Almost All-American Seitan Potpie

This is a simplified version of the eponymously titled recipe found in the Veganomicon. Although I really like the Veganomicon I have found that some of their recipes are really time intensive. Moreover, because I am not a vegan, I have further found that I can oftentimes greatly reduce the cooking time by using "cheats." For example, the Veganomicon version of this recipe has you make your own crust. I bought the pre-made stuff (thank you very much, Publix). I also omitted most of the spices, and the potpie was still SUPER tasty. This is a highly recommended recipe, though it does take a bit more time than most of the recipes I post.

Ingredients
-1 package refrigerated pie crust (you can use 1 or 2 crusts)
-1 package seitan, cut into bite sized pieces
-1 onion, diced
-2 carrots, diced
-2 celery sticks, diced
-3/4 of a potato, diced
-3/4 C frozen peas or corn
-2/3 C + 1.5C vegetable broth
-1 T soy sauce
-1/4 C flour
-salt, pepper, thyme
-3 T butter
-1 T EVOO

Steps:
1. Heat EVOO and saute seitan (over medium heat) with 1 T soy sauce for about 8 minutes.Set aside once done.
2. Next, make your roux. Melt 3 T butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add in 1/4 C flour. Stir constantly for about 10 minutes, until the roux turns a dark tan (you may need to turn the heat up on your stove a bit higher than medium).

3. Stir in the onion and cook for 4 minutes.
4. Stir in the potatoes, carrots, and celery and cook for an additional 8 minutes. Keep stirring regularly.

(Right about here I'd recommend pulling your pie crust out of the refrigerator so that it can thaw.) 
5. Pour in 2/3 C vegetable broth and stir to dissolve browned bits of roux from pot. Cook for 2 minutes, then stir in frozen peas.
6. Pour 3/4 C of vegetable broth into sauce pan and add thyme. Bring mixture to a simmer.
7. Once simmering, add the remaining 3/4 C vegetable broth and bring to a simmer again. Cook for another 7-8 minutes, until the broth has reduced slightly (should be a thin gravy-like consistency).

8. Remove from heat and add seitan, salt, and pepper.
9. Roll out pie crust with some flour on a counter top. If you want your potpie to have a top and bottom crust roll out both. (Technically it only needs a top crust, but I did both.)
10. If using a bottom pie crust, place it in a greased dish.

11. Spoon filing into dish.

12. Cover with pie crust. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork.
13. Poke a couple holes in the crust to allow ventilation.
14. Brush with an egg or soy milk.

(Note: I put some foil around the crust so that it wouldn't burn; I removed the foil after about 20 minutes.)
15. Cook at 375 for 40-45 minutes.
16. Allow to sit a full 10 minutes before serving. The filling's gonna be hot!
(Additional note: Although my potpie did not bubble over, the cook book recommended placing a cooking sheet under your dish in the oven in case it does.)

Vegetarian Mexian Casserole

Yet another recipe I ripped off from Cooking Light. Although they call it a "casserole," really these are more like super awesome loaded nachos.

Ingredients
-1 onion, diced
-1 T diced jalepeno
-2 tsp minced garlic
-2 T chopped cilantro
-1 12oz bag veggie crumbles (such as Morningstar Farms)
~1/2 bag of tortilla chips
-1.5 C shredded Mexican cheese
-1 T chili powder
-1 tsp cumin
-salt & pepper
-1 can pinto beans
-2 cups diced tomatoes
-1.5 T lime juice
-2 T EVOO
-1/2 jar of salsa (optional)
-some sour cream, black olives, green onion for topping

Steps
1. Saute onion for about 4 minutes in 1 T EVOO.
2. Add veggie crumbles, garlic, jalepeno, cumin, chili powder, and some pepper and saute another 5 minutes.

3. Layer the bottom of a 13X9 casserole dish (coated w/ cooking spray) with tortilla chips.

4. Spread veggie crumble mixture evenly over tortilla chips.
5. Add 1 T EVOO to pan and saute pinto beans. Mash pinto beans with the back of a wooden spoon, while cooking for about 3-4 minutes.

6. Stir in lime juice and tomatoes, and add some salt to taste.
7. Spread bean/tomato mixture evenly over veggie crumble mixture.

