Seitan Kebabs with Chipotle BBQ Sauce

Hey Loves!

It's been waaaaay too long since I last posted a recipe starring one of my fave vegan proteins: SEITAN!!!!!  If you've just tuned in, seitan (pronounced like 'say-tahn', not like 'Lucifer') is a fabulous meat substitute made from wheat gluten.  Seitan, or 'wheat meat', is high protein and fat free and has a creepily meat-like texture.  It is also waaaaaay too easy to make at home!  Check out this recipe here - you can find vital wheat gluten flour at Bulk Barn :)

Bee and I hosted a little BBQ (take THAT Mr. Cranky Neighbor!) the other night and served up some seitan kebabs with a DELISH and super easy home made BBQ sauce.  Seriously people, don't bother buying BBQ sauce in a bottle.  It's always better home made and its SO EASY!!!  We served up the kebabs with corn on the cob, potato salad, ceasar salad (all vegan of course!) and several brewskies :)

                                                    Bee, Buck, CB, ATM & V.V.'s toes :)





Seitan Kebabs with Chipotle BBQ Sauce
Ingredients:
-6 Seitan Cutlets
-2 tbsp veg oil
-1 small yellow onion, finely diced
-5 garlic cloves, minced
-1/2 cup ketchup
-1 tbsp djon mustard
-1 tsp cumin
-1 - 2 tsp chipotle chili powder
-1 tbsp Mexican chili powder
-1 tbsp vegan sugar
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-2 tbsp soy sauce
-1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
-1/4 cup water
-S&P to your taste

Soak six wooden skewers in water for at least half an hour (otherwise they will catch on fire!!!) unless of course you have metal reusable skewers, in which case, proceed to the next step :) 

Cut the seitan cutlets into bite sized cubes and thread them onto the skewers. 

In a saucepan, heat the veg oil over medium high heat.  Saute the onion and garlic until translucent and add all other ingredients.  Bring the sauce to a boil and then reduce to a low simmer for half an hour. 

Oil up either your BBQ or your cranky neighbors' BBQ and crank the heat to high. 

Coat the seitan kebabs with the home made BBQ sauce and cook on the BBQ, rotating every few min and basting with sauce until heated through (prob no more than seven min total). 

Serve with extra BBQ sauce and your fave BBQ sides :)

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO,

V.V.

I Sold My Soul to Seitan

Hey Baybeeees,

Okay okay OKAY!  It appears that I am a little bit obsessed with posting seitan recipes so after this one, I'll try to vary it up!  This is a 'steakhouse' inspired dish that would be perfect date night food (the recipe serves two). 

Sunflower-Crusted Seitan with Mushroom-Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

-2 seitan cutlets sliced in half crosswise

-1/4 cup red wine vinegar

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1/4 cup shoyu

-2 tbsp fresh chopped herbs of your choice

-1/2 cup water

-1/3 cup flour

-1/3 - 1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds

-2 tbsp olive oil

-4 - 5 medium sized Yukon Gold taters, washed and cubed

-3 cloves garlic, chopped

-1 cup chopped mushrooms

-2 tbsp vegan butter

-S&P

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, shoyu, minced garlic, herbs and water.  Season with S&P and marinate the seitan 'filets' in the mixture for at least and hour.  Remove the 'filets' from the marinade and dredge them in flour.  Then dip them in the marinade again and coat them in the ground seeds, pressing them on so they stick well!  Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the seitan filets until golden on both sides. 

To make a 'jus':  pour the leftover marinade into the hot skillet and reduce until slightly thickened and season with S&P.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender.  Drain them and mash them with a potato masher or whip them up with an immersion blender.  In a skillet, saute the mushrooms and garlic and then add to the taters along with the vegan butta.  Season with S&P, of course!

I served this up with some roasted baby carrots from (you guessed it) my Mama's garden!

XOXO

V.V.

Sesame-Crusted Seitan with Red Wine-Soy Braised Vegetables and Crispy Udon Noodle Cakes

Hello Darlings,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while!  I hope that the recipe I am posting today makes it worth the wait.  I had two lovely girlfriends over for dinner last week and dreamt up this dish.  I had all the ingredients for stir fry but I find that stir fry can be so booooorrrrring!!!  So this is stir fry my way.  No more saucey piles of whatever you have in the fridge atop rice, people! 

Sesame-Crusted Seitan with Red Wine-Soy Braised Vegetables and Crispy Udon Noodle Cakes
serves 4
Ingredients:
sesame seitan:
-3 seitan cutlets (about 1 1/2 lbs)
-1 clove garlic, minced
-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
-4 tbsp sweet chili sauce
-4 tbsp shoyu
-1/3 cup water
-sriracha hot sauce (to your liking)
-pinch S and lots of fresh ground P
-1/3 cup whole wheat flour
-2 tbsp sesame seeds
braised veg:
-4 to 6 cups of your favorite chopped veg (I used purple cabbage, onion, garlic, mushrooms, bell peppers and cucumbers)
-1/3 cup red wine
-2 tbsp shoyu
-fresh ground P
udon noodle cakes:
-2 packages of udon noodles

SEITAN: Whisk together the garlic, ginger, chili sauce, shoyu, water, hot sauce and S&P.  Cut the seitan into bite sized chunks and marinate in the sauce for at least an hour.  Toss together the flour and sesame seeds and add the drained seitan (reserve the marinade).  Add a tablespoon of the marinade to the flour/sesame/seitan mixture and ensure that each little seitan chunk is well coated with flour/sesame seeds.  Heat a few tbsp of oil in a skillet over medium heat and fry the seitan until golden on all sides.

