Brazilian Kale/Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts Salad

When family gathers for a big meal, I like to bring more than one item. Must be a mom thing - I always want to make sure everyone gets enough to eat!

Brazilian Kale

One bunch of kale, sliced thin
2 T. coconut oil (or whatever oil you have)
5 garlic cloves, minced
One onion, diced
1/4 c. vegetable broth
1/2 t. liquid smoke
Salt to taste

Saute the garlic and onion in the oil until softened. Add a handful of kale and stir until wilted. Continue adding handfuls of the kale until you've cooked all of it. Sprinkle it with the broth and liquid smoke and let it steam for about 5 minutes. Season with salt, as desired. Serve. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash and Brussels Sprouts Salad

3 c. Brussels sprouts, ends trimmed, sliced in half
Olive oil
Salt to taste
1-1/2# butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
Olive oil
3 T. maple syrup
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 c. pecan halves
1 c. dried cherries

Lightly grease a cookie sheet with oil. In a separate bowl, mix Brusssels sprouts with 2 T. olive oil and salt. Spread the Brussels sprouts on the cookie sheet cut side down, and roast at 400F for about 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes, flip them over for even roasting.
Lightly grease a second cookie sheet with oil. In a separate bowl, mix the squash with 1 T. olive oil, maple syrup, and cinnamon. Spread the squash on the cookie sheet and roast at 400F for about 20 minutes. After about 10 minutes, turn it over for even roasting.
In another large bowl, combine the Brussels sprouts and the squash with the pecans and cherries. Mix well. Serve. Enjoy!

Maple Seitan Chops, Two Ways

I recently picked up a copy of Jenn Shagrin's cookbook, Veganize This! I was very excited because the book gives recipes for flavoring seitan in ways that imitate meat. For those of us that grew up as meat eaters, and what I maintain now to non-vegans, it isn't the meat we miss, it is the flavors. So if I can find away to duplicate them cruelty-free, I'm all over it.

I chose to make the recipe for pork chops. Her flavoring broths are the key, and have a long list of ingredients. That has never put me off, so I set off for the task.

I made the seitan and broth as she outlines in the recipe. The smell was heavenly! Later, when I was frying the chops the first time, it very much reminded me of the smell of pork chops.

After that all resemblance ended, and I'll detail here my findings.

Maple Seitan Chops

Homemade seitan
2 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 T. grated ginger
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced

In my first attempt, I used Shagrin's recipe for the chops and cut the seitan into pie shaped wedges and smooshed them as flat as I could get. I fried them first in olive oil, then mixed up the above sauce recipe and added it to the frying pan. The maple sauce cooked up fast and became more glaze than sauce.

The result was a beautiful looking chop with a maple-y glaze. The wheat taste, however, was too pronounced for my liking.

Back to the drawing board. Some research into seitan chop recipes and reducing the wheat-y taste suggested adding chickpea flour to the mix. Other comments included making the seitan, not the broth, the flavor.

In my second attempt, I added 3:1 ratio of vital wheat gluten:chickpea flour and threw in some diced onion and garlic. I reused the broth from the first chops. The dough, despite my best efforts, was too damp to cut into the pie shapes, so I put the ball of uncooked seitan into the broth. After an hour and letting it cool a bit, I sliced it and put the sliced seitan into a baggie with the above sauce ingredients to marinate. I let it marinate overnight. I then fried the sliced seitan in olive oil.

The result was a more subtle maple flavor and no discernible wheat taste. I liked the flavor much better, but did love the pork chop shape from the first chops. I'll need to play around with it some more, but definitely feel the addition of chickpea flour to the vital wheat gluten makes for a better tasting product. I will probably leave out the onion and garlic and see it that makes it less wet and more manageable so I can cut it into a chop shape.

Spring Dining

I visit my parents every weekend. Since Easter always falls on a Sunday, we decided to go whole hog (no Easter ham pun intended) for the day and made up a number of dishes, much like we've done for Thanksgiving.

Maple Glazed Tofu

1/4 c. maple syrup 
2 T. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t. garlic salt
1/8 t. ground black pepper
1 package extra firm tofu, drained and sliced

Mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt, and pepper. Place the tofu in a shallow baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once. Preheat oven to 400.  Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake uncovered 20 minutes.

