Lunchboxes, gas and keilbasa

This weekend I made some seitan that I thought my readers would enjoy seeing. I was impressed with the fact that this was cooked in my crockpot.

The original recipe came from Bryanna Clark Grogan, it is kielbasa style heavy on the garlic and pepper. All seitans recipes she has are good, but this one is simply my favorite. Since she is coming out with an e-book on seitan making soon I will encourage anyone to give it a try. Comparably I have been a Bryanna seitan fan from the beginning and have been satisfied with no desire to stray. My perspective is that nothing compares. She also has so many wonderful seitans using a variety of flavors and ingredients, I have never been bored or lacked trying new recipes either.

Picture #1: Seitan rolled out on the counter into logs. This dough uses tofu as a wet ingredient. The texture is my families favorite. They do not like seitan without tofu - I like them either way, but there is a very big difference when regular firm tofu is used.

Picture #2: Logs placed into the warmed and intensely flavored cooking broth. This broth was cooking while I made my guten dough. I use a BOSCH kitchenaid dough hook to mix it... I let it knead for 10 minutes so the gluten is very well developed.

Picture #3: The cooked logs (overnight on low in my 6 quart oval pot). The smell permeates the house.

Picture #4: The logs removed from the crockpot and placed on a plate. I sometimes quarter a log and use on hotdog buns or set as a protein portion on a plate with a main grain dish and salad.

LUNCHBOXES . . .

I have a few pictures of recent lunchboxes too, although they are not the expected "using the harvest" post I have promised but not yet completed it dies use up some of my home canned goods. The red beans were home canned using the wonderful and flavorful recipe in Bryanna's Almost No Fat Cookbook for Red Beans and Rice.... the first red bean recipe I have ever tried, good enough that I keep coming back to it. When pressure canning legumes the required time to process is 1 hour 25 minutes under 1o pounds of pressure. Since the temperature is so high and long I soak the legumes and bring them to a boil, cook five minutes and then proceed with the recipe. I do not cook any of the veggies, just combine all, divide evenly between the pint jars. They are perfect once all is processed. I ate on one pint jar two days in a row for lunch... one day with orange and red sides and the next with a big scrumptious salad. The rice was prepared in my rice maker.
Then I made a meal of eggless rolls, salad and tropical fruit mix. The sauce is my own homecanned plum sauce which I got the recipe from an Andrea Chesman book (see my side links). It is a little hard to see in the picture.... actually it was a little hard to see in my kitchen too because it was eaten so fast that if you didn't make a quick grab you didn't get any.

SAY NO TO GAS
I have read many times that "healthy" food causes some to have painful gas or other negative side effects. As a vegan and whole foods promoter I must admit that when I first started changing my diet I had problems and occasionally still do with some foods. I was reading book by Dr McDougal (one of my first vegan reads) he mentioned that a client of his health resort mentioned that his diet should be called the Mc Bugle for obvious reasons. I was saddened that this must be a consequence and ate small amounts of food, but the food was healthy and fit the requirements I had however did not have enough calories. I became weak with low blood pressure (dizzy spells) and anemic. I was not ready to give up and I knew I needed to eat more despite the consequences... at the time I learned about fennel tea, ginger, and other digestive remedies. Finally I started finding information about food allergies and the the symptoms of such. I know that it is an overload of various foods that causes me digestive upset, not just "healthy" food or "soy", although I never figured out the science of eating w/o ever having complications I have reigned to carrying this little jar of pills with me and use it when I have a day in which I eat a hodge podge of food or that some food may disagree with me... cabbage, corn, amaranth, quinoa and millet have all given me problems at different times (yet unpredictable), however not when I take this. To me it's worth it to have the confidence that I can eat what I desire.... whole foods, healthy foods, soy foods, vegan foods, etc.

That being said I can continue to post whole food, bean filled, vegetable abundant meals that are healthy for me and considerate of others.

Seitan Steaks and New Oser Cookbooks

Bryanna's new Vegan Feast Newsletter just came out. I always love to see what new ways with seitan she is coming up with. This month my "must try's" include these steaks and some kebabs which I will try next weekend. Sometime my "must try's" get me so excited that I will stay up playing in the kitchen all night. I did start these before bed on Thursday, then on Friday morning we took the steaks out to make lunches and refrigerated the rest.

