(not really) Beef Stew and Mashed Potatoes

Total comfort food with a couple of my favorite ingredients. I don't often go for imitating meats, but this recipe is fun to do and a great use for seitan. It's a modification of a recipe found on my favorite site by the Healthy Librarian. I encourage you to check it out!

(not really) Beef Stew over Mashed Potatoes

(not really) Beef Stew

To start with:
1 pound of seitan, strips or cubes (I used cubes)
1 large onion chopped (sweet, yellow)
1 1/2 cups of carrots cut into chunks (3-4 medium carrots)
8 oz sliced white mushrooms
1 tablespoon of sweetener (I used agave).
2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour (white)
1 cup of dark beer (or if like me, all you have is an IPA on hand, yeah that is fine!)
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons white whine vinegar
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup of vegetable broth (I always use low sodium)
1 10 oz package of green peas, thawed
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat up a large saute pan. Warm 1/4 cup of the vegetable broth, then saute and brown the seitan for about 10 minutes, adding vegetable broth as needed to prevent sticking. Remove the seitan from pan and set aside.
Add the onions to the pan and saute over medium heat for about 2 minutes, adding broth as necessary to prevent sticking. Cover the pan, lower the heat and cook until the onions are softened, about 5 more minutes.
Add the mushrooms and mix well with the onions. Stir in the sweetener and cook uncovered until the onions are caramelized, stirring frequently (about 5-10 minutes). Add the flour and cook out the raw taste for another minute or 2.
Add the carrots.
Stir in the beer, mustard, vinegar, and thyme. Add the cup of vegetable broth and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 to 15 minutes, until thickened and the carrots are tender.
Add the seitan back into the pan and allow to simmer another 10 minutes, blending the flavors.
Add the green peas when the stew is finished, allowing them to heat through for 2 minutes. Adding them at the end helps keep the color!
Season to taste!

Finished stew in the pan

These vegan mashed potatoes are not only delicious, but they are also very simple! Mashed potatoes have long been one of my favorite foods, and finding creamy delicious vegan versions isn't always simple. However, there is one magical ingredient that creams it right up, and also works in other creamy dishes like green bean casserole. Nutritional Yeast.

Ok so maybe one other aspect helps: getting the right potatoes. Go for yukon golds. They don't need peeling, and they're creamy even without any help.

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Yukon Golds

To start with:
Yukon gold potatoes
non-dairy milk of your choosing
nutritional yeast
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cut however many potatoes pleases you into even chunks and place in a pot. Fill the pot with cold water to about an inch above the potatoes, then bring to a boil.
Let them boil until they are soft all the way through (stab 'em with a fork)
Drain the potatoes and place them in a large bowl (or back in the pot).
Heat up the non-dairy milk in a separate bowl (around a half a cup, give or take, you can always heat up more)
While the milk is heating add the nutritional yeast. I like to use a generous handful, but it all depends on how you like it. Go back and forth between nutritional yeast and adding the milk little by little to avoid ending up with soupy mashed potatoes, while mashing (or mixing if that's your way), until they are the consistency you are looking for.
Add salt and/or pepper to taste (if you want)

Both of these dishes are fine on their own but they are quite a treat together! Serve yourself some mashed potatoes topped with the stew and enjoy!

Basic Tomato Sauce

My father has been making this tomato sauce for many years. It is simple, tasty and healthy so I thought it would be a perfect recipe to share here! This recipe makes enough for two 16 oz. boxes of spaghetti. It keeps in the fridge for up to one week and in the freezer for 6 months.

Basic Tomato Sauce

To start with:
1 onion, 1/4 inch dice
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced (or minced)
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tablespoon dried
1/2 - 1 medium carrot, finely grated
2-28oz cans of peeled whole tomatoes and the juice (I like Muir Glen or if you can, imported Italian tomatoes from San Marzano!)
Spaghetti (2 16 oz. boxes to use all the sauce, but if you freeze some you wont use that much pasta) Nutritional yeast (for garnish)

Directions:
Heat a saucepan (3 quart) over medium heat and add the onions. Dry saute them until they're golden brown and soft around 5-8 minutes. If you need to deglaze the pan, add a little water or vegetable broth. Onions sweat quite a bit so the oil is not missed here! Add the garlic and saute for another minute or so, until fragrant. Then add the thyme and grate the carrot directly into the saucepan. You can also grate the carrot ahead of time if it pleases you. Cook for another 5 minutes until the carrot is soft. Add the tomatoes and juice by hand crushing them into the pan (again, you can do this ahead of time if it pleases you). Hand crushing is fun and messy so don't be afraid to get in there! Bring everything to a boil, stirring often. Lower the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes until the consistency is thick, much like hot cereal.