I added more of the sauce before baking. My son complained it made the tofu too sweet. This was not a problem for me. ;)

Broccoli With Cashews

1 package frozen broccoli spears
1/4 c. coarsely chopped cashews
1 T. vegan butter
2 t. finely shredded lemon rind

Cook broccoli according to package directions; drain. In a small skillet, cook, stirring constantly, the cashews in melted butter for 1 to 2 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon rind. Pour over broccoli spears.

Corn, Okra and Tomatoes

1/3 c. vegan butter
1 large green bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 package frozen corn kernels
2 c. frozen cut okra
3/4 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper

In a large skillet, saute the bell pepper, onion and garlic in the butter for 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 8 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and continue cooking for 5 to 7 minutes, or until heated through. Serve immediately.

Roasted Spring Vegetables

1/2 lbs. carrots, cut diagonally in 1/2" pieces
2 lbs. asparagus, ends snapped off and spears cut in half
2 T. olive oil
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper

Line two baking pans with foil; place carrots in one and the asparagus in the other. Toss each with 1 T. olive oil, 1/4 t. salt and 1/8 t. pepper. Bake carrots in the oven with the tofu. Remove the tofu and bump up the oven temp to 450. Stir the carrots and add the pan of asparagus to the oven next to the carrots. Roast the veggies about 10 minutes until they are lightly browned.

My mom added some cinnamon glazed sweet potatoes and a second dish of regular white potatoes to the mix.

Now dine in style. Break out the nicer dishes and pile on the deliciousness.

Nothing Medi-Okra About This!

I've been a bit on an okra binge. Fortunately, my family likes okra, so all is well in my household. I saw a quote today about how so few people like okra that it doesn't even make it into the top ten most hated foods list! I think they are missing out!

Creole Peas

One c. diced celery
One c. diced green pepper
One c. diced onion
2 hot peppers, diced
Olive oil
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 cans black eyed peas
One bag frozen sliced okra
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the celery, green pepper, onion and hot peppers in the olive oil until softened. Add tomatoes, black eyed peas with liquid, okra and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, simmer for about 20 minutes.

This is a really flavorful dish. My family will sometimes season their food individually, but none of us found a need to do so with this. I served it over a lemony-dill rice.

Lemon-Dill Rice

Make your choice of rice according to your preferred method. Once done, melt butter with some fresh dill (dried if you can't get your hands on any fresh) and about a tablespoon of lemon juice. Pour this over and mix into the rice.

Butter Stewed Carrots

I had some carrots sitting in the crisper drawer, so I pulled them out, peeled and sliced them, then sauteed them in butter and maple syrup. They looked quite lovely next to the peas and rice.

Round it all off with some fresh strawberries and some pineapple slices and enjoy!

Better Than a BLT

Bacon. Who doesn't love bacon, the smell of it, the sound of it sizzling in the frying pan. Who doesn't like it?

Well, me. Gross.

I do, however, love the smell of anything made with maple syrup, and thinly sliced tempeh, marinated with a mixture containing maple syrup? Yum! I've tried the fake bacons (facon) out there, but honestly, I much prefer to fry up some tempeh bacon if I want something smoky and maple-y in a dish.

Better Than a BLT

Tempeh bacon (recipe follows), diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
salt and pepper to taste
3 green onions, chopped
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Mix everything together. Spread some Vegenaise on two slices of bread, toasted or untoasted, your choice. Add the vegetable/tempeh mixture, top with some romaine lettuce, enjoy! This is better fresh than the next day, so eat up!

Tempeh Bacon

One package of tempeh (I use Lightlife Organic Tempeh)
2 T. maple syrup
1 T. olive oil
1/2 t. cumin
a dash of cayenne
1 t. liquid smoke
1 t. soy sauce
1/2 t. cracked black pepper
More olive oil

Slice the tempeh as thin as you can slice it without it falling apart. Combine all ingredients in a shallow dish and soak tempeh in marinade for 1-2 minutes.

Turn saute pan on high, add some olive oil. Lay the tempeh flat on skillet, in a single layer. Allow to cook until nicely brown on one side, about a minute, then flip. Allow to cook for another minute on other side-or until both sides are crisp and browned. Lay cooked tempeh on paper towels to drain and cool. Sprinkle with black pepper and thick sea salt to taste.

