A new "What's for dinner?" thread! - Page 2

[mountainsun]

Last night we had those California veggie burgers (costco) and boiled small red creamer potatoes from our farmer's market. Also left over baked beans.

Tonight we are making tofu quesadillas with refried beans and cous cous. Ds2 doesn't like rice, so we often have cous cous instead, which I get in bulk from my hfs

Anyone have a good recipe for baked beans?

[madskye]

Indian food:

1 box Tasty Bites lentils & kidney beans (this is very good, spicy, and gingery--you can microwave it in two minutes)

a crazy veg curry with garam masala, lots of cilantro, red peppers, onions, yellow squash, and peas.

Both over brown rice.

With beer.

Or, as my two year old calls it: BEE-YAH!

[UnschoolnMa]

Originally Posted by catnip

Soyrizo Red Bean and Rice stew:

Take a large onion, a large carrot, 2 stalks of celery and a red bell pepper, chop and cook until just tender in a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the contents of 1/2 a package of Soyrizo sausage, then 1 cup uncooked brown rice. Add 4 cups of water and simmer until most of the water is absorbed, and the rice is cooked. Add 2 rinsed, drained cans of red beans, and crushed garlic to taste. Serve with a chunk of crusty bread and Tabasco.

Oh this sounds so good! I am totally going to make this very soon. Thanks for sharing.

Homemade chili here tonight for me and Ds.

[HelloKitty]

I made vegan pot roast in the crock pot (seitan was the "meat"), it was delicious. I used sweet potatoes instead of regular, yummy.

[KnockedUpButtercup]

I made seitan today, so we're having Vegetarian "Fried Chicken" tonight: spicy anasazi beans, kale, "chicken fried" seitan, and broccoli cornbread muffins.

Does anyone else have a problem with anasazi beans losing their color when you cook them? They're so pretty dry, and I wish I could get them to keep their color/pattern, but it mostly disappears when I cook them.

Holly

[KnockedUpButtercup]

Originally Posted by HelloKitty

I made vegan pot roast in the crock pot (seitan was the "meat"), it was delicious. I used sweet potatoes instead of regular, yummy.

This is a recipe I would love to have, if you feel like sharing!

Holly

[HelloKitty]

Originally Posted by KnockedUpButtercup

This is a recipe I would love to have, if you feel like sharing!

Sure! It's from "Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker", one of my favorite cookbooks.

Combine one 6-ounce box seitan quick mix with 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, 1/ 2 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Add 1/2 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of tamari and mix well, adding more water if too dry, knead until smooth (takes about 3 minutes) and form into a seitan ball. Place in crock pot.

In a large skillet heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat and add 2 small sweet yellow onions quartered, 1 pound baby carrots, 1 pound small new potatoes halved (or use sweet potatoes like I did, cut into chunks) cook just to brown and season with salt and pepper. Add to crock pot.

Pour in 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock and 1/4 cup dry red wine, one tablespoon tamari, 2 cloves garlic crushed and 1 teaspoon dried thyme. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

To make a gravy from the cooking liquid, remove the "roast" and veggies, turn the crock pot on high and whisk in one tablespoon of cornstarch blended with 2 tablespoons of water and stir until it thickens. Slice the roast and serve!

(If you don't feel like taking the time to make the roast you can use precooked packaged seitan instead, just add in on top of the veggies.)

Enjoy!

[HelloKitty]

Oh and tonight we had apple and sage field roast "sausages" with mashed sweet potatoes and salad.

[Marlet]

We had lentil burgers again. I used rice in it this time instead of bread crumbs and because that and the lentils were too wet they didn't form patties very well. I cooked them the same (baked) and then just put them in a bowl and topped it with soy sauce. Still tasty!

Oh, and DH LOVES them (in patty form ). He ate them the first time and ended up worried. He had been on the phone when he grabbed his plate (already prepared) and didn't get a chance to ask what it was. After he ate two he came in to ask if I had gotten beef when I went to the store. Nice and meaty!

[UnschoolnMa]

I am probably the only veg who hasn't tried seitan yet. How is that pronounced anyway? (See-tan? Saytan? ) I must get me some next shopping trip.

[madskye]

Say-tan. I have a really good seitan stroganoff recipe....

But tonight we had fake meatball parm sandwiches, on toasted ciabatta bread with melted mozzarella. Meatless meatballs in a garlic tomato sauce. Delicious. Salad on the side with chopped pepper, onion, tomato and really delicious baby cucumber, dressed with oil and balsamic vinegar and shavings of parmesan.

