Seitan Stir Fry Lettuce Wraps

I have a serious love for stir fry. This is a variety that I first had at a friend's house years ago. We each just brought a few vegetables and we threw it all together with a bottled sauce. I've modified it a bit over the years and I absolutely crave it at times. So I give in. : )

Here's my method:

Chopped vegetables.

Saute in canola oil in non-stick pan until softened.

Add sauce and continue to cook until done, then add Seitan until warm.

Spoon stir fry into large Romaine leaves and enjoy!

And here's a loose recipe, but the type of vegetables and amounts are up to you.

Seitan Stir Fry Lettuce Wraps

Carrots

Zucchini

Onions

Green pepper

Red pepper

Canola Oil

1 package WestSoy Cubed Seitan

1 bottle Panda Express Mandarin Sauce

Salt & Pepper

Chop vegetables into even pieces, equal-ish amounts and sauté in oil until slightly softened. I sometimes like to add a can of sliced Water chestnuts and cut Baby Corn from the Asian section in the grocery store, but I was out at this time. But if I had, I would add them then after draining both cans. Then add the sauce, half a bottle for the amount of vegetables shown above. About 3 meals for me. Once the sauce is bubbly and thickened slightly and the vegetable are soft, add your Seitan to warm it up. I sometimes use tofu instead and it's excellent both ways. I do like to sauté the tofu separately first so it gets crispy and then add it. 

Once everything is warmed, season with salt and pepper to taste and spoon into washed Romaine lettuce leaves. I like to have the stir fry over brown rice, too. My sister prefers it just alone, but without the Seitan or tofu. ; ) 

And yeah, maybe it's a cop-out to use a bottled sauce, but it's easy and I haven't found anything I like better. So let me know if you have a favorite homemade sauce recipe, I'd love to try it. 

Bon Appetite! 

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Cheezy Alfredo Sauce

This meal was totally last minute, but turned out to be AWESOME. My awesome mom gave me half of a baked butternut squash when I was there one day and I am so grateful! I was able to use that instead of roasting chunks of squash, which is what the recipe calls for. In fact, I'll give you the recipe but I honestly just glanced at it. I didn't really follow it. Oops. ; ) I just mixed the squash in a bowl with some AP flour and salt & pepper and then rolled it into ropes on a floured counter. It was still sticky, so I think I'll try a different method next time. I worked in a restaurant where we had butternut squash gnocchi and I watched the line cooks make it many times. They mixed the squash and flour with seasoning and then scooped it into a pastry bag. Over a pot of water, they would squeeze the bag and snip chunks of gnocchi off using kitchen scissors. The gnocchi floats to the top of the pot when done. I really should've tried this first, but sometimes you have to get it wrong before you can get it right. : ) 

So for the Alfredo sauce, I did actually use a recipe. It does call for a few ingredients that may be unusual, but they're totally worth picking up and having in stock. Like nutritional yeast (weird name, totally awesome stuff), raw cashews (which can be pricey, but worth it), tahini (which is paste made from toasted sesame seeds) and tamari ( I just used Shoyu brand soy sauce). I always have Earth Balance vegan butter on hand, too, cause it's great stuff. You can use it for basically anything you would use butter for. And now that I discovered this sauce I will be using all these items A LOT more. I actually made a half batch of the sauce and I had enough for 3 meals (2 with gnocchi and 1 with pasta. Yum!)

So here you go!

Vegan Butternut Squash Gnocchi    (I just used this as a loose guideline)

from One Taste Rule! 

1 large butternut squash, seeded, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces

salt

fresh black pepper

about 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

about 1/3 cup cake flour

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the squash out on a sheet pan and bake until soft (25-45 minutes, depending on the size of your pieces).

Mix the two flours.

Puree the squash in the food processor (you might have to do it in 2 batches). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Flour your work surface and place the squash on it. Using a bench scraper, start to work the flour into the squash (this ensures that you don't over-mix). You might not need all of the flour. Your dough should be sticky, but workable.

Divide the dough into 6 portions. Roll each one into a rope, about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 1/2 inch pieces.