Tempeh is a traditional soy product originally from Indonesia, almost certainly in Central or East Java. It is made by a natural culturing and controlled fermentation process that binds soybeans into a cake form, similar to a very firm vegetarian burger patty. Tempeh is unique among major traditional soy-foods in that it is the only one that did not originate in China or Japan.

In the West tempeh is usually sold in cakes 6 by 8 by 3/4 inch thick. These are sliced then served fried, baked, or steamed. When fried, tempeh's flavor and texture are meaty, resembling those of southern fried chicken or fish sticks. Before cooking, soy tempeh contains 19.5% protein, compared with 17.9% for hamburger and 21% for chicken, on average.

Tempeh is a wonderful, high protein, southeastern Asian treat. Not only does this collaged cake of fermented soybeans have a distinctive nutty taste but its nougatlike texture readily absorbs the different flavorings with which it is cooked.

Tempeh processing could be the oldest food technology in the history of Javanese people. The people of Java, without formal training in microbiology or chemistry, developed a remarkable family of fermented foods called tempeh. Serat Centhini/Centini, a book published in the 16th century, indicates that tempeh had been produced and consumed by the time of its publication. Tempeh might have been introduced by the Chinese who are making a similar product, soybean koji, which are dehulled soybeans fermented with Aspergillus molds. The use of Rhizopus as tempeh starter in Indonesia may have been due to its better adaptation to the Indonesian climate. The earliest reference to tempeh by a European appeared in 1875 in a Javanese-Dutch dictionary. In Indonesia, traditionally and in dictionaries since at least 1875, the name for this food was written témpé , with various accents being used, especially to indicate the ay pronunciation of the final letter "e." Soy tempeh was called témpé kedelé . In August 1972, when Indonesia modernized its language as part of an Indonesian-Malaysian effort to make the two similar languages even more similar, the accents were dropped and the word came to be spelled tempe (still pronounced TEM-pay).

The rise of tempeh's popularity in Java and its spread to other parts of Indonesia and other countries of the world began in the 20th century. In the 1970s the banana leaf as container for the production of tempeh was replaced by the use of plastic bags.

In Europe, tempeh is known through the Dutch who once colonized Indonesia. In 1895 the Dutch microbiologist and chemist Prinsen Geerlings made the first attempt to identify the tempeh mold. The first tempeh companies in Europe were started in the Netherlands by immigrants from Indonesia. The first English written article appeared in 1931 the book "Vegetables of the Dutch East Indies ", written by J.J. Ochse. The earliest popular article about tempeh was a 7 page story published in France 1982 in Le Compas.

In the USA, tempeh has been known only since 1946 with the publication of "Possible Sources of Proteins for Child Feeding in Underdeveloped Countries", in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. In the 1960s there was new interest in tempeh with research in tempeh at the Cornell University (New York) and at the USDA Northern Regional Research Center (Illinois). In 1961 Mary Otten was the first to begin making tempeh.

Great deal of the credit for introducing tempeh to the American public goes to The Farm, a large spiritual and farming community in Summertown (Tennessee).

The first commercial tempeh shop was started in 1975 by Mr. Gale Randall in Undadilla, Nebraska. An article by R. Rodale in "Prevention" in June 1977 brought him and his shop national prominence.

In the 1980s when the tempeh industry expanded, the media showed new interest and a lot of articles appeared in scientific journals. During 1983 about 1 million commercial tempeh was produced.

If you want a more detailed history of tempeh, and it is rather quite long, I discovered, you can read more in History of Tempeh: A Fermented Soyfood from Indonesia.

Soybeans are regarded as equal in protein quality to animal foods. Just 4 ounces of tempeh provides 41.3% of the Daily Value (DV) for protein for less than 225 calories and only 3.7 grams of saturated fat. Plus, the soy protein in tempeh tends to lower cholesterol levels, while consuming protein from animal sources tends to raise them, since they also include saturated fat and cholesterol. In addition to healthy protein, some of tempeh's nutritional high points include:

Riboflavin: 4 ounces of tempeh provides 23.5% of the DV for this B-vitamin. A nutrient essential for the transfer reactions that occur to produce energy in the mitochondria, riboflavin is also a cofactor in the regeneration of one of the liver's most important detoxification enzymes, glutathione.

