Happy Anniversary, my love!

Stephen and I celebrated our one year anniversary as an official couple this week. We opted to have dinner at home, followed by drinks at the Mark Hopkins Hotel.

I made a spinach salad (served warm) with roasted butternut squash (I buy the already cut and packaged kind from Trader Joes - seriously a life saver) and toasted walnuts with a warm vinagrette - made with slivered red onions, white balsamic vinegar, minced garlic, agave, fresh rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil - the vinagrette wilted the baby spinach leaves ever so perfectly...

The main course was a joint effort. Taking a few tips from VeganYumYum, Stephen and I made some delicious gnocchi with lemon cream sauce and thyme vinagrette. I hardly ever follow a recipe exactly (except when baking, or course), and this was no exception. I didn't have any cashews on hand, so I made the cream sauce from a rue and added a little non-dairy milk, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper - simple and delicious!

After dinner, we enjoyed a couple martinis at the Top of the Mark - very romantic! Happy Anniversay, babe!

Seitan... More like Satan!!

I just adore Seitan, and since it can be little pricey in the store, I decided to make some at home. Now, this was not my first attempt at Seitan - I actaully made it for Christmas last year, but it was a bit of a disaster. Of course my hunny ate it up, showering me with compliments of how good it tasted, but I knew he was full of sh**. The flavor was alright, but it had this awful chewy texture. So, I thought I would try it again this holiday, but this time, I decided to test the recipe out first...

I used a combination of recipes that I found on VegWeb and created my own recipe. I also tried out a technique I learned from Chef Tanya of Native Foods (who happens to make the best seitan in the world!) - after mixing the vital wheat gluten with water, she rinses the ball of dough under running water to remove the starch. I divided my dough in two and tried this "rinsing" technique on half - i rinsed for about 15 minutes until the dough started to barely hold together and started to look like oatmeal... see below (on the left)...

Next, I put both blobs in a pan with the broth I made - soy sauce, veggie stock, garlic, onion, fresh herbs - and baked in oven until most of the liquid had absorbed (about 45-60 mins). I sliced the loaves in the pan and at this point, couldn't quite tell the difference...

... that is, until I actually ate them... the dough I DID NOT rinse tasted much better than the other, texture and flavor-wise. I sauteed the 'non-rinsed' seitan in a pan with some taco seasoning...

... and made some delicious tacos - with sauteed veggies, lettuce, tofutti sour cream and a whole lotta hot sauce!

As much as I want to, I am not giving up on seitan - "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again," right? Well, that I will do! One of these days I will figure it out. Until then, I guess White Wave will curb my seitan cravings.

God, I love Daiya!!

Yes, its a little pricey and is defintely a luxury for us, but when we have a package of Daiya cheese in our fridge, I get oh-so excited to use it. Today was another cold, wet day here in San Francisco and I couldn't stop thinking about soup. As soon as I got home from work, I scoured the fridge to see what I had - 2 broccoli crowns, half an onion, a garlic bulb, a few potatoes, and a bag of "cheddar style" Daiya cheese. I knew immediately what I would be making for dinner tonight... Broccoli potato cheese soup... YUUMMMM!!

I started off by sauteeing the onion and garlic with a little Earth Balance in a pot. When soft, I added a little flour to make a rue. To that, I added a couple cups of veg stock and whisked it until it thickened. Then, I added the Daiya - and I was not skimpy here. I boiled the potatoes separately and when they were fork tender, I added them into the soup, along with the chopped broccoli. I generously salted and peppered the pot and let simmer until Stephen got home - probably about 30 to 45 minutes.

I served it up in big bowls with a sliced bagguette...