%) - 194.98

Total Fat - 23.08g
Saturated Fat - 2.54g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 888.68mg
Potassium - 682.91mg
Total Carbohydrates - 71.82g
Fiber - 14.95g
Sugar - 5.13g
Protein - 40.51g

Comments:

This meal contains a nice amount of protein, courtesy of the seitan and walnuts. Since my goal today was more protein I would say the meals today were what I intended. The green beans have a nice flavor from the wine vinegar. I also liked the crunch of the walnuts in this dish. To make this E2L friendly be certain not to exceed the 1 cup of daily whole grains.

Each serving of this meal contains approximately 1,135IU of vitamin A, 210mg of calcium, 6.2mg of iron, 130mcg of folate, 445mg of phosphorus, 175mg of magnesium, and 27mcg of selenium.

Unrelated Comments:

I would have gotten this posted last night but we had to get up at an uncivilized hour this morning. My hubby had to leave early for work this morning so the entire house was up and moving when he got up. Not being much of a morning person these early mornings are not something I enjoy.

Since I am up early this morning I am going to try to get my Pilates in before 9am. This is very out of character for me. Only time will tell if I can adapt.

I will try to be back later today with another recipe. We are going out to dinner tonight with our friend Phil who is in town from Missouri.

Porky Seitan Cutlets

Since my friend Sue and I decided our 2010 challenge was to veganize and make healthy “ad hoc at home” I knew I needed a seitan recipe that was reminiscent of pork. This recipe was a little more difficult than the more mild chicken or robust beef seitan substitutes. I wanted the “fatty” mouthy feel to this seitan but without the fat. Again I turned to adding cooked onions to the wet ingredients for that unctuous feel. I knew I wanted a mild flavor cutlet but without it being bland. We think this is nice substitute for pork. I am not going to lie, it isn’t going to fool a meat eater into thinking it is pork, but it is good and the texture is nice without having added oil. Here is what I did.

Porky Seitan Cutlets
Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and minced (approximately 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
½ cup water
2 teaspoons tomato paste
¼ teaspoon marmite
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
enough water to make 2 cups
2 cups fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
2 cups vital wheat gluten

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Water sauté the onions and garlic until completely soft. Place onions, garlic and any remaining liquid in your blender with the tomato paste, marmite, Worcestershire, salt and enough water to make 2 cups. Puree the mixture until completely smooth.

Pour the wet ingredients over the breadcrumbs and stir to combine. Allow this mixture to sit undisturbed until the breadcrumbs are completely soft. Now add the vital wheat gluten and knead to combine the ingredients. All the dry ingredients should be incorporated into the wet mixture. If any of the gluten remains dry you will need to add a little more liquid.

Form the seitan dough into a mass and cut it into eight roughly equal balls. Form each ball into a flat patty shape.

Heat a lightly oiled heavy bottom skillet over med high heat (I use cast iron). Cook the cutlets on each side until they release easily on their own. Move the seared cutlets to a waiting half sheet pan. Don’t crowd the pan as the cutlets will expand a little as they cook. I cook no more than three cutlets in the skillet at one time.

Add ½ cup water to the half sheet pan and bake the cutlets for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and add another ½ cup of water to the pan and place it back in the oven. I rotate the pan to make certain the cutlets cook evenly. Bake for another 20 minutes. When you are finished baking the water should have been absorbed or evaporated.

Use the cutlets in any omni recipe that calls for pork.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 200.31
Calories From Fat (11%) - 21.25

Total Fat - 2.38g
Saturated Fat - 0.36g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 322.23mg
Potassium - 159.68mg
Total Carbohydrates - 17.82g
Fiber - 2.36g
Sugar - 2.54g
Protein - 27.3g

The nutritional numbers above assume that the cutlets absorb ½ tablespoon of canola oil when they are seared. This is probably overstating the fat, but as usual I prefer to be conservative and overstate rather than underestimate the fat.

