So Sweet and Simple

Recently one of Timmy's coworkers and his lady friend made peanut butter cups and were kind enough to share a few with us. Now if you have ever had peanut butter cups, you very well know that only one or two is not nearly enough. Timmy and I got hit hard with the peanut butter chocolate craving and since I am a chocolate addict it wasn't long until I was popping peanut butter cups like a fiend.

The peanut butter cups I made had a slight twist to them as I made mine not only with peanut butter and chocolate but also with caramel and pretzel pieces...yum!

First I melted down 1 and 1/2 cups of bittersweet chocolate and lined mini muffin lines with the melted chocolate and tucked away into the freezer for an hour. While those were chilling I used all natural peanut butter (1/2 cup) and mixed in 1/4 cup powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup then I tossed in a handful of pretzel sticks and with a spoon mashed the pretzel into the peanut butter mixture.

On the stove top I boiled 1/2 cup soymilk, added 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown rice syrup, mixing until golden brown. One mixed, I removed the pot from the stove top and added 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tsp of baking soda, mixing well. I let it cool on the counter top then transferred to the fridge to thicken.

When the caramel sauce was cool I dropped a teaspoon of the peanut butter mix into my chilled chocolate cups, drizzled in the caramel and put back in the freezer for about 15 minutes, then melted down more chocolate and covered the tops, chilled and ate the heck out of them! They were very tasty and similar to take five bars.

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"