Tartines and Seitan and Red Potato Salad

Because I do not watch television, I miss out on cooking shows. Which I have discovered are awesome, not only for inspiration and carnivorous recipes to veganize, but also for handy tips and techniques. Therefore, I feel lucky and grateful that I had the spirit of enterprise to find Food Network online, and thus begin watching. Food Network's website boasts videos a-plenty from various chefs, but I am currently drawn to Barefoot Contessa. The recipes are great, and I have a list of meals to veganize, however my favorite part about the show is Ina Garten, who is just about the most pleasant, adorable woman ever. I like watching her make food for all of her friends and her cute little husband. But I could go on forever.

Inspired by Barefoot Contessa, I made tartines, paired with a main dish salad from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook, one of my birthday presents from Jeffrey. Tartines are french open-faced sandwiches, usually served as a first course to a meal. Ina's tartines consisted of bleu cheese and tomatoes, and another batch made with smoked salmon and cucumbers. In the spirit of veganizing this, I had to come up with something, and settled on a vegan bleu cheese I found at Whole Foods (which is AMAZING), sauteed mushrooms, and avocado.

I made a loaf of sourdough bread on Sunday, and simply toasted it for a bit in the oven, then layed slices of bread with bleu cheese and sauteed mushroom. Then, back in the oven for ten minutes, followed by a layer of avocado.

The salad was even better than I imagined, with thin, crispy slices of sauteed seitan, red potatoes, shallots, and a dressing of garlic cloves, olive oil, and sherry vinegar.

Taco Salad

I have really been bad, not posting in almost three weeks. I am really going to try to be better. I made a taco salad last week, with various Mexican food leftovers. There always seems to be leftover refried beans in the fridge, and of course there were several tortillas languishing at the bottom of the crisper.

To make the shells, I draped a tortilla over an oven-safe bowl, brushed the tortilla with a little olive oil, and baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 375*. I then filled the tortillas with lettuce and Boca meat, then topped it with chopped onions, tomatoes, sour cream, and guacamole. I served refried beans on the side (to dip the shell after its contents are eaten) and a little lemon-chive salad dressing. Delicious.

Portobello Mushrooms with Mashed Potatoes and Fried Leeks

This recipe comes from Vegan Planet, but instead of hollowing out the inside of the mushroom and stuffing it with the mashed potatoes as suggested, I served the potatoes on the side in order to utilize more of that delicious, meaty 'shroom. I also marinated the mushrooms in tamari, olive oil, and crushed garlic. Oh, and I've discovered the goodness that is fried leeks. I'm going to have to do that more often. I had my 'shroom plain with some fried leeks sprinkled on top, and a bit of ketchup. Jeffrey had his on a bun with lettuce and Vegenaise.

Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwiches

That's right, another vegan take on fast food. When we go to Sunflower Market, we are forced to see the giant pictures of roast beef and cheddar sandwiches plastered on the windows of the Arby's in the complex. So we decided that a roast beef and cheddar is definitely veganizable.

Ingredients (for two sandwiches):
Hamburger buns (homemade or store-bought)
One package of Tofurky Philly-Style Steak
One recipe of Cheez Whiz from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook
Vegenaise

Method:
Toast buns, then spread Vegenaise on each side. Heat up five slices of Tofurky and arrange on bottom bun. Top with a generous portion of "cheese sauce," followed by the top half of bun. I served the sandwich with roasted Brussels sprouts.

Pizza

I have been meaning to post my pizza recipe for a long time, but the pie is usually eaten before I get a chance to take pictures. I have used several different toppings for pizza in my day, but the most recent and most popular lately is cremini mushroom and sausage-style seitan. I also threw some leftover black olives and jalapeno on as well, and it was delicious. If you choose to make your own pizza dough, which I do, more recently with the aid of a bread maker, you can find a good recipe in Vegan Planet. If you use a store-bought crust, which I used to do, you are still fine. But I think the homemade crust is better.

Ingredients (to make one 12-inch pie):
pizza sauce, storebought or homemade, enough to cover the crust, or more if you like a saucy pie
vegan mozzarella cheese (one again, I used FYH)
sausage-style seitan (from La Dolce Vegan)
five or six cremini mushrooms, sliced thinly
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
whatever other ingredients you may have hanging around

Method:
Saute the onion, peppers, cooked seitan, and mushroom in a bit of olive oil for about five minutes. Prebake the crust at 450* for about five to seven minutes. Spread pizza sauce on the crust, followed by grated cheese, then the toppings. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Cut into eight slices and serve.

"Chicken" Quesadillas

I am always so proud of myself when I come up with a recipe that is all my own. Granted, someone else somewhere in the world may have at some point thought of it too, however I don't know about it, and that means that it's mine. I was making the wonderful vegan mexican pizzas last night and thought that it might be fun to have something else along with it, a quesadilla perhaps. I had some Morningstar Farms Chicken Strips in the freezer, a few extra tortillas, leftover enchilada sauce from the pizzas, and some Tofutti cream cheese. The lightbulb above my head: visible and flashing. The end result: absolutely delicious.

"Chicken" Quesadillas
Morningstar Farms chicken strips (one bag will make several quesadillas)
1/2 C Tofutti cream cheese
1/4 C enchilada sauce
1 tsp each of garlic, cumin, and paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne
tortillas
1 C vegan cheese (I combined Follow Your Heart Monterey Jack and cheddar)

Method:
Combine the cream cheese, enchilada sauce and spices. Saute the chicken in 1 tbl of olive oil until heated through and browned on both sides. Place one tortilla on a cookie and spread the cream cheese mixture across it. Place strips of chicken ontop of the cream cheese mixture, then sprinkle with cheese. I also added a few scallions and jalapenos. Bake in the oven at 450* for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and place another tortilla ontop the mixture. Brush the top tortilla while a light layer of olive oil, and cook for ten more minutes.

Seitan Reubens, Coleslaw, and Smashed Potatoes

I love reubens, and I just remembered that I forgot to put a nice big slice of Swiss cheese on the seitan reuben I had for dinner this evening. Oh well, probably didn't need the extra fat. These reubens are made with crispy seitan, homemade vegan Thousand Island dressing, and sauerkraut, of course. They are served on the homemade buns that I make at least twice a week now (Jeffrey loves them). The buns are from Vegan Dad's hamburger bun recipe. I like to make a lot of smaller buns for two little sandwiches instead of one big one. I also like to throw some seaweed gomashio ontop of some of the buns. The Thousand Island dressing is simple:
2 tbl Vegenaise
1 tbl ketchup
1 tbl pickle relish
1/2 tbl lemon juice

Coleslaw is a no brainer, with:
4 C shredded cabbage
1 shredded carrot
1/4 C Vegenaise
1 tbl natural brown sugar
1 tbl rice vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

The smashed potatoes are also fun:
6 small Yukon Gold potatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
paprika

Boil the potatoes until very tender. Place on a baking sheet and lightly mash the tops with a fork, until the potatoes are coming apart but not completely demolished. Drizzle olive oil over the potatoes, then shake some salt and pepper over them. Bake in the oven at 450* for 15 minutes. Shake some paprika over the potatoes and serve.
Yummy dinner.