Comments:

I have served these as cutlets with BBQ sauce and sliced them and included them in a veggie lo mein. The cutlets worked in both applications.

Unrelated note:

My husband was asking me the other day what “faux meat” I am going to try to make next and I think it is going to be Mortadella. Being part Italian I have an affinity for Italian cold cuts, and Mortadella has always been my favorite. Those experiments will start after Christmas. I don’t know how difficult this will be, but I love a good challenge so I am looking forward to it.

Additionally the hubby wants me to come up with a vegan pepperoni recipe so that is also on the horizon. If there is anything else you want me to work on please let me know.

This is going to be my last post for tonight. I will be back tomorrow with a recipe or two. Have a great evening.

Slow Cooker Seitan Experiment

I haven’t made seitan in the slow cooker since I developed my steam-baked methodology with breadcrumbs that my husband loves. However, when Sarah the Ordinary Vegetarian asked me what she could substitute for tapioca flour in this version, I decided to experiment. I love to learn new things in the kitchen so I offered to experiment with my original slow cooker recipe. The results were not exactly what I had anticipated.

Slow Cooker Seitan Experiment
Makes 2 large roasts - 5 servings each

Version 1 Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup water
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon liquid aminos
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 ¼ cups vital wheat gluten

Version 2 Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup water
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon marmite
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon tomato paste
½ tablespoon liquid aminos
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 ¼ cups vital wheat gluten

Cooking Broth Ingredients:

6 cups water
4 tablespoons onion flakes
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste

Directions:

I am going to give the directions once and make notes where they differ by version.

Combine the wet ingredients in the blender (water, garlic, Worcestershire, tomato paste, and liquid aminos) and process to combine. Pour the wet ingredients into a bowl with either the breadcrumbs of flour. If using the breadcrumbs allow the mixture to sit long enough for the breadcrumbs to be completely saturated. If using the flour whisk it into the wet ingredients so there are no lumps. Now add the vital wheat gluten and knead the mixture to combine. If there is dry gluten left add a few tablespoons little water so the gluten is completely absorbed. However, if the seitan dough is too wet add a few tablespoons of vital wheat gluten. Form each seitan dough into a rough roast shape with your hands.

Combine the cooking broth ingredients in the slow cooker and whisk to combine. Place the two roasts in the slow cooker and set the cooker to high and cook for 12 hours. After twelve hours check the texture of the seitan. If it is too firm cook the seitan a few more hours. I tested the time with part of each roast and 18 hours yielded a similar texture to 12. I think you can safely cook this while you are at work and not worry about it overcooking even if you are delayed. I was very surprised that it could cook for so long with deteriorating.

Allow the seitan roasts to cool in the cooking liquid before refrigerating in the cooking broth. You can cut the seitan roasts into slices and wrap them in plastic cling film and store them in zip top freezer bags until needed. I defrost my seitan in the microwave and then sear it in a lightly greased hot cast iron skillet. Sometimes I dust the slices in a little whole-wheat flour before searing, and sometimes I don’t. Either with or without exterior flour works fine. The floured version has a crispier exterior.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 159.77
Calories From Fat (4%) - 7.13

Total Fat - 0.81g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 141.08mg
Potassium - 115.25mg
Total Carbohydrates - 13.75g
Fiber - 1.74g
Sugar - 0.35g
Protein - 25.32g

I am showing one set of numbers for the seitan because there was very little difference.

The results:

As I expected I slightly preferred the version with whole wheat bread crumbs since it was less firm. However, when the roasts cooked for 18 hours the difference in texture was minimal. So overall I would say it depends on how long you are going to cook the seitan and how you will be using it.

Additionally if you want to serve a piece of seitan on the plate (like meat) I still prefer the steam-baked version, one of which is posted here. However, if you are going to use the seitan in a stew or a braise either slow cooker version would work well there.

