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.