Stuffed Seitan Roast

All right, so I really meant to write this up last night when I made it but I was so exhausted I just wanted to lay down and sleep for approximately 4 days. Not because this recipe is difficult or time consuming (truthfully, it isn't) but because I've been awoken night after night for probably the last month, paired with early mornings and late nights (let's say 11pm to 6am) with the same sad, sad reason: "Mommy, I need you", "I have to go potty", "I want my night light off". Sigh. She rarely needs to go to the bathroom, and honestly I think she's just over this whole sleeping thing which is getting really frustrating and results in my sleepwalking through life lately.

I've gotten really into seitan lately which you wouldn't think considering I have only been making it once a month or so (moderation!). It's so good, and so easy to flavor. It fills you up quickly and I have discovered it's really great for make-your-own-vegan/vegetarian-sausages.

From start to finish it will only take you about 10 minutes to get in the oven, and that is assuming you are like me and measure, pour, put away after each ingredient. The longest time is the cooking time. My recipe is not entirely original. I used this recipe as the basis and building block, and fused it with the spices and used the stuffing from this other one to make my own sort of roast creation. I did omit the cheese and some other things from the stuffing, but we can get to that when you read my recipe at the bottom.

I had made this about a month ago, and had extra stuffing that I froze for next time, so that's why the stuffing is nice and tubular! 
As a general rule, I don't like to bake with aluminum, but for this recipe you kind of have to in order to keep it together. Though, I've never tried tightly wrapping it in parchment, either.
I made a quick gravy out of Earth Balance, flour, and vegetable broth with various seasonings and threw that on top and some sweet potatoes on the side. Came out really good, even if the pictures make it not look so appetizing.

                 

Don't be intimidated! It's really quick, and you can't mess it up unless you over/under cook it. 

Stuffed Seitan Roast

• 2 1/2 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup soy flour
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp. Bragg's

In a large bowl, whisk dry ingredients together. Add your wet ingredients to a measuring cup and mix. Combine wet into dry, mixing with a wooden spoon. Mix until it forms a dough ball (you may or may not need a couple more tablespoons or vegetable brother to pull it together). Turn out onto a cutting board and knead the dough for a minute or so, until it is a nice uniform ball. Roll out flat, and stuff with whatever you like.

Stuffing I used, and had frozen when I had extra:

• 4 cups fresh spinach
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• bread crumbs, enough to pull it together
• olive oil, for sauteeing
• salt & pepper

Cook spinach with olive oil and garlic until wilted. Add everything else, and saute until tender. Stuff your roast

After you stuff your roast, roll it up as tight as you can, and tuck ends under. Transfer to an oiled foil sheet, and roll again, like a Tootsie Roll, as tight as you can. Bake at 350 for anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half. It's finished when you press it and it feels like a roast would- a little give, but firm.

Are you all ready for Thanksgiving yet? I'm no, but luckily I don't host dinner, I just bring pie & sides!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Now that the clock has been pushed back an hour, it seems winter is practically here. It's slightly depressing to see dusk at 4pm, but luckily there's a whole bunch of squash in season to lessen the sting of knowing snow is just around the corner. Not only is squash really good for you(and really tasty, too), but there's something comforting to me about eating squash. I don't know why, but the cold weather always makes me want to bake cookies and roast some squash. Acorn and butternut are my favorites, and pumpkin isn't bad either!

I wanted to do something different than soup, or mashing my acorn squash like I usually do with butternut and eat it like mashed potatoes, or twice baked like a casserole. I figured anything stuffed is a winner (potato skins? Roasts? Mushrooms? Am I right?) and decided to stuff my acorn squash that's been sitting in a basket for a week. I started with your basics: onion, garlic, carrot, and celery sauteed in olive oil. I added some Italian seasoning and oregano at the beginning so the dried herbs would  "bloom" as everything cooked. I knew I was going to be making a stuffing with veggies but I also wanted to get some protein in the meal, too.

So I decided to boil up some quinoa in my veggie broth I told you about earlier this week. One tip about quinoa, ESPECIALLY if you've never cooked it before or are buying it in bulk: rinse it well in a kitchen strainer before cooking it. If you don't it can be bitter because there is an outer coating of saponins that need to be rinsed off.  My recommendation is to rinse ALL quinoa whether it's in bulk, or in a bag that says you don't have to rinse it because I've forgotten and the result is really not as good, especially if you're serving people who have never had it before and they will think they dislike quinoa because it's bitter when in actuality it just wasn't rinsed first.

While my quinoa was cooking, I threw in a little bit of chopped apple and some small grape tomatoes I had also cut up. I let it simmer, covered until the quinoa was almost finished, but not quite because I planned on baking it so I didn't want it really tender at this point.







Once my quinoa was finished, I put it in the pan with the stuffing and then tossed in some homemade bread crumbs I had in my freezer.










Then I loaded it into my halved squash, and baked, covered for about an hour, removed the cover and baked for an additional 10 minutes.