And now for the sauce:

Hurry Up Alfredo

from Epicurean Vegan

Sauce:
1 C soy milk ( I used almond milk)
1/3 rounded raw, unsalted cashews
1/4 C nutritional yeast
3 Tbs tamari (or soy sauce)
2 Tbs Earth Balance vegan butter
1 Tbs tahini
1 Tbs lemon juice
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
1 pinch nutmeg
1 pinch salt
Black pepper, to taste
2-4 garlic cloves
I added 1/2C Tofutti Sour Cream and used SMOKED paprika and WOW! It was so creamy and flavorful!

DIRECTIONS:

To make sauce, mix all sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth. (What I did is transfer the sauce to a small saucepan and heat–this is also when I added the Tofutti sour cream. Then I just ladled the sauce on a serving of pasta or gnocchi). 

Note: for leftovers, I don’t recommend microwaving them. Keep sauce separate from pasta leftovers and reheat sauce in a pan over the stove and nuke the noodles or gnocchi. Sauce gets too dried out otherwise.

This meal is now one of my absolute favorites and I'm glad I can share it! (once I got around to it. ha.)  I had a side of roasted cauliflower with my gnocchi and it really hit the spot. For the cauliflower, I just chopped a head of cauliflower into bite-sized pieces, tossed them in olive oil, sprinkled salt & pepper, and then roasted on a sheet pan at 400F until slightly blackened in places and crispy, stirring every 10 minutes or so. I used to hate cauliflower, but then I just discovered I didn't like steamed, mushy cauliflower. Roasted is amazing. Give it a try, if you've sworn you don't like it, like me. Enjoy!! : )

Single Lady Pancake, Vegan Style

Do you know Joy the Baker? Cause you should know Joy the Baker. She's awesome. She's one of my favorite people ever and also one of my idols. I've been a faithful follower of hers for years. Wanna know a funny story? I "discovered" her through another one of my favorite people, Maureen Johnson. She's an author, vegetarian, and the Queen of Twitter. Really. But anyway, she posted a recipe for a Vegan chocolate cake with Avocado buttercream. I wasn't even vegan then, but intrigued, I followed the link and found Joy. Literally and figuratively. : )  Joy the Baker, or Joy Wilson officially, is not vegan, but an awesome cook and a fantastic writer. She does have some vegan recipes on her blog, though, like the chocolate cake I mentioned. Others can be tweaked! Yay! For instance, this pancake recipe that I love so much, I have it memorized. The Single Lady Pancake. That's Joy's name for it because it only makes one massive pancake, instead of a large batch meant for more than one person. It's my favorite thing to make on my day off and I do it a couple times a month. Join me. Indulge. Eat a ginormous pancake full of chocolate at 11am cause you just woke up. Or maybe that last part is just me. ; )

The Single Lady Pancake (Vegan style)

adapted from Joy the Baker

1/3 cup all-purpose flour (or you can use whole wheat flour)

1 Tablespoon dried oats (quick cooking or regular)

2 teaspoons granulated sugar (or any other sweetener. I've used maple sugar in the past)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Almond Milk

dash of vanilla extract

handful semi sweet vegan chocolate chips**

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl whisk together oil, vanilla extract and almond milk.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine.  The mixture will be thick.  Fold in the chocolate chips.

Heat a small frying pan with a teaspoon of oil.  Pour in the pancake batter and spread some with the back of a spoon.  Cook over medium heat until bubbles form and pop on the surface of the pancake.

Flip.  It’s totally cool if it's a mess. No one's enjoying it but you! 

Cook until golden brown and then slide the pancake onto a plate. I like to enjoy my pancake only with a smear of Earth Balance and a glass of almond milk, but syrup works, too. 

Grab a fork and dig in! 

**You can add in bananas, pecans, berries, or anything else that tickles your fancy. I just like to keep it simple with chocolate chips.

Homemade Veggie Pizza with Daiya Cheese

Hiya! So, I can't promise when I will be able to post recipes. I hope for once a week, but don't hold me to it! It'll help that I'm going to try to keep it short and concise. Ha! If you know me well, you'll know that's quite a challenge... ; ) Okay! Let's get to it. Recipe Two:


Homemade Veggie Pizza with Daiya Cheese

Unbaked vs. Baked

My life changed when my friend from Colorado posted her family's pizza dough recipe on her blog. Honestly? In the past I've been pretty lazy when it comes to pizza. Frozen. Pre-made crust. Whatever. Not that those are bad options, but homemade is always ALWAYS better. Seriously. And this dough is so awesomely easy, you really can't go wrong. 

