Vegan MoFo#9/ Light Gumbo with Seitan Sausages

Happy Tuesday!  Today is going to be a quick post.  I have to clean up around here and I'm going to watch a movie with Keaton.  Yes he's home from school again. I went to go get his ears checked out and come to find out not only does he have fluid in the ears but he has strep!  He came home from school yesterday with a sunburn type rash and his hands/feet were sore.  The doctor said his throat looked red but that was it.  According to his other symptoms...strep. 
Food?

Yesterday's lunch.

Ezekiel English Muffin w/mashed white beans, avocado and tomato





 



Light Gumbo with Seitan Sausage

To get my recipe for my gumbo click here.  In making this gumbo lower in fat it also was a bit more runny than thick. I just used 2T. Olive oil and 3T. flour for the roux.  I only used 4 Cups of water and 1/2 a cup of pale ale(not dark) and 2 fresh tomatoes chopped.  I sauteed seitan sausage, chopped them and browned them in the skillet using olive oil spray.  The seitan sausage recipe was based on the steamed white seitan from Viva Vegan.  I just adjusted the spices accordingly and made 6 small loaves.

 

Enjoy your evening!





Grilled Seitan Cutlets with Cilantro Lime Sauce and Summer Corn Saute

Blog issues...The photo of the flowers below and the Summer Corn Saute are only showing part of the picture and it's not letting me delete it and re post a new pic.  Frustrating!  Oh well, It's Friday! 

I'm still working from our laptop, I prefer our desk top PC.

Certified Organic Flowers from the Farmers Market

Grilled Seitan Cutlets with Cilantro Lime Sauce

When you are looking for something with texture, flavor and something to satisfy that carnivore in your life, grilled seitan smothered in a sauce seems to do the trick.  For a quick seitan recipe I love to use the Seitan Cutlets from Veganomicon.  Dave loves grilled seitan smothered in some kind of sauce.

Cilantro Lime Sauce

In a food processor I blended 1/3 C. cilantro(don't be shy make sure the  cup is packed high), 1/4 c. sweet onion, 4 garlic cloves, 1/2 jalepeno, juice of 1 large lime, 1/4 C. olive oil and s & p to taste. 

In a small casserole dish I poured about 3/4 of the sauce over the seitan cutlets and let it sit for about an hour.  Use the rest of the sauce over the grilled seitan.

                                                                 Summer Corn Saute

This kind of reminds me of a succotash but there are no beans.

The market down the street was selling locally grown corn 3 for 98cents and the cashier said they were so sweet and good we bought a few more.  I usually use up fresh corn the day I buy it because the older it gets the more starchy and less taste it has. So just make sure to wrap it up well and store in the refrigerator if not using the same day you buy it. Thinking of how to use the rest of the corn besides grilling it again, Succatosh came to mind.  I didn't have any bean to use in it so I just thought of what would go well with it and I ended up with a sweet and flavorful dish.

Summer Corn Saute

3 fresh corn on the cob, corn sliced off into bowl
1 T. olive oil (if more is needed use water a little at a time instead)
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 Italian red pepper, diced
1 small tomato, diced
1/4 tsp. oregano
1-2 T. chives
1/4 c. cilantro
salt & pepper to taste

In a small saucepan heat water and add sweet potato, cook until almost done.  Strain and set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet and add 1 T. olive oil, you will probably want to use more oil but I usually add some water a little at a time instead.  Next add the onion and garlic, saute until just translucent. Then add the Italian pepper, corn and sweet potato, cook until corn is fully cooked. Add the tomato and oregano, stir until soft. Turn off heat and stir in the chives, cilantro salt and pepper.
Enjoy!

I'm still here and with gumbo!

Howdy everyone!  I'm still here!  It's finally quieted down around here. Keaton is gone this week with the 6th grade class so it will quieter than usual.  No guitar noise in the afternoon.  Our dog Cleo sleeps with him at night so she is a bit screwed up already. 

Last week while I was doing yard work I pulled a muscle right above my wrist.  I have this nice swollen lump on my arm and if I start doing to much a shooting pain goes up my forearm.  So typing even isn't so nice and I tried mixing some mashed potatoes and wow that hurt.  Enough of my complaining.

I found this great new gluten free milk at Trader Joes a couple of weeks ago and I really like it.  My son doesn't like it as much as just plain rice milk but he's getting used to it.  I like to have a few different milks in the refridge at one time.  I usually have vanilla almond for my coffee, soy milk-for anything, and then usually a rice milk, hemp milk here and there.  This has 3g. fiber, vit.A, iron, b12, vit. D, calcium and phoshorus, no protein though.  Rice milk usually has at least 1g. of protein. The thing about this milk is I just wish that the amaranth, millet and quinoa were higher up on the ingredients list instead of the end.

