reuben

Late in the posting, but this was an after-St. Patrick Day Reuben. I decided to follow Tami's lead from American Vegan Kitchen and make Reubens after I made Corned Seitan.

(Incidentally, she has announced that she is writing her new cookbook!)

Not really much to say about Reubens...except that they are divine! In fact, I made this for the Vegetarian (Vegan) Workshops I conducted at my homeschooling conference a few weeks ago. It was well received and I was excited to have presented to a few chefs, a few vegans and others in various stages toward vegetarianism. Attending the workshop hopefully fueled their fire, sparked their interest and added to their arsenal of nutritional knowledge.

 A healthy, informed vegan is one that stays vegan!

There are four sandwiches in the picture below and not a single one was left over. If you haven't made a Reuben yet, you are missing out. Make your seitan a few days before or a few weeks before (and freeze it). That way you just need to assemble the sandwich. Make The Radical Reuben and skip the peppers and onions if you want.

Cost Breakdown

bread: $2

seitan: $3

Daiya: $2

1,000 Island sauce (homemade): $1

sauerkraut: $1

Total to make 4 sandwiches:

$9.00

south american curry

It was Asian Night.

While I wanted to make curry, a few of the other family members wanted something a little different. Which is why I decided to fuse South America and Asia. A while ago I made Aji Paste from Viva Vegan! by Terry Hope Romero and froze what I didn't use for the recipe. It was time to utilize it. A good Thai curry is based on a chili paste so it wasn't too much of a stretch to use the aji paste instead and incorporate other Latin flavors. 

In addition to the paste, I used cumin, oregano, garlic, lime juice, cauliflower, mushroom, bell peppers, green beans, cilantro and pressed tofu. Pressing the tofu properly (such as with a Tofu Xpress) will keep the tofu from falling apart in the broth during cooking. Another bonus using this machine. 

Although I used coconut milk, I kept it down to 1 can of lite milk and used vegetable broth to make up the difference. Since this would make for a very thin broth with no body, I added an arrowroot (or cornstarch) slurry to thicken it up to the consistency of coconut milk. This did not distract from the flavor and made it possible to cut down on the coconut milk.

I love lots of vegetables in curries and using the Latin flavors made it a little different.  A very satisfying meal with a twist.

Cost Breakdown

aji paste: $.50

onion, garlic, spices, herbs: $1

cauliflower, green beans, red pepper: $5

mushrooms, tofu: $3

coconut milk: $2

lime, sugar, veg stock: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$12.50