Homemade Pizza Crust

from The Blanchard Bistro

Ingredients / Directions:
In a bowl add: 
2 cups 110 degree water 
1/2 Tablespoon sugar and sprinkle over
2 Tablespoons active dry yeast.  
Proof 5 minutes.

Then add:
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon oil
1/2 Tablespoon salt
About 4 cups flour (You can use AP flour or wheat or a combo, whatever you like. You've just got to watch the amounts - don't want to add to much!  I usually add about three cups and stir it in, then knead in more as it's needed to create a soft, but not sticky, dough.)

Knead dough.  Let dough rise in greased bowl, covered with a clean dish towel, for about 20 minutes, till doubled.  Divide into 2 sections.  Roll out on a floured surface to fit your pan.  Place on pizza pan  Cover with tomato sauce (I usually just use jarred, but you could get fancy and make your own), Daiya brand mozzarella cheese, and other desired toppings (I like green peppers, artichoke hearts, and sautéed extra firm tofu, but whatever floats your boat.).  Bake at 400 degrees for about 15-18 minutes, until cheese is bubbly and edges of crust are browned.

Makes enough for 2 large pizzas, but I generally make a half batch and freeze half of the dough before I let it rise. A quarter of this batch is the size of pizza I made that's in the picture. It's enough for 3 meals for me! 

If you've never used Daiya cheese, I highly recommend it! It's available at pretty much any health food store and it comes in 3 flavors: mozzarella, cheddar, and Pepper Jack (which is my favorite). The mozzarella is perfect for pizza. I like all of them better melted than not, but you can see what you like. The shredded is all I've seen so far, but I know they have more products coming out very soon. Give them a try! P.s. I'm not getting paid for this. I wish!! I'm just a fan. : )

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos with Avocado Cream

First recipe! Woot! This also happens to be one of my favorites and one of the first I altered to make it vegan. Totally easy. Taking a recipe you already love and just tweaking it a bit might be the best way ease into being vegan or maybe just because you can't handle dairy (like me) or want to cut back on meat. Who knows? It's good to know there are options out there. : )

So! In this case, I just took the original recipe, adapted it for my taste, and used dairy substitutions to make this yumminess happen.

Sweet Potato Black Bean Burritos with Avocado Cream

adapted from Cookie + Kate

Ingredients

Burritos

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika 
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• sea salt and black pepper
• 4 to 6 tortillas
• 1 jar Roasted Red Peppers (I used already sliced only needed about half the jar)
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1+ cup shredded non-dairy cheese (I used Daiya Pepper Jack)

Avocado Cream

•  1 ripe avocado
• 1/2 cup mild salsa, jarred
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh jalapeño, deseeded and roughly chopped (I used jarred slices, actually)
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 tablespoon packed cilantro leaves (I didn't have fresh so I used dried)
• up to 2 tablespoons water, to thin as necessary
• sea salt, to taste 

Toppings

• 1 1/2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (optional)
• finely chopped jalapeño (optional)
• non-dairy sour cream (Tofutti brand is awesome)
• salsa

For the burritos, Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and peel the sweet potato. Chop them into large, bite-sized chunks. Toss the sweet potatoes in a bowl and coat with the olive oil, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper. Pour the sweet potatoes onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Arrange the sweet potatoes evenly in a single layer. Bake for about 45 minutes, flipping the sweet potato chunks halfway, until they are golden brown around the edges.

Make the avocado sauce: in a food processor or a good blender (I actually just used my Magic Bullet blender since I have neither of those things), combine the avocado flesh, salsa, garlic, jalapeño (skip this if your salsa is spicy) and lime juice. Blend. Add the cilantro and blend again. Add water to thin out the sauce if you want; the sauce should glop easily off a spoon. Taste and blend in some sea salt or add another squeeze of lime if necessary. 

Make sure the oven is still on at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Place your tortillas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. In the middle of each tortilla, put down a couple strips of roasted red pepper, then pour black beans down the center and top it all with roasted sweet potato chunks. Sprinkle 1/4 cup or more of jack cheese on top. Pull one edge of the tortilla over to the center of the burrito, then pull the opposite edge over to overlap a bit. Gently roll the burrito over. Repeat with remaining burritos. Bake your burritos for about 5 minutes on the middle rack, until the cheese is melted and the tortillas are lightly crisp. I usually get 4 burritos if I'm using 8" tortillas or 6 from 6" tortillas. Either works. 

