Seitan Portobello Stroganoff

Again, I did not write where I got this...what has become of me? This is horrible! If it wasn't so good, I wouldn't even post it, but...it was soooo yummy! I have to share! If you know whose recipe this is, please write it in the comments and I will credit them! (eep x's 2)

1/2 Pound Wide Noodles
3 1/2 cups Seitan, sliced with wide strips
2 TBSP and 1 TSP Olive Oil
1 Cup Shallots, thinly sliced
1 Large Onion, quartered and sliced in half moons
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
2 Cups Cremini Mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 Portobello Caps, thinly sliced
1 Cup Burgundy cooking wine
2 Cups Cold Water
2 TBSP Arrowroot Powder (or corn starch)
2 TBSP Fresh Thyme, chopped
1 TBSP Paprika
2 TSP Salt
1?2 Cup Nutritional Yeast
2 TSP Dijon Mustard
1/2 Almond or Soy milk (original, non sweetened)
1 Cup Peas

Dissolve arrowroot in the 2 cups of water, set aside.

Heat olive oil in skillet over med heat. Add shallots and onions, saute for 5 mins. Add garlic, mushrooms and the thyme. Saute for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat cast iron skillet with 1 TSP olive oil, just to coat it. Add the seitan and saute over med heat about 25 mins, until it's dark brown and crispy on the outside. (Store bought seitan, only 10 mins)

Back to the sauce (your shallot, onion garlic, mushroom and thyme concoction from above) - add salt, wine and paprika. Turn heat up high to reduce liquid, about 10 mins.

Lower heat to med-high, add water and arrowroot, stir well and let sauce thicken, about 5 mins. Add nutriational yeast and mix well until dissolved. Add soy/almond milk and mustard and bring heat down low, be very careful not to let it boil as the milk and mustard bitter. Add sietan and peas, cook for another 10 more minutes.

Divide noodles into bowls (I am assuming here that you know how to cook your noodles!) and mix in the stroganoff. It is best to mix immediately so tha pasta wont stick.

(Can serve on mashed potatoes tooooooooo!)

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup

A while ago I blogged about trying a few recipes and posted some pictures. I wanted to add them to my new recipe page! Here is the first one, but can't for the life of me remember where I got it from! Oh the horror! If it sounds familiar and you know whose it is, please, please tell me so I can tag and credit them (eep!)

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 Cup Raw Cashews (soaked from an hour to overnight)
2 Cups Vegetable Broth
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 Small Onion, diced
Half Head of Cauliflower, chopped
1 Clove of Garlic, chopped
1 generous handful of Oster Mushrooms, chopped
1 generous handful of other Mushrooms of choice, chopped
2 Cups Water
2 Bay leaves
1 TSP Thyme
1/4 TSP White Pepper (optional)
1/2 TSP Salt (leave out if broth is salted)

Add broth and Cashews to blender and blend until smooth. (2 - 3 mins) Set aside.

Saute mushrooms over med heat in their own pan for 5 mins. Set Aside.

Add olive oil to a large pot over med heat. Once oil is warm, add onion and cauliflower. Saute for 5 mins. Add garlic and saute for another minute. Add in about 3/4 of mushrooms, the cashew mixture, water bay leaves, thyme, pepper and salt. Stir everything and cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove bay leaves. If you have an immersion blender, blend everything in the pot. If not, transfer to blender and blend until smooth and then add back to pot, then add the remaining mushrooms.

Alicia Silverstone for Juice Beauty

Alicia Silverstone was my first introduction to veganism. I had purchased The Kind Diet and really enjoyed her approach. It was a non preachy nudge and she was ok if you were just there to experiment. Fast forward a few years and I am still reading her blog and following all her updates. She has never steered me wrong!

Alicia has now joined up with Juice Beauty to start a collection. You can find it here.

I'm pretty excited to hear about this!