Picture one.... rolling out the seitan dough. This dough was a bit rubbery-er (that's not a word) and hard to roll out, but they did with persistence, a little water and a rolling pin. The previous seitan cutlets dough in which tofu is added is much softer and easier to roll, actually they were just pressed flat in my hand. I, myself, like them either way however the family usually prefers the dough with tofu (esp in "ham" loafs or spam as one of my sister's calls it).

Picture two.... Dropping the dough in the warm crockpot cooking broth. The broth was in the crockpot for about an hour on low before the "steaks" were ready to drop. I used my new 6 quart crockpot for this. I like the fact that this new pot has a carry feature that locks the lid in place and has a slot on the handle to attach the spoon. I was also amazed at how much it could hold compared to my oval 4 quart pot (which I will always use for the seitan roasts because I like the shape best in that).

Picture three.... What it looked like when I woke up this morning.

Despite the difficulty with the dough we really enjoyed these, however they are made with red wine which DD really didn't like but once she grilled it and put the sauce on it she thought they were good. I like A1 steak sauce, the ingredients list isn't to bad other than that darn corn syrup which is in everything and it is vegan. DH prefers BBQ sauce and DD likes ketchup the best. DS has gluten issues and doesn't get into these. Although I can and have made my own sauces, I used purchased sauces this time.

UPDATE:
Bryanna posted a response in comments about the ability of the seutan dough to be pressed by hand. ALSO - DH just told me last night that this is his favorite seitan steak yet. (yeah) Even though DD didn't like the wine flavor, I did and obviously so did DH.


NEW COOKBOOKS - - - -
At Christmas time I earned enough points on my credit card to get a gift certificate for amazon.com (my favorite reward). I purchased these three cookbooks by Marie Oser. If anyone else has these, would love to hear your favorite recipes.
I first discovered her at the same time I found Bryanna's books. I checked the books out from the library and still have a few handwritten recipe cards in my file box from that time. She uses several prepackaged goods which I could not afford at the time I first found the books, today I more interested in some new ideas and flavor combinations.... maybe I'll try a few of the convenience flavorings or soy meat just to see how they compare with my favorite "from scratch" Bryanna recipes sometime. Besides just the soymeats, there are many other recipes I'd like to try sometime also.

Hope you are all having a great weekend. I have another lunchbox picture to post soon. Today I have the chance to go to my favorite little Indian store when I do some other shopping. I am hoping that the store has their new cafe open (last time I went they were remodeling to allow for it).

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.

Cherry Almond Muffins and tagged

Here's a picture of the muffins Melissa made for me. They are a bit smaller than what I would have done because she made 18 out of a recipe I make 12 from. She followed the 2/3 "rule", I don't with these muffins and for me they always rise into perfect little dome tops ... that doesn't always happen, but it does with this recipe. I got the idea for these from VwaV cookbook. I like many of the recipes in this book, but am unhappy with white flour and sugar. For a breakfast muffin I wanted it to be a bit more fibrous and hearty, so I combined the idea of this recipe with a favorite recipe of Bryanna's that we love (Almond Crumb Cakes). The end result became ...

Dori 's Birthday Cherry Almond Muffins
I do not add almonds to the muffin batter, but these are topped with a sweet crunchy almond topping. They were grand and I think I will ask for them next year too.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine Wet Mix in a small mixing bowl:
1 3/4 cup vanilla soymilk (or add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar OR same amount lemon juice
2 tsp almond extract
3/4 tsp KAL brand stevia extract powder (you can try another brand, but the results will probably not be the same... I notice a "stevia" taste when I use other brands

Combine Dry Mix in a medium mxing bowl:
1 1/2 cup spelt flour OR same amount unbleached organic all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Combine the wet mix into the dry mix, stir until just mixed - do not over mix. Then stir in:
1- 1 1/4 cups pitted and quartered Sweet Cherries (note change from original publish)

Crumble Topping:
1/3 C slivered almonds
1/4 C unbleached sugar or sucanat
1/4 C whole wheat pastry OR spelt flour
2 Tbsp melted Earth Balance or preferred margarine

Fill 12 non stick (I use I CARE brand) parchment paper type muffin cups full, 18 for the size muffins pictured but I prefer 12. Comine the almond crumble top ingredients and spoon 1 Tbsp of this over each of 12 muffins OR divide evenly if making 18 muffins. Bake 18-22 minutes (until toothpick test done). Use the shorter time if making 18 muffins, the longer of making 12.

