Family Food and Fun

That's what the holidays are about for me. It is satisfying to create a yummy, pretty, or unique food. My family knows that this is what makes my holiday - - - that and seeing them also learn the skills needed to make a day special. For these things I am thankful.

So starting with family...

Melissa's thumb is healed and she was able to participate in a sparring tournament. She brought home a third place trophy and a really cool medallion for participating.

Her teacher was impressed because they didn't plan on her to spar due to her thumb but the little rascal did it anyways... fortunately she was two days away from Dr release and didn't re- injure it.

My darling DH built me a fold down table attached to the peninsula (yes, normal people have kitchen islands, but my kitchen has a peninsula due to a cold air exchange vent required by our furnace). When I am baking I can lift it up and place my cooling racks on it or when we have family gatherings we can use it as a buffet serving table. Here it is in the down position. Today it is in the up position because I have food everywhere.

FOOD
I love Bryanna's seitan roulades for a holiday meal. I used a roasted vegetable and sun dried tomato stuffing inside the poultry style seitan. I am going to display the pictures in the order of the seitan making process.

Picture one: Rolling out the seitan roast dough. My current roulade recipe says to cut it in half and make two roulades. I make one large roast though and use my clay cooker to do it in.

Picture two: The uncooked dough rolled up with the stuffing inside of it. I pinch the seitan dough to create a seal and then poke it with a fork five times on the top and then three times on each side.


Picture three: The cooked roast. I cook it for three hours in the soaked clay cooker at 350 degrees F. Then I open the lid, spoon the remaining juice over the top, recover it, and turn the off the oven to let it sit for 1/2 to one hour. Then I take two large pancake spatulas to pry it away from the sides and lift it onto a large oval platter.

Picture four: Here's the roast cut in half. I love the festive swirl of stuffing.

Picture five: A close up of the swirl.

Picture six: A close up of the roasted vegetable stuffing. I used a purchased loaf of bread called seedilicious. It was an organic enriched flour loaf chocked full of various seeds



To FINISH...
This roast makes me one happy veg foody. Although my first few attempts at making a roast were not totally successes, I am glad that I hung in there and kept trying.

Pix: Me with Snowball
A happy and spoiled fat cat
(adopted by us)


And Last I mentioned FUN....
No pictures of that yet. I am posting this before our first family gathering (at my aunt's house) and then we will do tomorrow (Friday) for supper at my house with my oldest sis. She is flying home from New York.