Have No Fear...

comfort food is here! I've been wanting to cook something hearty for a while now, but the weather had not been cooperating. This weekend it's supposed to rain, so that was the green light I needed to get a stew going. I also could not wait to try another seitan recipe from Vegan Diner so I paired the "Chicken Style Seitan Roast" with the "Veggies and Dumplings". Total success! I am really in love with this book and I have the ppk to thank for it. I bought it purely based off their rave reviews and I am so glad I did. If you haven't already bought it for yourself or your favorite vegan cook, the holiday gift giving season is fast approaching!

I made the seitan first since that takes a little over an hour to steam. I should have started earlier since I forgot it also should cool and be refrigerated before it gets cut. I used the hour to chop all my veggies for the soup and get the remaining ingredients ready. What I really like about this book is that the ingredient lists are very short, but there is absolutely no loss of flavor. I am used to putting way more spices/seasonings in soups but this one only had salt, pepper and parsley and trust me, it was enough. I did not have to adjust this recipe at all, yay! The only thing I did cheat at was to add more veggies than specified. I do that on every recipe though.

I have only made a "chicken" and dumplings type stew one other time and while I did enjoy that one, this will be my go-to recipe from now on. I am so excited I can finally make my own seitan that I can't imagine using frozen "chicken" pieces instead. I bow to Julie Hasson in thanks. My days of seitan fails are way past me. Now I have to try all the other recipes that feature the steaming method. I may try baking as well, but for now I prefer to get steamy.

Vegan Mofo V Day 29: Yeah Yeah Yams

After not sleeping well the last two nights I really wanted to take a nap today, but then I knew that would spiral into a whole day of laziness, which is what I do on Sundays. I can't do that two days in a row. Well I can, but I shouldn't. I decided I would just keep busy and tire myself out so I would end up going to bed early, or at least earlier than usual.

When I took an apple break with my dog (yeah I do that!), I noticed she needed to be brushed. Then I thought about trying on her Halloween costumes to see which one I liked the best. I dressed her up for the first time last year and she tolerated it well. When the costumes went on sale for a dollar I bought two more so we'd have some variety. After the bath I tried them on her and took some pictures, but I forgot the most important thing- the treats to bribe her to look at the camera. My favorite was the grape costume, but she figured out very quickly to shake her head and make the hat fall off. She'll probably be a pumpkin again since that's the only outfit that doesn't have a head piece.

All the dog activities tired me out. I didn't want to make dinner, but since I hardly cooked during the week I didn't have much in the way of leftovers. Rather than preparing an entire meal I made the "Sweetheart Fries" from Vegan Diner to go with an Amy's pizza. It's my "teen dinner" because that's totally something I would have ate on a Saturday night if I had to fend for myself. Why choose between pizza and fries when you can have both?

The fries were easy enough, after I decided to ditch the mandoline and finish cutting the yams with a knife. I thought it would be faster with the mandoline, but now I realize I would have prepped faster with a knife. I also wouldn't have cut myself, thanks mandoline! As clumsy as I am, I have fairly good knife skills. It's weird but true. I will go lighter with the seasonings next time. I put way too much pepper so they lost some of the sweetness. Luckily we had some vegan ranch in the fridge to help balance things out.

Vegan Mofo V Day 21 : The Cheeze Stands Alone

As a former cheese fiend, I find it hard to believe this was the first "cheeze" I've ever made. It's the "Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze" from Vegan Diner and it's quite yummy. I didn't have a mini loaf pan and I didn't want to use a plastic container so I just used one of my favorite corningware dishes instead. I flipped it out for the pic and then I flipped it back in when I was done.

We didn't have any crackers  last night, so I made some half assed nachos just to test it out. It was good, but obviously not the best use of the cheeze. Today I got some crackers, spread the cheeze on, then broke up some smoky curls to put on top. It reminded me of the bacon flavored squeeze cheeze on crackers I used to eat as a kid, but in a good way. I will probably make a grilled cheeze soon, or a quesadilla if I am even lazier. I'm tempted to grate it and add it to a mac and cheese recipe too.

Thanks to a tip from Don't Fear the Vegan, I now have plenty of  agar powder. I will probably renew my interest in cheese making, and of course cheesecakes too. And there has to be a recipe for vegan jello shots somewhere, right?

