Sweet Potato and Seitan Chorizo Enchiladas

This has become one of my favorite things to eat. Simply roast sweet potatoes with sweet corn and onions, mash and add seitan chorizo and you have the perfect filling for Vegan enchiladas. In fact, I am making these bad boys tonight for my friend's birthday potluck. I hope she loves them!



I found some "accidentally" Vegan enchilada sauce at Sunflower Markets which made making these a whole heck of a lot simpler. The seitan chorizo recipe I got from 500 Vegan Recipes. They were very tasty but, for me, the texture was a little less than desirable. I think next time I will make the chorizo out of tofu or TVP.



Top with a sprinkle of Daiya cheddar and pair with homemade re-fried beans and Spanish rice. Yum!



(Sorry the photos are poor quality the light in our kitchen is ancient and started to burn out, but we fixed that so hopefully no more crappy images)

Accidental Sausage

Yesterday, I had planned on making seitan stroganoff and from this post title you can see I made sausage instead. I had my vital wheat gluten heating in a pot and was waiting for the water to boil to reduce to a simmer but I got completely distracted and when I remembered my seitan on the stove top, it was too late. The seitan had boiled for way too long and was quite spongy. I still let it sit at a low heat before straining and cooling but the texture didn't seem like it would improve much. Instead of chucking it in the bin I decided to fry it up with a little olive oil and the end result was much like the texture and taste of cooked Gimme Lean sausage. In other words, it was delicious!




I used the recipe for the basic seitan from Veganomicon and added:
2 teaspoons garlic powder,
1 teaspoon black pepper,
1 teaspoon dried oregano,
1 teaspoon dried basil,
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley

Now I had no idea I was going to end up with sausage, had I known I would have added fennel as well. I still decided to make pasta and dinner was a success! I sauteed onions, mushrooms, zucchini and spinach along with the sausage and threw it on some locally made basil pasta noodles. I will have to try later for the stroganoff, but until then I have quite a bit of tasty accidental sausage in my fridge.

Taking on the V-Con Pt. 3

I know, today is Wednesday, which means I was supposed to post my Veganomicon recipe challenge yesterday. The funny thing about yesterday, it was bloody hot as hell outside and after my bike ride home from work I turned into a liquid puddle on the couch. I have said it before but Arizona in the summer is horribly cruel. For anyone who hasn't been to Arizona in the summer months try placing your head in a hot oven and see why no one in their right mind lives here in June or July. Which reminds me, yesterday I saw a bumper sticker on an extremely large truck that read, "...but it is a dry hate." I laughed so hard I almost peed. I am sure many of you know about the new immigration bill that passed a few months ago here in AZ and unlike our governor and sheriff, not ALL of us agree with the SB1070 bill. So even though the person drove a horrible gas guzzling vehicle I gave them a nod of approval when passing by.

Anywho...this weeks V-Con challenge was Braised Seitan with brussels sprouts, kale and sun-dried tomatoes. I am not going to lie, I wouldn't have picked this recipe myself, even though kale and brussels sprouts are my most favorite of the green veggies it is just (once again) way too hot to be making anything in the kitchen. Luckily nothing had to go into the oven but cooking anything in the summer months here is asking for some sweaty under garments. I know, I am a big baby, I hate being hot, I dislike being stinky but I powered through it. I let the steam fog up my glasses and I ate a warm fall meal in summer. It was tasty, Timmy had two bowls but I think I would have appreciated more if I were eating it in November. I think my taster palette is broken, Courtney said hers had an overwhelming taste from the red wine, whereas I barely tasted the wine in my version. I also thought it could have used more seasonings. I served mine with wild rice but I think in November I will serve it with butternut or spaghetti squash. Hmmmm squash.. om nom nom nom.



So here is the ingredient list and here are my photos...



2 T Olive Oil
6 Shallots
2 C Seitan
1/2 Pound of Brussels Sprouts, quartered
4 Garlic Cloves
1/2 t Dried Thyme
1/2 t Dried Basil
1/2 t Dried Tarragon
Salt
Pepper
1/2 C Sun-Dried Tomatoes
2 C Vegetable Broth
1/4 C Red Wine
4 C Kale



chop up your prepared seitan and saute in olive oil with shallots, saute until golden brown


after that add in the brussels, garlic, the seasonings and saute a few more minutes, then add sun-dried tomatoes

then add in the broth and red wine


let the kale simmer down now, simma down naw!


eat it up, yum!