Here is some gumbo I made.  I have been thinking of things I haven't made in a long time and this was one of them and I love gumbo.  This is my version from all of the ones I've made in the past.  This is made with homemade seitan sausages.  Keaton has had stomache issues of which I've spoken about and I try not to serve him alot of wheat products.  I think since seitan is pretty much just gluten it is more intense on his system because he totally had stomache pains later and also with the St. Patty's meal I made him.  You can use a firm tofu, which I have used before  and just broil in the oven to get a bit crispy on the outside, you can also use red beans.  This turned out really good, maybe a tad bit spicy hot more than usual, but that was just me using a heavy hand with the creole spice. hee hee

Veggie Gumbo with Seitan

1/3c. canola or safflower oil

1/3c. flour

2 1/2c. yellow onion, diced

3/4c. green bell pepper, diced

1/2c. red bell pepper, diced

3/4c. celery, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2c. okra, sliced(I used frozen)

1/2 c. ale or dark beer

2 bay leaves

1 T. creole seasoning  or less

6-8c. vegetable broth/stock

salt and pepper to taste.

2 vegan sausages*(note below) sliced and browned in a skillet or firm tofu/beans

             (I have used a firm tofu before)

cooked brown rice

To make the roux in a heavy duty pot, I use cast iron, heat 1/3.c. oil.  Once heated up whisk in the flour until smooth.  With a wooden spoon continue to stir often over medium heat.  You want to make sure you don't burn the roux but you want it to turn a dark caramel brown and be thick. This takes patience and can take a bit of time but is important. 

When the roux is complete you will add to that, onion, red and green bell pepper, and the celery.  Cook until the onions start to turn brown. (I like to add a bit of salt to this to sweat out the onions, you don't have to add much but this way you don't have to add more oil).  It will look like this!  

Next stir in the garlic and okra.  Cook about a minute. Then you will want to add the 1/2 c. ale and let that cook down for about a minute or so.  Once that has cooked out you will add in the browned seitan sausage slices, creole seasoning and bay leaves, stir through then add in the veggie broth/stock.  Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 45min or so.  The creole seasoning I use doesn't have as much salt as some other brands so adjust the salt to your liking.

Once heated through and has become thicker serve over a bowl of rice.

*the vegan sausage recipe I use is Julie Hasson's and you can get it by clicking here.

Have a wonderful day!  It supposed to start raining tonight or maybe tomorrow for a couple of days but that's okay.

Mothers milk and corned seitan and cabbage stew....

A week with my brother and nephew, it was really nice. My nephew, 4 yrs old, likes to go see the buffalope(buffalo)as he calls them, and he was able to pet some sheep. I did too!  They were so cute!  My nephew also loves "tofood" or what you and I call tofu. LOL!  They left to go home on Friday, then my mother-in-law came up late Saturday night to use our computer then left early Sunday.  She and my father-in-law will be back up on Friday for Keaton's Science Fair.  Next?!!!!   We have rooms available on....jk!  We love having visitors.

Here is a brief run down of our St. Patrick's dinner.  My mother in law used to make a corned beef and cabbage for my son years ago and he loved it.  So when Keaton became vegan I told him I would rally up a recipe for him to make him something similar.  My first go around with making the meal was okay.  The second go around, jack pot!  So this year I used the same recipe and it was a hit again with the kid.  My brother even had some and said it was pretty good.  The corned seitan recipe from Vegan Dad was made the previous day.  I didn't have any allspice or juniper berries so I didn't add that and I didn't use as much seasoned salt.  Then for the stew part I used Susan's, Corned "beef" and cabbage recipe at Fat Free Vegan .  I just added a bit more herbs in this and a bit more wine.  I actually think it turned out tastier than last years.

This next bit I've been wanting to post for some time now and it's regarding cows milk, or actually any type of animal milk.  For those of you who still eat and drink animal products or are new to being vegan here is some info.