Vegan Mofo V Day 18 - Mashers and Melts

This is turning out to be my lazy mofo week. I had biggish plans for today but they went away after I picked up my niece from school. I collect and watch her after school a few days a week, and some days go better than others. I've noticed that when I've got too many of my own things to do I am impatient and snappy toward her, which is completely unfair. So today I decided I would put "my" things aside and take care of her as I am meant to. We didn't have as complicated of a meal as I had planned on, but at least there was no bickering and we had a good afternoon together. I can do a bunch of cooking tomorrow on my "free" day anyhow.

For tonight's dinner we had patty melts and garlic mashers from Vegan Diner. For the melts I toast the bread, butter it, then rub in some garlic salt and vegan parm before adding in the cooked boca burger and tofutti slice. I cheated a bit on the mashers because I made them a few days ago, but she tried them and liked them so I knew they were a safe bet for tonight. This was only my second or third time making my own mashed potatoes. There's nothing particularly difficult about it, but it's normally something my sister does while I'm preparing a different part of the meal. It was my very first time using nooch in them, and definitely won't be the last. I enjoyed the addition of parsley as well. The recipe originally calls for red potatoes but says you can also use Yukon Golds. I did that since they are my favorite, and they also were cheaper than red at the store. I didn't have any on my plate since I had a huge helping with my breakfast reuben this morning.

We had melts today and there is a quinoa burger and chili dogs right around the corner. Apparently I have not let Sandwich Week die just yet. I'm going to have to do soups and salads or smoothies next week to balance out all this bread we've been having. I know it's the base of the food pyramid, but it could also make me much rounder than I already am. I have a weight-loss bet I have not been working to win, so I have to get on it, but I'm secretly hoping everyone else has been slacking too.

Vegan Mofo V Day 17 - Soy What?!

I still don't know what this week is going to be, but for now it looks like an impromptu Vegan Diner week. I did not go to the grocery store yesterday and have not made up my list for today so there you have it. My agar powder came in the mail today so that was a green light to make Great Smoky Mountain Cheeze, which I will probably do tomorrow or later tonight.

I did have time to quickly whip up some Smoky Curls to go with it. I'm hoping to make smoky cheezey omelets, grilled cheezes or both very soon. It will have to be soon because I'm not sure how long the curls are going to survive. I kept tasting as I was cooking to see how they were turning out. I wanted them crispier so I added more oil and let them cook a bit more before adding the agave. Later on,  I "dropped" a few and "had" to eat them. These are the perfect combo of sweet, salty and smoky. I will have to hit up the adventist store again soon and stock up on more soy curls!

My copy of Santuary- Farm Sanctuary's Compassionate Quarterly also arrived the mail today. I find it odd that I almost always end up reading this while I'm eating, but I think it would bother me a lot more if I were eating animals whilst reading about their rescues from horrible conditions. It's great to not be part of the problem, but also reminds me I should be taking a more active role in being part of the solution. One easy way to do this is to adopt a turkey, which I did for the first time last year. I'm not sure who I will be adopting just yet, but so far Raphael has a slight lead. If you want to adopt one (or more), go here!

Vegan Mofo V Day 11 - My Steamy Love Affair With Seitan (and Reuben too!)

I've never had much luck with seitan. Of the five or six times I've tried to make it, I've had a single success somewhere around attempt number three. I don't know whether I am kneading too much or not enough. Should I have flipped it over more times in the pot? Maybe the flame was too low? I don't need to wonder about the answers to these questions any longer. I also don't need to knead anything, now that I've finally wised up and tried Julie Hasson's method of steaming seitan. If you're late to the game like I was, don't hesitate any longer, get into it!

Since I've never steamed anything other than vegetables I was freaking out that I would mess this up. I tend to obsess about directions and wonder whether or not I am doing it right. To calm myself down and get an idea of what to expect I watched a video of the author making some sausages. It looked so easy I couldn't believe I was actually scared of seitan. How silly of me!


There are so many recipes I want to make from Vegan Diner but since it's "Sandwich Week", I had to go for the "Rockin' Reubens". While the "Pastrami-Style Seitan Roast" was steaming I made the "Very Secret Sauce", do chua for the next sammich on the schedule, and did the dishes. I had planned on making "Garlic Mashers" as well,  but due to my reading/napping break earlier in the day I was way off task. I might make them later in the week to go with my philly.

Instead of putting cheese on my reubens, I like to put avocado. Today I put more than usual since there was no one else to share it with and I didn't want to waste. So yes, there is a whole avocado on my sandwich. There is a whole lot of everything on it in fact. In my hungry haze I overloaded those two slices of bread, so it's kind of good that I served it alone. I don't think I would have had room for any potatoes after taking on this beast. I believe I've met my match!