[Marlet]

I've never tried it either. I read a recipe for stroganoff the other day thatused it though. I stroganoff and have been sad to not have a good substitute for it. You can do it meatless but it just isn't the same you know? Maybe we'll get some on our next grocery run.

[KnockedUpButtercup]

HelloKitty:

Thanks for the recipe! I'm going to try it next weekend...it sounds great, and very kid/husband friendly. The sweet potatoes sound like a great substitution. I've never seen seitan mix...I usually make my own from vital wheat gluten flour. I could make some with the spices you've listed...I bet that would work. The cooking liquid would replace the usual simmering broth...I'm ready to experiment! I can't WAIT until school is out (4 more days) and I can cook without desperation.


UnSchooln and OtherMother:

Seitan is so good! I used to be stingy with it, since the pre-made kind is a bit steep for my budget, but since I found out how to make it (inexpensive and easy) we have it all the time...at least once a week. You can flavor it to taste like chicken or sausage (those are the only two ways I've tried, but there are more), it has a great texture, and it freezes well. I'll post the instructions, if anyone wants them.

Holly

PS Has anyone seen the t-shirt from Herbivore.com that says "Hail Seitan" on it, with a pentagram made of forks? One of my students has it...poor Cali girl, dumped in Houston to live with her dad. At least I was able to explain to our principal that she's not planning a child sacrifice...that would be very un-vegan.

[boogiemonster]

We had individual pizzas on naan bread with veg caesar salad. It was so yummy.

Holly: I'm a seitan virgin, too, so I'd love some step-by-step instructions! Anything to add something more meaty tasting to the menu for my omni husband.

[UnschoolnMa]

Originally Posted by KnockedUpButtercup

'll post the instructions, if anyone wants them.

Please do...thanks muchly.

PS Has anyone seen the t-shirt from Herbivore.com that says "Hail Seitan" on it, with a pentagram made of forks? One of my students has it...poor Cali girl, dumped in Houston to live with her dad. At least I was able to explain to our principal that she's not planning a child sacrifice...that would be very un-vegan.

Love it!

[KnockedUpButtercup]

Basic Seitan Instructions:

*This is a tweaked version of the recipe in La Dolce Vegan...I incorporated some tips I found on a blog called "Megan the Vegan." I found the vital wheat gluten at Whole Foods, with the Bob's Red Mill flours.

The seitan:

1 c vital wheat gluten flour
1 c water

Stir together until it becomes elastic, then knead 5 minutes. I let the bread machine do this, and allowed 10 minutes of kneading once the "mixing" part was over.

Ok, that's it...you have dough. The most wet, elastic, "alive" dough of all time. Cut it in half, pat it into a long strip (I use a sort of gentle "karate chop" motion), cut the strip into sections...steaks, chunks, strips, "wings." It will expand when you cook it (A LOT), so plan for that.

Now, the flavoring part:

Simmer it in something for 50-60, stirring every 10 minutes, until most of the broth is absorbed (there are two recipes below). There will come a point when it won't absorb anymore. At this point, you have seitan (and lots of it!), and it tastes pretty good, but you still need to "cook" it before serving it. We've used the "chicken" style in stirfries and casseroles, as well as frying it (I swear, if you bread it and fry it, it will taste just like the "steakette" patties they serve in school cafeterias).

The "sausage" style is good in gravy and on pizza, or cut into patties or links and baked (350ish for 10-20 mins, but my oven cooks hot).

It keeps in the fridge for a week and the freezer for 6 months, according to my recipe.

"Chicken" Style Broth:

4 cups water
4 tblsp tamari or soy sauce
1/2 c nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp salt (I omit this, since soy sauce is so salty)

"Sausage" Style Broth:

4 cups water
4 tblsp tamari or soy sauce
2 tblsp nutritional yeast
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp Vegan Worcestershire
2 tsp dried sage
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp salt (I reduced this)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp liquid smoke

*Sometimes I halve the broth recipes but make both, and divide my raw dough between them for sausage AND chicken!

I just started making this stuff maybe a month ago and I'm getting ready to experiment with adding spices, etc. to the dough, so Hello Kitty's recipe seems like a good place for me to start.

[HelloKitty]

I love Seitan (especially in strogonoff!) - I totally need that t-shirt!!!!!!!!

[HelloKitty]

I just ordered the t-shirt, I could not resist.

[boogiemonster]

Thanks for the seitan advice. I'm trying to be really sodium-conscious, so the pre-packaged veggie meats are not my first choice. I can't wait to try some of the recipes!

[Marlet]

Ok DH has food issues. We thought at one point that he had a gluten issue. We still aren't sure. Does anyone know if seitan is a trigger for those with gluten intolerances. I'd love to try it but I don't want to make a batch and make DH sick.