VEG:  Heat a few tsp of veg oil in a skillet and saute veg until tender crisp.  Add wine and shoyu and cook until absorbed.  Season with pepper!

NOODLE CAKES: Carefully remove the noodles from the package and slice them in half into triangles.  Heat 3 tbsp veg oil in a pan and saute until golden on each side.  You can keep them warm in an oven set to low heat.

TO ASSEMBLE:  Place a noodle cake on each plate and top with the braised veg followed by the seitan.  Pour the reserved marinade into a hot skillet and reduce by half.  You can add a splash of red wine too!  Pour the sauce over the seitan and serve with some steamed baby bok choy!

Until next time,
XOXO V.V.

"Chicky Fingers" and Fries

Hello gorgeous ones,

I have been busy busy busy since Thanksgiving (the home made tofurkey was a HIT as well as the pumpkin pie, I'll post recipes soon!) and haven't been making anything worth blogging about (lots of toast!).  Today, I made a big batch of seitan and was immediately inspired to create a vegan version of my favorite meal when I was little.  Chicken fingers and fries are on just about every family restaurant menu and kids go CRAYZAY for them.  Sadly, they are often full of fillers and all kinds of crap (and chicken of course which is a definite NO for all you vegetarians out there) so they aren't always the healthiest choice.  It should be said that I have a reputation for making the BEST oven baked french fries.  It has taken me years to perfect the combination of oven temp, seasoning, potato variety and timing and I am ready to pass on the recipe to YOU!

There's only a few hours left before Sunday Night Football starts, so get your butt into the kitchen and whip up this classic diner staple - perfect for game night fare!

"Chicky Fingers" and Fries

Ingredients:

2 seitan cutlets, sliced into 'fingers'

2 tbsp djon mustard

1 tbsp shoyu

1/4 - 1/3 cup whole wheat flour

3 tbsp canola oil

2 russet potatoes, scrubbed, sliced into fry shapes

2 tbsp canola oil

S&P

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Toss the fries in the canola oil and arrange them on a large baking sheet in an even layer (this is crucial for even browning, you may have to use more than one sheet).  Bake in the oven for about 20 min, then flip and bake for another ten.  Season with S&P as soon as you take 'em out of the oven.

Meanwhile...mix the shoyu and mustard together in a bowl.  Toss with the seitan fingers to coat them well and then dredge with flour.  Make sure each finger is well coated!  Heat the oil in a skillet oven med high-ish heat and saute the fingers until golden on all sides.  

Serve with lots o' ketchup and you fave dipping sauce!

XOXO,

V.V. 

Simple Autumn Supper and Vegan Pumpkin Pie Brownies

I had a delicious and simple dinner the other night: pan seared seitan sausages with a mountain of roasted carrots and parsnips - so satisfying and comforting amid the chilly autumn winds that are blowing across the prairies right now.  I made these seitan sausages from scratch from my fave recipe found here: http://www.neverhomemaker.com/2010/02/street-food-veggie-style.html I add in whatever spices I am feelin' at the time, the most recent batch was full of garlic, fennel seed, chili's and oregano mmmmmm... I love them pan seared in a few tsp of safflower oil served with lots of grainy djon mustard!  As for the parsnips and carrots, I just scrubbed them and sliced them into 1/4 inch coins, tossed them with some olive oil and seasoned with good old S&P.  They took about 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven and were beautiful and caramelized.  You could add some sliced Yukon Gold taters for more substance too! 

I was craving something sweet after din din so I whipped up a batch of UNREAL pumpkin pie brownies.  I am a little crazy about pumpkin (and brownies for that matter...) and before I knew it, half the batch was GONZO...Luckily for me (and those of you incredibly smartie pants darlings who make these asap) they are pretty darn low in fat and full of beta-carotene rich pumpkin, yo!

This is my version of pumpkin brownies from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  It contains less sugar and uses whole-wheat flour. 

Vegan Pumpkin Pie Brownies

Ingredients:
for brownie layer:

1 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/2 cup vegan sugar (maple sugar, evapourated cane sugar, etc)

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp safflower oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp arrowroot flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

for pumpkin pie layer:

1 cup pure pumpkin puree

2 tbsp arrowroot flour
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I almost always use almond)
1/3 cup vegan sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp fresh gound black pepper (trust)

Preheat dat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a 12 cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Sift the dry ingredients for the brownie layer together and stir together the wet.  Combine wet and dry brownie ingredients and divide amongst the prepared muffin tin.  Using a spoon or thumb, make a little well in the middle of each brownie.  Combine all pumpkin pie layer ingredients.  Divide mixture amongst each brownie and bake for about 25 minutes or until the pumpkin layer has formed cracks and feels firm (though a little jiggle is ok!).  Enjoy...