Magnesium: Tempeh also provides 21.9% of the DV for Nature's blood vessel relaxant, magnesium, in just 4 ounces. In addition to its beneficial role in the cardiovascular system, magnesium plays an essential role in more than 300 enzymatic reactions, including those that control protein synthesis and energy production.

Manganese and Copper: That same 4 ounces of tempeh will give you 72.5% of the DV for manganese and 30.5% of the DV for copper. These two trace minerals serve numerous physiological functions including being cofactors for the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase.

In addition, soy foods like tempeh are rich in dietary fiber. When eaten, the fiber in tempeh binds to fats and cholesterol in food, so less is absorbed. In addition, tempeh's fiber binds to bile salts and removes them from the body. Since the liver gets rid of cholesterol by transforming it into bile salts, their removal by fiber forces the liver to use more cholesterol to form more bile salts, leading to lower cholesterol levels overall. The fiber in tempeh also provides preventative therapy for several other conditions. Fiber is able to bind to cancer-causing toxins and remove them from the body, so they can't damage colon cells. Tempeh, which is made from high-fiber soybeans, may therefore be able to help reduce the risk of colon cancer. As a matter of fact, in areas of the world where soy foods are eaten regularly, rates of colon cancer, as well as some other cancers, including breast cancer, tend to be low.

If you have never tried tempeh, this is an excellent time to do so!

Panko Encrusted Seitan Cutlets

I am always on the lookout for new things to try or new ways to do it. I have numerous cookbooks and have been collecting recipes since I was 15 years old. It's fun to look through some of the recipes I have and sometimes I wonder *what was I thinking* or *OMG this sounds gross!* It amazes me sometimes what some cooks will come up with and think it will be even marginally palatable. And then there are those that I think sound odd but when tasted, are really quite good!

None of that, however, applies to this dish. From the moment I saw it I thought it would be scrumptious. It was!

Panko Encrusted Seitan Chops

Seitan
1 c. panko breadcrumbs
3 T. fresh chopped rosemary
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Make the seitan using the Seitan with Satan recipe, except substitute garbanzo bean flour for the nutritional yeast. Also, this time around I used Braggs Aminos in place of the soy sauce. No other reason than I was out of soy sauce! Let it drain after cooking. Slice into cutlets, about little less than 1/2 inch thick.

Mix the bread crumbs and other ingredients together.

Heat oil in a frying pan on medium high. Press the cutlets into the breadcrumb mixture until nicely covered, then place in the oil in the frying pan and cook until nicely brown on one side. Flip and brown on the other.

I served it with apples and dried cranberries baked in maple, ginger and brown sugar. My daughter noted that running her cutlet pieces through the mapley liquid added a really nice additional flavor to the dish.

If you've never had seitan (pronounced say-tahn) before, you are in for a treat. Seitan is derived from the protein portion of wheat and has a chewy texture. If you are a non-vegan or a vegan convert, it is a great substitute for meat, especially if you are trying to limit your soy consumption. According to Barbara and Leonard Jacobs in their excellent book Cooking with Seitan, "seitan has been a staple food among vegetarian monks of China, Russian wheat farmers, peasants of Southeast Asia, and Mormons. People who had traditionally eaten wheat had also discovered a method to extract the gluten and create a seitan-like product."

You can make your own, like I do, or buy it commercially made. You will find it in tubs or vacuum packs soaking in marinade in either the refrigerator or the freezer section of many natural food stores. You may also find frozen or fresh gluten in Asian markets by the name Mi-Tan. As gluten is a low sodium and extremely lowfat protein (containing around 10 mg. sodium, 0 g. fat, and 7.5 g. protein per ounce in its raw state), additional processing is what may add unhealthy attributes. Most of the commercially prepared seitan contains a considerable amount of sodium (up to 100 mg. per ounce). If you choose to deep-fry the gluten, the fat content will jump from virtually zero to the number of grams in whatever oil is absorbed (at 4.5 grams per teaspoon).

Like I said, I prefer to make my own, because then I can change up ingredients (as I did in this recipe) to suit me. I haven't tried changing up to flavors to mimic different meats, like pork, poultry or seafood, but I do happen to have a cookbook that gives the ingredients to do that very thing. Definitely on my list of things to try!

Try this dish. I think you'll like it!

Seitan