Dec 19, 2012

seitan piccata





It is Catt's Birthday Week, so she gets to choose the meals all week long. Naturally, she chose tried and true dishes that she loves, and minimized the vegetables as much as possible. Have I mentioned I have vegetarians who hate vegetables? Vegan, really, but it sounds better with "vegetable" in the description.

Among her favorites, such as Lasagne Bolognese for her actual birthday meal, she has chosen Nachos, Hungarian Layered Potatoes, Reuben (and here is the corned seitan recipe) and Tami's Chicago Deep Dish Pizza from American Vegan Kitchen

 Seitan Piccata is near the top of her list.

It so happens that this is also one of our family's favorite meals, although I haven't blogged about it yet because I kept writing down the recipe incorrectly or not at all.

Piccata is an Italian dish of thinly sliced seitan, dredged and sauteed, then served with a lemon-butter sauce. Traditionally it is dredged in flour and in addition to the pan drippings and broth, the sauce contains capers and white wine. I've altered this from flour to bread crumbs and completely omitted the capers and the white wine. I wanted to make this as simple as possible for the cook (me) and tried to keep the flavors as clean as possible for the kids.

For us this continues to be a favorite, even though my husband dislikes any main meal containing citrus. Odd that he can put away his fair share of this seitan then, but he sure manages to. This is another one of those dishes that I double the original recipe for or risk a table full of grumbling folks.

Cost Breakdown

seitan: $3
Earth Balance, broth, lemon: $2
bread crumbs, spices: $1
potatoes: $4

Total for 4 servings:
$10.00

Dec 14, 2012

healin' noodle soup



RECIPE UPDATE: this soup has been tested and revised and will be featured in the upcoming cookbook "Everyday Vegan Eats," by Zsu Dever.

Tis the season! Flu season! One of my little ones has come down with a bug. When this happens, my first reaction is to make this soup. Other people might reach for the big brand soup in the can, but for us vegans, we tend to insist on something more wholesome than what comes out of such a container, let alone try our damnedest to avoid what goes into it in the first place. 

In fact, over the years, my kids have come to expect this soup when they are feeling under the weather. It takes about 20 minutes to make, including prep time, but it tastes like you've had on the back burner all morning. 

The soup contains about the same simple ingredients as the canned stuff (if you don't include all the unpronounceable ingredients, that is): just carrots, celery, onions, noodles and seasonings. 

Bookmark this page for the next time you need a little pick-me-up. 

Cost Breakdown

pasta: $1
vegetables: $1
seasoning: $.75

Total to make 6 servings:
$2.75