After that, it came out of the oven looking like this:

And after cutting into it:

Happy Autumn!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 gloves garlic, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 1 medium apple, chopped
• handful grape tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2-1 cup bread crumbs, depending on how dry your ingredients are
• 1 acorn squash
• salt & pepper

Start the stuffing by sauteing onions, garlic, celery and carrot. Add salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, and oregano and let it cook on medium-low heat(this is setting 3 on my electric range). If it starts to dry out a little bit, add some vegetable broth to lightly steam-fry. Cover saute, and while that is cooking, rinse your quinoa very well in a tight kitchen strainer, until all bubbles dissipate. Combine quinoa and broth in a small saucepan. Allow to come to a simmer, then lower heat to a low simmer for about 15-20 minutes. After you've started the quinoa, add apples and tomatoes, and some more salt and pepper to the stuffing, cover and allow to steam, stirring occasionally while quinoa cooks. Split your acorn squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and you may need to slice a small piece of skin off the bottom so it will sit stable in your pan. Oil the entire squash using a brush. When the quinoa is almost finished, add it to the rest of the stuffing, stirring in, and adding bread crumbs as you need until it holds together loosely, almost like a turkey stuffing. Taste test at this point for seasoning. Scoop stuffing into the squash, cover and bake at 350F for 50 minutes-1 hour depending on how soft it is after 50 minutes(it should be fork tender), take cover off and bake an additional 10 minutes to brown as you like.

Is This A Thing? Yes, It Is- Chickpea Salad

So, over the summer I remember searching for something quick and easy and summery. I also remember kind of wanting some egg salad which not only smells but eggs make me pretty nauseous now that I haven't been eating them on a semi-regular basis. I remember I used to eat eggs all the time especially Saturday mornings growing up, but as I grew into my 20s I stopped eating them as much, started eating them again because I had it in my head it was a good breakfast, and then stopped eating breakfast all together or moved on to cereal.  And this cycle has happened roughly every year since I was about 21. Now, I don't really eat eggs mostly because I just don't want them, but every once in a while I do have a hankering for some egg salad. 
So anyway, I found this recipe a while back and never made it until recently, and let me tell you, it's pretty good.

 I do admit, I feel sometimes like I'm no longer an amateur at this vegan thing, but the truth is I am, and there are plenty of people out there scoffing at me because I'm such a newbie I didn't even know about mashing some chickpeas and throwing it on a sandwich. 8-year vegetarians are laughing at me right now: "Ha! You think you know everything now, don't you?!" Nope. I felt pretty silly when I saw this on The PPK and thought it was revolutionary, meanwhile you guys have been doing this all along.

I made mine with two cans of chickpeas because John was going to be home for lunch, and it's inevitable that my 3 year old daughter has to share all food with us. I added a heaping tablespoon (the one you eat with, not an actual measuring spoon tablespoon) of roasted garlic Vegenaise, some celery, some carrot, salt pepper, turmeric, coriander and a little ground mustard. Turmeric makes a tofu scramble taste and look "eggy" so that's why I used that. Ground mustard I really like in egg salad, so I threw that in and coriander I just like to toss into stuff because it gives some stuff sort of a fresh taste, much like cilantro (which I LOVE, but coriander is great when you don't have a fresh bunch of cilantro hanging around).

Chickpeas tend to taste a bit dry to me, so that's why I used tomato slices on my sandwich, not because it's traditional or because the recipe recommends it.

Chickpea Salad

• 1 can garbanzo beans(chickpeas), drained and rinsed thoroughly
• 1 heaping tablespoon Vegenaise
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 small carrot, chopped
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• 1 tsp. coriander
• 1 tsp. ground mustard
• salt & pepper

Mash chickpeas with a potato masher, or a fork. Add all ingredients and mix together, like you would tuna or egg salad. Serve on a sandwich, or as a dip with crackers, or even as a salad by itself or over lettuce.

Many Things & Many Thanks

Well, I cannot believe I've neglected writing on here since August, and really hope not to take such a long hiatus again!

I have delved so far into the DIY world of cooking/vegan/housekeeping, that my friends are wondering if I will ever be "normal" again!
So, here's what's up with me. This is going to be kind of a long post, so I apologize if you're here for recipes and not commentary- but I feel like writing and sharing with all 3 of you today.

1. I make almost everything from scratch now. From pie crust, to to seitan, to my own stock/broth, I've started making almost everything I need myself. It started while reading up on various recipes when I saw a tip I had never thought of, and now I have no idea why since it's sort of a no-brainer. So, I started saving all my veggie ends in a bag in my freezer and once every week or two, I take it out and pour four quarts of water over it, simmer it with salt, pepper & spices, strain it, and divide it into two 2-qt. pitchers because I don't have a gallon size. Done. Took like half an hour. And you can add chicken, beef, pork, or any bones you want to the bag if you eat meat. Also, after you strain it out, (if you don't have bones in your stock)you can use the leftover veggies for compost if you have a garden. Neat trick I thought, and now that I always have it around- I use it all the time for just about anything.