8. Layer the top with tortilla chips, pressing slightly to crush.

9. Top with cheese and cook at 375 for about 13 minutes.

10. Serve with sour cream, black olives, and green onion.

Note: This was really good, but the veggie crumbles get a little dry. The next time I make this I'm going to add some salsa (maybe 1.5 cups) into the bean/tomato mixture to make the veggie crumbles a bit more moist.

Jalapeño, Sausage, Cheese, and Egg Bread Braid

This is another recipe I co-opted from Cooking Light. However, Cooking Light advertised this dish as a breakfast item, but I think it made for a hella awesome dinner. And most likely lunch (which I am eagerly awaiting). I highly recommend this recipe. It was just plain delicious, and really easy to make. Plus, it looks kinda fancy, but totally isn't.

Ingredients
-1 13.8 oz roll of refrigerated pizza crust
-4 eggs, divided
-1 cup shredded cheese (I used the Mexican-mix kind)
-3 links of chicken sausage (remove from casings)
-1 small onion, diced
-1 T (or more if you like it spicy) diced jalapenos
-splash of EVOO

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Roll out your pizza dough on a greased cookie sheet.
3. Heat your EVOO, and then saute sausage and onion for ~9 mins, or until sausage is done. While the sausage is cooking, break it into pieces with the back of a wooden spoon.
4. Next, add 3 slightly beaten eggs to sausage mixture and cook until eggs are set (about 2 minutes).

5. Add 1/2 C of cheese to pizza dough, leaving about a 2.5 inch border on all sides.

6. Pour sausage mixture over cheese.
7. Add remaining 1/2 C of cheese and sprinkle jalapenos over cheese.

8. Make 2-inch-long diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart on both sides of dough to within 1/2 inch of filling using sharp scissors. Arrange strips over filling, so that they meet in the middle. Press ends under (or to the sides) to seal.

9. Brush with remaining beaten egg (you can use just the egg white if you want) and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Let set for 5 mins, and then cut into diagonal pieces.

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

This is a slightly modified version of the one in Cooking Light. Although the batter did not really stick to my fish (which meant it wasn't very crunchy) these were still really good. The salsa was super delicious, and would be great on it's own.

Ingredients
-1 or 2 ripe mangoes, diced
-2 T (or more if you like) fresh, chopped cilantro-1.5 T lime juice
-1 T (or more if you want it spicier) diced jalepeno
-1/4 C finely diced red onion
-1 lb fresh white fish (recipe called for halibut, but I used tilapia...recipe also called for 1.5 lbs, but that was way too much for 8 small tacos)
-1 cup beer (PBR for the win)
-3/4 C flour
-1.5 tsp pepper
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp garlic powder (or use garlic salt and use less regular salt)
~1/3 C canola oil (the recipe called for 5 C, but that seemed crazy to me)

Steps
1. Dice mango. I have always had a hard time doing this correctly, but I found a nice Youtube video that walks you through it. Basically, the seed is long, flat, and hard, and runs through the center of the fruit. To get the most mango for your buck, you want to cut off the sides (or "cheeks"), and then score them (sort of like the avocado technique). Then you just chop off the scored pieces into a bowl. You can then try to cut off any remaining fruit flesh from around the seed.

2. Add onion, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime juice to bowl, and mix mango salsa. Set aside.

3. Mix up your batter (beer, flour, salt, pepper, garlic) with a whisk.
4. Dunk fish into batter and transfer to frying pan (make sure your oil is nice and hot).
5. Cook fish 4-5 minutes, turning once. (You may need to do this in two batches.)

6. Drain fish on paper towls.
7. Add some fish and salsa to warm tortilla and enjoy.

This month's Cooking Light

has a ton of awesome recipes that I'm excited to try. This week we'll be making fish tacos with mango salsa and a sausage, egg, and cheese bread pastry...

Black Bean Corn Salsa

My friend Lauren gave me this recipe, and I think it's pretty much the best dip ever. It's so addictive I sometimes just call it the Crack Dip.

Ingredients
-2 can black beans
-2 can shoepeg corn
~10 green onions, chopped
~1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro, chopped
~6 oz feta cheese
-1/2 C apple cider vinegar
-1/4 C EVOO (or even a bit less)
-1/4 C brown sugar

Note: These measurements are all approximate, feel free to add more or less of anything according to your tastes.

Steps
1. Chop up cilantro, green onion, and feta, and mix with beans and corn in a large bowl.

2. Make dressing by combining the vinegar, oil, and sugar with a whisk. (I'm putting pictures below so you can roughly see the amounts of oil, vinegar, and sugar. The first picture is just the vinegar and oil, and the second picture has had the sugar added.)