Michelle Pfeiffer decides to become vegan

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

This recipe is from Happy Herbivore. I love her site, she has so much great stuff on there!

I made these tonight and they are pretty yummy.

 

1½ cups whole wheat pastry flour 

½ cup rolled oats 

2 tsp baking powder

 1 tsp baking soda

 ½ cup brown sugar

 1 tsp cinnamon

 ½ tsp ground ginger

 ¼ tsp salt 

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

 ¼ cup pure maple syrup 

¾ cup wild blueberries, frozen 

Preheat oven 350 F. Grease or spray a muffin tin or paper liners if using. In a large bowl, whisk flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices together until well combined. Add applesauce, sugars and maple then stir until almost combined. Add blueberries, stirring until just combined. Spoon into muffin cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle additional oats and brown sugar on top if desired. Bake 18 to 25 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

This is my own concoction and I found them quite dense. I actually didn't mind too much as it made a pretty good snack in the afternoon and kept me full!

3/4 cup Agave nectar

1/2 cup Earth Balance Butter

Egg replacer for 1 egg (either powdered replacer OR 1 tbsp ground flax to 6 tbsp water)

3 ripe bananas

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 kiwi mixture - optional
1/2 carrot/kale mixture- optional

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 

1 dash cinnamon

1 dash nutmeg

Optional Mixtures - are the pulp from my juicer. If you don't have a juicer and still want to add them, just chop or mush your kiwi with the bananas. For the kale and carrots you can finely chop and grate.

If you don't have a juicer, your ingredients will most definitely be a bit runny. I would add at least a half cup more of flour, but you can eye ball it!

Add all dry ingredients first, mixing well. Add wet ingredients in separate bowl and cream together. Once everything is mixed well fold the wet into dry and portion out into your greased muffin tin.

This makes 12 muffins. I baked for 30 mins at 350 degrees and then checked with a tooth pick and then put it in for roughly 20 mins more. Just keep your eye on them the last 10 mins :)

Gnocchi

Another example of how I cook...'throw things into the pot and see if it works' !!

I made some rice and some potato gnocchi in the last few weeks. I have to say I like the potato one better. The rice seemed a bit more mushy...or maybe it was my cooking technique!  Anywhohaw, they still were good with what I put on them!

Attempt #1

My first attempt was pretty simple.

1 package of Rice Gnocchi
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped Sun dried tomato
1/2 cup chopped Spinach
1 clove minced Garlic
Pinch of chopped fresh Rosemary
Small bushel of chopped fresh Basil
Dab of Miso paste

In a small bowl add the olive oil (enough to cover all the gnocchi - maybe a tablespoon and a bit), sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, rosemary, basil and a dash of miso paste and mix together.

Bring salted water to a boil and then add your gnocchi. After all the pieces have floated to the top, remove from heat, drain water and rinse. Add the gnocchi straight to the sauce and mixed all together.

It tasted pretty fresh with the herbs, since they were fresh from my (mini) garden!

Attempt #2

My second attempt was a bit more intense and obviously for comfort. It was a rainy week and it definitely felt like winter even though it is almost summer :)

As you can see it is a bit more, um, cheesy!

1 Package of Potato Gnocchi
3/4 cup shredded daiya
1/2 cup tofutti sour cream
1/2 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian herb mix
1 teaspoon ume plum vinegar
1/2 cup chopped spinach
bushel of chopped basil
1/2 can artichoke hearts
Salt and pepper to taste

Melt daiya cheese in with the sour cream and almond milk on a low/med heat. I added the olive oil, vinegar and some salt and pepper when it started to melt together.

Once everything looks like a nice cheese sauce, add the chopped basil, spinach and artichokes.

Bring salted water to a boil and then add your gnocchi. After all the pieces have floated to the top, remove from heat, drain water and rinse. I added the gnocchi straight to the sauce and mixed all together.

Is sugar toxic?

Here is a video posted by 60 minutes from April 1st.

The Story of Cosmetics