Your Vegan Mom

Blue Cheese

 

During a rare afternoon of leisure snatched from the chock-full to do list, I found myself wandering around the big fancy whole foods in El Segundo after a long chatty lunch and stroll with my mom.  This style of grocery shopping is not compatible with my wallet, and so it is good that it is a rarity.  However, on this occasion it led to a delicious discovery: Sunergia Soy Bleu.  

Have you tried it?  Given, it's been awhile, but I swear, this stuff tastes and smells like blue cheese.  Now you might think that a soy-based product that tastes and smells like blue cheese would not be a good thing, but you would be wrong.  It is delicious.  After getting it home, I cut myself off a little sample, and if I had any less will power, there would not have been any left for Paul to try, let alone for our scrabble date night pizza.  Paul, a professed blue cheese hater, liked it too.  He claims that this is evidence that it does not in fact taste "just like blue cheese."  I say his palate has matured since the cheese eatin' days of youth.  You be the judge. 

Mom Collins

The Mix:
juice of 1 orange and 2 lemons
half cup simple syrup

The Cocktail:
2 oz. gin
4 oz. soda water
2 oz. mix (see above)

Stir and sip.

Cheers!

Barbecued* Seitan Tacos

As I'm quite fond of intending to make little tiny buns and not actually following through, (Yeast requires planning ahead, Man.) that orange chipotle barbecue sauce palled around with the only bread item we had on hand - corn tortillas.  And dang did we have some tasty tacos composed of random odds and ends pulled out of the fridge.  

To make 4 barbecued seitan tacos, you will need:

1 small fist-sized piece of seitan, shaved thin with a serrated knife

about 1/3 cup orange chipotle barbecue sauce (but you're not going to measure this, right?  Just shake some over the seitan until it looks like enough.)

about 1 T. canola oil

1 green onion, chopped

1 small avocado, sliced

1 leaf of romaine lettuce, shredded

4 corn tortillas, pan fried in about 1/8 inch of canola oil to make taco shells

Heat 1 Tablespoon canola oil in a large (preferably cast iron) skillet over medium high heat.  Add shaved seitan and barbecue sauce.  Heat until you have some caramelized bits (this will take about 3-5 minutes).  Add the green onion and cook for one more minute.  

Scoop seitan into crispy taco shells.  Top with avocado, shredded lettuce, and Mexican hot sauce.  

Devour.    

*So it's not actually barbecued, but the combination of the sauce and the high heat in the cast iron skillet will get you some serious grillin' flavor without having to get out the charcoal chimney.

 

Orange Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

 *

Phew.  I just managed to shuttle the boys out of the house for an hour, and it's quiet here for a moment.  There were leftover breakfast taco fixins from our traditional Labor Day beach breakfast, and I'm going to pour myself another cup of coffee.  Do you see me getting all caught up? 

On Tuesdays I have three kids now.  The oldest is four.  It's a challenge.  The biggest of which is finding something that those three kids and two mamas will eat for dinner.  One night I made spaghetti, I think I'm still cleaning it out of the grout.  Another night the four year old and I made tortillas.  I served them with refried beans, and oranges and strawberries on the side.  For the grownups the oranges and strawberries joined company with baby spinach, toasted pecans, and that orange-serrano vinaigrette.  I was feeling quite ingenious, until the four year old announced that she did not eat beans.  

Last night we had crunchy baked tofu sticks, sweet potato fries, and watermelon.  I figured that if I didn't use the word tofu, this would be a sure fire kid hit.  The watermelon was.  The mama told me that she really liked the salad I had made last week.  What am I going to feed these kids?  Fruit, I guess.  

And how do you get somebody else's kid to be a more adventurous eater?  Not possible, huh?  I best suck it up and plan on cleaning up a lot of pasta. 

I was thinking that miniature orange chipotle pulled seitan sandwiches on tiny homemade buns would be adorable, but I think I'll save them for me, this sauce is pretty pungent.  

Orange Chipotle Barbecue Sauce

3/4 cups orange juice (or 2 valencia oranges worth)

1 chipotle chile, minced

zest of one orange

2 T. tomato paste

1/4 c. minced onion (1/2 small onion)

1 large clove minced garlic

2 T. tamari

1 T. molasses

3 T. sugar

1 T. lime juice

1 T. apple cider vinegar

1 T. canola oil

1 1/2 t. smoked salt

Simmer all ingredients in a small sauce pan until reduced, about 15 minutes.  Puree.  Taste for seasoning.    

*(That picture of oranges is from last January and reminded me that I also love winter, and fall, and spring.)