 So we were driving around alot this weekend in Santa Barbara trying to get Keaton's science fair project working and so I picked up the local calendar called the Independent.  I notice this article that reads "Breast Milk Canape." Hmmmm...sounds interesting,  so I read it and you can too just click here.   So if you just read the article, what is so weird about this?  Wait!  Hold on now.... what I mean is if people drink cows milk or goats why would it gross them out?  Now.....what is milk for?  It's for babies.  Mothers milk from humans or cows, or goats, or pigs...it's for their babies!   Milk is the secretions of the mammory glands that provides food for their babies, it has all of the wonderful antibodies and nutrients for their young.  Now in the article it quotes "Mothers milk, technically, should be one of the healthiest things people can put in their bodies".   But mothers milk is made for babies not adults, it has a high content of fat which is needed for the baby.  Babies at some point are weened off of mothers milk to eat solid food.  Most people whether they know it or not are lactose intolerent or allergic to dairy, we lose the enzyme lactase to metabolize it.  Then there is alot of talk about added hormones to cows milk which was a big deal years ago but cows milk naturally has hormones in it, it's for the calves to grow and calves grow at a rapid pace compared to human babies and they also are bigger and heavier than humans. So people are consuming massive amounts of this stuff which has cows hormones in it. 

 Moooving on....cows are bred into producing 10 times more more milk just for human consumption!  The cows live uncomfortably and is very taxing on the cows which can lead to getting sick easier and when they stop producing milk at around 4 years old, they will take them to slaughter.   They are also articifically inseminated so they can keep producing milk, then the male calves are taken away from these dairy cows and are used as veal and the females are led on to the dairy life. These animals are being used as machines, they are not treated with any respect what so ever! 

Let's talk cheese.  In the cheese making process they use rennet.  Rennet comes from the lining of the calves stomache, some places use vegetarian rennet and they will list it on the packaging if they do. On a health note just think of how many dairy products are consumed each day. Cows milk with breakfast, cheese on the lunch sandwich, yogurt for a snack, cheese on tonight's dinner pasta, encho's, pizza, burrito's, etc. Dairy Ice cream for dessert.  All of that saturated fat and cholestrol you are putting into your body that is moving through those arteries slowly clogging them up.  We grow up eating dairy products and are told to do so to get our calcium and then we tell this to our kids.  If we eliminate dairy you may ask how do I get my calcium?  Where do the animals get their calcium from?  Cows get there calcium from certain grasses, clover, etc and look how strong they are.  But the cows now a days in the factory farms don't get to eat and roam in the fields so they are given calcium in their food. Well these cows aren't drinking there own milk or anyone else's.  Got you thinking?  Hmmmmm... so if they are given calcium in their food then we can take calcium supplements too.  We can also get calcium from plant foods, seeds, nuts and tofu.    Dr. Fuhrman has a great book called "Disease Proof Your Child" and he speaks about calcium and vitamin D and gives some examples of how much foods contain calcium and how much is absorbed.  One example is:

100 calories of skim milk  calcium 334mg.  percent 32  amount absorbed 107mg

100 calories of bok choy  calcium 787 mg.  percent 54  amount absorbed 434 mg.

So you see we absorb more calcium from eating these plant foods than from animal foods.  Also when you eat animal products and high amounts of salt they make the body acidic so in order to neutralize the body it will take calcium from the bones to make it alkaline and then it is excreted from the body.  When eating plant foods or non animal products,which are not acidic to the body, you don't need as much calcium because less will be excreted.  There are also so many foods that are fortified with calcium, from cereal to orange juice so the chances of not getting enough calcium is slim. The bigger concern recently has been are we getting enough Vit. D which luckily out here in California we get alot of it.  Yay for the sun!

So instead of that slice of cheese try a slice of a creamy avocado, it contains 20 nutrients , contains vitamin E, folic acid, b-vitamins, to name a few and contains healthy fats, no cholesterol.  For milk there are many non dairy milks ranging from soy-rice-hemp milk and many brands that make them.  Take your pick!  I know it takes a while to eliminate dairy, some more than others, do to us eating it from toddler on to adult but you can do it if you realy want to.

So I have spoken and have got that out of my system. Maybe for those who may not have made the switch from vegetarian to vegan yet will realize that these animals are treated just as badly and end up in the same place as those raised for their flesh.  I just wish more people will read more about these things and make a more compassionate and healthy choice. 

  Next time you see a cow, or pig, or goat, look into their eyes...and their whole being.  They eat, breath, scratch when they are itchy, soak in the sun and relax....just like us! 

Have a wonderful and compassionate day!

The Monday after....

It's Monday and the family has gone. My in-laws left Saturday afternoon. My sister and her family(from Arizona) arrived yesterday afternoon and left this morning to go visit my parents up north. My dad has a lung condition, kind of like that mesothelioma, and it's getting worse. He coughs all of the time and there is no cure. So my sister wanted to go visit because she doesn't know when she'll be able to go back up there.

