Rosemary and Garlic Bread

It's Fall now and there is nothing I love more than a fresh loaf of bread fresh out of the oven.  It is my ultimate comfort food.  I usually love just plain old bread, nothing fancy, but I guess the older I get the more adventurous I feel.  You can't live forever right!  So I am starting to experiment more with baking bread. 

One of my favorite sandwiches I LOVE to DEVOUR, as does my family, requires a special bread.  So, I came up with this.  Somehow it makes the sandwich even more heavenly - I will post this recipe sometime in the future!  But for now, here is a savory bread for sandwiches, to go along with your Fall soups or just something comforting to snack on right from the oven. 

Just a note, I use my bread maker for this recipe as with pretty much every bread recipe I make.  It cuts out a lot of work for me.  I just put it on the dough cycle and then take it out and put it in a bread pan and cook it in the oven.  You can easily adapt this recipe without the use of a bread maker, I just don't have a lot of experience so you are on your own.

Rosemary and Garlic Bread
(makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water (70-85 degrees)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp agave nectar
1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
3 cups whole wheat white flour
1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten
1 tsp dried rosemary, finely chopped
2 tsp yeast

Directions
Add the  ingredients to your bread maker in the order recommended by your manufacturer's instructions.  Set on dough cycle.

When dough is ready, punch down and roll out on a floured surface into a 9x18 inch rectangle.  Roll dough up tightly, beginning at 9 inch side, to form a loaf.  (Press with thumbs to seal after each turn.)  Pinch the edge of the dough into roll to seal.  Press the ends of the loaf with the sides of your hands to seal; fold the ends under the loaf.  Place seam side down into a greased loaf pan (around 9x5 inches).  You can brush the loaf with melted butter if you'd like at this point, but I don't.  Cover with towel and let rise in a warm place for about 30-50 minutes until doubled in size.  (I like to warm my oven to 200 degrees then turn it off and place my loaf in the oven to rise - it shortens the time in half.)

Once the dough is doubled in size, heat the oven to 375 degrees.  (Make sure you take your loaf out of the oven at this point if you left it in there to rise!)  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown and sounds hollow when you tap it.  Remove from pan to a wire rack and brush with melted butter, then let it cool.

Vegan Panda Express Chow Mein

We like to go out to dinner now and then as a family - who doesn't it?  Eating out at a restaurant in Idaho that caters to a plant based diet however isn't the easiest thing.  One of the big restaurants in our area is Panda Express.  My whole family loves it.  However they don't have vegetarian/vegan options.  So while my family eats there now and then - I end up having to get something to eat from somewhere else.  My family loves Chinese/Thai food - so I am always trying to come up with new recipes for us to try.  So I've created a vegan friendly Panda Express "style" chow mein.  Now I can enjoy a little "Panda Express" at home with my family AND - my whole family gobbles it up.  We eat it as a main dish - but you could use it as a side if you'd like.  It is so easy and fast to make too!

I use a well seasoned cast iron skillet for this recipe.  I try to cut out oil when I saute veggies to be a little healthier.  I often don't need the oil and if things start to stick a little I add a little water which works just as great as oil in my opinion. But, feel free to use a little oil to saute the veggies if you feel you need to.

 

Vegan Panda Express Chow Mein
Makes 6-8 servings (depending whether it is a side or main dish)

Ingredients

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
ground black pepper, to taste
1(17.76 oz) package refrigerated Yaki Soba noodles (found in the produce section of the grocery store)
1 cup chopped celery (chopped diagonally)
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
2-3 cups chopped cabbage

Directions

In a small bowl combine soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and black pepper. Set aside.

Remove Yaki Soba from package and discard included flavoring packets. Rinse noodles well, drain, and set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add celery and onion and saute for about 1-2 minutes or until onions start to become soft and transparent. Add cabbage and saute an additional minute or so.

Toss Yaki Soba noodles and soy sauce mixture with the vegetables over medium-high heat for an additional 2-3 minutes or until noodles are heated through.

 

Seitan With Broccoli

 

My kids aren't the best at eating vegetables on their own, so I try to think of ways to throw a variety of veggies together in one meal so they get a good variety in one shot.  Stir-fries are a good way to accomplish this.  My husband used to love Beef and Broccoli so I have created a "plant" version so we can still enjoy it.  He loves this recipe - even the seitan.  My kids aren't big seitan eaters, but they also love this recipe.  I hope your family enjoy it too! 

We serve it over brown rice or quinoa usually but any grain will do.  OR you can just eat it by itself. You will also want to make the baked seitan recipe ahead of time (it takes 90+ minutes). Otherwise this is a pretty quick meal to make.  If you want to go without seitan - just throw in some extra veggies that you like instead.

Seitan with Broccoli

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

3 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp rice wine

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp cornstarch

½ recipe baked seitan, thinly sliced

1 lb (4-5 cups) broccoli broken into bite-size pieces

1 bell pepper, cored and sliced

1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal

¾ cup onion, sliced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger

¼ tsp Better Than Bouillon, No Beef Base

¼ cup water

Directions

Combine the soy sauce, hoisin, rice wine, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl.  Whisk to combine the liquid with the cornstarch.  Mix in the seitan and let marinate for 30 minutes.

 

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Add the broccoli, bell pepper, carrot, onion, garlic and ginger and stir-fry.  Stir the vegetables frequently for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables have softened.  Add the seitan and its marinade and continue cooking, stirring frequently for about 5 minutes. 

 

Whisk together the bouillon and water in a small bowl.  Add it to the vegetables and seitan and cook for another 2 minutes, until the sauce thickens and clings to the seitan and vegetables. 

 

Serve over brown rice or quinoa if you like.

 

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.

Vegan Zuppa Toscana

When I used to go to Olive Garden I would love to order the soup, salad, and bread sticks deal!  All of them were so delicious, I felt like I was getting the best of everything.  PLUS it was unlimited so I could pig out.  (It was so hard not too!)  Of course none of those things are vegan (except for one of the soups) unless you arrange it with your waiter/waitress.  One of my favorite soups I'd order is Zuppa Toscana.  SO NOT VEGAN!!  But it was so delicious.  So...one cool, rainy day I decided I NEEDED this soup and I would "veganize" it.

It has been a while since I've had the original now, but I think this recipe is pretty close.  This version is so yummy, it is by far my favorite soup!  We had it for dinner last night, and everyone went back for seconds (even my picky eater)!  It is a good way to incorporate all the kale from my garden too - which by the way is super good for you!  I don't usually eat soy, but we indulge with this soup, because it just adds so much to the flavor and texture.  You could probably substitute beans if you wanted but it just won't be the same. 

Vegan  Zuppa Toscana
Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

14 oz. pkg. Gimme Lean Sausage

¾ tsp crushed red peppers
1 cup diced white onion
2 tsp minced garlic
8 cups water
3 Tbsp No Chicken Bouillon
¼ tsp liquid smoke
1 cup coconut milk (or 1 can to make it extra creamy)
3 medium sized potatoes, thinly sliced
5 Kale leaves (approx 4-5 cups), chopped with stems removed

Directions

Saute sausage, crushed red pepper, onions and garlic until sausage is heated through and onions are soft.

Add the water, No Chicken Bouillon  and liquid smoke.  Cook until boiling and then turn heat down to low and let it simmer.  Add potatoes and cook until soft (approx. 15 minutes depending on how thin potatoes are sliced). 

Add coconut milk and kale and cook until thoroughly heated.