2. I've pretty much given up on mock meats. I feel you get better nutrition from whole plant foods, and most of the time I don't miss meat too much. I do miss cheese, and do give in a lot to cheese. That being said, sometimes I want a stuffed pork roast, or a turkey sandwich. I had heard around the internerd that seitan makes a really great meat substitute, and found this recipe, this recipe, and this one too. I loved that it was baked, and not steamed, and that for $7 at Freshtown of Amenia, I could make two of my own seitan roasts or logs, instead of having to buy it in a small container at the store... and that's assuming I'd even be able to find it anywhere near me. Well, my friends; I have made at least 3 seitan: 1 log, and 2 greens and mushroom-stuffed roasts. I took the trifeca of recipes listed above and combined them to make a stuffed turkey tasting roast and a mild-turkey-sandwich-slice log. They went really quickly, and I had no leftovers because John liked it so much, he practically licked his plate. Not to toot my own horn, but I was kind of impressed with myself! Unfortunately, I have no pictures of this, but plan to make some this week and will have one when I do.

3. I make A. LOT. of soup now. Especially with Autumn upon us and Winter imminent, there seems to be nothing better than a hot bowl of soup and some bread. Squash is so perfect for soup, I'm reheating a batch of butternut squash soup this week which I made a few weeks ago and froze. For Halloween I made a giant pot of vegan chili for a whole bunch of people who eat a whole bunch of meat

I realize how truly un-appetizing(is that a word?) this looks, really I do...but it's chili, and it's supposed to be brown and somewhat slop-looking. Anyway, I used TVP which I do try to stay away from because it's really kind of a mock meat and I'd rather just use beans nowadays, but I had a lot of non-vegetarians coming over and I knew in a chili it would be filling enough and taste meaty enough to satisfy everyone. I didn't have any complaints and was complimented on it, so I assume everyone liked it and didn't lie to me! :)

Along the same lines with soup, I kind of had a soba noodle love affair over the summer. I put them in everything this summer. I made soups, and I made so many different slaws with soba it was a little ridiculous. I made a particular slaw I really liked with Nappa cabbage, red cabbage, carrot, soba noodles and a peanut sauce that I really just could not keep around long enough. I also made this soup with greens and a bunch of vegetables I needed to use, too.

I've never had Pho, but I actually used it somewhat as an inspiration for this. Note: I understand this is NOT Pho...just saw a picture of it and used that as inspiration!







4. In a serious, really strict effort to keep anything processed out of my body, and also because I feel no one is eating enough greens in their diet, I've been having for breakfast almost every day a green smoothie.

It's approximately 2 cups of kale(or any green, like chard, spinach, collard, etc.), an apple, and sometimes I throw some frozen mango in there too. I puree the greens first with either a cup of almond milk or water depending on my mood, and then add everything else to puree while it's still running. You pretty much only taste apple, and you basically punch your body with nutrition. My "resolution" (in September, because that makes sense) has become to not only eat plant based, but to really focus more on whole foods and nutrition, and this helps a lot because I find that having this for breakfast keeps me on track since it makes me not want to screw up how I started my day. If I throw some flax meal in there it helps even more because I feel fuller longer.

5. I don't really eat/use all that much sugar anymore. Before I get ahead of myself, let me make one thing clear: I am a big girl. I am not going to sit here and tell you I never eat chocolate or I've given up cake. Because that would be lying. What I am saying is most of the time, If I want something sweet, I have to go through the trouble of making it myself. So, If I'm making an apple pie I'll throw in a couple tablespoons of pure maple syrup with the apples and cinnamon and spices instead of sugar. In most of my baking now I've switched to brown rice syrup instead. Brown rice syrup is made from brown rice and is a complex sugar so it doesn't spike your blood sugar the way cane sugar does. In doing this, I've noticed a significant difference in how I don't want the junky stuff as much anymore- even after Halloween, I'm not wanting the candy since I don't really crave it as bad. It's easier to walk away from, and if I really want something sweet I'd rather have something I made with my own hands and I know what's in it. My dietary choices also stem from being a somewhat-control-freak, too!
6. I'm going to make a Shepherd's Pie out of these lentils tonight, and it's going to be delicious.

Lastly, everyone is doing a "what I'm thankful for" a day this month with Thanksgiving coming up. I'm not. I'm not because, I will be honest: I would not have enough creativity to come up with something different every single day to be thankful for.
So. Now that I sound like a spoiled little princess, what am I thankful for?
I am thankful I have opened my eyes and taken in breath today. I am thankful my husband and my daughter did the same, and I am thankful every single day this happens. I am thankful for all the beautiful food I have become accustomed to eating, I am thankful I have adopted a plant-based diet because it has given me such an education about nutrition, and has inspired me to be creative. I am thankful I have been able to eat plant based for a year now, and that it has cut my grocery bill in half. I am thankful for this because it has made my family happier, made me stronger as a person, and has become the focal point of how I live my life.
I am thankful to have so many people I love in my life. I am thankful I have friends, I am thankful for the family I have left.
But mostly, I am thankful for the life John and I have built together.