Anyhooo....here are some Christmas pic's of the family.

My mother in law in her Christmas pj's. My father-in-law has passed over the job of being Santa to my mother-in-law. He says he's retired. I guess retiring from work also means retiring from a lot of other things as well. lol!!!

One of the sweaters we got for my father-in-law. He's a Football coach at Pierce College and he's always wearing the Pierce College sweat shirt, all of the time, even going out. So now maybe he will wear a sweater when they go out with their friends.

A very cool cast iron tea pot for my mother-in-law. She loves red, can you tell? lol! She drinks alot of hot tea and this will keep her water hot. I really wanted to keep it because this is the type of teapot i've been wanting for many years . Oh well.

My son opening up the "big gift" he got from us. He got a microphone and stand that he can hook up to his amp. Cleo dog being nosey as always.

After riddles from the in-laws that took us all over the house. We found an item covered up in the back of their explorer that we had to carry in. What is it?

Our first flat screen tv! Whoo hoo! They got one to fit into our cabinet. My father-in-law kept telling my mother-in-law that he knew they should've gone bigger. I just told them that there is always next year! hee hee hee. They got our first t.v. for us when we got our condo. way back when. Christmas dinner was nice. Plenty of food left over. Let's see there are fresh green beans, grilled asparagus, easy seitan cutlets with chimichurri sauce, bread, stuffed portobellos, butternut squash risotto and roasted root veggies. Yum it was all good!

We had a very nice Christmas as we usually do. It's also nice when you can stay home and don't have to drive anywhere.

Warm sweet potato and corn stew

My mother-in-law subscribed me to Better Homes and Gardens a while back and I found this recipe last month that I've been wanting to veganize. The magazine itself is adding more vegetarian recipes but many are not. This recipe is actually called Sweet Potato and Hominy Stew. Hominy can look a bit scary looking, it is actually corn without the hull or processed corn, not everyone likes it and if you do you have to really be in the mood to eat it. So I decided to use corn to replace the hominy. Below are the changes that I made to the recipe. The stew has a nice sweet and subtle flavor you can also add beans if you'd like.

Ingredient:
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 14-oz. cans vegetable broth
2 cups water
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped ( 5 cups)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dried oregano, crushed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 lg bag frozen corn
1 large red sweet pepper, coarsely chopped
10 oz. seitan, sliced(store bought or homemade)*
bbq sauce
Cilantro
Lime wedges

Directions
First prepare the seitan. If you are using pre-made slice up and add bbq sauce. If homemade seitan, I made the seitan cutlets from VCON and then browned in a skillet. Next I sliced 4 of them and added bbq sauce. Let it sit for at least 3 hours.

1. In saucepan or Dutch oven cook garlic and onion and red pepper in hot oil until tender. Stir in broth and water; add sweet potatoes, chili powder, oregano, cinnamon, and cumin. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Stir in corn and sliced seitan. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until heated through.
2. Serve with cilantro, lime wedges, and Cumin Polenta. Makes 8 servings.

Cumin Polenta: In large heavy saucepan combine 2, 14-oz. cans veggie broth and 2 teaspoons ground cumin; bring to boiling. Reduce heat; gradually whisk in 1 cup yellow cornmeal. Cook and stir until thick, about 6 to 8 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup non-dairy milk and 1 tablespoon EB. Season with salt and pepper.

Barbecued Vegetable Salad with Seitan Ribz

Warm days, lot's of salads. My husband is a fan of the barbecued salads. You get the flavor of bbq and then use ranch dressing and then drizzle on the bbq sauce. We like the Follow Your Heart Garlic Ranch or something like that, it's the vegan one. We then bbq extra firm tofu or Seitan Ribz, recipe from Susan at http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ fatfree kitchen. I usually don't use iceberg, but for this one I add it to mixed green lettuce. This picture doesn't show the avocado or tortilla chips. I took the picture too soon and then my camera was acting up. Also the Real Food Daily cookbook has a really good cilantro dressing that goes well with this also.

Recipe:
Add as much as you want of the following this is what I used.

