smoked chicken & spicy red pepper pasta

i wish i could give my mom an award for being such a great vegan supporter, and i know a lot of my fellow bloggers feel the same about their moms. she brought me hot mustard from ireland, buys vegan mozzarella when we make our xmas lasagna every year, and also bought me pappardelle's mild spice red pepper pasta for my birthday this year. pappardelle's is all natural, small-batch pasta and it makes me one happy vegan italian!

• 1/2 pound pappardelle's mild spice red pepper pasta
• 1 cup roasted red peppers
• 4 slices of jalapenos
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 cup of veggie broth
• 3/4 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1 tablespoon hickory smoke
• 2 tablespoons low sodium soy
• 1 batch seitan cutlets from vcon

after prepping your seitan cutlets, place them on a pre-heated cast iron grill pan. baste one side with 1 tablespoon liquid smoke mixed with 2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce. grill on low or bake at 375 for 5 minutes on each side. when flipping, baste other side with smoky mixture.

while cutlets are cooking, combine red peppers, jalapenos, garlic and veggie broth in a food processor. if using jarred roasted red peppers, be sure and drain oil/water before adding. once everything is well blended, transfer to a large deep skillet (or a sauce pan will work in a pinch). cut up the cooked cutlets into strips and place in the skillet as well. simmer the cutlets on low to medium for approximately 15 , stirring often- turn heat down if the mixture starts to boil.

after sauce is thoroughly heated, add soymilk and cornstarch to thicken. continue heating for another minute or so, then remove from heat and allow to sit for 5 minutes. serve cutlets and sauce over pasta. i know the picture isn't all that glamorous, but trust me, this is one tasty dish.

vegan barbecue pork chops

it's funny, i never liked pork chops even when i did eat meat. lately, however, i've been really interested to see how close i can get to 'replicating' certain tastes. after i made the miso mustard slaw last week, i thought it would pair nicely with a barbecue flavour of some sort.


for the chop:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat gluten
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons veggie broth
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/8 cup low sodium soy
• 1/8 cup cold water
• 1 teaspoon cajun/creole seasoning
• 1 tablespoon lipton savory herb garlic soup powder
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

for the marinade:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup bbq sauce
• 3/4 tablespoon stoneground mustard
• 1 teaspoon all spice

• 1 cup breadcrumbs (optional)
  

combine wet chop ingredients into the dry, and knead for approximately two minutes. add additional water if it is too dry. at this point, you will have 1 large ball - you can either cut or pull apart the individual chops and then flatten each one. i made about 4 pork chop-sized cutlets from the amount listed.

mix up marinade and coat each chop well. put the rest of the marinade in an 8x11 glass baking dish and let the cutlets marinade for several hours (or overnight).

after marinating, pour off and reserve the liquid. bake chops at 375°f for 40 minutes, flipping half way through. to encrust, pull chops out of oven for several minutes. using tongs, dip each into the reserved marinade, and then into breadcrumbs. put back into dish, and continue cooking at 375°f for about 10 minutes. serve on a bed of miso mustard cabbage slaw.

seitan holiday roast

when i was vegetarian, we would buy the quorn turk'y roast for thanksgiving meals. since that isn't a vegan option, i opted to get my hands wet and create a homemade 'faust' this year. not to mention, it was the first time i ever worked with seitan. i used the very basic ingredients from vegan with a vengeance, but apart from that, it was a miss v creation. not too shabby, i must say.


for the roast:

• 2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons unbleached flour
• 2 tablespoons thyme, sage & rosemary mix
• 1½ cups veggie broth
• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegan worcestershire sauce
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 celery stalk, minced
• 1/8 small onion, minced

for the broth:

• 2 cups veggie broth
  
• 1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke
• 2 tablespoons thyme, sage & rosemary mix
• 1/2 celery stalk, minced
• 1/8 small onion

optional: 4 baby red potatoes

for the roast, mix up the the first four dry ingredients. for the spice mix, just throw in whatever tastes good - i used thyme and sage as they remind me of thanksgiving flavours. mix the rest of the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. for the onion and celery, i used a magic bullet to mince them up as i didn't want large chunks in my roast. slowly combine the wet into the dry ingredients, kneading as you go. knead for at least 2 minutes, and then divide into two small roasts.

put the roasts into a 1.5 quart baking dish. if you want, cut up the baby potatoes to bake with the roasts. mix up the broth ingredients, and pour half into the baking dish with the roasts. bake at 395°f for about 25 minutes. at this point, most of the broth will have evaporated. pour in the second half of the broth and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 340°f. serve warm.

as a side note, i cut my roasts into slices before i baked the second time. this allowed the juices to really get in and marinade the roast. but that's completely optional.