Tuesday Dinner - Soba with Sweet-Sour-Pungent Sauce (June 8)

This recipe is from Speed Vegan by Alan Roettinger.

 The recipe calls for tofu, but I decided to make it with eggplant. So far, so good. As I am making the sauce, it is calling for 12 cloves of garlic ground into the sauce. No biggie, I think; I love garlic! Man, this must have been some typo, because when they titled the recipe 'pungent', they weren't kidding! If you make this recipe from the book USE LESS GARLIC. It was overpoweringly pungent, not deliciously pungent. I can't be certain, but without the overabundance of garlic, the, sauce seems to have been very tasty.

The eggplant was good, though.

Cost Breakdown:

eggplant: $3

sauce: $3.50

carrots, onion: $1

soba noodles: $3

Total to almost feed a family of 5:

$10.50

2.5 out of 5 stars

Thursday Dinner - Yakitori with Seared Cabbage and Almonds (June 3)

This was awesome! Yakitori is 'grilled chicken' in Japanese.

 The seitan 'meatballs' I made turned out just right - flavorful, held together very well, and moist (is that too cake-y a description?). I made the teriyaki with mirin (Japanese rice wine), tamari, ginger, garlic, and sugar. I quickly grilled the cooked 'meatballs' on my enameled grill pan (highly recommended - food does not stick and it is not non-stick), basting with the sauce. The cabbage was flash seared on the same grill pan (just not at the same time), with some carrots, garlic and tamari. Garnishing the dish are toasted almonds and sliced scallions. I served the teriyaki on the side as extra dipping sauce. Yum! Youngest daughter does not like ginger (too 'spicy'), but otherwise it was a meal we all loved. It was sweet, salty, and a little spicy. Great combination, ask any giant food processing company.

Cat loaned me her manga for the picture. I am such a lucky mother to have a daughter so interested in Japanese culture to have some props ready for my pic.

4 out of 5 stars

Tuesday Dinner - Thai Seitan Satay (May 25)

Interesting meal!

 It seems everyone found something different to criticize about this meal. If it wasn't the brown rice, it was too spicy, or he doesn't like tomatoes, or he dislikes peanut butter, which is what the sauce was made of. I guess the only thing we ALL agreed on was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Friday Dinner - Lemon 'Chicken' (May 14)

I used Gardein protein to make this dish. Whenever we go to a Chinese restaurant, the kids are always asking for Lemon 'Chicken'. There are no vegetarian/vegan places around here that have this, so I tried my hand at it. I soaked the cutlets in lemon juice for  a few minutes, then dredged them in seasoned four, and pan-fried them. In the same pan, I added 2 T lemon juice, 1/2 cup of water, 2 T nutritional yeast, 1 t. turmeric (trying to get that gaudy yellow color Chinese places manage to impart - not quite there, though), and 2 T arrowroot to thicken. I brought the sauce to a boil and then poured it over the cutlets. The lemon slices were decorations that my children and husband promptly removed. Good thing I only cut them for the picture. The potatoes are Roasted Rosemary Potatoes from Instead of Chicken, Instead of Turkey by Karen Davis. Everyone thought it was very good, but the kids insisted it was too lemon-y. I think the stuff they get at restaurants is too lemon-y.

 Kids and their palates...

4 out of 5 stars

 

Tuesday Dinner - Sechuan Beef and Broccoli (May 11)

Tuesday night is Asian/rice night.

Tonight we had cornstarch-crusted-beefy-seitan browned in a well-seasoned wok. After they were browned and removed, sliced broccoli, onions, and peppers were added to the wok, a little water, steamed for three minutes, and a sauce of garlic, chili, tamari, vegetable broth, and cornstarch, was introduced to make a flavorful sauce to coat the vegetables. After adding the seitan back into the wok with the vegetables, it was served with brown rice.

This recipe was adapted from Bryanna Clark Grogan's "Authentic Chinese" cookbook. It was excellent.

5 out of 5 stars