Chicken fried seitan tenders

June 24, 2010 | 2 Comments »

Last night I ran across this recipe while trying to come up with ideas for dinner. Looking at those photos left me hungry and craving a piece of crispy seitan like you wouldn’t believe. Seriously, did you see that sandwich? Wow!

Anyway, knowing how much my darling husband loves seitan I figured it would be a cool way to keep meat off his plate for at least one night out of the week. I decided to turn my seitan into tenders to make them more fun. The recipe is pretty easy to follow and I had everything on hand. The end result was just amazing. They were so crispy on the outside and so tender and juicy on the inside. Juan ended up eating that entire plate. He then said it would be awesome on a toasted roll with some Fakin’ Bacon. I don’t know about the Fakin’ Bacon, but a toasted roll with some lettuce, tomato and onion with some ‘honey’ mustard drizzled on top? Now that I can do! But we didn’t have any rolls or lettuce or even tomato. However, that didn’t stop Juan from eating those delicious seitan tenders as is with some ‘honey’ mustard dipping sauce.

Thank you, Voracious Vegan. Thank you for sharing such wonderful recipes and helping me out of my slump. I’m totally looking forward to trying out the Swedish Meatballs next.

Scallion pancakes

June 23, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Back in Jersey every time we ordered Chinese take-out I always ordered a side of scallion pancakes. I mean really, who CAN resist these simple yet delicious pieces of goodness? When we moved here I knew ordering Chinese take-out would be difficult as a vegan. However, I thought scallion pancakes would be easy since it’s usually just flour, water and scallion. Simple! Only it wasn’t so simple. We’ve been to every Chinese restaurant we’ve seen and heard of and not one of them makes scallion pancake. So sad.

So while cleaning out my bookmarks last week I came across this blog post. I remember bookmarking it thinking that I had to try it out some day. Since I’ve been craving scallion pancakes and can’t find them anywhere, I figured now was the time to try making them myself.

I’ve come across many recipes for scallion pancakes, but this one is by far the easiest looking one. It’s so detailed. The photos really helped. I always get confused when I’m being told to twist this way and then back that way and then smash down and… well… you get the idea. It’s confusing! You can’t go wrong with a photo! Her recipe was adapted from this one which also contains photos in case you need a visual like I did. I’m warning you though, looking at those sites will make you want to make scallion pancakes. In fact I’m tempted to march into my kitchen and whip up a batch right now.

Amazing black bean burgers

June 8, 2010 | 6 Comments »

I have eaten many black bean burgers in the past two years. Before going vegan I’ve never had one. Heck, I’ve never even heard of them. I believe the first one I ever tried was from Chili’s. That was before I went vegan though. So if you’re reading this, know that the black bean burger from Chili’s is not vegan. Anyway, I thought it was pretty good. Then I bought a box frozen black bean burgers to enjoy at home whenever I wanted. Those were just ok. I so wished I could just make my own, but I assumed they were too much work. After I decided to go vegan I knew I had to start making my own if I ever wanted to enjoy one again. To my surprise they’re VERY easy to make. And I bet you have most if not all of the ingredients in your kitchen!

I’ve tried many different recipes. I loved each and every one of them. However, I recently came across this recipe and gave that one a try. Oh my goodness! This is hands down the BEST tasting black bean burger EVER! All of the ingredients go together so nicely to create the most flavorful burger I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating. Seriously. Make this burger! Like now!

I made a few changes. Nothing major. I added a little more sun dried tomato and actually ground it up into a paste almost. I didn’t have any red onion on hand so I used a regular old sweet onion and chopped it VERY finely. The black bean burger already has a nice texture and I didn’t want to take away from it with huge chunks of onion. But believe me when I tell you, the onion basil aioli really does go well with this burger. It’s seriously bursting with flavor. Yum!

I usually get about 5 or 6 large burgers from this recipe. After cooking them I let them cool down and pop them in the freezer. That way I can enjoy a burger whenever I want. And there’s no crappy stuff in it what-so-ever. What’s better than that?