Seitan and Black Bean Tacos

 

My husband and I love Mexican food.  My husband especially loves the tacos he can get from the restaurant Los Betos.  He loves adobada, carnitas, carne asada, chicken and fish.  So to better suit his needs, I have come up with a seitan taco which turned out so good!  He loved it (I found him in the kitchen eating just the seitan)!  The marinade gives the seitan a very delicious flavor and grilling it makes it that much better! 

If you need a seitan recipe you can use my recipe for baked seitan on my blog.  However, instead of making a log, I flattened the seitan (kind of like steak) and then wrapped it in tin foil and baked it.  That way I could cut thin "steak-like" strips.

We like to make our tacos nice and full as you can see in the pictures, but our kids tend to make them smaller.  So, it's up to you - whatever you like!

Seitan and Black Bean Tacos
makes 4 servings

Ingredients

½ cup orange juice
2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
1 tsp cumin
4 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb seitan cut into really thin strips
Corn tortillas
½ cup shredded Daiya pepperjack cheese 
Guacamole
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Pico de Gallo
Shredded cabbage

 

Directions

Combine the juice, oil, chipotle, cumin and garlic in a blender and puree.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Place seitan and marinade in a plastic bag or in a dish with a lid and marinate for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator.
 
Preheat grill over medium heat (cast iron).  Oil the grill when hot and place seitan on it, turning occasionally until it nicely browned.
 
Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Place a tortilla in the center and warm on both sides.  Place in folded dish towel to keep warm.  Continue with more tortillas. 
 
Place cheese, guacamole, beans, seitan, Pico de Gallo, and shredded cabbage on tortillas.  Fold and eat!

 

Baked Seitan

For those of you who are new to the whole "vegan" thing you may not have ever heard of seitan.  I try to stay away from soy products as much as possible (for my own reasons) and so I don't eat a lot of tofu.  Seitan is what I eat in place of it and it is something I can make from scratch.  It is considered a meat replacement (vital wheat gluten is full of protein), but I don't like to neccesarily think of it like that.  I am not really trying to replace anything, I am just trying new things.  Switching to a plant based diet has opened a lot of doors and I have discovered a lot of new and interesting things to eat and I guess seitan is one of those things.  You can buy it at the store, but I like to make my own - that way I know what is in it. I am trying to not buy as many processed foods.

There are many recipes out there, but this one is what I've come up with and really like.  The fun thing about seitan is you can put your own favorite seasonings in it to make it your own.  You can steam or boil seitan, but I prefer to bake it in the oven, it gives it a more dense and "meatier" texture.  My favorite thing to make with it is reubens.  Mmmm... my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  Seitan is very versitile and I have a lot of fun coming up with new ideas for it.  I will be sure to share some of them on here!  Seitan can be used as a filler also, like beans - it is very filling like meat and a whole lot cheaper! So stay tuned and I will give you some yummy uses for your seitan!

 

Baked Seitan

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp pepper
½ tsp cumin
¼ tsp cayenne
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup cold water
1 Tbsp maple syrup
4 tsp A1 Steak Sauce
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon No Beef Base
 

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.  In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients (including garlic).  Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with your hand -- until you can knead it like dough.  Knead until fully incorporated.  It should sort of resemble a firm ball of dough.

Roll into a log shape and wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil -- twisting the ends to seal.

Bake for 90 minutes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I haven't put a recipe on here for a while but I've been trying!!  I have been having the hardest time getting good pictures at night.  I can't seem to get very good lighting now that the sun goes down SO early!  I guess I need a better camera...a girl can wish! 

Anyway, my girls heard this morning the magical words they have been longing to hear for a while.  SNOW DAY!  NO SCHOOL!  My youngest daughter really wanted to make peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, I wanted to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies.  So we made the only logical decision...we made both!!  And we made them while the sun was out which equals decent pictures!  YAY!

These are vegan of course, which to some of you might sound a little iffy, but the cool thing is they taste just like any other cookie, possible better!  And if you ever want to make cookies and you have no eggs in the fridge (and you are snowed in like we are today), now you know how!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes about 4 dozen cookies

2 Tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp water
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup vegan butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the flax seeds and water with a wire whisk in a small bowl and set aside.  (As is sits it will become thick like and egg.)

In a large bowl combine the shortening, butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar and mix well.  Whisk the flax and eggs again real quick to mix in any water that may be sitting on the top and pour into the peanut butter mixture.  Blend well.  

In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir into the peanut butter mixture.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop dough in 1 1/2" balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes.  Let them cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then place them on a wire rack to cool.

TO MAKE PEANUT BUTTER OATMEAL COOKIES:

Use the same recipe but leave out the chocolate chips and only use 1 1/2 cups of flour and add 2 cups of oatmeal (I used quick oats).  Stir in the oatmeal last to keep it from breaking up too much.