Taking on the V-Con

This is the first Tuesday of the rest of your culinary life...

So recently some extremely charming and beautiful women asked if I would like to be in a threesome, I blushed and politely declined but then was informed it was a cooking threesome in which I replied, "Hells yeah!" and then something along the line of, "Bitches get stitches," and I still have no idea why I said that. But seriously folks this is a serious matter, Katie, Courtney and I are taking on the V-con, the Veganomicon to you newbies. This is an amazing cookbook that was published in 2007 and though only three years old will go down in the annals of history. Penned by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero (yeah both ladies have three names, not unlike John Wilkes Booth, except they are out to assassinate your taste buds with killer foods) this book is filled from cover to cover with vital information, mouth-watering recipes and seventh grade humour everyone can enjoy. Our goal is to post a new recipe every Tuesday and share our results, whether disastrous or brilliant.

This book is rather new to me and I am very excited to cook my way through every recipe along with giving reviews and feed back on the difficultly/easiness of each recipe, a comprehensive review of flavor, texture etc... and also any modifications I may make.

The first recipe was chosen by Katie, she decided on the Simple Seitan (my namesake) as the starter. The reason being that seitan (pronounced say-taan, not Satan) is a basic mock meat that is chewy in texture but like tofu can really be made to taste like anything. Seitan is made from vital wheat gluten, so not a good idea for any of you Celiacs out there. I have purchased pre-made seitan before and was very pleased and really had no desire to make my own. Timmy has been known to whip up a batch or two and surprise me with a wicked good lunch, but it is a bit of a process, mostly a sit down, pick up a book and wait process, but a process none the less.

Simple Seitan
1 cup vital wheat gluten flour
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy sauce (I used Braggs)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed or grated

BROTH:
8 cups cold water plus 3 bouillon cubes
1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix together the gluten flour and yeast in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix together veggie broth, soy sauce, olive oil and garlic. Pour the wet into the dry and stir with a wooden spoon until most of the moisture has been absorbed and the ingredients are clumped together. Knead the mixture for about 3 minutes until the dough is elastic. Divide into 3 pieces and then knead those in your hand to stretch them out a bit.


Prepare the broth: Fill a stockpot with the water, bouillon cubes, soy sauce and add the wheat gluten pieces. Cover and bring to a boil. Try to catch it as soon as it boils and then lower the heat to simmer. Partially cover the pot so that the steam can escape and let it simmer for 1 hour, turning the seitan occasionally. Turn off the heat and take the lid off; let it sit for 15 minutes.


Remove from the broth and place in a strainer until it is cool enough to touch. It is now ready to be sliced up and used.

I followed the recipe pretty much to a T but instead of bouillon cubes I used a condensed liquid vegetable broth from Trader Joe's. The recipe is pretty simple (as the name suggests) and easy to follow. I was a bit concerned at first when my seitan was done simmering because it was pretty spongy but once it cooled and dried a bit it was like the good ol' seitan I know and love. The flavor was mild, I was worried it would be a bit salty because of all of the Bragg's Liquid Aminos used but it was just right.



I decided to make chicken fried steaks with my seitan. I paired it with mashed sweet potatoes, cooked in the left over seitan broth and I also made lemony green beans. The dinner was amazing!


steaks up close and personal



Since there are only two of us we had a bit too much seitan so I was able to make spicy chicken wings as well. I paired the wings with sliced carrots, celery and home made vegan ranch dressing.


Timmy helped me make wing sauce even though his right wing is broken



should be called "kicken wings"

Seitanic Stir-fry

Timmy and I make good dinners when standing side by side in our orangey kitchen. We got these freeze-dried wheat gluten chunks from Loving Hut in Phoenix and have been soaking them in Bragg's Liquid Aminos and tossing them into our stir-frys. They are delish and super inexpensive. kick*swear*