When it is all said and done the sauce will keep in the fridge for a week and the freezer for up to 6 months, and makes enough for 2-16oz boxes of pasta. Once you're ready to combine the pasta and sauce, add the pasta, when it is just under al dente, to the sauce - the heat of the sauce will finish the cooking process. Add nutritional yeast and/or fresh basil for garnish.

 The finished sauce prior to freezing:

Freezer Ready!

with spaghetti:

Pasta with a high rise view!

This Rising Moon Organics ravioli was on sale so I picked up a package to finish off the rest of my sauce topped with nutritional yeast and it was delicious!

Delightful with ravioli!

Can't pass up a sale on Rising Moon!

When you cook a big pot of stew for the week

Well I'm finally doing it: starting a blog so I can share all my vegan eats (and other various life adventures) with the world! Or with the possible one person who may see this blog and then never visit it again. Check it out for vegan recipes and eats, hiking adventures, percussion what-not and more. Here we go!

Typically I cook a couple things on the weekend that I can have throughout the week, and maybe end up needing to whip something up again in the middle of the week to get by. Not this past week, however. This was a "cook-all-you-can-or-you-won't-be-eating" type of week. So naturally, I cooked all I could (because I like to eat), and the end result was a giant pot of semi-spicy peanut-y pumpkin potato stew. Delicious, nutritious, cheap, and filling stew. It is the time of year where I have auditions left and right, videos to make, classes to prepare for, and concerts, concerts, concerts - so cooking on the weekends is a must.

Of course, I couldn't stop with just the stew, so also on the menu for the week was my yummy Peanut-Ginger noodles (yeah, it's a peanuty type of week) from EatingWell.com. Also, simple, cheap, and delicious. These two dishes definitely got me through the week with a full stomach and great energy! Plant-power, it never fails!

Semi-Spicy Peanut-y Pumpkin Potato Stew:
This recipe comes from one of my favorite sites that I've been using for a few years. A fellow whole-foods plant based eater with a liking for spice and flavor, The Healthy Librarian. I owe many a dish to this blog, and I'm sure you'll be seeing them over time!

This is a fairly simple recipe that I doubled in order to make a large batch. I simple chop everything at the beginning, lay everything out on the table and...GO! For me the end result is only semi-spicy, but full-flavor!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium/large carrots, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can of crushed tomatoes (for me, its Muir Glen fire roasted!)
1 (16 ounce) can of solid-pack pumpkin
1/3 cup of 100% natural peanut butter*
2 tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons of sweet or regular curry powder
2 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth
1 (15.5 ounce) can of no-salt black beans, drained & rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups homemade)
1 (4 ounce) can of chopped green chiles, drained
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup of dry roasted, unsalted peanuts, chopped (optional garnish)
2 tablespoons of fresh parsley, chopped (optional garnish)

*A combination of powdered peanut butter, like PB2 or Better'n Peanut Butter, with regular peanut butter (look for no salt or other preservatives added), works great.

Directions:
1. Preheat a large soup pot on medium. If you’re making a double recipe you may need to also heat up a sauté pan to get all the veggies. Add the onions, carrots, potatoes & garlic and dry sauté by covering the pot, & cooking until softened, about 7 minutes, allowing the onions to "sweat". Take a peek every 2 minutes or so, stir, and add a few tablespoons of vegetable broth if the vegetables start to stick in order to deglaze the pot. I prefer to dry sauté rather than use oil to make things just that much healthier.
2. Once the vegetable are nicely softened, stir in the tomatoes, pumpkin, peanut butter, soy sauce, curry powder and vegetable broth. Make sure to stir after each addition to blend the flavors well.
3. Add the beans, chiles, and any salt or pepper you want, to taste. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the soup is hot and the flavors are nicely blended together (about 20 minutes).
4. Add the peas right before serving--mixing into the soup. It works to add the peas even if you’re keeping the stew in the fridge for the week.
5. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped peanuts & parsley.

I know many people hear vegan and think "bland," (even vegetarians). Perhaps that has to do with cheese? Is cheese an all-powerful flavor that makes food a million times better? (No, I quite agree with you, it is not). But boy-howdy, do I love flavor, so you better believe it's in my vegan dishes.

Cheers!