Is this thing still on?

I can't believe it's been six months since I posted something. Time sure flies and apologies to anyone who posted comments but never got a reply from me. We've been super busy with life the past six months and recently relocated to the city of brotherly love.

On to the food. I spent yesterday trying to perfect seitan so that the texture is super soft and a little flakey and layered (if that made sense). Basically I am trying to mimic the seitan that is custom made for Horizons. I have had seitan very close to that before and it was the raw seitan sold in bulk at Essence of Life in Toronto (in Kensington Market). Super soft & tender texture when cooked but not spongey at all. I make seitan all the time with different textures for sandwiches, cutlets, etc., but nothing even close to that texture.

Attempt #1. Whole wheat flour & bread flour kneaded, rested and rinsed (and rinsed, and rinsed) and then, flattened and stretched with a bit of oil into irregular pieces and then slow baked in a broth made from water, soy sauce, bragg's and minced garlic. Texture was better than using vital wheat gluten but not even close to how I wanted it.



Oh well, I had to cook it up anyway so I marinated it in olive oil, salt, pepper, spanish paprika, onion & garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne, soy sauce, braggs and sugar for an hour or so. Then it was panfried and glazed with the reduced marinade and served on top of Israeli couscous pilaf with a side of asparagus. Even though it wasn't the texture I wanted, dinner was still delicous!

Stay tuned for more adventures in seitan making. In the meantime, here's a bonus Shadow pic from March.

Lentil Soup & Biscuits

Happy new year!

I know I've been slacking but I'll try and actually cook some different things going forward. A lot of times I cook the same things from week to week which doesn't make for interesting food blogging.

Anyway, we're short on food in the house but I managed to scrape together enough for homemade soup and biscuits.

The soup is a tomato-based lentil soup with onions and tiny pasta. The biscuits are just really your standard biscuits with scallions thrown in and a slight twist. Instead of oil or shortening, I used Vegenaise which added the fat you need but also additional flavour and tenderness. Try it!

Here's to a new year which I hope will bring great things for everyone. :)

Sunday Dinner — Seitan Roast

Seitan roast with a light salt crust along with mushroom & onion gravy, roasted broccoli and waaaay in the back are roasted potatoes. Perfect for a fall Sunday dinner.

Stew & Dumplings

Stew made with vegetables and soy curls with herbed dumplings. Perfect food for fall.

As for the previous post, yup, the secret project is vegan Yorkshire Pudding and between the two of us, I think we've got it pretty close. When Lelly and I get the recipe perfect, then maybe we'll release it publicly. Maybe.

Project...

What the hell is that you ask? I kind of don't want to say since I have no idea how close it is to what it's supposed to be.

I can say though that it was pretty good and it's beginning to be a little project of mine along with Vincent and Lelly. :)

"B" is for "Broccoli"

Oven roasted broccoli and cherry tomatoes (from our garden) topped with crumbled Cheezly.

The broccoli and tomatoes were tossed with a liberal amount of olive oil, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast and then roasted in the oven (425F) for about 30 mins and then topped with crumbled Cheezly. Simple but delicious.

What's peeking out in the top right corner is some homemade mushroom gravy. Not pictured: slices of seitan roast and rice pilaf. I just wanted to focus on the broccoli for this post.

Roasted Okra and Jalapeño & Vegetable Gratin

Oven roasted okra and jalapeño & vegetable gratin.

The okra was tossed with olive oil, salt & pepper and garlic powder and oven roasted until tender. The gratin had jalapeño peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, Teese, Tofutti better than cream cheese and panko breadcrumbs. There's also some mushroom pizza in the background (top left) that was leftover from yesterday.

I used about 10-15 peppers and didn't wear gloves when cutting/handling them. My hands were burning for a few hours. Tomato sauce (jarred) was the only thing that seemed to get them to stop burning.

Mental note: wear gloves when handling hot peppers or don't bother with them at all.

ETA: And pronounce it right, people! :D (thanks Vincent for the link)

ETA Again: Do try oven roasted okra. Not as good (IMHO) as breaded and deep fried okra, but it's a lot easier and still super tasty.