Seitan Cutlets with Rosemary and Sage

As you saw on the menu the omnivores are having turkey for Thanksgiving. I wanted something for the hubby and I that was “meat like” so seitan immediately came to mind. Since I wanted something that had a similar flavor profile as turkey I decided to make a “poultry like” cutlet by keeping the flavors light and adding rosemary and sage. I used more rosemary than sage since I prefer the flavor. Additionally, rosemary contains carnosol (a type of terpene), which reduces the ability of cancer to spread. The National Institute of Health has been studying rosemary and its ability to help chemotherapy penetrate cancer cells with good success.

As usual I turned to my typical steam baked method since it is my husband’s favorite form of seitan. When you first add the wet ingredients to the breadcrumbs the mixture is going to appear to be too green. Don’t worry that is how it should look. After you add the gluten the green color will not be noticeable. Here is the recipe for the cutlets I made today for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Seitan Cutlets with Rosemary and Sage
Makes 8 cutlets

Ingredients:

½ cup yellow onions, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup water
additional water to make 2 cups of liquid
1 tablespoon rosemary leaves, fresh
6 sage leaves, fresh
¼ teaspoon dry mustard powder
½ teaspoon Italian finishing salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups fresh whole wheat bread crumbs
2 cups vital wheat gluten
olive oil for the pan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (convection setting).

Water sauté the onions and garlic until completely soft. Place the mixture in your blender. Add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid. Add the rosemary, sage, mustard, finishing salt, and black pepper to the blender and puree until completely combined and smooth.

Pour the contents of the blender over the breadcrumbs and allow the mixture to stand for at least 10 minutes. You want the bread to be completely soft before proceeding.

Add the vital wheat gluten to the wet mixture and knead to combine all the ingredients. If any of the vital wheat gluten remains dry add a little more water a tablespoon at a time and knead to combine.

Preheat a heavy bottomed skillet with a little olive oil. I always use my cast iron skillet.

Divide the dough into 8 roughly equal pieces. Form each piece into a cutlet shape. Cook each cutlet on both sides until crisp top and bottom. Move the cutlets to a half sheet pan. Crisp the exterior of the remaining cutlets and move to the baking sheet.

Now add ½ cup of water to the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes turn the pan around (to make certain both sides cook evenly) and add another ½ cup of water. Bake for an additional 20 minutes. If at the end of cooking the pan is not dry return it to the oven until the water is all gone.

At this point the cutlets can be used as you would use chicken breast. Or they can be cooled and wrapped with plastic cling film and frozen in a zip top bag until needed. These cutlets freeze beautifully. I always make a full batch even though there are only two of us.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 196.34
Calories From Fat (11%) - 21.28

Total Fat - 2.39g
Saturated Fat - 0.41g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 256mg
Potassium - 121.1mg
Total Carbohydrates - 16.87g
Fiber - 2.27g
Sugar - 1.94g
Protein - 27.2g

The numbers above assume that ½ tablespoon of olive oil is absorbed into the cutlets when they are being seared. The fat numbers may be a little overstated, but are definitely not too low. Being a recovering accountant I always err on the conservative side with my numbers.

Comments:

This seitan is mild in flavor that is reminiscent of poultry due to the sage and rosemary. We had it cold tonight on a quick salad and it really worked as a chicken or turkey substitute. I can’t wait to try this hot with a little mushroom gravy, which is the plan for Thursday.

Unrelated note:

As always I didn’t get as many items crossed off my to do list as I had planned. The bread cubes for the stuffing are drying out now. Seitan cutlets are wrapped and waiting in the refrigerator. Caramelized garlic for the mashed potatoes and cauliflower is also done. The onions and celery have been diced and are ready to be used. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day in terms of Thanksgiving preparation. I may not have many posts but will be working on them off line while I cook and will get them posted as soon as I have a few minutes.

I am off to clean the kitchen and plan my day tomorrow. If I have time I will post the salad we had for dinner tonight before we turn in. Otherwise I will get the salad posted tomorrow morning. I hope you all have a great evening.