Yule Feast

I hope everyone had a great holiday filled with delicious food and good company.  I enjoyed 2 days with my family and we ate waaaaaay too much food.  On Christmas Eve I made a shepherd pie.  Everyone loved it.

For Christmas Day, my mom bought a Wellington from Native Foods.  Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious.  It was a pastry crust filled with mushroom gravy, stuffing, yams, onions, mushrooms and seitan.  So tasty.

And of course, no feast is complete without dessert, so for that, we had a non-dairy cheesecake with blueberries.  Soooooo delicious.  Can’t wait for the feast to begin for New Year.  Until then…..I treated myself to a new camera, the Nikon D90 and a few new lenses.  And the newest version of Photoshop, CS4.  So……there will be more and better food entries with photos coming in the new year 🙂

Thanksgiving Feast

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! What a feast it was. I recently bought a new cookbook called Olive Trees & Honey and I wanted to make the Moroccan Pumpkin Soup recipe for Thanksgiving.

Usually its a Tofurkey roast on the menu but I thought it would be nice to try something new, and this turned out to be absolutely AMAZING. It wasn’t too hard to make and for my first time making this recipe, it really turned out perfect. Everyone enjoyed it and my apartment smells wonderful from the soup simmering.

I changed the recipe a bit, adding kidney beans and butternut squash, as well as cumin for seasoning and seitan to give it a bit of a meaty element. I will be happily feasting on this for a few more days to come!

Above is a wonderful idea my aunt had, veggie wreaths. I’m so thankful that my family really makes an effort to create awesome veggie dishes.

Edgar Allan Po' Boys

Its my favorite time of the year….autumn.  And my favorite day of the year is just around the corner…..Halloween!  So to celebrate, I cranked up some classic Bauhaus records and got down to the business of making some spooky Po’ Boys.

This was my first time making po’ boys, so I wasn’t sure how they’d turn out.  But……they turned out absolutely spectacular.  Seriously delicious.  This will definitely become a staple in my kitchen.

Everyone makes po’ boys differently, and everyone has different preferences.  The key to a po’ boy is the French baguette.  One that is crispy on the outside and airy on the inside.  Crunchy is key.  Everything else kinda comes down to preference.  Here’s how I made mine…..

Ingredients:

• 1 package of seitan – thinly sliced (that’s enough for 2 or 3 people)
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 or 3 peppers, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce (I use Bragg’s Aminos – healthier soy sauce)
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (or whatever vinegar you like)
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon turmeric

Toppings:

• kale (I boil mine in water with a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes to soften it up)
• miso mayo (or vegannaise will work)
• hot sauce (being a hot sauce addict, I used Tapatio and Tabasco)
• gravy

Directions:

1. Start the gravy.  You can cook it up and let it simmer while you do the rest.  My gravy recipe can be found on this page.

2. Sauté the seitan slices, onion and garlic in oil over medium heat (I used olive oil, you don’t need too much, maybe 2 tablespoons)

3. After the onions soften a bit and the seitan starts to brown, add the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic powder and turmeric and sauté a little longer until the liquids cook off and the smell is so awesome you just can’t wait any longer

4. As the seitan is nearing completion, toast your baguette

5. Once the baguette is nice and crispy warm, pile the seitan mixture on, add your toppings (miso mayo on the bread), slather it with gravy, find some suitably spooky music and enjoy your Edgar Allan Po’ Boy!