Since I didn’t have school today, and since I woke up early due a thunder storm, I thought I’d create my own storm in the kitchen. I cooked from 8AM - 2PM (with some most welcome phone catch-up interruptions from California) and made several vegan delights. After an amazing dinner at Angelica Kitchen in NYC last Tuesday, I was inspired to make some vegan food. I consulted Alicia Silverstone’s Kind Diet and decided on four recipes: Pecan-Crusted Seitan, Hot Rice with Cold Lemon, Basil, and Tomato, Sicilian Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins, and Pumpkin Bread.
This was my first time working with seitan and although it wasn’t the most appetizing-looking item at Whole Foods, this dish came out beautifully. To be honest, I think you could put the marinade from this recipe on an old shoe and it would be delicious. This will be quite a treat for lunch for the remainder of the week.
I’ll be eating the pecan-crusted seitan with the Hot Rice with Cold Lemon, Basil & Tomato. I used the brown rice that I purchased from M Cafe in Culver City (I’m almost out of my bag…can someone send me more?) for the Hot Rice dish even though it calls for Arborio and added the lemon, olive oil, tomato & basil.
This was my third or fourth time making the Sicilian Collard Greens and they are just as tasty as I remembered. I made these when I first got The Kind Diet and found myself craving them for breakfast they were so good.
I will be eating pumpkin bread for breakfast the rest of this week, and I can’t wait. I had to use butternut squash instead of pumpkin, as pumpkins are hard to find out of season. I’m sure this bread would be wonderful with pumpkin, but I’m elated with the butternut squash version. Did I mention it is covered with macadamia nuts and carob chips? Wow! I think I might just have to have it as a dessert too…
Happy Memorial Day everyone!
