Stuff and Other Stuff.

So, things have still been kind of crazy around here in Stuck in Your Beard kitchen. Changing schedules, changing lifestyles, work, school, things. We didn't have Monday Night Dinner last week because my parents were out of town visiting Falling Water. Thom and I still had dinner...but I don't remember what it was.

I do have pictures of two meals eaten since my last post, though. I guess they are comfort food. I like to make people happy with food, and I like to tempt omnivores with vegan versions of the foods that they don't want to give up. Enter: Fried Not-Chicken.



I'd had The Voracious Vegan's Chicken Fried Seitan bookmarked for a few years, and I finally got around to making it. Or, really, an adaptation. I just can't seem to ever bring myself to following a recipe word for word. I know what I like, so I change things! Hopefully that's a compliment to the original chef rather than a put-down... :)

Here is my adaptation of the recipe:

Fried Not-Chicken

1 1/2 c. wheat gluten
3-5ish tbsp nutritional yeast (used as a thickener at end when needed)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
about 30 full seconds of black pepper, fresh ground
2 tsp adobo seasoning
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1/2-3/4 c. cold water

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Combine wet ingredients in other bowl. Pour wet into dry and mix until a dough. Don't over-knead! This stuff becomes tough very easily!

Roll into a log-type shape, and slice seitan into however thick of slices you'd like. I followed Voracious Vegan's suggestion and made 5 slices.

Fill a wide pot with about 5 cups of vegetable broth or whatever kind of seasoned liquid you'd like. When at a low boil, add the seitan (not overlapping in the pot) and simmer for about 6 or 7 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and let seitan cool in the broth.

Once cool, fry! Coat in whatever coating you'd like and fry or bake for fried-chickenesque goodness. Instead of my usual breading, I used a variation of Voracious Vegan's wet and dry mixes. Consult her blog (link above) for more details. I used fewer and less of the powdered spices and more fresh garlic and other ingredients. I don't think I wrote that down, though.

Post-fry:


Served with tiny red potatoes, kale and mushrooms, and a mushroom gravy:


This seitan recipe was good. Thom loved it a lot. It was a little tough for what I'd've liked, but I have some ideas to remedy that. I'm pretty sure it was my fault to begin with, not the recipe's.

Another night I made more comfort food. There wasn't much in the fridge, but we did have a half block of tofu and about a cup of cooked spaghetti. I made baked panko and nutritional yeast encrusted tofu with spaghetti and a doctored up jarred tomato sauce. Lots of homegrown basil.


Served with a salad. Lettuce, carrots and pepperoncini, sprinkled with Galaxy vegan parmesan. (Like I said, we didn't have much in the vegetable department...)


Aaaand, that is all for now. Monday Night Dinner tonight. I WILL remember to take pictures. (Repeat to self for next 6 hours...)

Cheers.