Transfer a burrito or two onto a plate and spread avocado cream on the top. Garnish with onion, sour cream, lettuce, salsa, or whatever else you have or sounds good. Dig in!! 

These burritos also reheat in the oven incredibly well as long as they don't have the avocado cream or garnishes on it yet. 

If you try this recipe, let me know how you liked it! Comments always welcome. 

Fresh Start and Intro

Source

Hello! Whew. This feels weird. I've had my other blog for, uh....wow. 7 years. Which is culinarycontessa.blogspot.com , if you care to know. I intended for it to be a food blog, but I basically failed at that. It really had no direction and evolved so many times as I changed and got older that the description really means very little now. So I'm gonna keep this one simple! A picture or two, recipe and source, if applicable, and a description of what I did or what I changed. Sound good? Cool.

But first! A bit about me, if you're coming here for the first time. I am 27 years old. Single White Female (not the movie. Haven't seen it, but pretty sure it's a bad thing). Go by the name of Anika (which rhymes with Monica). I graduated in culinary arts about 6 1/2 years ago and have mostly worked in baking since then. Sweets have always been a passion, but I've expanded my cooking horizons since I've been living on my own and cooking for myself. I became a vegetarian on a whim after reading this book. Actually began as vegan, sorta, but I really had no clue what I was doing, so I pulled back to vegetarian, which worked to start with. And I held strong for over 4 years! But there was always that nagging at the back of my mind. Stopped drinking cow's milk, started with soy but once I discovered Almond Milk? Pff. I was a goner. That stuff is amazing. No joke. People asked me about eggs. "Aren't those meat, too?" Ehhhhhhh. I didn't have a good answer, really. It's amazing what we can rationalize when we don't want to see the truth.

BUT. Mine eyes have seen the glory of a fully vegan life! (Yes, that was typed to the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" ; ) )  It began earlier this year when I started feeling SUPER crappy basically every day. I suspected an allergy, but wasn't sure to what. Gluten? Nah. Tree nuts? PLEASE NO!! Had to go off Almond milk for that experiment. Horrible. But I ruled that out. Phew! But... dairy. That was possible. My dad is Lactose Intolerant, so I asked what his symptoms were. They sounded scarily similar. Dang. I'm quite the cheese-lover. But I tried to cut most things out. Milk, already gone. Cheese, found a good substitute (more on that later). No ice cream. But items with cultures like sour cream and yogurt didn't seem to bother me, so they hung around a bit longer. It did make me think, though. What was stopping me from making that jump to vegan? My stomach clearly didn't want dairy anymore. I only ate eggs a few times a month, if that. So? I did what I always do: research.

Seriously, I love research. One of the few things I miss about school. I love learning new things. In fact, I love knowing things in general. So I tried a few vegan recipes. Read some blogs. Scrolled through Pinterest, of course. And I checked out "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone from the library. It's about time, too! It's a pretty great book. I'm not quite a "superhero" yet, but maybe someday. : )  So, that lead to more books and reading. An amazing podcast called "Food for Thought" hosted by the great Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. Fantastic. I love her. She has amazing books as well. The information is all there! It's everywhere, in fact. But we as humans have somehow learned to completely tune it out. So I learned all I could and I told myself I was "transitioning" to vegan, but really, once the decision was made, it became harder and harder to eat those certain things. I'd say it's been about a month since I became "officially" vegan. I put that in quotes since veganism is not a destination, but a continuous journey. I'm not sure if someone else said that first or not, but it sure sounds good either way ; ) . But it's true. You don't just reach this place where vegan is where you are, what you are, and all you are. We don't work that way. Humans are always moving, changing, growing. I still have so much to learn and have enjoyed everything so far.

Sorry, perhaps you can tell that I can be exceptionally long-winded. Most posts won't be like this! I just have wanted to write about this new change for the longest time. Anyway. Recipes coming!

 p.s. I'm still quite the newbie so if I happen to screw something up, feel free to let me know. I would appreciate any feedback, in fact! Just keep it positive. Here we go! : )