Vegan Month of Food 2018 Day 23: Sunday (Funday!) Dinner

Oh my.... today we're tasked with Sunday dinner. Traditional, whatever "tradition" was for us. Tradition, smadition, I don't have it. In my house when it comes to food, we got to pick our own dinner on our birthday, Thanksgiving was carcass so was Christmas. That's all I can remember.

I'm happy to report thanks to prior activist vegans who came into my life to educate me, carcass is long gone, yay! I remember at some point my mom turning the reigns over to me more and more in the kitchen. Most likely she did this because she SO loathed cooking. Poor mom. I'm not kidding when I say she hated cooking. Baking was a little more on point with her, at least she and I had that in common. Instead, I bring you one of the first recipes I ever learned to cook, peppersteak (using seitan here of course). This version is from a 1974 cookbook called "The Penny Pincher's Cookbook" by Sophie Leavitt. I still have this book, not a reprint... a first run, I mean because there was such a stampede for this book upon publication, right? I kept it because I knew at some point I'd want to veganize this particular recipe at some point. Today was the day.

Here it is:

Seitan Peppersteak
Modified from Circa 1974 Sophie Leavitt's Penny Pincher's Cookbook

Anyone who wants the exact recipe, please let me know. To keep it simple, do this:

Make or buy a pound of "beef" style seitan (locals, Winn Dixie has the vegan beefless bouillon!!) Pick up a couple of peppers (I like red and green) and a can of diced tomatoes (or about 4 fresh ones mixed in with a can of tomato soup.... penny pinching, remember?) You'll also need an onion, vegan Worcestershire, salt, pepper and a dash of sugar.

In a large skillet, heat a bit of oil (or use broth if oil free). Slice your seitan into strips, dredge in flour, sprinkle w/salt and pepper. Place the seitan into the skillet over medium heat, stirring, til it's mostly brown. Add in your onion, stir. Add in the diced tomatoes, a tablespoon or 2 of vegan Worcestershire, a tablespoon or 2 of sugar, the peppers (sliced) and let it cook with a cover for about 10 minutes. Of course I didn't cover it, of course I didn't time things, of course I just threw things into a pan after the seitan was brown and the onion cooked. Cook it for a little while til the peppers are desired softness. Serve over desired rice, grain or noodle.

Remember last week's "budget" theme? Well... I still had a whole first Unturkey in the fridge, remember that fiasco? I boiled it in lots of beefless bouillon for about 10 minutes, and just let it sit in there to hopefully mask some of the seasonings that were already in it. Worked good enough.

Pretty sure you'll be seeing that Unturkey #1 or #2 again before the end of the month. Sophie would be proud.

This morning as I was surfing the channels, I found a cooking channel making a big deal out of a Matcha Green Tea Chocolate Lava Cake. While I was waiting for my vat of seitan peppersteak to cook, I whipped up a tiny batch of lava cake, like yesterday, but I swapped Matcha chocolate ganache for the chips. Nope, not as pretty. Needs more time for the center to set (note the sinking strawberry, whoops) but all in all, great flavor, and way better lava effect. Just so ya know. 

Chocolate Lava Cake cuz I was bored
Matcha Green Tea Chocolate Ganache Center
If you do this, make sure you allow extra time for the inside to set
if you plan to top it. Live and learn.

Anything you can eat, I can eat vegan. Let us show you how. Vegan. For the Animals.

xo