Seitanic

It’s not even 10:00 am and I’ve already eaten breakfast…

No more strawberries...instead, a mapley peach! And iced coffee.

The same base as usual - oatmeal and puffed millet...

...with honey roasted peanuts, sunflower seed butter, dates, maple syrup, and a nuked ripe peach.

…cleaned out the horses…

Someone (Brandi?) asked a while back if I had gauges. I can't remember if I answered - I do!

And two holes in my nose, just for good measure.

…made seitan…

No, this isn't seitan - but it's what I munched on during the process.

…did a yoga download while the seitan was simmering…

…and made muffins.

Round #2 of PB & Banana Bran Muffins!

And put my face on, too. And ordered a girth for my dressage saddle because the one that came with it is a 32″. Mr. Pony needs about a 26″. He may think he’s a big ol’ warmblood, but he’s not.

Of course, by the time this gets posted I’ll have a blog post up, but then it’ll probably be more like 11:00. Oh, well.

Anyways. Wanna talk about seitan?

Oh, okay…

I think seitan is sort of a “six or half-dozen,” scenario. Sure, you can have hot-dog seitan, chicken seitan, etc – but either way, you’re mixing vital wheat gluten and a broth of some sort. I’ve sort of done my own thing from Veganomicon’s Simple Seitan, but I like things sort of basil-y and garlic-y, so I made some swaps. That and I hate soy sauce.

Yes, I used the term hate.

Anyways, here’s what I’m usually eating whenever seitan pops up. It’s my new love. I haven’t even bothered purchasing tempeh lately. (Although – heads-up – Lightlife has a $1.00 off coupon on their website :D)

Dry ingreds

Combine your dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl:

• 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten
• 1 heaping tablsepoon nutritional yeast
• 1/4 t. dried basil

Wet ingreds

Combine your wet ingredients in a separate vessel:

• 1/4 c. vegetable broth
• 2 T. balsamic vinegar
• 1 large or 2 medium cloves of garlic, pressed

Pour wet into dry...

And combine with a wooden spoon.

Stir until mostly combined, and then knead it until strings start to form. Form it into one-two rounds:

I just form one, and cut as necessary.

And prepare your boiling liquid. I just fill a medium-sized saucepan with a can of vegetable broth, adding more water if necessary. You’ll want to have it mostly full, so the seitan is completely covered.

Place the seitan in the liquid, and bring to a boil.

As soon as it starts to boil, reduce the heat to very low, and let simmer, covered, for an hour. Do some yoga but don’t forget to flip it occasionally.

After an hour, remove from heat and uncover. Let it cool off, and then store it with some of the broth in the fridge.

Still reminds me of those rubbery alien-growing toy things. At least it tastes better than I imagine those to.

When I use it for sandwiches, I just slice it and give it a quick pan-fry on both sides in a non-stick pan. Make sure you kinda squeeze a little of the excess broth out first.

As for the muffins? Well, I went through those last ones probably the fastest I’ve ever gone through muffins, with all of my faux strawberry shortcakes. I intended to make them more peanut-buttery than last time but I couldn’t even remember what I did last time to change. So I have the same observations about this batch that I did about the last – needs a bit more maple or agave, and a bit more peanut butter. I’m almost there, though! (…nothing a little peanut butter smeared on top can’t fix 😉 )

Now I’m hoping the storms can hold off long enough that I can play with a cute lil’ guy named Teddie!

P.S. I’m glad everyone enjoyed my last camera post! I know if you’re unfamiliar with photography it’s overwhelming at first – my advice is to just experiment. It will all make sense 🙂 And I didn’t even touch on white balance, lighting, ISO, etc. I think next I’ll talk about white balance – it’s something everyone can benefit from, not necessarily dSLR specific!

P.P.S – Don’t forget about the BSI: Bulghur Wheat Contest!! Get creative! Remember, bulgur is fun to bake with, too :]