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Seitan Sunday

Easy Sunday Run
Today was sort of a lazy day. The weather seemed to be undecided about rain or no rain. Thankfully the rain held out until the later afternoon. I let myself stay in bed until about 8:45. Then I made a nice bowl of PB&J&B Oatmeal. 
After that settled, Jason and I went for a very easy run. I am have severe pain in my extreme upper hamstring/low glute area. So we took it easy. It felt great to take it slow for a change. It would behoove me to do more slow, longer runs to be quite honest. After the run, I stretch for a really long time. I used to be so limber from ballet Not so anymore, even though I do stretch daily. It's just not the same.

Lounging and Recipe Testing
The sun actually popped out for a while. It was super humid, but the sun was out and I was going to be outside. I sat out on my lounge chair and read for about an hour. I really should have been doing chores mind you, but I was enjoying a very lazy Sunday instead. No guilt. I did end up making some dog treats and trying my hand at making seitan for the first time. It's something I have been wanting to make for ages, even bought the vital wheat gluten flour months ago. I just kept putting it off. Well, today I finally made it. It was either make seitan or do house cleaning.

I pulled the original recipe from Recipe Zaar as a starting point. It looked like an easy enough recipe that could be versatile, and it was. Here is my version as, I did make several changes to the spices and quantity of spices and seasonings used:

Basic Seitan
Ingredients:
2 cups vital wheat gluten flour
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp ground thyme
Salt & pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 low-sodium soy sauce
Few dashes of liquid smoke

Simmering Broth
4 cups water or broth (I used about 2 1/2 cups broth and 1 1/2 water because I ran out of broth)
1/4 cup soy sauce
Liquid smoke (sorry, just added and didn't measure)
Parsley, garlic powder, thyme

Directions
Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, and thyme to flour and stir.

Mix liquids together and add to flour mixture all at once. Mix vigorously with a fork. When it forms a stiff dough knead it 10 to 15 times. (it forms a dough very quickly)

Let the dough rest 2 to 5 minutes, then knead it a few more times. It will be rubbery. Let it rest another 15 minutes then cut into chunks, strips, or patties.

Meanwhile, combine broth ingredients and bring to a boil. Drop in the seitan pieces, cover, and simmer 45 to 60 minutes. Let seitan cool in the broth.

This was so easy, and I can't believe I had put it off for so long. I cut a variety of shape just to play around. I didn't realize that they would start to puff up as they cooked. I'll remember that the next time. I remembered Alicia @ Vegan Epicurean telling me that you must really be heavy-handed with seasonings as it can be potentially bland. I definitely added more seasonings than the original recipe, but I will add more the next time (both quantity and types of seasoning). I'm excited to play around with other flavors now and perhaps simmering broths as well. 

When I decided to make the seitan, I wasn't necessarily planning ahead as to how to use it. I ended up using it in a veggie pasta dish that's super easy to throw together and very versatile in terms of the veggies that you can use.

Seitan Veggie Pasta
Ingredients:
7 oz whole-wheat rotini (or past of your choice)
Seitan 
1/2 zucchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can no-salt diced tomatoes (with juice)
2 tbps tomato paste
2-3 green onions, diced
White wine (or use pasta water or vegetable broth)
To taste: salt, pepper, parsley, basil, oregano, chili pepper flakes, nutritional yeast flakes

Directions:
Cook pasta to al dente.

In large skillet, saute onions, peppers, garlic until soft. Add in tomatoes and spices and let simmer a few minutes. Add in seitan, zucchini and squash. Add wine (or liquid of choice) and tomato paste. Let simmer until begins to thicken. Add in the green onions and pasta. Turn off heat and toss until pasta is coated. 

This is a really easy dish to make. I works great with a variety of veggies. It is also good with beans like chickpeas.

Comments

  1. I loove pb&j (&b!) oatmeal! And I'm so glad you cleared up what seitan is. I always saw it mentioned but never knew exactly what it was!

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  2. AnonymousMay 16, 2010

    Ahhhh, I've been dying to make seitan!!! Yours looks great! For some reason, I'm really intimidated by the idea.

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  3. AnonymousMay 16, 2010

    Love the idea of pb and j oatmeal. Looks delish!
    Sometimes it is nice to have more of a lazy day!

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  4. that pasta looks awesome. seitan is SO yummy.

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  5. I am so glad you are happy with your first attempt at seitan. Congratulations! It gets sort of addictive since you can flavor it so many ways. ;-)

    talk to you later,
    Alicia

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  6. my husband would LOVE this one!

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  7. Megan @ The Oatmeal Diaries It's one of the beat oatmeal combos isn't it!? So glad my post helped you understand what seitan is. Hope you try it.

    Anna @ Newlywed, Newly Veg I was super intimidated by it too. If I can do it, you can most definitely make it as well!

    Kristen @ Swanky Dietitian Lazy days are soooo nice. I think I'm getting too used to them on the weekends though LOL!

    Thanks Janetha @ Meals & Moves ! I was glad it all turned out! ;-)

    Alicia @ Vegan Epicurean I am very happy with my first attempt. I probably owe it to you for telling me to go heavy with flavors! Thank you!!


    Averie @ Loves Veggies and Yoga I actually found a few gluten-free recipes too if you can believe that. They may be more labor intensive though.

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  8. It sounds like we had a similar Sunday :) Easy and lounging are things we should all use to put on our Sunday posts!

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  9. AnonymousMay 17, 2010

    gosh heather this looks so good.....where do you buy the seitan?

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  10. Seitan is awesome, I love when my friend makes seitan nuggets;they are so good. our pasta dish looks great too.

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  11. Sounds like the perfect Sunday to me!

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  12. oh i agree.. chickpeas would go so well with that dish! yea i agree with the above comment- sounds like a perfect sunday ;)

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  13. April @ The Weigh I Am I totally agree with you on easy and lounging for Sunday!

    Kalli @ Fit and Forty Something I made the sietan, but you can find it at Whole Foods.

    Nicci @ Nifty Eats I can't wait to try it again with other flavors! How does your friend flavor his/hers?

    Dawn @ Healthy San Diego Living The only thing that would have made it any better would have been lounging IN a pool ;-)

    Kelsey @ Snacking Squirrel I love chickpeas in pasta dishes - or cannellini beans. Both work well!

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  14. I've seen seitan mentioned in blogs but I never knew what it was. I didn't even know that gluten flour could be made into that sort of texture! It looks yummy. :)

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  15. I have been wanting to try to make Seitan! It looks really good & I know how good it is for you. I might have to borrow your recipe :)

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  16. Peanut butter and jelly oats! YUM! So glad you got to run. I hope your booty feels better. I am with you on being limber. The more muscle I get, the less limber I am. I work hard at keeping what I have though! I took a great Epsom Salt bath today. I swear by them! I hope it feels better...your dinner looks mighty tasty too!

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  17. Chelsea @ The Healthy Munchkin I used to buy seitan ages ago and never knew how easy it was to make. Glad I finally figured it out LOL.

    Holly @ Greek Yogurt and Apple Slices Thanks so much for stopping by! Let me know if you try the recipe and how it turns out please.

    Sarena @ The Non-Dairy Queen I think I am going to invest in a foam roller and see how that helps. I love Epsom salt baths too. I used to indulge in them regularly when I danced. I need to get back into the habit!

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  18. I made the seitan yesterday but I have no idea what to do with it now? Can you help me?

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