Birthday Cupcakes!

We celebrated my niece's 4th birthday yesterday with cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. They were a big hit and sent the kids off on a sugar high that lasted for hours. With our holiday visitors this weekend that meant six hyper kids tearing up the place. Totally worth it for these awesome vegan treats.

Taco Grande

Who doesn't enjoy a Weird Al reference? There are a few things you can do to substitute the ground beef. Tonight we ground the leftover seitan in the blender. You can also use veggie crumbles, or fry up crumbled tofu that has been frozen and thawed. In a rush, you could use that Old El Paso taco seasoning (I think it is vegan), but I like to use a mix of chili powder, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, and oregano.

Roasted Fall Veggies

I made the chicken fried seitan again, but also made some awesome oven-roasted veggies that tasted like fall (even though it was 21 degrees today). The veggies are easy to make: cut up potatoes, onion, turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, and carrots. Toss in olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Roast on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper in a 350 degree oven for an hour, or until veggies are soft.

Tourtiere

Today I got the idea to make a tourtiere from the seitan I made on the weekend. Of course, I was at work when the epiphany hit, so I emailed a recipe to my wife and she made it happen. I adapted Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe found here. The crust is the same one used for the pot pie. The kids bolted down the whole thing.

FILLING:

- 1 large onion, minced

- 2 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 lb. seitan, cut into chunks

- 1/2 cup hot water mixed with 1 veggie boullion cube

- 2 tbsp ketchup

- 1 1/2 tsp savoury

- 1/4 tsp each allspice, cloves, cinnamon, sage, thyme, pepper

- 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed with 2/3 cup boiling water

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350
1. In a large nonstick skillet over high heat, saute onions and garlic in oil. When onions are soft, pour into a large bowl.
2. Grind seitan in food processor or food grinder. Mix with onion mixture, hot water-boullion mixture, ketchup and seasonings. Add potatoes; mix well.
3. Press seitan mixture firmly into bottom crust. Top with crust and cut slits to allow steam to escape.
4. Brush pastry lightly with soymilk; bake 50 minutes, until crist is light brown.

Pumpkin Muffins

We had leftovers last night, so I thought I would post a link to a recipe for pumpkin muffins from Vegan Lunch Box. You can find it, and other great recipes, on the Schmooed Food blog. These muffins are spectacular with fresh pumpkin (I love the fall), but also work well with canned. I use regular chocolate chips--the PC semi-sweet Decadent chips are vegan. These are also pretty sweet, so feel free to cut down on the sugar.