We also ate sandwiches and blackened tofu salads this weekend. Here you see my firm tofu slices sauting on a hot flat griddle pan. I like to cook mine with onions. I did marinate the tofu before cooking on the non-stick. I also like to slice it thinner like this so that it absorbs more flavor. I often use the marinade as a cooking liquid, over the hot heat the tofu soaks up more of the marinade flavor.

We often eat our meals like this. Dave prefers sandwiches (sourdough bread in this meal topped with a savory mushroom sauce) while I prefer salads (yellow pepper, red tomatoes, blckened tofu/mushroom/onions topped with a few slivers of almond). Matt often likes everything separate... protein, bread toasted, and then fruit and/or green salad on the side. Melissa varies between sandwiches and salad. I have found the family to be happier at meals when I have "eating options" then we all feel like the meal is designed for us.

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying what is considered the last part of summer. The peppers, tomatoes, and canteloupe in the picture at the side were grown in our garden.


I have been tagged by kunsjoi, the computer engineer and future door to door soymilk salesman. This tag is to allow me to share 5 favorite quotes with you. There is a list here and I chose five from this list.

"Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing."

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)

"Working in the garden...gives me a profound feeling of inner peace."

Ruth Stout

"Frugality without creativity is deprivation."

Amy Dacyczyn

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900), The Critic as Artist

and at last...
this one seems appropriate for my blogger land friends.

"I have you and even if we never meet or ever see each other, we have left our thumbprints in the thick, moist clay of each other's lives."

Hugh Elliott, Standing Room Only weblog, May 6, 2003

McSeitan Sandwich and Banana Scream

It's sure a hot one here today. When I think it is hot, which is a little out of the normal, it is so hot that Dave's workplace sent everyone home today. All commercial places in the county that use mega energy are asked to take turns shutting down on days like this. SO what do wer eat on super hot days?

Well, this of course . . . In a previous Vegan Feast newsletter Bryanna had a seitan/tofu "cutlet" recipe that I like to bake in my claycooker. I use cheesecloth between layers of four patties to keep them from sticking together and the recipe makes 16 cutlets. I think Bryanna used a large lasagna pan to bake them in... either way they turn out great. This sandwich I must call McSeitan because I think this is a sure rival of the well known golden arches sandwich in which more than one million have been served

This is the same seitan patties that we used for the jerk seitan, but I had several tucked away in the freezer waiting for a hot day like today in which I have to much work to do and had little time for meal prep. So here's an example of seitan/tofu patty that froze well. The patty here was heated on our little george grill.

NEXT on the platter for a nice hot day at the end of July when all there is in the freezer that is immediately edible, creamy and sweet is banana's . Something that is sure to please you and a loved one ... or your favorite son in the world who loves to take your treat. I didn't say make you a treat, I said take your treat. I got one bite bite, turned around to get a couple of bowls so I could share it, and when I returned the counter was empty! Processor bowl and all.... gone. Fortunately I am a food blogger, so I carry my camera everywhere. I went searching. Then I found the bowl, attached to a huge hand, attached to a hairy arm lifting a big chocolate covered spoon of creamy bliss to his mouth. Caught him!

I first got the idea of what I call banana screams when I read a book geared towards teenage vegetarians from my library about six years ago. I can not remember the name of it now though. It told about teen nutrition needs and had pleasing vegan recipes inclusing the first batch of awesome cinnamon rolls I ever made. When I say awesome they were also easy like the kind you get from a paper tube and lay on a sheet even though they were vegan and made in a little bowl. Anyway the important part is that I got the cool treat recipe and this has been a kid pleaser.

MATT'S "Hot Fudge" BANANA SCREAM
Take a couple of frozen banana's out of the freezer. We often put ones that are not to the blackened skin ripe stage, unpeel them and freeze. Take out of the freezer, break them into a few peices and add 1/2 of a 12.3 box silken tofu and a little sweetener of choice. Matthew likes nutmeg, so add a sprinkle of that too. Process until smooth. We "fudged" them by using the chocolate that didn't set on those bars from the 4th, just heat and pour over the "scream". This does give a banana like taste some, but with the tofu, nutmeg, and chocolate that flavor is masked and what remains is a wonderful I SCREAMY treat.