3. Pour dressing over bean mixture and toss well.

Vegan Spinach Kugel

This is another tasty recipe, which my friend Kelly recommended, from the Veganomicon. The dill and lemon give this dish a really fresh taste.

Ingredients
-30 oz of frozen spinach (I probably only used about 20 or so)
-10 or 11 broken up lasagna noodles (recipe calls for 3 cups)
-1 C bread crumbs
-1 small onion, diced
-12 oz extra firm silken tofu (I couldn't find extra firm silken, so I just used silken)
-1 C vegetable broth
-2 T EVOO
-2.5 T lemon juice
-1/4 C chopped fresh dill
-3/4 t salt
-1/2 t pepper

Steps
1. Thaw your spinach and get as much water out as you can.
2. Boil your noodles as directed on package.

3. While noodles are cooking, combine tofu, vegetable broth, and oil in food processor and blend till smooth.

4. Mix tofu mixture with bread crumbs in a large bowl.
5. Add spinach, dill, onion, salt, pepper, and lemon and mix well.

6. Once noodles are done, add them in with spinach mixture and mix well. I used my hands.

7. Press mixture into a 13X9 dish coated with cooking spray.

8. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Strawberry Snack

Although strawberries are delicious on their own, they're even better with this sauce, methinks. Although the sauce sounds really weird (sour cream + brown sugar), it's yummy. My mom used to make this for dessert when I was a kid, and so it really reminds me of her.

Ingredients (for 1-2 servings)
-Strawberries, how ever many you want
-1.5 TB sour cream
-1.5 TB brown sugar
-toasted almond slivers or walnuts (optional)

Steps
1. Stir sour cream and sugar together until blended; pour over strawberries.
2. Top with walnuts or almonds slivers for some crunch.

Dill Beans

After lots of traveling and wedding planning, I am back and ready to get cooking.
I'm going to start of the new year with a recipe I actually made last year, Dill Beans. This was my first time making them, and as such involved some trial and error, but I think I got it down enough to give directions, should you be interested in making them. If you're into pickles then I think you will really like these. Also, I think they make for nice gifts (these were some of my Christmas presents to friends and family).

The recipe below is for making enough pickling juice to fill approximately 3 1000 mL Ball mason jars (these are the taller ones). I ended up making 2 batches, to fill 6 jars.

Ingredients (for 1 batch):
-4 cups water (double if making 2 batches)
-4 cups white vinegar (double if making 2 batches)
-6  tablespoons  kosher salt (double if making 2 batches)
-3  tablespoons  sugar (double if making 2 batches)
~7 or 8  tablespoons  thinly sliced garlic (about 18 cloves or 1.5 heads of garlic; DON'T NEED TO DOUBLE if making 2 batches)
~20  fresh dill sprigs, divided (double if making 2 batches)
-6  small dried hot red chiles (optional; double if making 2 batches))
~1.5  lbs green beans, trimmed (double if making 2 batches)

Note: I recommend buying the dill at a co-op or farmers' market because you will be able to get more of it for a lot cheaper than buying those little packets at the store.

Steps:
1. Trim beans and stuff beans into jars. Add several sprigs of dill to jars.

 
2. Cut up all your garlic into thins slices (this is the most time intensive part).

3. Combine first 4 ingredients in a large saucepan; bring to a boil.
4. Remove from heat; add garlic, remaining dill, and peppers to pan. Let stand 1 minute.
5. Strain out dill and garlic. You can toss the dill, but keep the garlic and chiles.

6. Spoon vinegar mixture over beans into jars until jars are full.  Evenly distribute garlic and chiles into jars.
7. Refrigerate 4 days-1 week, agitating jars occasionally.

Steps for making  2 batches (recommended).
1. Boil first 4 ingredients anew again.
2. Add the garlic from the last batch, but you'll need new dill and chiles.
3. Let sit for a minute.
4. Strain out dill and toss. This time, divide the garlic and chiles up into 6 jars, rather than 3.
5. Remaining steps are same as above.

Note: After Jonathan and I ate a whole jar in one setting, I was sad to see the dill beans go. So I decided to try reusing the pickling liquid by just stuffing some more raw beans into the jar. I let the jar sit a week and the beans tasted almost just the same (perhaps a touch less potent). I imagine you should only try reusing the liquid once, but something to keep in mind.