Slow cooker Beef Seitan

So it’s technically still Monday here on the west coast! Yes I know I’m a week late on publishing my beef seitan recipe but none the less here it is and it’s pretty darn good. So good in fact that my youngest dog Bonnie loves watching me make it; that and she enjoys sneaking into the recycling to sneak a taste of any leftover soy.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe.  It’s really easy to make and I find making seitan in the slow cooker is a completely fool proof way of cooking seitan.

“Beef” Seitan

Seitan

1 1/2 cups active wheat gluten

1/3 cup nooch (nutritional yeast aka yummiest thing ever)

1/2 of a 300g container of soft tofu

1 tbsp montreal steak spice

1 tsp cumin

3/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp ketchup

1tbsp soy sauce (or Braggs)

2 tbsp of vegan beef broth

Broth

4 cups water

2 tbsp vegan beef broth

sprinkle of montreal steak spice

Directions 

Combine all dry ingredient in a large mixing bowl and be sure to mix well.

Combine water, oil, ketchup, soy sauce,  vegan beef broth and soft tofu in a separate bowl.

Add wet ingredients to the dry and knead with your hands for roughly 5 minutes. Separate dough into 2 part and roll them into 2 small loaves. Let rest for 1 hour.

After dough has rested cut each loaf into 4 pieces and place into slow cooker. Add broth to slow cooker and set to low and cook for 8 hours. If you’re like me and like to occasionally sleep in on your days off you can cook the seitan for 4 hours on high.

Guilt-Free Sweet Potato Boats

This week seems to have whizzed by! I’ve been playing around with what I’m cooking over the last two weeks and I think that adds to the pace. I mentioned in my Sticky Lemon Seitan post that I’d add my seitan recipe soon, so Monday I’ll be posting my chicken seitan recipe.

Tonight I’m making a new family favourite – Sweet Potato Boats! This dish was born out of a recipe I saw on pintrest. The original was loaded with cream cheese and other highly caloric ingredients so I changed things up and made it entirely guilt free. This can be made as a main or simply omit the seitan and serve it up as a side. Don’t be fooled though this is exceptionally filling.

Sweet Potato Boats

Ingredients

4 medium sweet potatoes

3 tbsp mexican seasoning (recipe below)

1 cup corn

1 can black beans

1 cup seitan

1/2 cup “cheese” of your choice

Directions

Wrap sweet potatoes in foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

While sweet potatoes are baking place corn on a hot frying pan and add 1tbsp of mexican seasoning. Fry until corn is slightly blackened then transfer to a bowl.

Fry seitan in same pan with olive oil and remaining mexican seasoning  for 5 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of corn.

Add drained and rinced black beans to your bowl of corn and seitan. Mix well.

Once sweet potatoes are cooked allow them to cool until they are comfortable to handle. Cut lengthwise and scoop out the filling and mash.

Combine your corn mix to the mashed sweet potatoes along with 1/4 cup of “cheese”. Spoon back into sweet potato skins and cover with remaining cheese.

Return the sweet potato boats to the oven and broil for 15 minutes. Let cool and serve.

Mexican Seasoning 

Ingredients

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons hot smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions
Put all of the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Extreme Bean Chili

Life has been extremely crazy lately which has kept me from actually getting this blog started. Thankfully things have settled down and I have time to not only to blog but get back to experimenting in the kitchen.

So today I’m going to share my extreme bean chili, which is rarely consumed strictly as a “chili”. Usually I’ll add it to a massive bowl of spinach or use it to make chili sweet potato fries. Adding it to veggies tones down the spiciness of the chili flakes, not to mention eating it over veggies is probably better for my health anyways.

Extreme Bean Chili 

1/2 cup red lentils

1 1/2 cups water

1 can mixed beans

1 can diced tomatoes

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp red peper flakes

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp corn starch

In a medium pot add lentils to water, bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cook  for 15 minutes then mash with back back of spoon. Add spices and corn starch, mix well.

Rinse canned beans and add to pot along with undrained diced tomatoes.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes or until beans are cooked though. Best served over a generous helping of spinach.

Sticky Lemon Seitan

I have to admit before I cut meat out of my diet I was a huge Gordon Ramsey fan. I still am, but only a few of his recipes are veg friendly so I’m less inclined to rush out and read his cookbooks. This is one recipe I’ve altered slightly along with replacing the protein. Sticky lemon seitan is one of my favourite dishes especially when it’s served up with a generous portion of mashed potatoes.

Sticky Lemon Seitan

4 pieces of “chicken” seitan (I will add my recipe soon)

2-3 tbsp of olive oil

1 head of garlic cut horizontally

thyme – preferably fresh

a splash of red wine vinegar

2 tbsp of soy sauce – or braggs

3 tbsp of honey (2 tbsp for agave for vegan option)

1 sliced lemon

Brown seitan over high heat with olive oil, garlic and thyme for 2-3 mins a side till golden brown. Add a splash of red wine vinegar and bubble until reduced by half. Drizzle soy sauce and honey and shake the pan to mix.

Pour in a good splash of hot water (or if your seitan is homemade use the broth) and add the lemon slices. Let the liquid bubble and reduce down till syrupy,which will take about 10 mins or so.

Transfer the seitan to a platter and serve with mashed potatoes.

Here I am

I’ve never really considered myself to be much of the blogging type, but after some gentle nudging from my boyfriend I’ve decided to take the plunge. So here it goes!

Nooch your grandma’s recipes is my way of of saying Not your grandma’s recipes. It’s not that I don’t love my grandma or that her breads and desserts aren’t great after years of practice, but like most people from her generation they aren’t all that animal or figure friendly.

I can’t say that I am 100% a vegetarian but that’s probably because I hate the fact that people treat their food like it’s a religion. I just prefer a veggie based diet because it makes me feel good and, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper. Not to mention mass produced farming makes me sad. So instead of being brought down by beef I opt for foods that make me happy. Isn’t that what foods all about anyways?