In With the New

I am drawn to the complicated. Ask anyone who knows me well, and they will surely agree. Guess what? New year, new me. Newly veganized, for one, (and finally so, I'm sure Lindsey will say!), and secondly, I've had enough of complications. One of the biggest challenges of any lifestyle change is figuring out how to simplify it enough to incorporate it into your everyday routine. I am on a mission to find meals to make that require no more then five ingredients, and that can be prepared in almost as little time as the convinience food I rely on. (Luna bar, anyone?). It is a subtle shift, but making meals is an integral part of being well, so for me the shift is an important one. These fajitas were my dinner tonight, and my lunch tomorrow. They also feature seitan, our blog's favorite protein source. Enjoy!

Fajitas
-1 package of chicken-style seitan
-1 large green pepper, cut as you like
-salsa (I am partial to Newman's Own Mild)
-whole wheat fajita wraps

Heat a large skillet, and cook seitan until browned and thoroughly warmed. Add the green pepper when the seitan is almost done cooking (it is easy to tell, but a good rule of thumb is when nearly half the seitan is browned on the exterior), and stir-fry until browned.
If you would like, heat the fajita wraps in the oven, and then assemble as desired. Top with salsa.
There are many other fajita toppings that you can think of adding, so be as creative as you like! Or, keep things as simple as you want to. It might do you some good.

Calling a truce with Setian- Sort of.

Last night I finally made a dinner that was super tasty- it's been a few weeks, I have either had no time to cook, or cooked things that were just kinda blah. Why I have not tried the Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon until yesterday, I will never know. Mashed chickpeas are combined with vital wheat gluten (my former enemy) veggie broth, bread crumbs, and a few other things and then baked until crispy perfection. They needed just a little umph, so I made a quick white wine/shallot/picada like sauce for the cutlets- PERFECT. YUM!!!!! I made herb scalloped potatoes (also from Veganomicon) and Phil's new favorite thing, kale chips, as well. I only wish I had the energy to make the same meal tonight- I'm hungry!

Sunday Night Setian

Here's last Sunday night's country-fried-seitan dinner. Full disclosure: the setian was store bought, I still haven't found a solution for the icky tasting vital wheat gluten I was using. A shout out to Phil for the delish mushroom gravy and snazzy plating skills.

Red Wine Roux avec Setian!

I am almost finished reading "Julie and Julia", a memoir of a woman who makes all of the recipes from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in the span of one year (and I think the movie is coming out soon?). Next, I am going to read Julia's memoir... So you could say I am on a bit of a Julia Child kick.

Although I wouldn't be able to attempt most of the recipes on "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" (not sure what the vegan equivalent of brains or kidneys would be), I did feel inspired this evening to attempt a red wine roux sauce from "Veganomicon".

My co-chef and I began by making a basic roux (which we were further inspired to attempt after watching the last episode of Top Chef) then added shallots, garlic, celery, veggie broth (which I made from scratch yesterday!!!) and stirred it until it thickened. Then we added some red wine and let it bubble away until it was thick and purple, and finally we put it on top of some homemade seitan and mashed potatoes.

The end result was highly delicious!! C'est bonne! Celine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last Night's Dinner

The Meal: Faux "Chicken" and "J-lo's Fried Chicken" from Vegan a Go-GO! Also, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts, and some gravy made from the seitan broth.

Here's a shout-out to you, Ashley. I tried to recreate the magic of the meal we made a few weeks ago, but it wasn't quite the same... It still tasted good, but the seitan failed to triple in size, as it had the first time we made it... Perhaps because I cooked it in a large dutch oven instead of a smaller pot?

However, it was still pretty tasty.