Vegan Ranch
Barbecue Sauce
Mixed Lettuce Greens w/iceberg
1/4 c.cilantro(optional)
1 red onion, diced
3 tomatoes
2 fresh corn, I boil for 15 min. then grill it.
2 zucchini, sliced
2 yellow crookneck squash, sliced
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
2 bell pepper, slice
2 carrots,(I love grill carrots)
1 can 15 oz. black beans, drained
1 avocado
tortilla chips, broken up
tofu or seitan ribz(optional)

If you are grilling tofu, I smother it in bbq sauce and let it sit for about an hour. I grill the tofu or Seitan ribz last. Slice the zucchini, bell pepper, yellow squash about 1/4 inch thick, and carrot,
put in large bowl or casserole dish. Trim asparagus and add to bowl. Mix with some olive oil and salt and you are ready for the grill. I like to grill the vegetables until they have that grilled look to them. When you are done boiling the corn you can brush on some olive oil and salt and add to vegetables. In a large bowl I mix the lettuce, red onion and tomatoes. Crush tortilla chips for topping. When everything is done grilling. Chop the vegetables and tofu or seitan. In the lettuce bowl add the vegetables, black beans. Plate the salad,add avocado, dressing, drizzle with barbecue sauce and top with tortilla chips. Wallah! SO GOOD!

Corned Seitan and Cabbage

For St. Patty's day my mother-in-law used to make my son Corned beef and cabbage in his pre-vegan days. So his first year as a vegan I found a vegan recipe for it and it was just okay. This years recipe is a keeper! I've never eaten it before so I didn't know what it really was supposed to taste like, but I was given the thumbs up on this one.
I used the "Vegan Corned beef" recipe from
Vegan Dad, but added some fennel and a bit of molasses to it. This recipe is so good, my son said it tastes so much better than last years recipe.
Then I used Susan's recipe at Fatfree Kitchen for the rest of the recipe. I boiled some potatoes and added it to it at the end.

Fennel Risotto and Salisbury Seitan

If you are starting to crave lighter foods, like I am, this is a nice one to make. I had to use up the fennel I bought from the farmers market.

Fennel Risotto

2 T. olive oil (more may be needed)
1 medium fennel, thinly sliced
1/2 C. onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 C. risotto
1/3 C. white wine or marsala
4 C. vegetable broth, hot ( may need more)
S & P to taste

Heat a bit of olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat and add fennel to saute until somewhat soft. Once done take out the fennel and put in a seperate bowl and set aside. Next add more oil to pan and saute onions and garlic until soft. You may have to add more oil to pan if dry and add risotto, stir until light brown. Once lightly browned add the wine and stir until hardly any liquid is left. Next start adding the warmed vegetable broth 1/2 C. at a time, stir, and once the liquid is almost soaked into the risotto is when you add the next 1/2 c. of broth. It's possible you made need more liquid. Keep the process up until there is no more broth. Once the risotto is done you can stir in the fennel. Season to taste.
If you want you can add a Tablespoon of Earth Balance just to give it a more creamier texture. You can also add a dab of Tofutti cream cheese or any soy cream cheese.

The Salisbury Seitan recipe is from The Real Food Daily cookbook. For this dish I also use their seitan recipe. It has a softer, spongier texture that is perfect for this. The one thing I do change with the Salisbury recipe is that the sauce asks for 1/2 c. oil, too much oil for me! I only use like 1 Tablespoon of oil and add more water and a bit more soy to thin out. The sauce just soaks into this seitan. This is a good recipe for people who are transitioning into vegetarianism/veganism. My husband loves this! The seitan looks like it is dry but it's not, believe me. Although I usually have extra sauce in the pan, I halved the sauce recipe that why there isn't any extra to spoon on top. You can also make gravy to put on this or just make more sauce and heat it in a pan. Serve with a nice green salad and you are good to go!

Seitan Cutlets with Mushroom Ragu,mashed potatoes and sauteed greens

Valentines is about sharing a great meal and spending quality time with the ones you love. Oh, and a nice glass of wine or a bottle, I prefer the later.

To our surprise my husband arrived home from work early and he suggested we go into town to walk around a bit before dinner, so we bundled up and headed on out. This actually was perfect timing because the french bread dough was on it's second rise.

Before dinner we had a little entertainment. My sons Valentine gift to his dad was playing a song from a band my husband likes, we had set up the music/office room with candles and my son played his guitar while I sang. That was a lot of fun.

Next it was dinner and was it amazing if I do say so myself. hee hee.

I made seitan cutluts from VCON, smothered in a mushroom ragout(from Emeril on the green channel) if you love mushrooms as much as we do you will love this! I did add a bit of Marsala wine to give it a deeper flavor. I put this on a bed of mashed potatoes and a side of sauteed greens. Served with a salad and homemade french bread. It looked and tasted like a meal from a nice restaurant. I was very pleased with myself as well as my family was, as there was not one morsel left on their plates. I will definitely make this for dinner guests.